3.82 GPA, 165 LSAT, Teach for America-T14 chances? Forum

[Teacherlawyer1995]

Hello,

Graduated from UC Berkeley with a 3.9 & Phi Beta Kappa. However, my overall LSAC GPA is on the lower end bc I got around a 3.5 my first semester of college at NYU before having to leave for financial reasons and transferring to UC Berkeley. I recently graduated and am a first year corps member with Teach for America here in Oakland. I have a passion for ed, law and policy and am hoping to do a JD/MPP to become and immigration lawyer or to work with public school districts. I have 3+ years of experience in education not including TFA.

I haven't taken the official LSAT yet since I won't be applying until fall 2018 but my practice scores put me around 165 fairly consistently without having taken a formal prep class or really adhering to much of a strict study schedule. I'm planning to take a prep course over the summer and study full time.

My top choices are UC Berkeley/Stanford since I really want to stay in the Bay Area (lived my whole life here, wanting to stay local bc I want to settle here). However, I am open to relocating if it's still T14.

Wondering what my chances are currently & what kind of LSAT score would I need considering my softs? I have quite a bit of time to improve my LSAT score and potentially take an extra year before law school to do something more law related opposed to teaching, perhaps research with education policy or working with an immigration law firm (just ideas aligned to my passions).

[mcmand]

I recommend you take that year to work at an immigration firm or somewhere else related to what you want to do. It will probably open your eyes to the daily lives of the lawyers you want to join. At the very least, talk to more of them.

Look up your schools on mylsn.com. And compare your numbers to the 25/median/75 stats in the ABA 509 reports. That will tell you if your LSAT needs work. (Just off the cuff, yes, you should retake.)

[chargers21]

You haven't taken the LSAT yet, but you need to get your average higher before taking if you want to not only get t14 but make it financially viable

[jacketyellow]

You are averaging a 165, so imagine what that score will be after the prep course. Getting a 165 now would make you competitive for the lower T14, but you wouldn't get much money. Get that score to a 170+, and you'll be golden.

[Teacherlawyer1995]

I recommend you take that year to work at an immigration firm or somewhere else related to what you want to do. It will probably open your eyes to the daily lives of the lawyers you want to join. At the very least, talk to more of them.

Look up your schools on mylsn.com. And compare your numbers to the 25/median/75 stats in the ABA 509 reports. That will tell you if your LSAT needs work. (Just off the cuff, yes, you should retake.)

Yeah I'm trying to get in touch with some lawyers who work in immigration/education law!! A 3L friend of mine at BerkeleyLaw put me in contact with one of her professors who has published quite a bit in ed policy & law thanks for the input!