My sibling is a wild splitter (Ivy grad) Chances at T20? Forum

[jdapplicant]

My sister is a non-URM recent grad from an Ivy undergrad. Her GPA is really low (2.5ish) but she had a hard major and dealt with some medical issues. She has a 172 LSAT but hasn't done much since graduating, just taught English abroad.

Any idea what her chances are? T14 is probably out of reach, but what about T20? T30?

Any info outside of prediction calculators would be really helpful!

[Atmosphere]

Sorry, I originally posted a predictive calculator.

[Clyde Frog]

Northwestern accepted a few with similar numbers, with someone getting 45k in scholarships with a 2.6 and 172 lsat. WUSTL is pretty much a lock according to mylsn members with similar numbers.

[jbagelboy]

Northwestern will be the target, but 2.5 is really low - its happened before, but typically 2.6-2.7 is the lowest point.

Not that she wanted this advice, but since you're on the forum its not entirely unsolicited: sounds like your sister lacks direction and career motivation right now. The C-range grades, the "teaching abroad" thing - another bright kid who errantly perceives law school as the panacea for post- grad angst, an institutionalized direction-incubator, a clean slate. It's not. Law school is a shit ton of bricks smacking you down all at once, and you should know why you are there and be ready to give it everything. The prior kind of academic performance would lead to part time $15/hr doc review or worse even out of a good school like NU, unless by "hard major" you mean electrical engineer from Princeton.

Good luck

[03152016]

Yeah, Jbagel makes a great point.

It might be wise for her to take a year or two off and reassess. I'm a splitter too; I completely lacked focus and discipline in UG. Working a few years gave me perspective and clarity as to what I wanted out of my life and did wonders for my work ethic.

[jdapplicant]

I agree JBagel, I don't think the teaching abroad helps her narrative at all, more the opposite. She will definitely have to fight that stigma in her application. She was a bio chem major at one of HYP, but wasn't necessarily well-suited for the field. Science was always her weakest subject, so that was just a bad idea. She is currently in her third year off, and has learned a lot about herself and reevaluated her goals in the process, similar to your experience Max.

She didn't study very much for the 172, so I'm encouraging her to study hard and take it again. At this point she seems very committed to the field of law, so I hope she stays with this course.

[mephistofeles]

To be completely honest, I think your sister may not need law school right now.
Yes, she might be very smart - graduating from HYP, and all that - but I think the 2.5 gpa and teaching English abroad reflect that she is a bit lost in life. This may not be a bad thing - people all get lost from time to time, but maybe it is better not to rush into a decision, especially an expensive one like law school. With that GPA, it is almost impossible to get a full ride at NU.
But I think if she ever decides to go to law school, she should retake the LSAT with some studying, see if she can get into the 175 range. It should be be hard, since I also started with a score in the 170-172 range, and it only took me less than a month to get to above 175. And from anecdotal evidence, I know that NU has accepted people with 2.5-2.7 gpas (C+/B- average) with an LSAT over 175. So I think she definitely has a shot, if she can get her application together and get some real work experience.