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GPA: 2.99
LSAT: 175+
Non-URM
3+ years of work experience and also a master's degree with a 3.7 GPA.
On-campus extra curricular activities as well. (SGA Exec branch, as well as a Senator, and president of my NORML chapter). Had a couple of bad semesters because of family financial problems and had to pick up a 2nd job on top of my activities.

Side note: I am PTing around 175-177, but have not taken the test yet. I am pausing my career to take it because I've always wanted to go to law school and practice law. I've always had at least one job since I was 16, so this is a bit unnerving to say the least.

Where are my best shots/objectively is this worth it? My GPA is never going to change, so I am going to make sure I am taking the test very seriously. I want to crack the t14 and it seems like the cycles have been/are favorable for high scorers with the decline in those taking tests. Thanks for any help and advice.

take the test. most people underperform on the real thing. if you do, retake. with a 175+ some the splitter-friendly T14s (nyu, nu, uva) will probably bite.

campaignraiser wrote:GPA: 2.99
LSAT: 175+
Non-URM
3+ years of work experience and also a master's degree with a 3.7 GPA.
On-campus extra curricular activities as well. (SGA Exec branch, as well as a Senator, and president of my NORML chapter). Had a couple of bad semesters because of family financial problems and had to pick up a 2nd job on top of my activities.

Side note: I am PTing around 175-177, but have not taken the test yet. I am pausing my career to take it because I've always wanted to go to law school and practice law. I've always had at least one job since I was 16, so this is a bit unnerving to say the least.

Where are my best shots/objective is this worth it? My GPA is never going to change, so I am going to make sure I am taking the test very seriously. I want to crack the t14 and it seems like the cycles have been/are favorable for high scorers with the decline in those taking tests. Thanks for any help and advice.

My practice tests were a 177, 177, 176, 175, and 171, and I only scored a 170 and then a 173. Obviously the sample size of scores on my practice tests is a little low, and I might have benefited from taking more of them, but don't bank on scoring at your PT average. If you want to get as close as you can, try replicating test conditions as much as possible for the rest of the PTs. Honestly, I think there is some merit to taking a PT or two tired and with distracting noises and stuff, because you might have trouble, like I did, actually falling asleep the night before and some test centers provide less than ideal testing conditions.

It's pretty awful they count grades that were withdrawn from of a grade forgiveness policy. I ended up with a 3.112, but with a class I retook it drops down to 2.99/3.00. I appreciate the test condition replication advice. I have been doing it to the best of my ability. I like the idea of taking it while tired, though. Hadn't tried it.

campaignraiser wrote:It's pretty awful they count grades that were withdrawn from of a grade forgiveness policy. I ended up with a 3.112, but with a class I retook it drops down to 2.99/3.00. I appreciate the test condition replication advice. I have been doing it to the best of my ability. I like the idea of taking it while tired, though. Hadn't tried it.

I literally did not fall asleep the night before the first time I took the test because of nerves, and if I had not routinely been studying exhausted between the hours of 12 am - 3 am (I am frequently working from 9:30 am - 12 am), I would have been screwed on the actual test. Not suggesting you do most of your studying tired as you just are not going to take in as much new information, but it might be a decent idea to try it once or twice so you know how to cope.

Take in June for the later start time. If you score 175+ you should get a little money in the T-14. What are you looking to do with a law degree?

hill1334 wrote:
My practice tests were a 177, 177, 176, 175, and 171, and I only scored a 170 and then a 173. Obviously the sample size of scores on my practice tests is a little low, and I might have benefited from taking more of them, but don't bank on scoring at your PT average. If you want to get as close as you can, try replicating test conditions as much as possible for the rest of the PTs. Honestly, I think there is some merit to taking a PT or two tired and with distracting noises and stuff, because you might have trouble, like I did, actually falling asleep the night before and some test centers provide less than ideal testing conditions.

Were all your practice test timed? How long did it take you to consistently score in the mid 170s? I don't plan on taking the LSAT till I have similar numbers to yours.

konoha wrote:

hill1334 wrote:
My practice tests were a 177, 177, 176, 175, and 171, and I only scored a 170 and then a 173. Obviously the sample size of scores on my practice tests is a little low, and I might have benefited from taking more of them, but don't bank on scoring at your PT average. If you want to get as close as you can, try replicating test conditions as much as possible for the rest of the PTs. Honestly, I think there is some merit to taking a PT or two tired and with distracting noises and stuff, because you might have trouble, like I did, actually falling asleep the night before and some test centers provide less than ideal testing conditions.

Were all your practice test timed? How long did it take you to consistently score in the mid 170s? I don't plan on taking the LSAT till I have similar numbers to yours.

This varies from person to person. But timed PTs is the way to go after a bit of studying, see the LSAT prep forum for more info. But if you want anecdotes, it took me about 2-3 months to consistently score in the mid 170s and then on test day I landed a 168.

konoha wrote:

hill1334 wrote:
My practice tests were a 177, 177, 176, 175, and 171, and I only scored a 170 and then a 173. Obviously the sample size of scores on my practice tests is a little low, and I might have benefited from taking more of them, but don't bank on scoring at your PT average. If you want to get as close as you can, try replicating test conditions as much as possible for the rest of the PTs. Honestly, I think there is some merit to taking a PT or two tired and with distracting noises and stuff, because you might have trouble, like I did, actually falling asleep the night before and some test centers provide less than ideal testing conditions.

Were all your practice test timed? How long did it take you to consistently score in the mid 170s? I don't plan on taking the LSAT till I have similar numbers to yours.

I initially used the study schedule (3 month) and materials from lawschooli.com. I found it to be very solid. My diagnostic was 154 if I recall correctly. I prefer to self study because I get bored in a classroom setting (as my GPA probably indicates), but it requires discipline to do it day in and out for 3-4 months. It took about 2-2.5 months to start consistently seeing that level of improvement be maintained.

hereisonehand wrote:take the test. most people underperform on the real thing. if you do, retake. with a 175+ some the splitter-friendly T14s (nyu, nu, uva) will probably bite.

nyu won't dip that low

op, thread is premature
but you're probably aiming for nu, with the possibility of uva and gulc

Brut wrote:

hereisonehand wrote:take the test. most people underperform on the real thing. if you do, retake. with a 175+ some the splitter-friendly T14s (nyu, nu, uva) will probably bite.

nyu won't dip that low

Not sure about that.

edit: here's the whole chart instead
all non-urm sub 3s

Brut wrote:
all non-urm sub 3s
cls and chi took one a piece
nyu zero

Someone in my cycle got in with 2.9/178, and it was much tougher then. If NYU wants to keep its massive class intact they'll continue to care less and less about that GPA floor. Look at the GPA floor trend in recent cycles; a few years ago someone saying they have a chance at NYU with a 3.1 would have been burned at the stake, but now it happens all the time.

if not literally impossible, likelihood of 2.99/175 getting in still approaches zero

Tiago Splitter wrote:

Brut wrote:

hereisonehand wrote:take the test. most people underperform on the real thing. if you do, retake. with a 175+ some the splitter-friendly T14s (nyu, nu, uva) will probably bite.

nyu won't dip that low

Not sure about that.

looks like brut is right.

That 3 barrier is huge, nyu would be very unlikely. Penn unlikely but possible, nu very likely, gulc fairly likely, uva decent shot but hard to predict since I believe they're getting less splitter friendly.

I just don't think the 3 barrier is that huge anymore. Of course, whether this poster gets in or not won't really answer that question and even going back or forward a few years we can't know a whole lot because the sample size is so small.

by all means blanket, op
if you want to go for it, go for it
just don't get your hopes up is all