3.8 GPA (many W's) and 165+ on the LSAT Forum

[ASButler]

Hello all,

I am currently a student at University of Houston and am curious about my chances of getting into a t14. I dropped quite a few classes early on in my college career (whole loads at once) and also made a few poor grades. I was 17 years old then and knew it all. Since then, I have made nothing but straight A's, and I estimate a cumulative 3.8 when I graduate.

I have scored 165+ on PTs without much practice and plan to hit the books hard before I take my actual test. I would like to aim for a 170 and believe it is possible to raise my score to that level. What do you guys think? Do I have a shot?

My university does not offer much in terms of pre-law advising, and I will be going through this process on my own. It has been overwhelming so far, and I do not even know how high I should set the bar for myself. I am thankful to have this forum and all of you to go to for advice. Thank you all in advance!

[AntipodeanPhil]

Your LSAC GPA and LSAT score are the most important factors.

Have you calculated your LSAC GPA? That will not be the same as your college GPA. For someone with many Ws that is very important, as some may count against your LSAC GPA.

See: http://www.ehow.com/how_4823316_calcula ... sions.html

Once you have calculated your LSAC GPA, the following site can give you a good indication of what LSAT score you would need to be competitive at the top law schools:

http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/

Obviously, if you did have a 3.8 and a 170, you would have a very high chance of getting at least a few T14 acceptances.

[FiveSermon]

Withdrawals won't hurt you except maybe at HYS.

[ASButler]

Thank you for your responses!

Yes, the 3.8 is my LSAC GPA. The law school predictor is actually why I am asking about my chances. The results have me thinking, "Really? A school like that? ME??!?"

[AntipodeanPhil]

Thank you for your responses!

Yes, the 3.8 is my LSAC GPA. The law school predictor is actually why I am asking about my chances. The results have me thinking, "Really? A school like that? ME??!?"

LOL. Then you are lucky it's a numbers game, except at the very top (as Sermon notes). 3.8 is really quite good for an LSAC GPA. You see a lot of people here, and especially on LSN, who have a high college GPA but an LSAC GPA that is substantially lower (sometimes 0.5 lower, or more).

[JamMasterJ]

Answering your question about going from relatively cold 165s to a 170: YES, you can definitely do this, and it will earn you a shot a the lower half of the T14, or T20 with substantial money.

[clintonius]

I was in a similar situation LSAT-wise and wound up over 170. 165 is a great cold score -- it's better than the majority of people do on the real thing. Anyways, I landed a 172 with a 3.8 and a couple of Ws on my transcript, and wound up at NYU. Best of luck to you!

[ASButler]

I feel much more confident now than I did when I posted. Thank you to all who responded!

[Miracle]

unless your W's are calculated into your gpa as a 0.0-meaning punitive they will not count against you. this issue has been constantly debated and proven not to have any negative impact on admission.

Just for the record, it annoys me when individuals come on here and claim otherwise, yet know nothing about the issue, and are giving purely their opinion on what they believe is the truth and not what the actual truth is.

[hypothalamus]

If your school doesn't consider the W's punitive, then neither will the LSAC probably. Your GPA is great.

That said, I attended a law school admissions "workshop" with the admissions people from a few schools (including UCLA and GW) and we looked at 4 anonymous people's application packages. Now, they might have been pretending to care about things other than numbers because of the audience, but they all made us look at the transcripts rather carefully and pointed out, for example, that someone was taking really lower-level classes a couple of semesters. What I'm saying is your W's don't hurt your GPA, but they could *potentially* instill doubt in the mind of an adcom member. You'll probably be fine if you get a 175+ on the LSAT though
Good luck!

[legaleagle9]

wait...im a noob..but doesnt OP have a chance at CCN with 3.8 and 170?