3.8 - 170. Military Forum

[Foniks]

Hello. I stumbled across this site a few days ago, and there is a lot of good information here - and some smart folks!

A little background on me. I graduated from a non-noteworthy liberal arts university with a 3.79 GPA in 2006. After school, I received a commission in the Marine Corps as a Human Intelligence Officer. I have one "combat" deployment, but operational experience on deployments to other parts of the world, including South America, Some European and African locations, as well as the Pacific. I have experience working on individual projects, leading small teams, and a short stint of company command time (~200 people).

I haven't taken the LSAT yet, but I'm hovering around 170 right now on practice tests. Looking at taking the LSAT is September. Assuming I stay fairly consistent, just looking at my chances to T-14 schools. Ideally, I'd like to go to Stanford, with Berkley trailing behind. UCLA and USC are other options. Should I wait another year to take the test (and will it even matter)? I plan on staying in the Marine Corps for another 1-2 years and transition immediately to law school.

Unfortunately, I don't have any GI Bill left. I regretably used it on a distance MPPA program from Northwestern's School of Continuing Studies. Which I finished with a 4.0... but which may not hold much weight. I transfered the rest of it to my wife who's using it to get her MBA.

Thanks for any feedback you guys can provide. I'm pretty stoked about moving to the civilian sector, but a little nervous about the transition.

[Mal Reynolds]

You don't have an lsat score what do you want from people that can't be answered with law school numbers.

[Foniks]

You don't have an lsat score what do you want from people that can't be answered with law school numbers.

Fair enough. Really, recommendations on whether I should take the test this fall or push it back a bit would help. Experiences with getting in to any of those schools with those numbers and similar background would help as well.

[Mal Reynolds]

You don't have an lsat score what do you want from people that can't be answered with law school numbers.

Fair enough. Really, recommendations on whether I should take the test this fall or push it back a bit would help. Experiences with getting in to any of those schools with those numbers and similar background would help as well.

You should retake because it won't hurt you. Otherwise come back with an lsat score. practice tests are not the real thing.

[MT Cicero]

Hello. I stumbled across this site a few days ago, and there is a lot of good information here - and some smart folks!

A little background on me. I graduated from a non-noteworthy liberal arts university with a 3.79 GPA in 2006. After school, I received a commission in the Marine Corps as a Human Intelligence Officer. I have one "combat" deployment, but operational experience on deployments to other parts of the world, including South America, Some European and African locations, as well as the Pacific. I have experience working on individual projects, leading small teams, and a short stint of company command time (~200 people).

I haven't taken the LSAT yet, but I'm hovering around 170 right now on practice tests. Looking at taking the LSAT is September. Assuming I stay fairly consistent, just looking at my chances to T-14 schools. Ideally, I'd like to go to Stanford, with Berkley trailing behind. UCLA and USC are other options. Should I wait another year to take the test (and will it even matter)? I plan on staying in the Marine Corps for another 1-2 years and transition immediately to law school.

Unfortunately, I don't have any GI Bill left. I regretably used it on a distance MPPA program from Northwestern's School of Continuing Studies. Which I finished with a 4.0... but which may not hold much weight. I transfered the rest of it to my wife who's using it to get her MBA.

Thanks for any feedback you guys can provide. I'm pretty stoked about moving to the civilian sector, but a little nervous about the transition.

Mal welcomes you to TLS!

With respect to the bolded, Stanford is absolutely a possibility. It'd be nice if you can snag a >75th LSAT to help your 25-50 GPA. Stanford's a bit of a black box, so nothing's certain...even with a 174+.

Answering your question about waiting: it depends. If you are in the groove with your studying and legitimately cracking practice tests north of the 173 range, I'd say go ahead. Waiting can provide more time to study and get your PT numbers consistently higher, but it can also lead to a military interruption of some sort. I took my LSAT a year prior to my application cycle because of an upcoming deployment (including all the spin-up) the following summer. So, weigh both of those factors. I was consistently in the 174-176 range on my PTs and ended up with 173 on the real test. Some people fall a good bit short of their average PT, so for Stanford I think you'd need to be about where I was on PTs under strict timed conditions.

Without G.I. Bill, I would seriously consider somewhere else with great scholarship money over Stanford unless you get lots of need-based aid (and as an officer with those tax returns the year prior

First, get an LSAT score. Then, we can look at numbers + softs/military and come up with some scenarios!

[daleearnhardt123]

This should have already been noted but is somehow often absent from these threads: military is an ENORMOUS advantage. Speaking broadly, its probably the best soft you can have. Stanford is a distinct possibility. Harvard is probably a yes. Apply broadly to see what scholly #s you get. UCLA and USC are a waste of time, but if you must be in LA, they oughtta both give you a full ride