3.55,169, Military Forum

[M00se]

Hi guys,

I have visited this site a lot but thought I would finally post to get some insight.

GPA: 3.55
LSAT:169 (1 take)
Male
URM: Native American. I have read mixed reviews on whether or not this is actually considered an URM?
Softs: Average/Slightly Above average. Held some fairly prestigious internships while in college. 4 years active duty, with deployments (Officer)
Interested in big law.
100% GI eligible.
Would ideally like to end up in NYC or Chicago.


I have thought about the possibility of a retake, however there is always the concern of scoring lower.


Any help/insight you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

[rebexness]

I think if you have a serious tribal affiliation then the URM tends to count more.

[03152016]

why not prep for the retake and just withdraw if you don't improve?
since the highest score is the one reported to usnwr, that's the one most schools not named harvard yale or stanford care about
especially given your lowish gpa, a few measly points on the lsat will have a big impact on your cycle

[phillywc]

I'd apply to the entire T-14 and retake. You likely have one of the highest NA scores of this cycle, but NA boosts are hard to predict. Scoring lower will not hurt you.

[UVAIce]

You are in a unique position as the fact is that most of the top schools are essentially free to you with the GI Bill. I would be willing to bet with your military time that you would be close to a lock at UVA, where being a veteran gets you in-state tuition and a cost free legal education. I'm biased, but I can tell you that there are a fair number of vets here and most folks have had a lot of success.

[M00se]

Thank you guys for taking the time to respond.

I do have my tribal card (For as much as that matters). However I am not actively involved within the tribe.

I will definitely consider retaking if a few points would make that much of a difference.

With my current numbers, are NYU and Chicago long shots? Thanks for your input UVAIce, are some schools typically more military friendly?

[winstonsalem]

Moose, apply everywhere in the T14 and retake. I think you have a decent shot anywhere, but your odds at the T6 go up dramatically with a 172+.

The schools I think are particularly military friendly are Columbia, Berkeley, UVA, Stanford and Yale. That being said, all schools are interested in getting vets into their entering classes, so you'll likely have a military bump when applying to any school in the T14.

As one last bit of advice, I recommend that you look into http://service2school.org. Service2school provides free law school application consulting services for vets. The founder, Anna Ivey, was the former Dean of Admissions at UChicago law, and she's very active in helping vets with their applications. My fellow vets who've used the service have uniformly outperformed their numbers during their cycles.