Top Law Schools

The numbers:

GPA - 3.38 (from UCSC)
LSAT - 166 (93rd percentile)

I am 28 years old, graduated 2007, so I've been out of school for a while. My significant resume items (or "softs," I think they're called? Still getting used to the jargon...) are as follows:

- I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kyrgyzstan from 2008-2010
- I am acting Chair on the Board of Directors of my local chapter of the ACLU

I will also have recommendation letters from my boss and the CEO of the company I currently work for, a Peace Corps supervisor, and a staff member at the ACLU affiliate office of my chapter.

I am hoping to go into public service or work for an organization related to constitutional law/civil liberties. My GPA is not impressive, but I have a pretty decent LSAT and I think the above items help to set me apart. I'm wondering:

What are my chances of getting into a top 10?
How likely is it that I can get significant scholarships/financial aid to offset the costs?

Insight is appreciated. Thanks!

Unfortunately you're GPA is going to hold you back. You'll need a stellar LSAT to get into the T14, especially with money. You need to retake for a 170.

ImNoScar wrote:Unfortunately you're GPA is going to hold you back. You'll need a stellar LSAT to get into the T14, especially with money. You need to retake for a 170.

With a gpa in that range, what do you think one has to score on the LSAT to get t14?

jk148706 wrote:

ImNoScar wrote:Unfortunately you're GPA is going to hold you back. You'll need a stellar LSAT to get into the T14, especially with money. You need to retake for a 170.

With a gpa in that range, what do you think one has to score on the LSAT to get t14?

According to mylsn.info, it looks like a 170 gives OP a pretty good shot at ED'ing at a couple schools in the T14 (UVA, Northwestern, Cornell, GULC, UPenn, and Michigan). Even regular decision is possible at these schools, but with a slightly lower success rate.

jk148706 wrote:

ImNoScar wrote:Unfortunately you're GPA is going to hold you back. You'll need a stellar LSAT to get into the T14, especially with money. You need to retake for a 170.

With a gpa in that range, what do you think one has to score on the LSAT to get t14?

a 169 might get you Cornell/GULC but a 170 or 171 would open up everything outside of HYSCCN

JamMasterJ wrote:

jk148706 wrote:

ImNoScar wrote:Unfortunately you're GPA is going to hold you back. You'll need a stellar LSAT to get into the T14, especially with money. You need to retake for a 170.

With a gpa in that range, what do you think one has to score on the LSAT to get t14?

a 169 might get you Cornell/GULC but a 170 or 171 would open up everything outside of HYSCCN

And then a 173~ would probably open up CCN at least, too.

You absolutely must retake.

Second what all the above posters say. Additionally, scholarships will be hard for a lot of those places unless you really knock your LSAT up. Schools are weird about splitter $$$, but aiming to be at or above 75 percentile is what you should be looking at for each school you want to hopefully get money at.