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Hi everyone, I just very recently decided to go into law and found and joined this site, this is actually my first post here

I'm in my junior year at Cal State LA getting my Bachelor's in Social Work, graduating 2012. I am also getting a minor in Political Science (concentration in Public Administration) and a certificate in Child Maltreatment & Family Violence (but still graduating on time in 4yrs). My GPA now is pretty low- 3.21. I have a lot of things I can explain in the personal statement, I'm a single mom of 2 young kids, and I was hospitalized for several weeks during the one quarter that really brought down my GPA. I am also in the Student Gov't-Academic Senate. I will be starting my one year Social Work internship in September at the LA Children's Court, but other than that I have no work or volunteer experience even remotely related to law (all this time i've been planning on getting an MSW). I would like to go into Family Law. I plan to spend the whole summer really prepping hardcore for the LSAT and would like to go to either UCLA or USC. Even if I get all 4.0s the highest I can get my GPA up to by the end of the year is a little less than 3.4. With such a low GPA, what do you think is the lowest I could score on the LSAT and still have a really good shot at either (or both!) ? Thanks for any help or advice!!!

cassie2012 wrote:Hi everyone, I just very recently decided to go into law and found and joined this site, this is actually my first post here

I'm in my junior year at Cal State LA getting my Bachelor's in Social Work, graduating 2012. I am also getting a minor in Political Science (concentration in Public Administration) and a certificate in Child Maltreatment & Family Violence (but still graduating on time in 4yrs). My GPA now is pretty low- 3.21. I have a lot of things I can explain in the personal statement, I'm a single mom of 2 young kids, and I was hospitalized for several weeks during the one quarter that really brought down my GPA. I am also in the Student Gov't-Academic Senate. I will be starting my one year Social Work internship in September at the LA Children's Court, but other than that I have no work or volunteer experience even remotely related to law (all this time i've been planning on getting an MSW). I would like to go into Family Law. I plan to spend the whole summer really prepping hardcore for the LSAT and would like to go to either UCLA or USC. Even if I get all 4.0s the highest I can get my GPA up to by the end of the year is a little less than 3.4. With such a low GPA, what do you think is the lowest I could score on the LSAT and still have a really good shot at either (or both!) ? Thanks for any help or advice!!!

Assuming you get a 3.4 you would need at least a 170 to get in.

You actually have better shots at schools better than USC and UCLA. The west coast is full of schools that are GPA whores. Check out the law school numbers pages for both schools to get a better gauge of where you need to be. That being said, aim for a 180 and nothing lower.

OP, have you thought about going to splitter-friendly schools? Curry is right about the fact the West Coast schools love high GPAs. Is moving out of CA for school an option? There are a lot of elite but splitter-friendly schools outside of CA like UVA, GULC, and NU.

dpk711 wrote:OP, have you thought about going to splitter-friendly schools? Curry is right about the fact the West Coast schools love high GPAs. Is moving out of CA for school an option? There are a lot of elite but splitter-friendly schools outside of CA like UVA, GULC, and NU.

I correct myself, GULC is not "elite". Sorry for the confusion OP.

Thanks for the quick replies!!! I am definitely aiming for 180, I just bought a few LSAT study guides and am hoping I will also be able to take some kind of class, really that is going to be my whole mission this summer-to study hard and get a 180 on the LSAT. But I know my GPA is pretty low, so that's why I'm not sure if I have any shot at all, even with a high LSAT. If I had a 3.35 or 3.4 with a 178 or higher I would probably be okay though, right? Moving out of socal/the LA area is not really an option for me right now (although if I dont get into either USC or UCLA I guess I will probably consider it, lol).

cassie2012 wrote:Thanks for the quick replies!!! I am definitely aiming for 180, I just bought a few LSAT study guides and am hoping I will also be able to take some kind of class, really that is going to be my whole mission this summer-to study hard and get a 180 on the LSAT. But I know my GPA is pretty low, so that's why I'm not sure if I have any shot at all, even with a high LSAT. If I had a 3.35 or 3.4 with a 178 or higher I would probably be okay though, right? Moving out of socal/the LA area is not really an option for me right now (although if I dont get into either USC or UCLA I guess I will probably consider it, lol).

