Do I have a shot? Forum

[sarahbear716]

new stats.

2.9/164
1 year work experience
Emory University
non-URM

still SOL?

[TheFactor]

You don't want to go anywhere that would take that combo of gpa/lsat. You'll end up paying sticker at a school that will leave you in tons of debt with terrible employment prospects.

[sarahbear716]

so your saying I shouldn't go to law school?

[franklyscarlet]

I think he's saying hold off this year, put in a heavy amount of work, and get the high LSAT you need to be a splitter.

[TheFactor]

so your saying I shouldn't go to law school?

unless you can hit 170+ on a retake you should not go to law school

[Yukos]

so your saying I shouldn't go to law school?

unless you can hit 170+ on a retake you should not go to law school

[Redzo]

--ImageRemoved--

"So you're telling me there's a chance...."

[sarahbear716]

I guess that makes me Jim Carey. Sweet.

[admisionquestion]

I am saying you should not go to law school, unless you are a Under Represented Minority, regardless of what LSAT you have.

2.6 is too of a GPA to get top 14 no matter what.
2.6 is too low to get money from top 30.

With rare exception I believe it is a bad decision to go to law school if you cannot do either of the previous.

Think of it this way. You will graduate with over 130,000 in debt. You do not have proven track record of academic success of commitment. Why would you gamble 3 years of your life for a small chance of being able to pay your debt and an almost insignificant chance of "being rich" anytime in the near future.

Obviously if law school is REALLY what you want to do then I won't fault you for finding a way to make it happen. But please please please read through the bad economy megapost and take some real time to consider if you really want to commit 8 years of your life (3 school, 5 of yearly wages lost servicing debt) for a job that will not leave you in a particularly strong economic position.

If it is about the money don't do it and consider B school or becoming and accountant.
If it is about the glory (dont do it even if you get t14 full ride)
if its about helping people (become a social worker or something)
If its about intellectual curiosity kill the GRE and find a Ph.D. program somewhere (or if thats not really possible get a job as a security guard and spend your days reading).

[crumpetsandtea]

I am saying you should not go to law school, unless you are a Under Represented Minority, regardless of what LSAT you have.

2.6 is too of a GPA to get top 14 no matter what.
2.6 is too low to get money from top 30.

Bullllllshiiiit.

http://lawschoolnumbers.com/FinanceLawyer/jd - 2.6/176/WE, Attending NU, $105K from IUB and $60K from WUSTL
http://lawschoolnumbers.com/gyrohero/jd - 2.8/171/WE, Attending NU, $20K from UMN
http://lawschoolnumbers.com/corgi/jd - 2.88/175/WE, Attending NU (through ED program)
http://lawschoolnumbers.com/CucumberOutlet/jd - 2.7/173/WE, Attending WUSTL w/$15K, $20K from UMN
http://lawschoolnumbers.com/wijo0305/jd - 2.87/166/WE, Attending U of Alabama w/$81K, $30K from Emory

None of them are URM. It's NOT too low of a GPA to get into T14, or a little money at a T30. However, you're going to need a 17X LSAT. If you don't get into the upper-160s or lower 170s in a retake, then yes you're SOL. Additionally, you might need some more WE to distance yourself from your GPA. IF you want to apply, push back your applications for a year to get more WE, study your ASS off for the LSAT, and apply next cycle.

This, however:

Think of it this way. You will graduate with over 130,000 in debt. You do not have proven track record of academic success of commitment. Why would you gamble 3 years of your life for a small chance of being able to pay your debt and an almost insignificant chance of "being rich" anytime in the near future.

is TCR and you should definitely reassess your reasons for attending LS and see if it's worth it for you. Don't attend a T2 school for anything other than a full ride, please. You should be shooting for a better LSAT and a shot at a T30 with a bit of money or a T14 (aka Northwestern) for a full ride, if you're not debt averse. Otherwise don't go at all.

[sarahbear716]

All I really need to know is if there is a chance that I will be able to get into these schools. I realize that I probably won't get a scholarship, but with money aside..

[admisionquestion]

All I really need to know is if there is a chance that I will be able to get into these schools. I realize that I probably won't get a scholarship, but with money aside..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-defea ... y_disorder

[Grizz]

All I really need to know is if there is a chance that I will be able to get into these schools. I realize that I probably won't get a scholarship, but with money aside..

You're asking the wrong question.

Also, how the hell do you have a 2.6 from Emory? Maggies much?

[TheFactor]

I am saying you should not go to law school, unless you are a Under Represented Minority, regardless of what LSAT you have.

2.6 is too of a GPA to get top 14 no matter what.
2.6 is too low to get money from top 30.

