3.93/162 Where should I be looking at? Forum

[hale95]

I really want to go somewhere in the Northeast, preferably D.C. or a large city. Plant Sciences major applying next cycle.

Thank you!

[bombaysippin]

You should be looking for a retake...

[Biglaw1990]

Please retake. A 170+ will make you a competitive applicant for practically the entire T14. I know retaking the LSAT is the last thing you want to do, but for the sake of your future, just do it.

[woodchuck78]

I really want to go somewhere in the Northeast, preferably D.C. or a large city. Plant Sciences major applying next cycle.

Thank you!

Please, please, listen to these people^^.

I was in almost the exact same situation that you were in at this point last year, except I had a point higher on my LSAT. I knew I was going to get into schools, but I had T14 aspirations and T20 full ride aspirations. I didn't study as hard as I should have over the summer, but kicked it into high gear at the beginning of the semester and started PTing in the high 160s and broke 170 3 days before the Oct LSAT. I get my results back and I [somehow] got the same exact score. For better or for worse, I listened to the advice I was given by profs and previous grads at my institution and went ahead and applied without retaking. I was going to apply this cycle regardless, I just didn't know if I was gonna retake in December or not. Long story short, I didn't.

I got into basically every school I wanted to get into, but the scholarships just haven't been overwhelming. Take, for example, some schools you're likely to really want to consider if you want DC law--GW, UVA, Gtown. I only got $20K at GW (which considering their tuition is a drop in the bucket), got no scholly at UVA, and didn't even get a fee waiver to Gtown (didn't try that hard, though, they weren't for me). The only full tuition offers I've gotten are from schools in the lower echelon of the Tier 1 schools, which I won't scoff at but it wasn't how I envisioned the cycle going for me.

So please, I know it seems like every TLSer will come in telling you to retake (waiting for you, Fliptrip haha). If my abridged story can teach you anything, it's to bust your ass this summer studying and get somewhere above a 168, cause with your GPA it's obviously doable. Unless you don't give a damn about how much you're paying for law school, retake. Please. Then, once you set yourself up with a better score, come back and ask about good DC law schools.

[fliptrip]

I really want to go somewhere in the Northeast, preferably D.C. or a large city. Plant Sciences major applying next cycle.

Thank you!

Please, please, listen to these people^^.

I was in almost the exact same situation that you were in at this point last year, except I had a point higher on my LSAT. I knew I was going to get into schools, but I had T14 aspirations and T20 full ride aspirations. I didn't study as hard as I should have over the summer, but kicked it into high gear at the beginning of the semester and started PTing in the high 160s and broke 170 3 days before the Oct LSAT. I get my results back and I [somehow] got the same exact score. For better or for worse, I listened to the advice I was given by profs and previous grads at my institution and went ahead and applied without retaking. I was going to apply this cycle regardless, I just didn't know if I was gonna retake in December or not. Long story short, I didn't.

I got into basically every school I wanted to get into, but the scholarships just haven't been overwhelming. Take, for example, some schools you're likely to really want to consider if you want DC law--GW, UVA, Gtown. I only got $20K at GW (which considering their tuition is a drop in the bucket), got no scholly at UVA, and didn't even get a fee waiver to Gtown (didn't try that hard, though, they weren't for me). The only full tuition offers I've gotten are from schools in the lower echelon of the Tier 1 schools, which I won't scoff at but it wasn't how I envisioned the cycle going for me.

So please, I know it seems like every TLSer will come in telling you to retake (waiting for you, Fliptrip haha). If my abridged story can teach you anything, it's to bust your ass this summer studying and get somewhere above a 168, cause with your GPA it's obviously doable. Unless you don't give a damn about how much you're paying for law school, retake. Please. Then, once you set yourself up with a better score, come back and ask about good DC law schools.

Alright, goddammit. I'm here. First, I'd like to let it be known that I spent a bunch of time in another thread today telling someone they did not have to retake. So, there.

OP, yes, your best move is likely to retake the LSAT to get to at least 168 if you'd like to maximize your options. Think of it this way, you've already accrued the thing that's impossible to dramatically influence by the time you're ready to apply to law school, your GPA. Your sterling, platinum GPA is good enough to get you into any law school in the country and most of the best with SIGNIFICANT money. You want to go to school in DC? Get 168 and you'll likely get the best discount GULC has to offer. If you just want to live in DC after law school, UVA is a much stronger option and you should get UVA for free if you can get across the 170 barrier. Wanna take 3 years in paradise to go to law school? if you get to 169, you will have a not awful shot at Stanford. It's really in your best interests to retake. It has been done many times and there are few who regret the decision.

[woodchuck78]

Please, please, listen to these people^^.