I'm not trying to be a douche or anything but what makes you think you will be able get a score that only 1 out of 10,000 people get? But assuming you get a 180, you will most likely get UCLA/USC.

dpk711 wrote:

cassie2012 wrote:Thanks for the quick replies!!! I am definitely aiming for 180, I just bought a few LSAT study guides and am hoping I will also be able to take some kind of class, really that is going to be my whole mission this summer-to study hard and get a 180 on the LSAT. But I know my GPA is pretty low, so that's why I'm not sure if I have any shot at all, even with a high LSAT. If I had a 3.35 or 3.4 with a 178 or higher I would probably be okay though, right? Moving out of socal/the LA area is not really an option for me right now (although if I dont get into either USC or UCLA I guess I will probably consider it, lol).

I'm not trying to be a douche or anything but what makes you think you will be able get a score that only 1 out of 10,000 people get? But assuming you get a 180, you will most likely get UCLA/USC.

I never said that I assume I'll get a 180...

In all actuality your GPA is not low. A 3.2-3.4 makes you a contender. Remember that. You can go where-ever you set your mind to. Anything is possible

cassie2012 wrote:

dpk711 wrote:

cassie2012 wrote:Thanks for the quick replies!!! I am definitely aiming for 180, I just bought a few LSAT study guides and am hoping I will also be able to take some kind of class, really that is going to be my whole mission this summer-to study hard and get a 180 on the LSAT. But I know my GPA is pretty low, so that's why I'm not sure if I have any shot at all, even with a high LSAT. If I had a 3.35 or 3.4 with a 178 or higher I would probably be okay though, right? Moving out of socal/the LA area is not really an option for me right now (although if I dont get into either USC or UCLA I guess I will probably consider it, lol).

I'm not trying to be a douche or anything but what makes you think you will be able get a score that only 1 out of 10,000 people get? But assuming you get a 180, you will most likely get UCLA/USC.

I never said that I assume I'll get a 180...

Have you taken a diag yet?

bllardw wrote:In all actuality your GPA is not low. A 3.2-3.4 makes you a contender. Remember that. You can go where-ever you set your mind to. Anything is possible

Thank You! That is so encouraging to hear!!!

dpk711 wrote:

cassie2012 wrote:

dpk711 wrote:

cassie2012 wrote:Thanks for the quick replies!!! I am definitely aiming for 180, I just bought a few LSAT study guides and am hoping I will also be able to take some kind of class, really that is going to be my whole mission this summer-to study hard and get a 180 on the LSAT. But I know my GPA is pretty low, so that's why I'm not sure if I have any shot at all, even with a high LSAT. If I had a 3.35 or 3.4 with a 178 or higher I would probably be okay though, right? Moving out of socal/the LA area is not really an option for me right now (although if I dont get into either USC or UCLA I guess I will probably consider it, lol).

I'm not trying to be a douche or anything but what makes you think you will be able get a score that only 1 out of 10,000 people get? But assuming you get a 180, you will most likely get UCLA/USC.

I never said that I assume I'll get a 180...

Have you taken a diag yet?

No, but from what I've heard and read it's fairly similar to the SAT. I got a 2370 on the new SAT so I think with a lot of studying I should be okay (I should add here that Cal State was not my first choice for undergrad-I went to NYU for a year straight out of HS but had to move back with family after I had my kids and had to start over since I didnt have enough credits to actually transfer)

cassie2012 wrote: No, but from what I've heard and read it's fairly similar to the SAT. I got a 2370 on the new SAT so I think with a lot of studying I should be okay (I should add here that Cal State was not my first choice for undergrad-I went to NYU for a year straight out of HS but had to move back with family after I had my kids and had to start over since I didnt have enough credits to actually transfer)

While I'm not going to say you can't get a 180 as you seem very bright, the LSAT is not similar to the SAT and scores do not have any correlation.

cassie2012 wrote: No, but from what I've heard and read it's fairly similar to the SAT. I got a 2370 on the new SAT so I think with a lot of studying I should be okay (I should add here that Cal State was not my first choice for undergrad-I went to NYU for a year straight out of HS but had to move back with family after I had my kids and had to start over since I didnt have enough credits to actually transfer)

The only similarity the LSAT shares with the SAT is in a single section - reading comprehension - which is roughly 1/4 of the exam. You probably have the smarts to tackle it though, with a high level of hard work of course; I've known some people with high SATs who could not break 170.

cassie2012 wrote: No, but from what I've heard and read it's fairly similar to the SAT. I got a 2370 on the new SAT so I think with a lot of studying I should be okay (I should add here that Cal State was not my first choice for undergrad-I went to NYU for a year straight out of HS but had to move back with family after I had my kids and had to start over since I didnt have enough credits to actually transfer)

It's not similar to the SAT except maybe the RC section (although the LSAT RC passages are exponentially more dense). In fact I know a couple of people who got 2250+ on the SAT but couldn't crack the 170 on the LSAT. To be honest, although it is good to aim high, a 178+ goal would most likely disappoint you.

aw darn, I was hoping it was similar to the SAT! oh well, that just means even more studying than I was already planning, I guess!

cassie2012 wrote:aw darn, I was hoping it was similar to the SAT! oh well, that just means even more studying than I was already planning, I guess!