With rare exception I believe it is a bad decision to go to law school if you cannot do either of the previous.
Think of it this way. You will graduate with over 130,000 in debt. You do not have proven track record of academic success of commitment. Why would you gamble 3 years of your life for a small chance of being able to pay your debt and an almost insignificant chance of "being rich" anytime in the near future.

Obviously if law school is REALLY what you want to do then I won't fault you for finding a way to make it happen. But please please please read through the bad economy megapost and take some real time to consider if you really want to commit 8 years of your life (3 school, 5 of yearly wages lost servicing debt) for a job that will not leave you in a particularly strong economic position.

If it is about the money don't do it and consider B school or becoming and accountant.
If it is about the glory (dont do it even if you get t14 full ride)
if its about helping people (become a social worker or something)
If its about intellectual curiosity kill the GRE and find a Ph.D. program somewhere (or if thats not really possible get a job as a security guard and spend your days reading).

[sarahbear716]

Oh Yea Grizz, Maggies is where I spent all of my time after my sister died from Systolic heart failure. It was a real awesome time in my life.

Jerk.

[admisionquestion]

Oh Yea Grizz, Maggies is where I spent all of my time after my sister died from Systolic heart failure. It was a real awesome time in my life.

Jerk.

That comment was fine, except the part where you called him a mean name for assuming that the number that measures your academic success was measuring your academic success.

I am sympathetic and I believe you would be justified in writing an addendum. But 3.7 3.7 3.7 3.7 0 0 3.7 3.7 is 2.7 and if thats your story I think you really might be a special case and might get some unexpected offers. If your story is 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 .6 I think your gpa is still laughable.

[sarahbear716]

Fair enough.

It was actually 3.6 my 1st year and then dropped to 2.0 my 2nd year when my sister died and then it leveled off somewhere in between my Junior and Senior year. It took therapy, medication, and most importantly a job in the legal field after college to whip me into shape and make me realize that being a lawyer is really what I want to become.

[law4vus]

Just curious...where did the new stats come from? Are you projecting how you think you'll do on the LSAT? Keep in mind that practice scores do not always reflect actual test results. I was practicing as high as 176 and shit happened and I ended up with a 167 on the real thing.

Either way, take the advice in this thread seriously. The legal market sucks so bad right now that it isn't advisable to go to a non-Tier 1 school at this point (and some will say nothing but top 30, nothing but top 20, nothing but top 14, etc). If you really want to be a lawyer, then work REALLY hard and get a high LSAT score. I wasn't the best student either, but I managed to get a high enough score for a T20. You can too.

Otherwise, and I'm being absolutely serious here, going to law school is NOT worth it. It's a miserable time for most people, it's super stressful, and if you don't go to a T1 and/or finish ranked highly in your class, there's a very good chance you don't find employment AT ALL. Yes, it sounds crazy and yes it's tough to believe. But it's something that's really happening and something that needs to be taken to heart when deciding whether law school is for you. With your current stats, you WILL get into some of those schools you listed but it's arguable whether any of them are actually worth attending. There are Northwestern grads and Georgetown grads who are having trouble finding even a temporary job. The most prudent thing to do is to take some time off and focus solely on the LSAT. Get away from school, get away from friends, do what you need to do in order to get at least a 168. That should be your target number.

Ignore the snarky comments from people. Yes, you underachieved in school and that's something you can't do anything about anymore. But the good thing for people like you and I is that the LSAT is weighed so heavily in law school admissions that a high enough score can still get you into a lot of very good schools. You just really need to put in the effort and get it done. Please take this advice seriously. Law schools are littered with people that didn't listen when people tried to tell them this and those same people are going to be unemployed with 150K of debt on their hands. Make the informed decision and don't let that be you. A year of your life taken off between undergrad and LS will allow you to get a high score and it really isn't much to give up in the long run. Get some work experience, visit places, and get that high score.

Good luck! PM me if you have any other questions.

[jim-green]

This may help, I don't know. What was your major? Can you do an MA and get a 4.0, get another year of WE in that field and then apply? That would make you appear very serious and substantial to me.

[Grizz]

Oh Yea Grizz, Maggies is where I spent all of my time after my sister died from Systolic heart failure. It was a real awesome time in my life.

Jerk.

2.6 is gonna hurt. Bad. You can't get into anywhere worth going to with that LSAT. It's just not financially worth it. You can retake for a 170+ and ED NW (though with them offering lots of money to ED candidates, this may not work. Gotta see how that plays out this cycle). Or try to ED GULC PT. Huge financial risk though. Your only hope to make law school worth it is to get a stratospheric LSAT score to get into a T14 or get a shitton of money from WUSTL/IUB/Minn/etc. Though that's risky too. Check out the Midwestern T25 employment thread. The legal market is truly shit. 45,000 grads for something like 25,000 legal jobs. And a lot of those 25,000 are bad jobs, too.

[Tainted_Praise]

retake and apply next cycle if you can