2.69 gpa/177 LSAT Forum

[suzanne2015]

To sum up my undergraduate history:

1). Non-traditional student that has been in undergrad a few years longer then most are

2). 2.69 LSAC gpa - messy transcript - a lot of Ws (non punitive), a number of D's and F's earlier on. Had some health problems that hindered earlier academic performance

3). Have a two year upward trend where I took 84 credit hours (yes, 84 counting summer sessions), with All A's and no Withdrawals, which hopefully will show I can handle the rigor of law school

4). Took the Law School Admission test only once and scored a 177. I dont want to retest, because - I dont expect it to help much since I dont see much of a difference between 177 and 179, and Ill never reach 180, and I could likely do worse when retesting, so the 177 will stand


My goals - Well, I started college fresh out of high school in the mid-2000s, and didnt know I would eventually want to go to law school, since 2009, I have known - and want to go into corporate law, and eventually practice in a big city like New York. I am very, very interested in Top 14, even though my gpa is abysmal.

I know that the 2.69/177 could enable me to break top 20 or top 25, and by doing well in 1L you could transfer to T14, however, that very seldomly works out, and one should try Top 14 as a direct admit.

Do you think with my 2.69/177, with a fabulous personal statement about my overcoming roadblocks and healthproblems, and excellent Letters of Recommendation, and applying very early in the 2016 Fall cycle, can land me possibly at - Georgetown or Cornell or Michigan or Virginia? Do you think if I blanket the Top 14, Ill snag at least one?

Law school predictor with my gpa and LSAT says - Penn - weak consider, UVA-consider, UM-consider, NW-consider, Georgetown - consider, and Cornell - consider, but then again I dont know how accurate that is?

[03152016]

play around w/ mylsn.info

here's my complete guess based on data points on mylsn and tls

out at all t14 except:
uva (possible, but not likely)
nu (best shot)
gulc (some chance, less than a coin flip)

[03152016]

as for snagging at least one t14?

can't be sure but i think it's more likely u get at least one than none at all

[suzanne2015]

Thanks Brut, for all your help. I greatly appreciate it. That was kind of you to answer me and direct me to LSN.

You mentioned Northwestern was my best bet - I read that they took a splitter cycles back with a 2.2/177, however to mitigate the low gpa that splitter had meaningful work experience after graduation. BUT would my 2.69 (almost 2.7) and 177, give me a favorable chance without the meaningful work experience?

and lastly, do you think the chances of one Top 14 are favorable given a coin toss at Georgetown, fair at NU, and small chance at UVA?

Thanks, sorry to ask so many questions, as I am sort of a novice at this.

[Clemenceau]

Thanks Brut, for all your help. I greatly appreciate it. That was kind of you to answer me and direct me to LSN.

You mentioned Northwestern was my best bet - I read that they took a splitter cycles back with a 2.2/177, however to mitigate the low gpa that splitter had meaningful work experience after graduation. BUT would my 2.69 (almost 2.7) and 177, give me a favorable chance without the meaningful work experience?

and lastly, do you think the chances of one Top 14 are favorable given a coin toss at Georgetown, fair at NU, and small chance at UVA?

Thanks, sorry to ask so many questions, as I am sort of a novice at this.

Your 2.69 is still objectively bad for law school admissions. The fact that it's higher than that person's 2.2 is really meaningless.

I think brut was saying you probably have less than 50% shot at any given t14, but collectively its more likely than not that you get one acceptance.

Your cycle will be unpredictable, that's just the reality. No one here is going to be able to tell what will happen. Good luck with your apps.

[03152016]

Thanks Brut, for all your help. I greatly appreciate it. That was kind of you to answer me and direct me to LSN.

You mentioned Northwestern was my best bet - I read that they took a splitter cycles back with a 2.2/177, however to mitigate the low gpa that splitter had meaningful work experience after graduation. BUT would my 2.69 (almost 2.7) and 177, give me a favorable chance without the meaningful work experience?

and lastly, do you think the chances of one Top 14 are favorable given a coin toss at Georgetown, fair at NU, and small chance at UVA?

