Top Law Schools

seespotrun wrote:Are you a white male?

PN-G bamakid wrote:

seespotrun wrote:Are you a white male?

Technically, yes. But if I remember correctly, law schools can only consider minority status a "plus" on an application, and can't use race as a determining factor in admission per a couple of Supreme Court rulings.

PN-G bamakid wrote:Let me elaborate a little on what's gone into the chart.

First of all, I'm not from Alabama. I go to school at Alabama, but I was born and raised in Texas. My permanent residence is and always has been there.

Second, this is a list of schools I may apply to, not that I will apply to. I'm taking all of my options into account, and the schools were selected for consideration based on a wide range of criteria.

My personal preference is to return to my home state, which is why you see Baylor and SMU listed. Florida State is listed because I participated in the Summer for Undergraduates program their law school holds every year. Alabama, of course, is listed because I've done my undergrad there. UA also has a lot of money to work with where scholarships are concerned at virtually every level; the UA administration has a running capital campaign in excess of a billion dollars for academic programs, and I was actually fortunate enough to receive a full scholarship for undergrad out of that money. The rest of the schools were selected based on their national prominence and quality of education, except for Texas, which was only partially selected on those factors. My desire to return home to the state of Texas played a role in that as well.

The ability to gain admission is a factor I'm considering for all of the schools when making the decision about whether or not to apply. The only objective criteria I have in determining that are the schools' LSAT scores and GPAs. I took that data from each of those schools' profiles for their classes of 2016, which is the latest available data at this time. I cross-referenced that data with the information available about the 2014 application cycle on Law School Transparency, which is where MyLSN gets its data from. That, in conjunction with the advice of my prelaw advisor and some email discussion with representatives from a few of the schools, is what I based my assessed probabilities on.

I admit that the assessment may not be holistic because, after all, admissions committees take entire applications into account, not just LSAT scores and GPAs. That said, the numbers are still influential, and I think they give some indication of my chances. My GPA, a 3.63, is artificially low because I spent two years as an engineering major figuring out the hard way that engineering wasn't something I wanted to do. My major GPA is a 3.95, and my honors GPA is a 3.87. I've been told by several admissions representatives that including an addendum in my application explaining that will win special consideration. So, I've weighted the LSAT a little more heavily when making my assessment. With that in mind, my LSAT score is at or above the median at every school where I rated admission probable, except Georgetown. My LSAT score is at or above the 75th percentile at every school where I rated a scholarship probable. A few of the law school representatives have told me that they may give me a variance of a tenth of a point on my GPA because of the engineering issue, which would put it at, above, or within reasonable range of the median at twelve of the fifteen schools.

Also, without trying be braggadocios, I think it's worth reiterating that I have a very strong resume. I've received confirmation from everyone I've requested a letter of recommendation from, and I fully expect those letters to be very favorable to me both because of the influence of the people writing them and the positive relationships I've held with them. If I've accounted for everything, that leaves only my LSAT writing sample and my personal statement for consideration, both of which I feel good about.

So, for those who are wondering, that's what's running through my head. I admit, I've been known to be overconfident at times.

PN-G bamakid wrote:

seespotrun wrote:Are you a white male?

Technically, yes. But if I remember correctly, law schools can only consider minority status a "plus" on an application, and can't use race as a determining factor in admission per a couple of Supreme Court rulings.

Clearly wrote:Also a lot of the things you think matter, don't. At least not in comparison to the lsat that you should retake.

PN-G bamakid wrote:Also, without trying be braggadocios, I think it's worth reiterating that I have a very strong resume. I've received confirmation from everyone I've requested a letter of recommendation from, and I fully expect those letters to be very favorable to me both because of the influence of the people writing them and the positive relationships I've held with them. If I've accounted for everything, that leaves only my LSAT writing sample and my personal statement for consideration, both of which I feel good about.

Clearly wrote: My lsn gets it's data from...lsn, not law school transparency

Clearly wrote: Also a lot of the things you think matter, don't. At least not in comparison to the lsat that you should retake.

Nomo wrote: That's only true for public schools. Private schools can do what they want.