3.0 GPA/174 LSAT Forum

[Amalthea]

Hello TLS Community!

Just got my score this morning and am unsure of how to proceed. I want to practice in Southern CA and did not want to move out of the area for law school (live with partner of three years, close family ties, yatta yatta). I missed the deadline for UCLA/USC because I honestly did not think that I stood a chance with my GPA.

I applied to Pepperdine, UCI, Chapman, University of San Diego, and Loyola. Anywhere else I should apply? And if I wanted to at least toss my hat in the ring for a T14 in another state, would any still accepting applications take my low GPA?

Thank you! I spent so much time prepping for the LSAT that I feel woefully uninformed about these next steps.

[yomisterd]

You are probably going to be advised to sit out this cycle, as your numbers could be big $$ at UCLA/USC and potential at t14s like Berkeley (not unheard of)

[Dr.Zer0]

I think it would be best if you sit out this cycle. It's too late in the admissions process and the schools you applied to are not great nor deserving of your LSAT score. Despite your low GPA, you have a good shot at a couple of the t-14 with that amazing score. I think UVA is one of them, but hopefully others who know more about splitter prospects chime in.

ETA: scooped

[CanadianWolf]

Reapply next cycle to any of the T-14 which are of interest to you as well as to UCLA & USC for scholarship money & personal reasons.

[North]

Do not apply this cycle. Withdraw the apps you sent to those TTTs today. Wait until next year, apply to the T14 and UCLA/USC, then sit back and watch the cash roll in. You're in as good a spot as someone with a 3.0 can be, so take advantage of it. Congrats on the LSAT.

ETA: double scooped.

[Nova]

I applied to Pepperdine, UCI, Chapman, University of San Diego, and Loyola. Anywhere else I should apply?

Woah. Don't waste a 174 on any of those schools. Apply in September for sure.

Other schools you should apply to for, at the very least, scholarship negotiation leverage: WUSTL/UMN/GW

T14s worth applying to: GULC/NU/UVA (at least)

[Paul Campos]

Ask UCLA and USC for fee waivers today and find out how desperate they are for that LSAT score. Don't attend without major $$$ though. Do the same with the T-14 (application deadlines get waived these days for people with 174s). You have a shot everywhere except HYS.

[Amalthea]

Thank you for the feedback!!

This will sound like a dumb question, but what am I supposed to do for a year if I sit out? I'm working a $13/hr hotel desk job and bored out of my mind. Most places don't want to hire a job candidate that they know will only be around for a year.

-sigh- I know that if I look at the big picture, one year's worth of wages is nothing compared to how much I could save over a lifetime by waiting. I'm just ready to get some intellectual stimulation and get my life started! I'm sure many of you T-14 or busts are in the same boat.

[CanadianWolf]

Ask for a raise and/or just tough it out for a year as the rewards should be substantial.

[North]

Don't worry, law school is less interesting then your job. Save money to cover your COL while you're in school. Take some Yale open courses if you want to keep your brain from drying up. Sitting out a year is the best option here.

ETA: Seriously though, don't go this year. I get the sense that you might be one of those people that'll say "okay ty guys looks like I've got a lot to think about lol!!" At the end of the thread then enroll at Chapman next week and never post on TLS again because you told all your friends and family you'd be going to LS this year and don't want to have to explain why you're "wasting" another year to them when they probably don't understand the difference in job prospects between Berkeley and Santa Clara. Don't do that. It would be a huge mistake and a complete waste of your 174.

[Amalthea]

Ask UCLA and USC for fee waivers today and find out how desperate they are for that LSAT score. Don't attend without major $$$ though. Do the same with the T-14 (application deadlines get waived these days for people with 174s). You have a shot everywhere except HYS.

I am definitely going to do this for UCLA. Should I just e-mail the law school directly, or will that direct me to a secretary who will feed me the appropriate line about the deadline? Is there a way to contact the "right" person?

[StillCutty]

Thank you for the feedback!!

This will sound like a dumb question, but what am I supposed to do for a year if I sit out? I'm working a $13/hr hotel desk job and bored out of my mind. Most places don't want to hire a job candidate that they know will only be around for a year.

-sigh- I know that if I look at the big picture, one year's worth of wages is nothing compared to how much I could save over a lifetime by waiting. I'm just ready to get some intellectual stimulation and get my life started! I'm sure many of you T-14 or busts are in the same boat.

law school isn't going anywhere, it'll be there next year. read books, turn your cooking game up, do volunteer work, etc.

[CanadianWolf]

No harm in contacting UCLA, but they may be out of available scholarship funds & you'd be sacrificing several T-14 options.

[North]

Ask UCLA and USC for fee waivers today and find out how desperate they are for that LSAT score. Don't attend without major $$$ though. Do the same with the T-14 (application deadlines get waived these days for people with 174s). You have a shot everywhere except HYS.

He's not going to get as much money this late in the cycle as he would with a full cycle's worth of time to negotiate. Around this time is when schools start explaining their scholly low balls by saying "Shucks we're fresh out of money!!!!! 1/2 is the best we can do!!" when OP would otherwise be competitive for much more.