It's a little more logic oriented but with time it is definitely learnable. It is a skill-based test, not a knowledge based test like the SAT. I would suggest that you get all three bibles and get 20+ prep-tests (especially the ones numbered 40 and higher). I really wish you good luck and it seems that you have the potential to do well.

I mean, if you do well on standardized tests that can only help you. Really you just need to take a diagnostic and go from there. No one can give you a solid number to hit because splitter cycles are so unpredictable. Try to get your GPA as high as possible, read the LSAT prep advice on here, and get the best score you can. That's all anyone here can tell you.

Dany wrote:I mean, if you do well on standardized tests that can only help you. Really you just need to take a diagnostic and go from there. No one can give you a solid number to hit because splitter cycles are so unpredictable. Try to get your GPA as high as possible, read the LSAT prep advice on here, and get the best score you can. That's all anyone here can tell you.

Why on earth are you still awake?

bllardw wrote:In all actuality your GPA is not low. A 3.2-3.4 makes you a contender. Remember that. You can go where-ever you set your mind to. Anything is possible

Maybe only if OP has good to amazing softs. A 3.2 is not a contender at the top 6.

cassie2012 wrote: No, but from what I've heard and read it's fairly similar to the SAT. I got a 2370 on the new SAT so I think with a lot of studying I should be okay (I should add here that Cal State was not my first choice for undergrad-I went to NYU for a year straight out of HS but had to move back with family after I had my kids and had to start over since I didnt have enough credits to actually transfer)

No. It's not similar to the SAT. And you shouldn't use the SAT to predict LSAT performance. I got perfect on the SAT but "only" 170 on the LSAT. That's not 99.99%tile. Actually, the RC on the LSAT threw me off. I'm planning on retake, but the RC still is a big obstacle. After the other sections your brain just gets so tired it's hard to focus on RC passages, really...If you really want 180 I suggest you train your logic skills for the other sections and the ability to concentrate for a long period of time for the RC.

I'd say a 175 is likely if you work very hard on mastering the LSAT skills. But as for 178-180 you'll need some luck.

Kimchi_smile wrote: I'd say a 175 is likely if you work very hard on mastering the LSAT skills.

This is probably being too optimistic.

UCLA you may have no chance...USC shoot for 170

dpk711 wrote:

Kimchi_smile wrote: I'd say a 175 is likely if you work very hard on mastering the LSAT skills.

This is probably being too optimistic.

Haha. I guess you're right. I'm trying to get 175 but so far it's not working.

Kimchi_smile wrote:

dpk711 wrote:

Kimchi_smile wrote: I'd say a 175 is likely if you work very hard on mastering the LSAT skills.

This is probably being too optimistic.

Haha. I guess you're right. I'm trying to get 175 but so far it's not working.

Hey man, you already got a 170 -- just 5 points more.

Just wondering how you are going to bring your GPA up that much with only one year left for your BSW. One thing that I learned that was VERY upsetting in my BSW program is that your internship units are all Pass/Fail... at least it is at my school which is also a CSU. Really annoying basically getting NO GPA boost after the fall since I am doing my ENTIRE internship in the fall (all 10 units) and then just a 2 units online seminar. I am doing my internship with the California Coalition for Youth. Nice to meeting another SWer I am so hoping to get into UCLA/USC but I will be applying to their MSW/JD program.

JDndMSW wrote:Just wondering how you are going to bring your GPA up that much with only one year left for your BSW. One thing that I learned that was VERY upsetting in my BSW program is that your internship units are all Pass/Fail... at least it is at my school which is also a CSU. Really annoying basically getting NO GPA boost after the fall since I am doing my ENTIRE internship in the fall (all 10 units) and then just a 2 units online seminar. I am doing my internship with the California Coalition for Youth. Nice to meeting another SWer I am so hoping to get into UCLA/USC but I will be applying to their MSW/JD program.

We are on the quarter system so I still don't have my grades for this spring quarter ending 6/10...hoping for a 4.0!! I'm also taking 4 classes in summer and will be taking 3 classes each quarter next year along with my internship. And even if I get all 4.0s it will still bring me up less than 0.2 GPA points. Good Luck to you!!!