2.66/ 172 MA URM Forum

[PrizeFighter]

I farted around in UG long enough to ruin my gpa before dropping out. After a few years wasting away in a cubicle, I pulled my head out of my ass and maintained a 3.9 GPA over my last 70 units while working 40 hours a week and taking full-time units.

My dad was never in the picture, and my mom has been in and out of prison with drug issues for as long as I can remember, so I was a ward of the court who bounced around between family members for a while as a kid. Not sure how much this kind of stuff actually matters to ad coms.

Finding people with my numbers (let alone my socioeconomic background) has been damn near impossible, so any advice as to which schools I should target would be greatly appreciated. I live in the CA bay area and would love to practice in the area, but I'm open to any worthwhile opportunity. Thanks.

[Nova]

You should get into some T14s and get big scholarships at several regionals.

Blanket CCN down and hope they overlook your GPA to snag a URM above the LSAT median.

CCN is a big reach but you got a decent shot at NU, GULC, and UVA at least.

[PrizeFighter]

Thanks for the input.

[TheSpanishMain]

Hasn't Berkeley been known to accept sub 25% GPAs when the applicant has a really compelling life story, particularly one involving being raised in shitty circumstances?

I could be totally off, but that's one kickass LSAT score. Combine that with URM status and it might be worth tossing an app their way.

[phillywc]

Agree wrt blanketing T14.


On another note, I'm very confident you will do well in law school, regardless of where you ultimately attend. Your story is impressive, and i am rooting for ya!


edited for clarity

[McCosh]

I feel any school will see your incredibly hard work and good grades on the last few courses and think highly of you. This will contribute a lot, and as they are much more recent reflections on your work and ability, rather than a couple of year old transcript, your original lower grades will be partially ignored. I'm thinking they would average you up to atleast a 3.5 - 3.7 in terms of calculator statistics, varying by school of course.

That is, if they don't toss out your app for the low gpa first.

I do however believe that the URM and LSAT will peak their interest enough that you could get a real review.

Good luck.

[PrizeFighter]

Hasn't Berkeley been known to accept sub 25% GPAs when the applicant has a really compelling life story, particularly one involving being raised in shitty circumstances?

I could be totally off, but that's one kickass LSAT score. Combine that with URM status and it might be worth tossing an app their way.

Berkeley would be a dream, and they do have a reputation for being holistic in their process. I know they also have a rep for being harsh on low GPAs, but Dean Tom seemed really genuine about looking beyond the numbers when I was able to briefly speak with him. I figured Berkeley would be just an expensive lotto ticket, but I probably owe it to myself to give it a shot.

[PrizeFighter]

Agree wrt blanketing T14.


On another note, I'm very confident you will do well in law school, regardless of where you ultimately attend. Your story is impressive, and i am rooting for ya!

All the doom and gloom on this site makes this whole process (rightfully) a pretty scary one; thank's so much for the encouraging words!

That is, if they don't toss out your app for the low gpa first.

I do however believe that the URM and LSAT will peak their interest enough that you could get a real review.

Good luck.

This was pretty much my thinking when I retook a 169 hoping that a 17x would get them to at least open my file and look a little closer.

[nebula666]

Hasn't Berkeley been known to accept sub 25% GPAs when the applicant has a really compelling life story, particularly one involving being raised in shitty circumstances?

I could be totally off, but that's one kickass LSAT score. Combine that with URM status and it might be worth tossing an app their way.

Berkeley took two URM 169 3.06 and 168 3.09 last cycle. The rest of the URM admits seem to be high GPA low LSAT.

[MT Cicero]

Sent you a PM PrizeFighter.

[midwest17]

I don't know what your current financial situation is, but you might see if you can get need-based fee waivers to YHS. You've got basically no shot, so I wouldn't pay the $100+ to apply, but it you can do it for $25 it might be worth it. You've got about as compelling an upward trend and backstory for that GPA as it's possible to have, and an LSAT + minor URM boost to match. It's possible that you'll catch someone's eye.

Not likely. Most likely is you'll be rejected from all three. And maybe I'm being overly optimistic suggesting that any of those schools would dip below 3.0. But in your shoes, I would try it.