Thanks, sorry to ask so many questions, as I am sort of a novice at this.

ya nu takes some fairly extreme splitters. i just don't know how much the work experience thing matters. the conventional wisdom has been that it does for nu. i think they have a fair amount of jd/mbas and they used to have the 2 year ajd program, which i think attracted ppl with more work experience. but i just don't know how much it actually matters for standard jd admissions.
for cornell, duke, boalt, and mich, the average age for incoming students is 24 (mich is 24.5)
for nu it's 25. so that makes it seem like the class is slightly older. but the nu number lumps in ajd and jd/mbas, who, like i said, might have more work experience on avg. so for pure jd, i'm not sure work experience matters more relative to other schools, despite the conventional wisdom

[suzanne2015]

Thanks again Brut for all your help, I really appreciate it. Thanks too Clemenceau, I'll just keep my fingers crossed for the best results I can get.

I am just posting this on this thread for others in a similar boat with the same gpa and LSAT score, that may be wondering about T14 acceptances:


When going to LSN, and looking at the 2013-14 cycle. I see that:

1). a 172/2.78, was waitlisted at Northwestern and accepted at Georgetown

2). a 177/2.65 was accepted at Northwestern

3). a 173/2.66 was accepted to Northwestern, and Georgetown but had WE

4) a 173/2.59 was waitlisted at Virginia and Northwestern


So will just hope for the best. Thanks everyone!!!!

[elterrible78]

To sum up my undergraduate history:

1). Non-traditional student that has been in undergrad a few years longer then most are

2). 2.69 LSAC gpa - messy transcript - a lot of Ws (non punitive), a number of D's and F's earlier on. Had some health problems that hindered earlier academic performance

3). Have a two year upward trend where I took 84 credit hours (yes, 84 counting summer sessions), with All A's and no Withdrawals, which hopefully will show I can handle the rigor of law school

4). Took the Law School Admission test only once and scored a 177. I dont want to retest, because - I dont expect it to help much since I dont see much of a difference between 177 and 179, and Ill never reach 180, and I could likely do worse when retesting, so the 177 will stand


My goals - Well, I started college fresh out of high school in the mid-2000s, and didnt know I would eventually want to go to law school, since 2009, I have known - and want to go into corporate law, and eventually practice in a big city like New York. I am very, very interested in Top 14, even though my gpa is abysmal.

I know that the 2.69/177 could enable me to break top 20 or top 25, and by doing well in 1L you could transfer to T14, however, that very seldomly works out, and one should try Top 14 as a direct admit.

Do you think with my 2.69/177, with a fabulous personal statement about my overcoming roadblocks and healthproblems, and excellent Letters of Recommendation, and applying very early in the 2016 Fall cycle, can land me possibly at - Georgetown or Cornell or Michigan or Virginia? Do you think if I blanket the Top 14, Ill snag at least one?

Law school predictor with my gpa and LSAT says - Penn - weak consider, UVA-consider, UM-consider, NW-consider, Georgetown - consider, and Cornell - consider, but then again I dont know how accurate that is?

I wouldn't "blanket the Top-14" at all, since there are schools you just absolutely have no shot at. I think, as previous posters have said, you have an outside shot at Georgetown, UVA, and NU. You should apply there and, hell, if you get a fee waiver or money's no object, take a shot at everything south of the T6 (except Berkeley). I guess the bottom line is that *somebody* makes up the bottom 25% GPA at those schools, and whether it's just a hair under or a 1.35, it has no effect on the numbers they report to USNWR. If you can really put together that killer of a personal statement and recommendations, it's certainly worth a try (although I do NOT know what your circumstances were, I would be careful about overselling "I got Fs because of health issues" unless that is truly, honestly the case).