Super Splitter 2.45 Cumulative GPA (3.3 Degree) and 171 LSAT Forum

[diamond.julian]

Well I knew I was going to be a splitter but had no idea how bad it would be. I was expecting my GPA to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 3.1 since that what it showed on my transcripts, however it showed up as 2.45 cumulative and 3.3 degree (from an unimpressive cal state school) though I do have academic honors. This is mainly because of some personal problems in my 2nd and 3rd years that eventually led me to drop out for 12 months. My LSAT score is 171 though I feel like I would probably do better if I took it again since my practice tests were generally in the 174-175 range. Also I'm 30 years old so I have been out of my undergrad for about 5 years (9 years from the bad grades) and I also have a valid teaching credential. I don't have a very impressive resume, mostly tutoring and substituting work. I also have my 3 letters of recommendation from my professors (including a department chair). I'm not sure if it matter but my father went to law school at a school I would love to attend (UCLA) and my grandfather was a dean and occasionally taught law classes at an even better school (UC Berkeley). Anyways, I'm really just wondering about my chances, where I should apply to and whatnot.

[Mullens]

You might just be able to sneak into UCLA or Berkeley by being a legacy. No one really knows how much of an impact that has on admissions and being over each of their 75ths for the LSAT will help. Other than that, you should apply broadly to schools from the lower T14 down and hope someone needs help with the LSAT median.

[cbbinnyc]

I could be wrong about this, but I don't think the UC's give much (if any) weight to legacy. The online calculators might not be super helpful to you, given your lopsided stats, but that GPA is going to really hurt your chances. Also, not sure how much a better LSAT score would help, since you're already >75% at many of the T14. I feel for you: my GPA (from when I graduated 7 years ago) is not what I'd like it to be, but I'm sort of SOL short of time travel being discovered. You can compensate for a low GPA (though not fully) by having some distance from it ... but if your softs aren't very strong then I don't know how much that will help. You might be better off kicking it into gear the next couple years and getting more impressive softs (doing humanitarian work in Africa, starting a business, etc etc) because right now your prospects are very bad for the T14 and not so great for the strong regionals either. If you are dead set on applying, I agree with the previous poster, though. You also might want to meet with a consultant to get an assessment from an expert.