175/3.5-3.7 Forum

[senhorquick]

So. I just got my LSAT scores back. I got a 175. I am pretty content with that.

I have two questions though regarding where to go from here.

1. I have a preliminary list of schools that I am looking at. It includes Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, NYU, Columbia, Chicago, Penn, Michigan, Virginia, Northwestern, Duke, Georgetown, UCLA, USC, Texas, BU, and Toronto. Any other schools I should be looking at? My GPA is currently a 3.5. It will increase by the time that I apply and I will talk about that more in the next question. I know the people will snidely tell me to go to LSN or something, but I want to have a human answer to whether or not there is a really strict GPA floor for Stanford and Berkeley? Could a 3.5-3.65 with a 175 feasibly get into those schools

2. I am running for my school's Student Gov't starting this month and while most people will probably laugh at that, it means that if I win I am an executive with power over a 40 million dollar a year budget. My job is going to be awesome, but coupled with my honors thesis I am going to be very stressed next year. I am ready to leave this cowtown and move on to something better. However, I don't want to apply next cycle if it would be a bad decision. My parents are telling me to hold off on applying until 2013. By then my GPA will probably be about a 3.6-3.7 (I can only feasibly get it to 3.55 before this cycle) and I will have a year to relax. What are your thoughts? I am only 20 and if I apply in 2013 will only be 22, entering LS a few months after my 23rd birthday and with a year off of undergrad. Anyhow, thoughts???

[bk1]

Why do you want a human to answer you when that human will be looking at the very same LSN data to come to a conclusion? (My eyes tell me that it's possible but unlikely. Though more likely at Boalt than Stanford obviously.)

Why would applying next cycle be a bad decision? Though I think if you could manage a 3.7 you'd be in a much better position.

[No13baby]

If you take a year off after college, you can wait for your GPA to be the best it can be, and you can hopefully work and save a little money in the meantime. I don't see any downside for you.

Harvard and Stanford are out even with a 3.7 - you have at least a shot at the other schools you listed. Also, about 95% of Northwestern's entering class has work experience, so you'd need to take a year off to have a strong chance there.

[dailygrind]

This probably should've been split into two posts:

1) What are my chances:
2) Maybe here, probably admissions.

I'm moving the thread over to the what are my chances subforum and retitling it for you so you'll probably get some more input. Feel free to change the title to something else, and to try to find more input for your second question.

[minnbills]

With your current GPA Berk is not out of the question, Stanford is.

I would wait the year, if you could crack 3.7 more doors will open.

EDIT: Undergraduate student body president is a nice soft (I'm assuming that's the position) but it won't really change your chances. It will open some doors as far as networking is concerned though. I know the student body pres at my University and she's met with the state supreme court, the school's lawyers, etc. etc.

[2014]

Apply whenever your GPA will be the highest.

As someone who told himself that my senior year my GPA would go up for various reasons only to see it drop by a little bit, I would caution against you banking on it being a 3.7. However, you aren't getting in to HYS with a 3.5 so yeah.

[TheRedMamba]

I ED'd to Columbia with a 175/3.71 and that's where I'll be this fall

[Tiago Splitter]

I would wait the year, if you could crack 3.7 more doors will open.

Even just getting it closer to 3.6 will give you a little more breathing room above some GPA floors. But a 3.7 is magic.

[2014]

I ED'd to Columbia with a 175/3.71 and that's where I'll be this fall

Interesting call, that's basically an autoadmit RD possibly/probably with a scholarship and possibly in higher.

[TheRedMamba]

I ED'd to Columbia with a 175/3.71 and that's where I'll be this fall

Interesting call, that's basically an autoadmit RD possibly/probably with a scholarship and possibly in higher.

I wouldn't say I regret it now because I am so happy and excited to be going to CLS, but I do sometimes wonder what if. My rational was that I preferred Columbia over NYU and Chi significantly, so winding up at either of those was something I wanted to avoid and I felt that ED to Columbia pushed me from "basically an autoadmit" to an legitimate auto admit. Money was not a factor in my decision. I also thought my GPA would keep me out of HYS considering I had negligible softs. Maybe I made the wrong call, what do you think? Either way I don't mind much, CLS was my first choice.

[senhorquick]

This probably should've been split into two posts:

1) What are my chances:
2) Maybe here, probably admissions.

I'm moving the thread over to the what are my chances subforum and retitling it for you so you'll probably get some more input. Feel free to change the title to something else, and to try to find more input for your second question.

Thanks you're a doll. Long time lurker, but still pretty oblivious.

Okay my point about the student government was less to stress my soft factors, which I am pretty confident about, and more to say that this is a 40 hour a week job managing a colossal budget. I think that it would probably count for a year of WE according to, well, anyone, but is this naivete on my part?

Also, I am just going to assume that no matter how magical one's softs are, a 3.7 does not get into Yale?

[Tiago Splitter]

Also, I am just going to assume that no matter how magical one's softs are, a 3.7 does not get into Yale?

The lowest GPA to get in last year was a 3.61. I guess you can say that if you have the softs to get in with a 3.7, you'd know.