Top Law Schools

A classmate of mine (non-URM) is experiencing trouble in signing up for TLS forums and wants to know her shot at regional schools SLU and Missouri. Before you tell me to plug the numbers in, I have info that any sort of calculator can't factor in. She has a low GPA (2.94) in a science major but her first three semesters at school were marred by an undiagnosed depression that seriously affected her work (1.2 gpa). It has since been diagnosed and she has shown an extreme upward trend. She is awaiting October LSAT results and had consistently PT'd in the 154-156 range during her prep.

What would her chances for these schools be given a 155 LSAT and her 2.94 GPA w/ good softs (solid internships, good rec letters, etc.). Like me, she really has her sights set on law school for fall 2016.

Thanks!

(Truthfully) not a stellar chance

Trust me, everyone here will tell her to retake.

retake

Got to retake

The GPA and LSAT are what they are, they likely won't be mitigated by medical issues or her softs (which sound pretty average)

If she is debt-financing her cost of attendance it will be difficult if not impossible to find a school worth attending, unless maybe she can get a high LSAT score (and that still might not be enough to offset the GPA when it comes to get a worthwhile acceptance at a worthwhile cost)

PrayFor170 wrote:Trust me, everyone here will tell her to retake.

Yes, I was thinking of writing a script to the effect of searching in the post for LSAT-format numbers and if the biggest among them is smaller than 170 then post "retake". It will boost my post count and hence my preftige on these fora. JK.

She has a decent shot at SLU if she works with the admissions office. If your friend's score came back between a 154-156, it's a pretty decent score for SLU. GPA sucks, but can probably be explained.

Clinical depression might qualify her for a retroactive withdrawal from those grades, particularly if she was diagnosed with it.

GoooRams wrote: What would her chances for these schools be given a 155 LSAT and her 2.94 GPA w/ good softs (solid internships, good rec letters, etc.). Like me, she really has her sights set on law school for fall 2016.

Thanks!

The softs are not particularly great, so they won't have much weight on the decision. The medical isn't going to have much of an effect unless her UG institution somehow alters things like twenty discussed above. It may make for a good addendum, but the GPA is still a problem.

Does your friend have any goal beyond just making it to law school? Her chances aren't particularly amazing at those schools, and her chances of having a job when she graduates from those schools aren't particularly amazing, either. Mizzou is probably a rejection, and SLU is probably going to be at sticker. She's below the 25th percentile in GPA at both schools, and a 155 means she's sitting at or around 25th percentile for LSAT at both schools. If she were to get into Mizzou or SLU, it would likely be at sticker. I'd hate to see her pay sticker for SLU to graduate into unemployment (you have between a 35% and 40% chance of not graduating into a legal job at those schools).

I would say that your friend needs to do some research and think really hard about whether law school is right for her, and she needs to retake the LSAT until she gets a 10 point bump if she wants to go to law school.