I was in almost the exact same situation that you were in at this point last year, except I had a point higher on my LSAT. I knew I was going to get into schools, but I had T14 aspirations and T20 full ride aspirations. I didn't study as hard as I should have over the summer, but kicked it into high gear at the beginning of the semester and started PTing in the high 160s and broke 170 3 days before the Oct LSAT. I get my results back and I [somehow] got the same exact score. For better or for worse, I listened to the advice I was given by profs and previous grads at my institution and went ahead and applied without retaking. I was going to apply this cycle regardless, I just didn't know if I was gonna retake in December or not. Long story short, I didn't.

I got into basically every school I wanted to get into, but the scholarships just haven't been overwhelming. Take, for example, some schools you're likely to really want to consider if you want DC law--GW, UVA, Gtown. I only got $20K at GW (which considering their tuition is a drop in the bucket), got no scholly at UVA, and didn't even get a fee waiver to Gtown (didn't try that hard, though, they weren't for me). The only full tuition offers I've gotten are from schools in the lower echelon of the Tier 1 schools, which I won't scoff at but it wasn't how I envisioned the cycle going for me.

So please, I know it seems like every TLSer will come in telling you to retake (waiting for you, Fliptrip haha). If my abridged story can teach you anything, it's to bust your ass this summer studying and get somewhere above a 168, cause with your GPA it's obviously doable. Unless you don't give a damn about how much you're paying for law school, retake. Please. Then, once you set yourself up with a better score, come back and ask about good DC law schools.

Alright, goddammit. I'm here. First, I'd like to let it be known that I spent a bunch of time in another thread today telling someone they did not have to retake. So, there.

OP, yes, your best move is likely to retake the LSAT to get to at least 168 if you'd like to maximize your options. Think of it this way, you've already accrued the thing that's impossible to dramatically influence by the time you're ready to apply to law school, your GPA. Your sterling, platinum GPA is good enough to get you into any law school in the country and most of the best with SIGNIFICANT money. You want to go to school in DC? Get 168 and you'll likely get the best discount GULC has to offer. If you just want to live in DC after law school, UVA is a much stronger option and you should get UVA for free if you can get across the 170 barrier. Wanna take 3 years in paradise to go to law school? if you get to 169, you will have a not awful shot at Stanford. It's really in your best interests to retake. It has been done many times and there are few who regret the decision.

Hey, I don't blame you for telling people to retake. Some people are just outta their damn element when it comes to this stuff. OP, your name wouldn't happen to be Donny, would it?

[GFox345]

You should be looking for a retake...

EDIT: Seriously, OP. Earn yourself 5+ and you have a serious shot at Chicago. In your current condition, you MIGHT be able to snag Cornell or possibly UVA via ED, but you'd almost surely be paying sticker or close to it.

Just retake.

Has the whole world gone CRAZY!? Am I the only one here that gives a shit about the rules!?

[woodchuck78]

You should be looking for a retake...

EDIT: Seriously, OP. Earn yourself 5+ and you have a serious shot at Chicago. In your current condition, you MIGHT be able to snag Cornell or possibly UVA via ED, but you'd almost surely be paying sticker or close to it.

Just retake.

Has the whole world gone CRAZY!? Am I the only one here that gives a shit about the rules!?

MARK IT 8, DUDE.

[fliptrip]

Walter, Smokey is a pacifist like me.

Dude, I myself dabbled in pacifism. Not in 'nam of course...

[bellepepper]

Retake! I have the same GPA as you and had the same exact score, retaking sounded so daunting, hell I even put a deposit down on a average school. I decided to retake and Ive gotten into better schools with higher scholarships, you got this!!

[Mikey]

With that GPA, I encourage a retake.

[acz26]

So while I agree that it's probably worth the trouble to retake, I totally get that some people just want the LSAT out of their lives forever. If you're one of those people, and you're really only interested in T-14, I would highly highly recommend applying ED to one of the schools that affords you an admissions advantage in doing so (as well as the T-14s that are more interested in GPA and less so in the LSAT), namely UPenn, UVA, Georgetown, and Cornell. You might have a shot at Berkeley, but they're pretty random when it comes to admissions. Also, keep on mind that you can apply ED to a second school if your first ED choice rejects you. If you're strategic and apply early enough in the cycle, you'd likely have a shot. I know a girl who got into Penn with like a 4.0 and a 160 via ED because she demonstrated extreme interest; anything is possible!

Hope that helps!

