3.8 / 168 LSAT Forum

MILvet · Post by **MILvet** » Tue Aug 18, 2015 10:07 pm

Currently, I am an Active Duty service member with nearly 10 years of highly decorated service. I recently took my LSAT and scored a 168. Both my undergrad and MBA GPAs were in the 3.8-3.9 range. I am hoping to attend William Mitchell's hybrid program while remaining in the service. My end goal would be to work in federal service.

Negatives

Both my undergrad and MBA are from online colleges. Ashford and Northcentral.

I have minimal extracurricular activities.

What are my chances of obtaining a scholarship from WM and will my LSAT score offset the stigma of online colleges? I am the sole breadwinner for my family and money will play a huge factor in determining if law school is feasible for me at this time. I am reserving my GI Bill for my children and do not want to utilize those funds.

Dcc617 · Post by **Dcc617** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:56 am

Hey there. I am currently active duty army and will be attending law school in the fall of 2016.

May I ask why you're looking at William Mitchell? Your numbers are very strong, especially with the military bump. You should be able to get into a much better school than William Mitchell. Below is a comparison of William Mitchell's employment prospects compared to UM and the T14 school Northwestern where you're at both medians.

Here is a snapshot from mylsn.info that shows how competitive you are for the top 30. The range here is 167-169 and 3.7-3.9.

If you've been in 10 years I know that you can't FLEP, but if you're an officer you can look for some sort of GRADSO deal. But you have an outstanding chance of going to a much better school than William Mitchell at a very substantial discount.

Mack.Hambleton · Post by **Mack.Hambleton** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 1:47 am

@ above, its because its online

With those numbers I would definitely wait until you can go full time

MILvet · Post by **MILvet** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:15 am

Being the sole provider for my family, my options for law school are extremely limited. My children are my top priority and I am unwilling to sacrifice their quality of life for my personal goals. To the best of my knowledge, WM would be the only game in town that allows me to remain AD, collecting full pay and benefits. I do not want to go to a Non ABA school as the juice probably isn't worth the squeeze.

I do have several local programs available to me but with multiple TDYs, deployments, and PCS moves in the forseeable future i am not sure how feasible that will really be.

Clemenceau · Post by **Clemenceau** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:25 am

Is WMs online jd going to be able to get you the job that you want?

Dcc617 · Post by **Dcc617** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 12:27 pm

MILvet wrote:Being the sole provider for my family, my options for law school are extremely limited. My children are my top priority and I am unwilling to sacrifice their quality of life for my personal goals. To the best of my knowledge, WM would be the only game in town that allows me to remain AD, collecting full pay and benefits. I do not want to go to a Non ABA school as the juice probably isn't worth the squeeze.

I do have several local programs available to me but with multiple TDYs, deployments, and PCS moves in the forseeable future i am not sure how feasible that will really be.

You should call your branch manager and see if there is a way that they'll let you go to grad school full time while active duty. My BN XO told about how he did that when I initially submitted my UQR to go to law school. I'm almost positive that Northwestern has a two year program.

MILvet · Post by **MILvet** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 9:24 pm

Since i am enlisted, i am not privy to the JAG programs offered to commissioned officers. Even if i completed law school over the next 3-4 years, I still would not be able to commission due to age restrictions. A more practical application of a law degree would be to supplement my current education and certifications.

What are some things i can do to make myself more competitive for a full ride scholarship?

Dcc617 · Post by **Dcc617** » Wed Aug 19, 2015 11:06 pm

MILvet wrote:Since i am enlisted, i am not privy to the JAG programs offered to commissioned officers. Even if i completed law school over the next 3-4 years, I still would not be able to commission due to age restrictions. A more practical application of a law degree would be to supplement my current education and certifications.

What are some things i can do to make myself more competitive for a full ride scholarship?

I don't recommend using law school to beef up your civilian ed. The ones where you could pull it off would not be worth your time. For promotion points/board file you just look at a one year masters. Your TA should cover it. Several of my NCOs managed to pull it off.

You have very strong numbers, especially with the military aspect of your application . But as far as I know, law school scholarships are MUCH more numbers driven than undergrad. For full rides you should look at schools where you're at or above the 75th percentile GPA and LSAT. However, with your numbers (which are great) you are super competitive for the best law schools in the country. Don't go just to go though. If you can't go JAG then it would almost require you to separate from the military to take full advantage of your numbers.

EDIT Sorry. I forgot that you already had an MBA. You may have gotten all of the civilian ed that is worth getting unless you want to be a lawyer.

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