3.81/165 Aiming for T20 w. Scholarship Forum

[fayvee]

Hi all,

I would love to get some responses here! I had a 3.81 LSAC GPA from UC Santa Barbara with a Psychology major, and I graduated in 3 years instead of 4, taking an average of 20 units/quarter (average 12-16). I just took the June LSAT, studying for 6 weeks, about 12 hours/week. I took about 4 timed practice tests and ranged 163-167 and untimed, got 170.

I'm trying to decide whether to retake in October. I feel like I could have studied more, but I also felt good about my performance. Will a few points really make a big difference in getting in/scholarship $?

I have spent the past 6 years working in management level digital product development for brands like Coca-Cola and Google, I make over 6 figures. I probably won't go to law school if it means being $150K+ in debt.

Will my transcript showing larger workloads and the type of work I've been doing factor in to admissions at all?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[Tiago Splitter]

A few points makes a huge difference. You're not far off from getting something approaching a full ride from a T14 school, whereas now you'll be lucky to sneak in at full price. The best part is that there is no downside to retaking; schools just take the highest score, so doing the same or worse makes no difference. Fortunately you've only take 4 practice tests. Most people around here took 15+ and in some cases every one ever released, so I doubt you'll be scoring worse once you really get after it.

To your other questions, law school admissions are about 90% GPA and LSAT. The other stuff may help at the margins, but it won't make a big difference in either direction.

All that said not sure why you want to go to law school, but if it's something that works for you and you have correctly decided avoiding debt is a good idea, retake the LSAT and see what happens.

[Good Guy Gaud]

A few points makes a huge difference. You're not far off from getting something approaching a full ride from a T14 school, whereas now you'll be lucky to sneak in at full price. The best part is that there is no downside to retaking; schools just take the highest score, so doing the same or worse makes no difference. Fortunately you've only take 4 practice tests. Most people around here took 15+ and in some cases every one ever released, so I doubt you'll be scoring worse once you really get after it.

To your other questions, law school admissions are about 90% GPA and LSAT. The other stuff may help at the margins, but it won't make a big difference in either direction.

All that said not sure why you want to go to law school, but if it's something that works for you and you have correctly decided avoiding debt is a good idea, retake the LSAT and see what happens.

All of this