3.69 GPA/153 LSAT, Any advice would be appreciated! Forum

[jsjones13]

I will be graduating with a bachelors of arts degree in both political science and sociology. My LSAC cumulative GPA is 3.69, and I have an LSAT score of 153. I have been heavily involved in several student organizations. I'm also a first generation college student who grew up on a farm in a town with a population of 200 (this was addressed in my personal statement). I've had two internships at different law firms, and I've been involved and competed successfully in collegiate Moot Court (I made it to the national tournament).

I found out today that I have been put on the wait-list for LSU, what do you think my chances are of getting in there? And what are my chances for the rest of these schools:
- Vanderbilt
- Alabama
- Texas
- SMU
- Baylor
- University of Houston
- South Texas
- Texas Tech
- St. Mary's
- LSU (just in case you forget)

Thank you so much for any comments or suggestions.

[empyreanrrv]

Welcome to TLS--

What type of law are you looking to practice? Where would you like to practice?

Also, you will probably want to retake the LSAT. A better score will open up so many more doors for you in terms of better employment placement and hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships.

[jsjones13]

Ultimately I would like to be an appellate attorney. Other than that I'm not that sure. I have had experience with family law and estate and litigation work during my internships, and I enjoyed both, but I was planning on entering law school with an open mind.

I would prefer to practice law within Texas, but I'm not against practicing in the South and Southeast.

[goldenflash19]

Retake State University is the only school you should be considering

[AMilfordMan]

Like most people on TLS, I will preach the same message: Retake the LSAT. I don't think you have to go to a top 3 school or have a full-ride to a top 14 if you want to succeed in law, but I do think you need to consider the reality of what 250k of debt would look like without a job.

Given the abysmal legal employment statistics (look into http://www.lstscorereports.com/?r=tx if you're new to researching legal employment), you'd be doing yourself a huge disservice by not aiming as high as you could for a school with positive employment statistics that offered you a scholarship. You're GPA is strong enough to get you into some very good schools such as Texas or Vanderbilt, but you would need to hit at least a 165 to get in (likely better).

There are other options with decent placement in Texas, but with such schools you would really want a scholarship to make sure you don't end up paying SO MUCH MONEY for a degree that gives you 50/50 odds of getting only a low paying job.

Look into an LSAT prep course. The money you will spend upfront will repay itself tenfold if you can score 165+. 168/3.69 gets you money at UT and a full ride at some other Texas schools.

If none of this sounds good, then retaking for a 160 might be good enough to get you some $$ at LSU.

[nebula666]

Your school list confuses me. Are you URM? If not, I wouldn't even waste the application money on most of these schools.

[Nova]

Retake in June and then again in October if necessary.
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=200917

[eav1277]

Retake State University is the only school you should be considering

Quite clever. lol. Definitely retake. Don't waste your GPA.

[potterpirate04]

Your school list confuses me. Are you URM? If not, I wouldn't even waste the application money on most of these schools.

TITCR. And even if you are URM, you should still retake. Even scoring 5 points higher would significantly increase any scholly you would get from the schools that you wanna go to.

[PRgradBYU]

Retake State University is the only school you should be considering

Quite clever. lol. Definitely retake. Don't waste your GPA.

[timbs4339]

Unfortunately to even have a shot at practicing appellate litigation you need to retake and get into a much better slate of schools. That's an extremely niche practice area that is in high-demand.

[cinephile]

Retake.

[BerkeleyBear]

Retake and profit.

[Mr. Pancakes]

Your LSAT is shit. Retake or don't go.

[hephaestus]

Retake State University is the only school you should be considering

Quite clever. lol. Definitely retake. Don't waste your GPA.