What's my ceiling? Forum

[Uncle Leo]

Hey all, I've been following this board pretty consistently over the last month or so and wanted to put a question out there. I have been planning to apply to law school this fall for some time now and the predictions some of you have been making for other users on this site have started to stress me out.

You see, some extenuating circumstances combined with the undeniable fact that I bummed out my first few semesters have left me with a high 3.2x leading into my senior year. I feel strongly that my GPA doesn't accurately reflect my intelligence (though perhaps my drive is another issue) and I wanted to prove this by killing the October LSAT; and so far, based on my PTs, I am on track to do just that. Now, I have read on this board ad infinitum that PT scores are meaningless, but I am a confident test taker, and I'm honestly striving for that perfect score (I've got a couple under my belt thus far). I feel the eyes rolling, and I hear you, its a whole different ball game come test day, but its better to shoot too high.

All that aside, I just needed to get some knowledge from those who know: what's my ceiling here? Let's humor me and say I hypothetically get that 180, or a high 17x, or whatever... how much is that GPA going to weigh me down? How strict are T14s' GPA floors when it comes to improving their LSAT medians? Am I screwed at CCNMVP? Some of the people posting here with awesome LSATs and much better GPAs than mine are leading me to believe so... and LSN isn't making me feel any better.

Sorry for spewing that all out, but the tension is starting to build. Thanks if you stuck with me up to here, and thanks in advance for any advice.

[Gideon Strumpet]

Let's humor me and say I hypothetically get that 180, or a high 17x, or whatever.

Lets not. Bust your ass and score as high as possible on the LSAT; it's the one thing in your control at this point that can improve your outcome. Come back when you have an actual score.

[Uncle Leo]

Believe me, I'm busting my ass every day, and I will right up until October 1st. I don't need anyone else's encouragement to do so, even if I start acing tests on the daily.

I'm not trying to be cocky, and this isn't some hypothetical to toot my own horn. It's just for a little peace of mind as I'm a bit of a novice in the whole application game.

Appreciate the post either way though.

[Helmholtz]

Get an LSAT score and come back. Thanks.

[bmore]

A GPA reflects more than intelligence. If your LSAT is high and GPA around a 3.2 that tells the Adcomms something. You can't retake your GPA. Work hard, pull up your GPA (however slight) do well on LSAT and apply to where you want to go. Only the Adcomms can give the answer of how much it matters.

[Grizz]

Take the LSAT and get back.

In the meantime, enjoy lawschoolnumbers.com

[czelede]

Anything except HYS are technically "possible". You would need probably around a 180 to have even a fighting chance at Columbia (and that's not likely). Anything else on down you have varying chances at.

[JamMasterJ]

Anything except HYS are technically "possible". You would need probably around a 180 to have even a fighting chance at Columbia (and that's not likely). Anything else on down you have varying chances at.

Berkeley is probably out too

[Verity]

Do it. Do it.