3.1/164 URM Forum

[rt234]

Hi, everyone! I could use some of your collective wisdom. Here are my stats:
3.1 range GPA from HYP
164 (I wasn't able to study before it and the games section killed me. I'm scheduled to retake in Dec but am not sure if I'll improve.)
American Indian Female & Economically Disadvantaged (I grew up in a tribal community and am still heavily involved. My father passed away when I was 14, so finances were incredibly tight.)
Working as a private tutor since college graduation two years ago.

I know my GPA is low, but do you all think I have any chances at a T-50 school? Thanks so much and best of luck to everyone!

[legallyblondeDC]

Hi! I'm a 2L that worked in the admissions office of a T-50 school and from what I saw, you should be ok with your scores depending on what school you're looking at. T-20 might be a stretch, but you should still find a good T1 school

[gspiel1232]

0L here so take this with a grain of salt:

You'll get many T30s with $

[rt234]

Thanks for the responses! I'm going to send a few out and hope for the best.

[BlaqBella]

Throw out some apps to the T10 law schools, too - Cornell, Michigan, Duke, UVA to name a few.

[somewhatwayward]

Go ahead and apply and study your ass off for December, but don't settle for anything less than T6, T14 with a scholarship, or T1 with a full scholarship. If you can't raise your score enough in December, retake in June or October and apply again next year. In this economy, you need to maximize your school or minimize your debt (ideally both). Also, if you have not graduated yet, do whatever you can to raise your GPA. T14s tend to prefer URMs with high GPAs and lower LSATs, but URMs do get in to the T-6 with GPAs in the low 3s. HLS seems to take a couple ~170/~3.2 AA males every year.

Schools seem to like URMs from HYP, so that should be helpful (especially if you raise your GPA). Good luck!

ETA: 'maximize your school' is a little misleading....you should not maximize your school unless that means T6, probably really HYS....if the best school you get into is, say, Cardozo, I would say minimize your debt rather than maximizing your school

[CanadianWolf]

Columbia was/is seeking NAs. Otherwise you should be admitted to many, possibly most, Tier One (Top 50) law schools. Cornell is also friendly territory for NAs.