[Paul Campos]

Ask UCLA and USC for fee waivers today and find out how desperate they are for that LSAT score. Don't attend without major $$$ though. Do the same with the T-14 (application deadlines get waived these days for people with 174s). You have a shot everywhere except HYS.

He's not going to get as much money this late in the cycle as he would with a full cycle's worth of time to negotiate. Around this time is when schools start explaining their scholly low balls by saying "Shucks we're fresh out of money!!!!! 1/2 is the best we can do!!" when OP would otherwise be competitive for much more.

Maybe, maybe not.

The "we're out of money" line is nonsense. These are discounts off list, not actual scholarships in the sense of endowment funds, and every school below HYS is now engaging in either class reduction/credential cutting/tuition discounting, or some combination of these strategies. This means that it's far from clear whether you'll get your best deal by applying early in the cycle or late. That's wholly dependent on how a school's class happens to be shaping up relative to the benchmarks it was shooting for. If it's getting late in the cycle and school needs a particular applicant's numbers (keep in mind that precise medians usually come down to the decisions of just a handful of admits), that school will pay more for those number than it would have in November.

It should cost the OP no more than a couple of hundred dollars to find out what his or her options are in this cycle. Given that he/she is working a low-wage service job that's all the more reason to apply.

[Tiago Splitter]

I agree with Campos but OP needs to be ready to try again next year if things don't go well. Don't run to USC with 50k because it's your only option. And please do not consider attending any of the five schools you listed unless they give you a full ride or better, and even then I'd be extremely hesitant.

[Paul Campos]

Right, the big mistake people in OP's situation make is to be so thrilled to just be admitted to a school they thought they had no shot at until they got their new score that they take some low ball offer, and forget that at almost all schools the sticker price of admission, or anything close to it, is actually a bad deal for most people.

All the absurd hoop-jumping of the application process ("do I have enough volunteer work and leadership positions?" "will this speeding ticket hurt me?" "is my PS about adversity compelling enough?") is designed, as a functional matter, to get people to forget that when a law school allows you to give it $150,000 it's not actually doing you some extraordinary favor. It's more the other way around.

[Tiago Splitter]

Right, the big mistake people in OP's situation make is to be so thrilled to just be admitted to a school they thought they had no shot at until they got their new score that they take some low ball offer, and forget that at almost all schools the sticker price of admission, or anything close to it, is actually a bad deal for most people.

This is the big worry I have with OP applying now, especially given her relatively poor current job prospects.

The bigger problem down the road is that a splitter is in a tough position if they aren't willing to leave Southern California. None of the options look good. Hopefully USC or UCLA will pony up six figures and make the decision a little easier.

[logicspeaks]

UCI might give close to a full ride. USC is more likely than UCLA to accept a 3.0, but I doubt scholarships from either will be substantial. Good luck.

[aesth24]

Thank you for the feedback!!

This will sound like a dumb question, but what am I supposed to do for a year if I sit out? I'm working a $13/hr hotel desk job and bored out of my mind. Most places don't want to hire a job candidate that they know will only be around for a year.

-sigh- I know that if I look at the big picture, one year's worth of wages is nothing compared to how much I could save over a lifetime by waiting. I'm just ready to get some intellectual stimulation and get my life started! I'm sure many of you T-14 or busts are in the same boat.

Same question I had. I'm now substitute teaching for a couple school districts (7th-12th) and got hired by an LSAT prep company as an instructor. Your score definitely qualifies you for several different prep companies and becoming a sub teacher is relatively easy (substitute pay is around 125-150 a day here in Southern Cal and prep companies can be anywhere from 25-50 an hour).

What's cool is you can choose what days to sub and whatnot, it's very flexible. And then after an LSAT course you can decide to travel for a month or so. It's quite an adventure, PM me if you have any additional questions.

[Amalthea]

ETA: Seriously though, don't go this year. I get the sense that you might be one of those people that'll say "okay ty guys looks like I've got a lot to think about lol!!" At the end of the thread then enroll at Chapman next week and never post on TLS again because you told all your friends and family you'd be going to LS this year and don't want to have to explain why you're "wasting" another year to them when they probably don't understand the difference in job prospects between Berkeley and Santa Clara. Don't do that. It would be a huge mistake and a complete waste of your 174.

You're right, and actually seeing that spelled out for me did give me something to think about. I did follow the advice to contact UCLA/USC and got encouragement and a fee waiver from UCLA, while USC sent back perhaps the more honest message that I could still apply but that my chances this late in the cycle were far from excellent.

I think the other poster who mentioned that someone with my GPA and prospects prior to this new LSAT score would go into culture shock at suddenly having all of these possibilities and throw her money at the first school to offer a sticker admission is spot on. I am going to try very hard to keep my skeptic glasses on, despite the fact that if UCLA offered me admission I would have major heart palpatations.

I think my final decision will be that I may attend UCI with a full ride or UCLA with a significant scholarship, but otherwise I may have to wait until next year and die a little inside. I can perhaps use that time to train myself to be less over-dramatic.

Thank you for all the feedback - it has been more useful than you know.

[Mack.Hambleton]

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