Top Law Schools

Hey,

I just wanted to see if it's worth applying to a place like Stanford. My ugrad GPA in science was 3.59 -- I did a master's at MIT in engineering and got almost straight A's (4.9/5.0). I had to work a lot in undergrad (40+ hours/week) to support myself/family, so it is what it is. It took me a few semesters to be able to balance everything, basically. I got a 176 on the LSAT, which is above their median, but apparently Stanford doesn't care as much about the LSAT. I think I have a good story in terms of some entrepreneurial things I've been involved in that have given me a pretty solid focus for why I want to go to law school, and also why Stanford specifically. I don't know if these things help, but I want to craft myself as an attorney that focuses on helping startups out, since things like patent litigation/prosecution can cost a fortune (a friend of mine was almost bankrupted by a very big fish in a basically bullshit lawsuit meant only to bleed him dry). I have to think that if good lawyers were more readily available to help get some technologies off the ground that the state-of-the-art may be at least slightly more advanced. In my experience, top IP firms don't really want to touch startups, since conflicts of interest may prevent them getting a big client down the line.

Anyway, since it seems Stanford is a bit of a crap shoot, is there value in me applying? Like I said, I think I can craft a good story for them and demonstrate why it is I want to be a lawyer and specifically why Stanford, I'm just worried about my undergrad GPA.

I'd say it's worth throwing an app in. You're pretty nontraditional so it's hard to predict exactly how your cycle will go, but your numbers aren't really that out of reach at all.

Probably not, your GPA is way too low. Stanford has people with high GPAs, good LSATs and good stories to choose from. Apply anyway if you want but it's not looking good at any HYS. You'll be pretty solid for CCN I believe.

Given this past cycle, I think you have a shot at Harvard. Y/S are out though, I'm afraid.

Your uGPA is almost certainly going to be too low for Stanford: http://myLSN.info/dispresults.php?sk=47c8q. But I would apply anyway, so as not to have any regrets. Be sure to include an addendum referencing your full-time employment in undergrad and your family's economic hardship.

Harvard is unlikely, but you would at least have a shot at getting in off the WL this coming cycle. As the data show, Columbia is very likely, and NYU is yours to lose.

Thanks for the replies -- sounds good. I'll give it a shot and just see what happens, but will canvas the rest of the top 10.

If I really wanted to go there, if I were to do well during my first year, would transferring be an option?

I would imagine transferring from a t10 to another t10 is ill-advised, but I am still in undergrad; so what do I know?

justanothernerd wrote:Thanks for the replies -- sounds good. I'll give it a shot and just see what happens, but will canvas the rest of the top 10.

If I really wanted to go there, if I were to do well during my first year, would transferring be an option?

Yes.

Usually graduate grades and degrees are a pretty weak soft, but I think engineering @ MIT is one of the rare ones that might give you a better than average boost.

tl;dr

apply broadly, I think you will be able to pull one of the HYSBoalt schools which is where you should be aiming.

justanothernerd wrote:If I really wanted to go there, if I were to do well during my first year, would transferring be an option?

It's an option insofar as it's possible to do so, but that possibility is very remote. SLS takes only ~10-15 transfers per year out of many times that number of applicants. You'll need to do better than almost everyone in your class, and then you will have to against dozens of other top students from T14 and other schools who want to transfer to SLS as well. Take a look at some of this thread for a sense of what a crapshoot it would be: http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 7&t=184701.

BigBucks wrote:I would imagine transferring from a t10 to another t10 is ill-advised

That's definitely not the case when YHS is the destination.

i'd say try both harvard and stanford. maybe you'll get lucky. these two did, and one guy has your numbers (more or less):

http://lawschoolnumbers.com/hart4heisman/jd
http://lawschoolnumbers.com/Wonky/jd