3.5/168/Military/Nuclear Engineer...help! Forum

[Ramius]

Hey all! After much hmming and hawing about what to do, I decided to take the plunge and make a thread to gauge myself comparatively. Any help would be much, much appreciated:

First off, the stats/softs:
3.45 GPA (Service Academy, I've been told notorious for lack of grade inflation, no concrete information to support though)
168 LSAT
Nuclear Engineer for the Navy past 5 years
applying for the Navy Law Education Program (ie potentially free student with guaranteed job at graduation in public service)
Great LoRs from my Chain of Command outlining academic abilities displayed in nuclear power and one professor
PS highlighting the maturity I've gained during my time in military service and my desire to go into public service following law school
Diversity statement including military service, being a cancer survivor and a wide breadth of academic study (history major to nuclear engineer)
Possible Addendum explaining a 3.0 GPA following freshman year due to the particularly rigorous time requirements placed on freshmen at Service Academies combined with some conduct trouble for listening to music as a freshman


Am I out at all the T14 or would there be a reasonable shot at any of them? It's early enough in the cycle right now to assume I can still take the LSAT again to try to improve that, but assuming I don't improve at all from that score, I'd really like some other opinions on this. I know the numbers are low for pretty much all the T14, but do any of those softs improve my shot? Thanks for any input you all can provide!

[TiberiusTyrone]

You'd probably have some sort of shot with everything after HYS. Those are some nice softs. But why would you want to go into law with what you already have? Are you thinking of military law (is that what you mean by public service)? Nuclear engineering... sounds very impressive! Tell me though, is it true that most nuclear engineers work on subs?

[PinkCow]

Hey man, USAFA dropout here (after 3 semesters). I had very similar numbers as you (slightly higher GPA and 1 point higher LSAT), mostly because, like you, my first year was in the toilet. One of the academic advisers at USAFA told me that you can basically bump your GPA up .5 or even 1 to reflect what it would have been at most any other school, so a 3.45 is very strong.

Re: applications, my cycle played out pretty predictably with my numbers regarding admission and scholarship offers. I got rejected at Penn (ED) and accepted at Cornell and other lower ranked schools.

Given that you actually graduated from a service academy AND you have been a nuclear engineer (sweet, by the way; one of my USAFA Calc profs was a USN LT who worked on a nuke sub), I would expect that you would outperform your numbers more than me.

Specifically, given your impressive work experience, I would say that Northwestern is a good shot. CCN would really be reaches, but your life story may make applications worth your $. It's unlikely though. MVP would be reaches, but worth the $. DCNG and T-15 - 20 would be your targets.

Boalt is black box. They may like your story, but your GPA might close that door. I would say Harvard is out, but who knows, maybe Yale or Stanford would take holistic interest. Probably not, but if you're willing to go through the application, you might as well.

Good luck. I'm sure you'll have some nice options.


*EDIT: Listening to music WTF? Did you not consider wearing only 1 earbud in the ear not facing your hallway door?

[Ramius]

Haha, the earbud thing is a fair point. Unfortunately it was on a Friday night prior to classes starting during Spring semester. Not a good way to start off the semester! It was definitely a lesson learned moment for me.

[Ramius]

@ Tiberius: I have always wanted to be a lawyer, but took the long path because law school is not an option coming out of a service academy. Although I've found great people and great opportunities in nuclear power, the desire to pursue a career in law has never dissipated. Right now I am applying to be a Navy JAG in conjunction with apps to law schools. To answer your question about nuclear engineers, yes the majority of us are working in the submarine community, but I am actually a surface variant, which means I'm currently onboard an aircraft carrier operating the two nuclear reactors that power it. I'm currently deployed in the Middle East, returning home soon to ramp up the apps for law school!

Thanks to both of you for the response! Your words of encouragement are definitely helpful. I'm seriously considering retaking the LSAT, but I find it rather presumptuous to assume I can improve on my score without any evidence to the contrary.

[sky7]

USNA '06 here. PM me and we will chat offline.

[humbugger]

A former surface nuke here, though I was enlisted.

The reality of law school admissions makes it unlikely you will outperform your numbers to any great extent. You'll need to be above median in either LSAT or GPA to have a shot at admission at a given school.

The best thing to do is try to push your LSAT score up a few points, as a 170+ will serve you well. If you're new to the forums you might want to look in the LSAT prep forum under the stickies to see how other people have prepared. There's a lot of good info in there.

Fair winds and following seas! (lol I couldn't resist).