Top Law Schools

Hi everyone, I discovered this forum soon after receiving my June LSAT score. The 178 came as a bit of a surprise and I'd appreciate some advice.

Relevant information:

GPA: 3.66. At a top 10-20 university. With majors in economics and political science. No trend, positive or negative.
LSAT: 178, one take.
South American (dual citizenship), Caucasian (non-URM).
Softs: I hold important leadership positions for a large campus publication, and an active social justice group. I am also writing a thesis in economics. I'd be curious to hear any thoughts on how these softs compare to those of the average applicant the schools I am considering. Relative to theirs, are my softs weak, average, or good?
Strong recommendations and personal statement. (I suspect)
Applying as an undergrad.

Questions:

What are my chances at HYS applying as a senior in college? I've looked at lawschoolnumbers and my sense is that I have a solid shot at Harvard, my GPA puts me largely out of contention at Stanford, and I have a very slim chance at Yale. However, that is based solely on my combination of GPA and LSAT, I don't fully understand how the other criteria factor in, if at all.

How much are my chances at HYS augmented by a couple of years of work experience? Might applying now count against me if I choose to apply again 2 or 3 years in the future?

What kind of money might I be looking at from T14 schools?

Thanks in advance for your help!

fer wrote:Hi everyone, I discovered this forum soon after receiving my June LSAT score. The 178 came as a bit of a surprise and I'd appreciate some advice.

Relevant information:

GPA: 3.66. At a top 10-20 university. With majors in economics and political science. No trend, positive or negative.
LSAT: 178, one take.
South American (dual citizenship), Caucasian (non-URM).
Softs: I hold important leadership positions for a large campus publication, and an active social justice group. I am also writing a thesis in economics. I'd be curious to hear any thoughts on how these softs compare to those of the average applicant the schools I am considering. Relative to theirs, are my softs weak, average, or good?
Strong recommendations and personal statement. (I suspect)
Applying as an undergrad.

Questions:

What are my chances at HYS applying as a senior in college? I've looked at lawschoolnumbers and my sense is that I have a solid shot at Harvard, my GPA puts me largely out of contention at Stanford, and I have a very slim chance at Yale. However, that is based solely on my combination of GPA and LSAT, I don't fully understand how the other criteria factor in, if at all.

How much are my chances at HYS augmented by a couple of years of work experience? Might applying now count against me if I choose to apply again 2 or 3 years in the future?

What kind of money might I be looking at from T14 schools?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Similar stats, similar caliber of softs in college, and I got in everywhere in the T-14 aside from Yale (didn't apply), and U Chicago (waitlisted). Big money from most places Columbia on down.

However, I did work for 3 years doing something at least moderately interesting, and I think that was the difference for me. As things stand I think you're very likely to get in everywhere but Yale and Stanford applying as an undergrad (probably yield protected a few places though). I highly recommend working for a few years and doing everything possible to get your GPA over 3.7 in your final year.

DrStudMuffin wrote:
Similar stats, similar caliber of softs in college, and I got in everywhere in the T-14 aside from Yale (didn't apply), and U Chicago (waitlisted). Big money from most places Columbia on down.

However, I did work for 3 years doing something at least moderately interesting, and I think that was the difference for me. As things stand I think you're very likely to get in everywhere but Yale and Stanford applying as an undergrad (probably yield protected a few places though). I highly recommend working for a few years and doing everything possible to get your GPA over 3.7 in your final year.

Thanks for the advice Dr.,

Would it be worth telling law schools that I will be graduating a semester early, and dedicating my free semester to an interesting federal internship doing economics work? How much could it help? Though I definitely want to gain more experience prior to attending law school (I could hopefully defer for one or two years), I do want to apply in this cycle, both to get it over with, and to have a plan if I have no interesting job lined up after graduation. Thoughts?

fer wrote:

DrStudMuffin wrote:
Similar stats, similar caliber of softs in college, and I got in everywhere in the T-14 aside from Yale (didn't apply), and U Chicago (waitlisted). Big money from most places Columbia on down.

However, I did work for 3 years doing something at least moderately interesting, and I think that was the difference for me. As things stand I think you're very likely to get in everywhere but Yale and Stanford applying as an undergrad (probably yield protected a few places though). I highly recommend working for a few years and doing everything possible to get your GPA over 3.7 in your final year.

Thanks for the advice Dr.,

Would it be worth telling law schools that I will be graduating a semester early, and dedicating my free semester to an interesting federal internship doing economics work? How much could it help? Though I definitely want to gain more experience prior to attending law school (I could hopefully defer for one or two years), I do want to apply in this cycle, both to get it over with, and to have a plan if I have no interesting job lined up after graduation. Thoughts?

I don't know how much that would help in the end, but I also can't imagine it would hurt. And I completely understand wanting to get it over with. Like I said, I think you're probably set for all of the T-14 aside from YS. HLS accepted lots of people with weaker numbers than you this year, and I imagine that trend will continue unless applicant numbers surge or something.

The main point behind getting more experience before applying would be to try and snag a full ride somewhere, and to potentially have Stanford as an option (I also think it's just good for life purposes). I forgot to mention that I got two full rides at mid-T14s that people with my numbers don't usually get according to LSN, and I think my work experience played a role.

I doubt that Yale will be an option at any point unless you get your GPA over 3.75ish, so I wouldn't let that play into your thought process too much. Someone who actually applied there may have more insight on this though.