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Hi TLSers,

Wondering what my chances are at T20 with CLS as my reach. Here are my stats:

Attended mid-ranked UC school (T50 nationally)

-3.15 GPA (upward trend of 3.8+ last year; will be writing an addendum to explain severe medical illness during first two years)
-172 LSAT
-URM female (will be marking AA and NA)
-Some work experience in a law firm
-Average softs
-D1 scholarship athlete for two years (conference scholar athlete award) - I couldn't play all four years as a result of my illness

What schools should I be aiming for? Should I retake the LSAT? And should I write the addendum to explain low GPA due to illness? I had to make frequent trips to the emergency room, often times restricted to bed rest, several strong medications, had to redshirt first year and was forced to sit out the end of the second season. I hate having to explain all this, but its quite clear how much better I performed academically after my physicians and I got a hold of my condition (started making deans list mid-junior year, averaging 3.8+ my senior year). Please help.

http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com

The T6 seem good to aim for, H is also probably worth an application as well. An LSAT retake won't really benefit you, it's your GPA that's killing you. If the medical illness was that severe I say go ahead and write one but I'm not too knowledgeable about addenda (of course be succinct about it and don't get too long winded in your addendum).

Thanks bk187 for your advice - I wasn't looking forward to taking another LSAT, so in a way I'm happy it won't make a difference . I had a difficult time finding URM splitters on lawschoolnumbers, but the ones that I did find had mixed results. I have actually found more information regarding URM splitters in this forum. I'm thinking of just blanketing the T14 (as early as possible in the cycle) to see if some luck comes my way. Anyone else on the GPA addendum? Also, what schools should I be aiming for if I want a decent scholarship?

I'm interested in her chances as well. I am predicting my scores to be quite similar.

Anyone else? I've made a list of schools I will be applying to:

Harvard
Columbia
Chicago
NYU
Penn
Michigan
Boalt
UVA
Georgetown
Cornell
Duke
NU
UCLA
USC
UCD
UCI
UIUC
ND

Should I be aiming lower for scholarship money? I realized that T10-T14 may be my reach schools?

Write the addendum, and apply to T14; pretty sure you'll be just fine. If you want some full/near-full scholarships, go lower.

Hummm....AA & NA eh? I would love to hear more about this as I am interested in this. Normally, if you are half urm & half non-urm, you will be disadvantaged compared to someone who is a full urm. In this case, it appears that you got both the goodies.

BrianGriffintheDog wrote:Hummm....AA & NA eh? I would love to hear more about this as I am interested in this. Normally, if you are half urm & half non-urm, you will be disadvantaged compared to someone who is a full urm. In this case, it appears that you got both the goodies.

Not trying to hijack the thread (maybe I should be asking this question in the URM forum), but do admission committees require an applicant to provide proof of NA ancestry like a CDIB card or tribal registration? I'm practically a quarter Choctaw, and although I am not registered with the tribe or have the federal card, I do identify as part NA and have worked on several NA reservations (which are not Choctaw) over the past year and half. I am also AA and expect to have similar numbers to the OP which is why I'm very interested in her chances, however I won't be applying until 2012-2013. I heard that AA receive the greatest "boost," if you may, in the cycles, but I always assumed that NA would receive a much larger one? Last question, is it possible to mark two boxes (AA and NA) on applications or do you have to choose one or mark biracial?

BrianGriffintheDog wrote:Normally, if you are half urm & half non-urm, you will be disadvantaged compared to someone who is a full urm.

This is one of the dumbest things I've read all day.

bne90 wrote:Not trying to hijack the thread (maybe I should be asking this question in the URM forum), but do admission committees require an applicant to provide proof of NA ancestry like a CDIB card or tribal registration? I'm practically a quarter Choctaw, and although I am not registered with the tribe or have the federal card, I do identify as part NA and have worked on several NA reservations (which are not Choctaw) over the past year and half. I am also AA and expect to have similar numbers to the OP which is why I'm very interested in her chances, however I won't be applying until 2012-2013. I heard that AA receive the greatest "boost," if you may, in the cycles, but I always assumed that NA would receive a much larger one? Last question, is it possible to mark two boxes (AA and NA) on applications or do you have to choose one or mark biracial?

1. Some schools will want tribal registration some won't care. I'm not NA so I don't know specifically which ones but if you're curious you should make a thread about it. However, since you are AA it probably won't matter.
2. AA is the largest boost but you're not going to get a bigger boost for being both AA and NA.
3. You can mark both. They also won't know what percentage of you is what because they basically say "check all that apply." They won't know whether you're 1/2+1/2 or 1/8+7/8 and they won't care either.

bk187 wrote:

BrianGriffintheDog wrote:Normally, if you are half urm & half non-urm, you will be disadvantaged compared to someone who is a full urm.

This is one of the dumbest things I've read all day.

+1

Thanks bk187 for answering my questions, you were very helpful. I think I'm going to start a thread in the URM forum because I haven't found any decent threads (which I admit my forum search might not have been so thorough) regarding Native Americans.