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Not far. You have a 3.71 (below median gpa). You need a 169+

akg144 wrote:3.71 UGPA 3.891 1st year of Grad school at Duke including an A- in an upper-level 12 person elective class graded on a curve will all the best and brightest 3Ls going to the biggest firms @ Duke Law. Stats for Duke Law are 168 is 25th 172 75th median is 170...I'm thinking I could prob squeek in with a 167 and 2 letters of rec from Duke Law professors who happen to have the same dual degree that I'm going for, what do you guys think? I'm taking the LSAT in October (canceled my June score) just curious how much gravitas 2 good Duke Law recs, a high grad school GPA, and an A- in an upper level T14 class goes in the consideration process. Thanks!

Never overestimate the relatively weak power of LORs.

I'm interested to know how your cycle here goes. While it doesn't seem folks get any kind of a bump applying to joint degree programs, they definitely get a bump applying from the first year of the school's MBA program for the law school (read: Chicago). Not sure if that's the norm, or just something that just kind of happens.

You're at enough of a disadvantage numerically to where you probably won't get into Duke without a considerable bump from the existing grad school record, so please definitely come back to this thread and let us know in November assuming you end up on the priority track.

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Just read someone who got in w/ a large scholarship, a 3.55/169 and w/o any significant ties to Duke.

If you hit 169+, you are definitely in, with money. At 168, I wouldn't bet against you. 167 probably WL, unless you literally have someone in admissions telling you they will help you get in.

Demonstrating ability to perform well at Duke and being part of a community =/= helping school medians -> rankings.

jbagelboy wrote:Just read someone who got in w/ a large scholarship, a 3.55/169 and w/o any significant ties to Duke.

If you hit 169+, you are definitely in, with money. At 168, I wouldn't bet against you. 167 probably WL, unless you literally have someone in admissions telling you they will help you get in.

Demonstrating ability to perform well at Duke and being part of a community =/= helping school medians -> rankings.

Thx JBagel that's helpful appreciate the insight and I agree I think 169+ is auto-accept 168 is pretty borderline 167 is prob. a waitlist and 166 is auto-reject. Those numbers seems pretty consistent with what I thought I just wanted to verify my intuition. For the record I decided i'm going to enroll in another upper-level class this Fall so in the case that I do get wait-listed if I ace another tough class that might put me over the hump of other waitlisted students with higher LSATs or GPAs.

akg144 wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:Just read someone who got in w/ a large scholarship, a 3.55/169 and w/o any significant ties to Duke.

If you hit 169+, you are definitely in, with money. At 168, I wouldn't bet against you. 167 probably WL, unless you literally have someone in admissions telling you they will help you get in.

Demonstrating ability to perform well at Duke and being part of a community =/= helping school medians -> rankings.

Thx JBagel that's helpful appreciate the insight and I agree I think 169+ is auto-accept 168 is pretty borderline 167 is prob. a waitlist and 166 is auto-reject. Those numbers seems pretty consistent with what I thought I just wanted to verify my intuition. For the record I decided i'm going to enroll in another upper-level class this Fall so in the case that I do get wait-listed if I ace another tough class that might put me over the hump of other waitlisted students with higher LSATs or GPAs.

At risk of parroting the conventional wisdom, I would suggest taking that time you've blocked out for a law school class, and take the October LSAT instead. Law school is expensive, and even if you squeaked into Duke off the WL with your current stats, you would be looking at a hefty price. Ultimately, 2 pts on the LSAT could save you months of trouble/doubt and upwards of $75K. You have the time to study and commit to a retake. Worst case scenario, you're stuck with the same 167, but I guarantee you that even 1 lousy point on the LSAT at this juncture will be worth more to your application than any class you might take, even if that class is w/ a Duke law professor.