Adm/Retake Advice? Read- I'll sing you a song or something
Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2014 12:08 pm
First off, thanks for taking the time to help out.
I'm going to go a bit more in-depth with this post, but if you want to get to the point:
GPA-3.0 from random liberal arts private college / LSAT: 153-163-third chance still open
I've been out of school for a year now. I did a brief apprenticeship at a proprietary trading firm in Manhattan for about three months before deciding it wasn't for me. For the last 7 months I have been working as an Educational Development intern/Summer Curriculum Developer/Coordinator at Friends of the Children in Harlem NYC.
With those numbers I think I might have a shot at Loyola and then transferring(I know) somewhere into upper T1 or the pipe dream being T14.
To go more in-depth:
GPA: Since about the 6th grade I've maintained an average GPA of 3.0 in school. That's about the same time I realized I was gay/what gay even was. This was pretty traumatic for me since I have grown up in an environment that I would describe as soul crushingly non-accepting of being gay, so I've pretty much struggled with major depression since I was about 12 and an intense lack of motivation as a result. My grades are typically two or three A's dragged down by a bunch of C's and a couple of B-'s. 3.0 is the grade that I was able to achieve with being able to put in my minimum effort. That being said I started seeing the school psychologist for therapy during my Sophomore and Junior years of college. My average GPA for those semesters were 3.5 and 3.8 respectively, something I hope to address in an addendum. In my senior year my GPA dropped down to a 3.2; the cause of which I think was my stopping therapy at the request of my therapist. She wanted me to adjust to handling my circumstances without therapy given the "tools" that we developed during our time together. I have about 5 W's non-punitive on my transcript. I had a bunch of extra credit space due to getting credits during high school and so I took a few courses that I was interested in just for fun as opposed to for the purpose of getting a grade.
LSAT: OCT 2013: 153- February 2014: Absent- JUNE 2014: 163- third chance still open
I took my first LSAT without studying as a cold run(I know) and got a 153. I was absent the second time because I wasn't sure law school was what I wanted and didn't prepare at all. The third time, about two weeks prior I read through the powerscore logical reasoning bible and did some intensive pt-ing where I was averaging 161. On my second LSAT I did worse in RC than I had been on my practice tests, but thanks to literally two lucky guesses on my LG section and a -13 curve I got a 163. I struggle with conditional reasoning especially when it is combined in a hybrid question with formal logic.
Here's a break down of my scoring history:
LSAT1: RC: 21 / LR: 31 / LG: 9
Pt's: RC: 25-27 / LR: 38-42 / LG:14-16
LSAT2: RC: 23 / LR: 38 / LG: 18
I just want to say thanks again for taking the time to read this far and here is my current question/scenario: My plan is to register for the LSAT SEPT 27th 2014. I get two weeks vacation from work starting August 18, and I've already spoken with them about taking a leave of absence for all of September. In essence I'd have a solid month to study for the LSAT every waking moment, though I'll have a couple of work projects that I'll be doing from home. Since my pt's were a good indicator of how I would do on the exam, I plan on seeing where I am with that by mid September. If I'm pt-ing 3-4 points above 163 then I'll re-take and if not, then I'll just cancel my registration.
Do you have any suggestions? Should I just say to hell with it- get in somewhere and try to transfer? I'm doubtful because I think I might've hit my ceiling on the LSAT and I'm worried that a third score lower than 163 would hurt my flimsy admissions chances at an upper T2.
I appreciate the help.
I'm going to go a bit more in-depth with this post, but if you want to get to the point:
GPA-3.0 from random liberal arts private college / LSAT: 153-163-third chance still open
I've been out of school for a year now. I did a brief apprenticeship at a proprietary trading firm in Manhattan for about three months before deciding it wasn't for me. For the last 7 months I have been working as an Educational Development intern/Summer Curriculum Developer/Coordinator at Friends of the Children in Harlem NYC.
With those numbers I think I might have a shot at Loyola and then transferring(I know) somewhere into upper T1 or the pipe dream being T14.
To go more in-depth:
GPA: Since about the 6th grade I've maintained an average GPA of 3.0 in school. That's about the same time I realized I was gay/what gay even was. This was pretty traumatic for me since I have grown up in an environment that I would describe as soul crushingly non-accepting of being gay, so I've pretty much struggled with major depression since I was about 12 and an intense lack of motivation as a result. My grades are typically two or three A's dragged down by a bunch of C's and a couple of B-'s. 3.0 is the grade that I was able to achieve with being able to put in my minimum effort. That being said I started seeing the school psychologist for therapy during my Sophomore and Junior years of college. My average GPA for those semesters were 3.5 and 3.8 respectively, something I hope to address in an addendum. In my senior year my GPA dropped down to a 3.2; the cause of which I think was my stopping therapy at the request of my therapist. She wanted me to adjust to handling my circumstances without therapy given the "tools" that we developed during our time together. I have about 5 W's non-punitive on my transcript. I had a bunch of extra credit space due to getting credits during high school and so I took a few courses that I was interested in just for fun as opposed to for the purpose of getting a grade.
LSAT: OCT 2013: 153- February 2014: Absent- JUNE 2014: 163- third chance still open
I took my first LSAT without studying as a cold run(I know) and got a 153. I was absent the second time because I wasn't sure law school was what I wanted and didn't prepare at all. The third time, about two weeks prior I read through the powerscore logical reasoning bible and did some intensive pt-ing where I was averaging 161. On my second LSAT I did worse in RC than I had been on my practice tests, but thanks to literally two lucky guesses on my LG section and a -13 curve I got a 163. I struggle with conditional reasoning especially when it is combined in a hybrid question with formal logic.
Here's a break down of my scoring history:
LSAT1: RC: 21 / LR: 31 / LG: 9
Pt's: RC: 25-27 / LR: 38-42 / LG:14-16
LSAT2: RC: 23 / LR: 38 / LG: 18
I just want to say thanks again for taking the time to read this far and here is my current question/scenario: My plan is to register for the LSAT SEPT 27th 2014. I get two weeks vacation from work starting August 18, and I've already spoken with them about taking a leave of absence for all of September. In essence I'd have a solid month to study for the LSAT every waking moment, though I'll have a couple of work projects that I'll be doing from home. Since my pt's were a good indicator of how I would do on the exam, I plan on seeing where I am with that by mid September. If I'm pt-ing 3-4 points above 163 then I'll re-take and if not, then I'll just cancel my registration.
Do you have any suggestions? Should I just say to hell with it- get in somewhere and try to transfer? I'm doubtful because I think I might've hit my ceiling on the LSAT and I'm worried that a third score lower than 163 would hurt my flimsy admissions chances at an upper T2.
I appreciate the help.
