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This is my first post, but I've been doing some research into lawschool admissions and browsing this site fairly frequently for a while now. Hoping to get some insight on my situation and my chances at certain schools.

I believe I would be considered non-traditional. Here are my stats, and hopefully it is not too confusing...

LSAT: TBD (June) but expecting/hoping 160-168 range. Been preparing for it and will retake in october if needed.

Undergraduate Cumulative GPA: ~3.64
Undergraduate School: Georgia Tech (2010 graduation)
Major: Aerospace Engineering (ranked #2 in the country)
Note: I went to the University of Central Florida for freshman year and transferred to GT. UCF GPA was 4.0, GT GPA was 3.53. Unfortunately GT does not account for non GT courses so I did not graduate with "Highest Honor" which is a 3.55.

Graduate GPA: ~3.95
Graduate School: Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan (2014 graduation)
Major: Integrative Bioscience and Biomedical Engineering (Essentially mechanical engineering focused on robotics)
Note: Monbukagakusho Scholarship recipient (Full scholarship funded by the Japanese government)


Work Experience:
I was an Associate Project Engineer at a major airline for 1 year after undergrad (2011-2012) and then went to grad school in Japan. Right after undergrad I spent a good amount of time job hunting which is the slight gap between graduation and work.
Currently employed as an Analyst/Engineer in a rotational talent program at an automotive manufacturer (German premium brand). I have been there since June 2014. The program is a 2 year program and will end the summer I enter lawschool (works out perfectly). By the time I apply to schools this summer/fall I will have combined ~2.5 years of work experience.


Other soft factors include being mixed heritage ("two or more races"). I doubt this helps at all though.
I have lived in Japan for 5 years of my life (3 when younger, 2 for graduate school) and have enough Japanese fluency to handle a job interview there. Being able to live on my own in another country with other international students was an awesome experience overall.

The schools I am hoping to get into are mostly in southern California
UCLA
USC
UC-Irvine

Also looking at:
UMichigan (I live in Detroit now for work)
UTexas

I am open to schools in NY, DC, and FL as well but my main goal is southern cali. Hopefully being out of state does not hurt me too much there.

Thank you for any feedback.


* I am most interested in going into IP/Patent law.

Everything depends upon your actual LSAT score. Acceptances to law school is only part of the game; most need scholarship offers along with the acceptances in order to justify attending law school--which can cost as much as $300,000 not including lost income during law school.

lawschoolnumbers.com can help you to assess your chances for admission & possible scholarship money.

Apply broadly = schools likely to accept you & offer significant scholarship money which also place graduates in your targeted market & to schools in the T-14 (all of which tend to place graduates nationally in major cities). Nevertheless, due to your impressive work & educational background, targeted market & strong GPA, you should not need to apply outside of the T-20 law schools assuming that your LSAT score is at least 164.

P.S. Your goal should be to target a score above 170 on the LSAT in order to maximize your options & to get substantial scholarship money within the T-14 law schools. Also, there is no penalty assed by law school admission offices for retaking the LSAT. So retake if you don't achieve your law school goals initially due to a disappointing LSAT score.

Also, there is no penalty assed by law school admission offices for retaking the LSAT. So retake if you don't achieve your law school goals initially due to a disappointing LSAT score.

False Y and S care about retakes, ( not trying to be that guy, but just so OP is informed)

But for the overwhelming majority of schools no it does not matter if you retake

you come off as striverish. all that stuff doesn't really matter compared to the lsat- agree that it's shitty a test will carry much more weight than all the things you have done.

Broncos15 wrote:

Also, there is no penalty assed by law school admission offices for retaking the LSAT. So retake if you don't achieve your law school goals initially due to a disappointing LSAT score.

False Y and S care about retakes, ( not trying to be that guy, but just so OP is informed)

But for the overwhelming majority of schools no it does not matter if you retake

don't think S cares about retakes. And Y might but they are going to ding people for random reasons anyway

I appreciate the feedback. Thank you all.

All I have to do is get my lsat up to a respectable score it seems. I'll retake it in October most likely so I can get another solid 3-4 months of prep. I don't mind if some schools care about that, I'm shooting for SoCal due to a mix of things (plus a brother out there).

I hear that california is very biased against out of state applicants. For undergrad I don't doubt this. All states are that way, but what about lawschool?

Additionally, as a side question, for LORs would it raise any red flags of I don't have my employer provide one? I'm in a unique situation due to te nature of my program. Their ultimate goal is to retain me and have me be a future leader in the department. Asking for a LOR would put strain some relationships at work. I could very easily get peer/coworker LORs but I would be hesitant to ask my supervisor (not that we have a negative relationship).

I planned to ask my professor from graduate school in Japan to write one. Additionally have a peer who I worked with and learned from at my current company (and their significant other is an attorney as well and gave me a lot of insight). For a 3rd if needed I could ask another professor from graduate school, or I could ask another professor.

I wouldn't ask your supervisor, I don't think it'll matter one way or another.

Now, back to your LSAT.

Your comment seems to imply that you're thinking about your LSAT only with respect to admission. I.e., if the score is high enough, you'll get in, and any higher doesn't matter. This is the wrong way to think about the LSAT. Higher GPA and higher LSAT don't only mean admission to a better school, they also mean scholarship money. Of course, you're stuck with your GPA. But you're not stuck with your LSAT. Given your technical background, I think you should be able to get in the low 170s.

Also, when applying, make sure to apply to schools that your target schools compete with on scholarship money, even if you're not interested in going to them. Being able to say that Sounds-like-the-worst-school-ever-but-is-ranked-well University gave you a full ride is a huge bargaining chip.