Chances with my GPA? Forum

[vlawnoob]

Hey everyone,

I've seriously been considering law school over the past few months and was wondering what my chances are with the following credentials:

Top state school: Low GPA ~2.9 Accounting Major
Extracurriculars/story: Held major leadership positions on campus, Teach for America Alumni, some pretty unique leadership experiences
LSAT - Think I can score 165-175

Thoughts on my chances on getting into a top tier law school?

[d34d9823]

Hey everyone,

I've seriously been considering law school over the past few months and was wondering what my chances are with the following credentials:

Top state school: Low GPA ~2.9 Accounting Major
Extracurriculars/story: Held major leadership positions on campus, Teach for America Alumni, some pretty unique leadership experiences
LSAT - Think I can score 165-175

Thoughts on my chances on getting into a top tier law school?

Get a 170 and you have a fighting chance at Northwestern/Virginia. WashU lets in everyone with a 168 or above, regardless of GPA.

This should help: http://lawschoolnumbers.com/

[emciosn]

165-175 is a big range. 175 is a lot different than 165, even 170 is a huge improvement from 165 as far as admissions go. This question can't be answered without an LSAT. Come back when you get one.

[vlawnoob]

Let's assume I hit 170 or above.

[skers]

Let's assume I hit 170 or above.

Don't assume a 170.

[Dr. Filth]

WashU lets in everyone with a 168 or above, regardless of GPA.

Is this actually true?

[ElvisAaron]

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[d34d9823]

WashU lets in everyone with a 168 or above, regardless of GPA.

Is this actually true?

http://washu.lawschoolnumbers.com/stats ... Cycle=1011

[JazzOne]

Let's assume I hit 170 or above.

Lol

[moleculex17]

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lmfao

[Corwin]

If you get a 172 or higher you'll be in great shape for NU. Just realize that 172 is 99th percentile. UVA is difficult with sub 3.0, most people who get in with <3.0 are VA residents.

[WSJ_Law]

trololol get re4L skorz br0

[MumofCad]

I think the point is this - you need to really study for the LSAT with that GPA.

Anything below a 170, will most likely put you out of contention at most schools. You will be below their 25th% so you will need an LSAT that can bring their numbers up to compensate (170ish) and a solid application.

Best of luck!

My advice is to make sure you practice under real test circumstances - sit entire tests and a test section. 10-15 minute break after the 3rd section. Don't give yourself extra time, pause the time to go get some water, etc. I broke these rules (in part because I didn't study much and not until the last few weeks when I already had horrible morning sickness). It cost me on the test, because I realized I couldn't sit through the whole thing without a trip to the bathroom or a snack to calm my stomach. Since you can only snack during the allotted break, I was forced to get up toward the end up a section to avoid throwing up in the room, guess on a few after skimming them and then missed the start of the next section. I had unique circumstances being pregnant, but the point is the same - practice like you have to take it. I snacked while I worked through sections at home. It wasn't till I really looked at the rules of sitting the test that I became worried. At that point I would have to withdraw so I opted to just roll the dice. It worked out alright for me. If I had waited till October when I could sit through the entire test, I would scored significantly higher.

So sit down, take it under the real conditions, and you should have a fairly good idea of where you'll land on the real deal. Then work to get where you need to be.

[vlawnoob]

Thanks so much for the non-douche responses.

Totally understand that a 170+ LSAT requires an extreme amount of hard work and dedication and I think I'm up for it. My question was really whether or not I was even in contention for the top 20-25 schools with as low a GPA as I have... and seems like it's been answered.

Thanks again!

[richalvarez]

I, also, find myself in a similar position. I have a 2.9 GPA in Accounting. I actually earned a 3.4 during my 4 years at my university, but 2 years at a JC is bringing me down. I recently took an initial diagnostic at a PowerScore course and scored a 152. I would like to score above 165, I'm hoping the course will give me the technique necessary to attack the LSAT and through hard work I can achieve my score. I wish you luck, I think we both need it

Edit: Does anyone know what kind of improvement I could expect from my initial diagnostic? I'm in a two-month prep course and I also have the PowerScore bibles. If I devote a very thorough two-months of prep, how much do you think I could raise my actual score by?