[Tls2016]

So while I agree that it's probably worth the trouble to retake, I totally get that some people just want the LSAT out of their lives forever. If you're one of those people, and you're really only interested in T-14, I would highly highly recommend applying ED to one of the schools that affords you an admissions advantage in doing so (as well as the T-14s that are more interested in GPA and less so in the LSAT), namely UPenn, UVA, Georgetown, and Cornell. You might have a shot at Berkeley, but they're pretty random when it comes to admissions. Also, keep on mind that you can apply ED to a second school if your first ED choice rejects you. If you're strategic and apply early enough in the cycle, you'd likely have a shot. I know a girl who got into Penn with like a 4.0 and a 160 via ED because she demonstrated extreme interest; anything is possible!

Hope that helps!

Sticker at UVA which is the best choice of admission for OP is $300,000. I assume Penn is close. Your friend is foolish for wasting her GPA to ED Penn when with a better LSAT she could have had access to almost all of the T14 and some scholarships.
Getting accepted isn't the only goal. You really don't want to have to repay that much debt. Schools are glad to have students like your friend roll up and pay the full tuition.

[acz26]

So while I agree that it's probably worth the trouble to retake, I totally get that some people just want the LSAT out of their lives forever. If you're one of those people, and you're really only interested in T-14, I would highly highly recommend applying ED to one of the schools that affords you an admissions advantage in doing so (as well as the T-14s that are more interested in GPA and less so in the LSAT), namely UPenn, UVA, Georgetown, and Cornell. You might have a shot at Berkeley, but they're pretty random when it comes to admissions. Also, keep on mind that you can apply ED to a second school if your first ED choice rejects you. If you're strategic and apply early enough in the cycle, you'd likely have a shot. I know a girl who got into Penn with like a 4.0 and a 160 via ED because she demonstrated extreme interest; anything is possible!

Hope that helps!

Sticker at UVA which is the best choice of admission for OP is $300,000. I assume Penn is close. Your friend is foolish for wasting her GPA to ED Penn when with a better LSAT she could have had access to almost all of the T14 and some scholarships.
Getting accepted isn't the only goal. You really don't want to have to repay that much debt. Schools are glad to have students like your friend roll up and pay the full tuition.

I'm fairly certain that it's closer to 250K, including living expenses etc. Also, I made my statement under the condition that retaking the LSAT is not going to be in the applicant's future for personal reasons. If I were in that person's shoes (and I actually nearly was but decided to cancel and retake instead), then I'd definitely retake. But everyone has different priorities/financial circumstances..

[Tls2016]

LST has full sticker debt from Penn at $309,000 at graduation

http://www.lawschooltransparency.com/re ... nted-Cost/

[fliptrip]

So while I agree that it's probably worth the trouble to retake, I totally get that some people just want the LSAT out of their lives forever. If you're one of those people, and you're really only interested in T-14, I would highly highly recommend applying ED to one of the schools that affords you an admissions advantage in doing so (as well as the T-14s that are more interested in GPA and less so in the LSAT), namely UPenn, UVA, Georgetown, and Cornell. You might have a shot at Berkeley, but they're pretty random when it comes to admissions. Also, keep on mind that you can apply ED to a second school if your first ED choice rejects you. If you're strategic and apply early enough in the cycle, you'd likely have a shot. I know a girl who got into Penn with like a 4.0 and a 160 via ED because she demonstrated extreme interest; anything is possible!

Hope that helps!

Sticker at UVA which is the best choice of admission for OP is $300,000. I assume Penn is close. Your friend is foolish for wasting her GPA to ED Penn when with a better LSAT she could have had access to almost all of the T14 and some scholarships.
Getting accepted isn't the only goal. You really don't want to have to repay that much debt. Schools are glad to have students like your friend roll up and pay the full tuition.

I'm fairly certain that it's closer to 250K, including living expenses etc. Also, I made my statement under the condition that retaking the LSAT is not going to be in the applicant's future for personal reasons. If I were in that person's shoes (and I actually nearly was but decided to cancel and retake instead), then I'd definitely retake. But everyone has different priorities/financial circumstances..

1. That $250k figure is taking UVA's out of state COA and multiplying it by 3. That is a very poor way of calculating the costs of going to law school and is the exact way a law school admissions office would calculate it. To properly calculate the costs you're walking out the door with you must include tuition increases (about 3.5%/year), interest capitalization on your student loans while you're in school, and finally origination costs for your massive loans. For the $250k or so, the origination fees alone tack on an additional $10k.

2. I have no idea what a personal circumstance is that can prevent you from retaking the LSAT yet somehow permit you to attend law school. How can someone not be able to afford $200 to retake the test, yet can afford to pay $200,000 more than they should to go to law school?

3. People who "want the LSAT out of their lives forever" should be encouraged to buck up and not run. The LSAT is just a test, it is not some hydra living at the bottom of a pit. If you've only taken the LSAT one time and have a score that will effectively incinerate your stellar GPA you're just doing it wrong if you choose to matriculate anywhere short of a converted Hail Mary at HYS.