Top Law Schools

Does 300 hours of volunteering, 60 hrs helping at a foster home, and doing environmental awareness projects in my area with my mom do anything in my favor?

I have until October to take LSAT but I'm now wondering whether going to LS is a good idea...

I can either get a job as a mobile dev and be unhappy with a 90k+/year job where I hate myself or I can go to LS and make a difference in someone's life after I become a lawyer.

3.0 LSAC (3.2 UG) gpa is going to kill me.

If law school is your goal, then there is no better way to spend your time between now and October than studying for the LSAT. An increase in your score by a couple of points will do more to improve your LS prospects than all of your volunteer experience put together. That said, if I were in your shoes, I'd take the 90k salary and never look back. I guarantee you that most lawyers hate their jobs just as much or more than you will. (And most of them make a lot less than 90k, especially when you factor in law school debt.)

solve Fermat's theorem
create Facebook
develop the electric car
Cure aids

If you want to go to law school, there is nothing more important than the LSAT. A 3.0 / 170 will get you in at T14.

However, if you want to go to law school because you want to make a difference in people's lives, there are other legitimate ways to do that without giving up 90k a year and absorbing 250k of debt (thereby, being miserable).

laww wrote:Does 300 hours of volunteering, 60 hrs helping at a foster home, and doing environmental awareness projects in my area with my mom do anything in my favor?

I have until October to take LSAT but I'm now wondering whether going to LS is a good idea...

I can either get a job as a mobile dev and be unhappy with a 90k+/year job where I hate myself or I can go to LS and make a difference in someone's life after I become a lawyer.

3.0 LSAC (3.2 UG) gpa is going to kill me.

RE your first question: No.

RE your decision to get a job - Do it. having money in the bank will help with LS debt. Working for a few years will provide some good balance before going back to school.

RE the thought that you will "make a difference in someone's life" as an attorney - specifically, how do you think you will do this?

RE the LSAT: get a 17X or don't go to LS. You're already too late to adequately prepare, depending on what your initial score is. Get a job as a mobile dev for a year and then come back and see if 1) you do well on the LSAT and 2) you still want to be an attorney. DO RESEARCH on what being an attorney is like.

Right now I'm working at a law firm (where I started working part time when I was still studying in college) until October so I can work 4 hours, study 4+ hours a day for LSAT.

Lots of the lawyers here do probono work that is really impressive.

laww wrote:Right now I'm working at a law firm (where I started working part time when I was still studying in college) until October so I can work 4 hours, study 4+ hours a day for LSAT.

Lots of the lawyers here do probono work that is really impressive.

Is 'pro bono work' your way of satisfying your 'help people as an attorney' ideal? BC if so...well, it depends on how idealistic you are, but you might be sadly disappointed. A lot of firms have caps on how many hours you can spend doing pro bono.

Anyway, it's up to you. If I were you I'd take the mobile dev job, make 90K while studying, apply next year if I get a good LSAT, and then see where everything falls and decide then.

crumpetsandtea wrote:

laww wrote:Right now I'm working at a law firm (where I started working part time when I was still studying in college) until October so I can work 4 hours, study 4+ hours a day for LSAT.

Lots of the lawyers here do probono work that is really impressive.

Is 'pro bono work' your way of satisfying your 'help people as an attorney' ideal? BC if so...well, it depends on how idealistic you are, but you might be sadly disappointed. A lot of firms have caps on how many hours you can spend doing pro bono.

Anyway, it's up to you. If I were you I'd take the mobile dev job, make 90K while studying, apply next year if I get a good LSAT, and then see where everything falls and decide then.

If I do well in October (I'm PT'ing 170+... fell a couple points as I took more recent tests but I need to work on LR... A LOT) I'm taking a full time job in my field until school starts. If I'm able to get into a T14 then great. If not then its just another failure in my life.

laww wrote:

crumpetsandtea wrote:

laww wrote:Right now I'm working at a law firm (where I started working part time when I was still studying in college) until October so I can work 4 hours, study 4+ hours a day for LSAT.

Lots of the lawyers here do probono work that is really impressive.

Is 'pro bono work' your way of satisfying your 'help people as an attorney' ideal? BC if so...well, it depends on how idealistic you are, but you might be sadly disappointed. A lot of firms have caps on how many hours you can spend doing pro bono.

Anyway, it's up to you. If I were you I'd take the mobile dev job, make 90K while studying, apply next year if I get a good LSAT, and then see where everything falls and decide then.

If I do well in October (I'm PT'ing 170+... fell a couple points as I took more recent tests but I need to work on LR... A LOT) I'm taking a full time job in my field until school starts. If I'm able to get into a T14 then great. If not then its just another failure in my life.

Haha don't be so hard on yourself. Sounds like a good plan, glad you're going to go FT and make some money first. Good luck with the LSAT.