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I graduated summa cum laude from a large public school in the Southwest with a phenomenal basketball team. However, when I took the LSATs, I performed significantly worse than I'd expected to perform. I may very well retake them, but I'd like to know what I could expect from my current score.

Given my current numbers (4.0 GPA, 165 LSAT), and considering that I have very strong soft factors, excellent recommendations, and almost all the academic honors for which I was eligible as an undergraduate, to which schools am I likely to be admitted? I'm particularly interested in how competitive I'd be for admission to NYU, Columbia, Duke, UPenn, Michigan, or Northwestern.

Your input is appreciated, and thank you for your time!

Retake, no such thing as a reverse splitter, don't waste that GPA, etc...

What do you mean by "strong softs"? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but if you're not a URM, you are not too competitive for those schools. A few more points on the LSAT will get you far. Good luck!

How much did you study for the LSAT? It sounds like you didn't put much if any time in. If this is the case you should study between now and June and then attend Harvard Yale or Stanford, or another of the schools on your list with a full scholarship.

Just retake or use mylsn.info

ETA: Scooped

map93 wrote:I graduated summa cum laude from a large public school in the Southwest with a phenomenal basketball team. However, when I took the LSATs, I performed significantly worse than I'd expected to perform. I may very well retake them, but I'd like to know what I could expect from my current score.

Given my current numbers (4.0 GPA, 165 LSAT), and considering that I have very strong soft factors, excellent recommendations, and almost all the academic honors for which I was eligible as an undergraduate, to which schools am I likely to be admitted? I'm particularly interested in how competitive I'd be for admission to NYU, Columbia, Duke, UPenn, Michigan, or Northwestern.

Your input is appreciated, and thank you for your time!

http://mylsn.info/vkj5wc/

map93 wrote:I graduated summa cum laude from a large public school in the Southwest with a phenomenal basketball team. However, when I took the LSATs, I performed significantly worse than I'd expected to perform. I may very well retake them, but I'd like to know what I could expect from my current score.

Given my current numbers (4.0 GPA, 165 LSAT), and considering that I have very strong soft factors, excellent recommendations, and almost all the academic honors for which I was eligible as an undergraduate, to which schools am I likely to be admitted? I'm particularly interested in how competitive I'd be for admission to NYU, Columbia, Duke, UPenn, Michigan, or Northwestern.

Your input is appreciated, and thank you for your time!

So I graduated from a large public school with a phenomenal football team with a 4.0, summa, and a 165. I'm in my last semester at Northwestern. I applied broadly to schools at top schools. Got in at Vandy with a decent scholarship and got in at Northwestern at sticker. I got wait listed at GULC, Duke, Michigan, UVA, Penn, Berkeley, and Michigan. Got rejected at NYU (didn't apply to Cornell). I didn't really pursue the waitlists too hard once I got into Northwestern, but I'm sure one would have come through in the end.

I also should say I applied in the 2010-11 cycle so it was before apps completely plummeted. I think things might be better for you these days.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me.

Pneumonia wrote:How much did you study for the LSAT? It sounds like you didn't put much if any time in. If this is the case you should study between now and June and then attend Harvard Yale or Stanford, or another of the schools on your list with a full scholarship.

Not sure how you can make that judgment that he/she did not study very hard...

Also, I have almost the same numbers and have been admitted at Michigan, Vandy and UCLA...interviewed with Chicago and (thankfully) haven't been waitlisted/dinged yet by any T-14s...although I know some are coming. Long story short, you have a good chance at some great schools. If you choose not to retake you'll be fine.

omzster67 wrote:

Pneumonia wrote:How much did you study for the LSAT? It sounds like you didn't put much if any time in. If this is the case you should study between now and June and then attend Harvard Yale or Stanford, or another of the schools on your list with a full scholarship.

Not sure how you can make that judgment that he/she did not study very hard...

Just from the tone it seemed like the OP had taken it casually rather than after studying for a few months. Usually when people have studied for a long time they'll include things like their PT scores etc. I could totally be wrong though. I just wanted to make the point that if a bunch of studying hadn't been done already, it should be.

omzster67 wrote:Also, I have almost the same numbers and have been admitted at Michigan, Vandy and UCLA...interviewed with Chicago and (thankfully) haven't been waitlisted/dinged yet by any T-14s...although I know some are coming. Long story short, you have a good chance at some great schools. If you choose not to retake you'll be fine.

This is bad advice. Even if OP is admitted, it's likely going to be at sticker, or with a small scholarship. Retake, hit that 170, and the world (and money) is your oyster OP.

Synch wrote:

omzster67 wrote:Also, I have almost the same numbers and have been admitted at Michigan, Vandy and UCLA...interviewed with Chicago and (thankfully) haven't been waitlisted/dinged yet by any T-14s...although I know some are coming. Long story short, you have a good chance at some great schools. If you choose not to retake you'll be fine.

This is bad advice. Even if OP is admitted, it's likely going to be at sticker, or with a small scholarship. Retake, hit that 170, and the world (and money) is your oyster OP.

The question was "I'm particularly interested in how competitive I'd be..."

From what I can tell, the question was answered. Financials and the ability to sit out another year in order to retake are personal and vary greatly from person to person.

Retake

omzster67 wrote:

Synch wrote:

omzster67 wrote:Also, I have almost the same numbers and have been admitted at Michigan, Vandy and UCLA...interviewed with Chicago and (thankfully) haven't been waitlisted/dinged yet by any T-14s...although I know some are coming. Long story short, you have a good chance at some great schools. If you choose not to retake you'll be fine.

This is bad advice. Even if OP is admitted, it's likely going to be at sticker, or with a small scholarship. Retake, hit that 170, and the world (and money) is your oyster OP.

The question was "I'm particularly interested in how competitive I'd be..."

From what I can tell, the question was answered. Financials and the ability to sit out another year in order to retake are personal and vary greatly from person to person.

Whenever I see post like this, it reminds me of a post by Mike Spivey from a while ago. He said that people would tell him that they would do anything to get into his school.

He would ask them "will you study?"

To use financial reasons to not retake is foolish. A retake can be worth tens of thousands of dollars in scholarship money. And if you get into a much better school, it could make the difference between getting biglaw or not.

I don't feel any sympathy for people who will throw away their chance at more money or better schools because they don't want to take time off. If you studied as hard as possible, drilled all the question types, retook the maximum times, then maybe you have a reason to give up on achieving your best.

I have similar numbers and have been waitlisted at Duke, UVA, and Penn. I got into Chicago and haven't heard from other T14s. I think you obviously have a shot, but retaking would make it easier and put you in a better situation for merit aid.

That GPA's insanely good.

Retake, get 172+, enjoy HYS

Some of you reverse splitters got into Chicago? Daaaaamn, I should have applied there (rev-split myself). I just figured there was something akin to an LSAT floor, based on their compression of scores around the median.

cron1834 wrote:Some of you reverse splitters got into Chicago? Daaaaamn, I should have applied there (rev-split myself). I just figured there was something akin to an LSAT floor, based on their compression of scores around the median.

Chicago has to drop pretty far down the LSAT ladder to keep up their huge median GPA. Same holds true at places like Penn and UVA.

I did apply Penn and UVA, and would be happy with either. I figured Chicago was too much of a reach. This is definitely a different reality than when I first applied to schools 10 years ago!