3.75 GPA engineering major, HYPS undergrad Forum

[decentralize]

Hello everyone! I'm a senior majoring in computer science at a HYPS school; I'll graduate with a 3.75 GPA. I plan to work for two years and then potentially apply to law school; I'm interested in technology policy. I'll take the LSAT during this time. I am interested in HYS. This probably sounds very snobby, but I likely wouldn't go to law school unless I was accepted to one of these - there are so many opportunities in tech already and it would be hard to justify the debt.

Extracurriculars include leading a school paper and research projects and internships in tech policy. From a lower socioeconomic background, as well, but not a URM (white female).

Obviously my GPA could be higher; that is my main weakness. It seems like law schools don't particularly care about the difficulty of major. I would work hard to get a very high score on the LSAT; would target 175-180. I tend to do well on standardized tests and I like logic puzzles and verbal questions. If it's helpful at all, I scored 170 on GRE verbal and 167 on GRE quant.

Any idea of my chances? Or should I just give up the law school idea and try to kill it in tech? Thanks so much for considering!!

[BrainsyK]

If you're only willing to go to HYS, you're probably not dying to be a lawyer. There's nothing wrong with that. HYPS UG probably means you can jump into a six-figure job right out of school. In your shoes, there's just too much opportunity and actual cost for law school to be worth it financially--especially when the most likely result is making 190k in NYC. If you get a FAANG position, you'd probably start at 150k+ in the Bay area and after 3 years, you'd probably be making more than 190k after 3 years that it'd take to go to law school.

[The Lsat Airbender]

Yeah, don't be a lawyer. Tech experience is probably more valuable than a JD for your goal of working in "technology policy" anyway.

[Wubbles]

If cost is the reason you'd only go to HYS, then you could consider other T13s since there's a decent chance some would be free if you got into HYS

[decentralize]

If you're only willing to go to HYS, you're probably not dying to be a lawyer. There's nothing wrong with that. HYPS UG probably means you can jump into a six-figure job right out of school. In your shoes, there's just too much opportunity and actual cost for law school to be worth it financially--especially when the most likely result is making 190k in NYC. If you get a FAANG position, you'd probably start at 150k+ in the Bay area and after 3 years, you'd probably be making more than 190k after 3 years that it'd take to go to law school.

You got it - I'm not dying to be a lawyer, haha. I am considering it because it seems that some of the interesting roles in tech policy would benefit from a law degree, or at least legal knowledge. I realize that FAANG jobs are the best for overall moneymaking + work-life balance (worked at one of those companies and had a full-time return offer), but I am particularly interested in the tech policy space. I'll be a product manager in tech for the next two years, however, and several of my coworkers are tech policy experts, so I will have time to evaluate whether a law degree is really necessary.

[Bonzeye]

Hello everyone! I'm a senior majoring in computer science at a HYPS school; I'll graduate with a 3.75 GPA. I plan to work for two years and then potentially apply to law school; I'm interested in technology policy. I'll take the LSAT during this time. I am interested in HYS. This probably sounds very snobby, but I likely wouldn't go to law school unless I was accepted to one of these - there are so many opportunities in tech already and it would be hard to justify the debt.

Extracurriculars include leading a school paper and research projects and internships in tech policy. From a lower socioeconomic background, as well, but not a URM (white female).

Obviously my GPA could be higher; that is my main weakness. It seems like law schools don't particularly care about the difficulty of major. I would work hard to get a very high score on the LSAT; would target 175-180. I tend to do well on standardized tests and I like logic puzzles and verbal questions. If it's helpful at all, I scored 170 on GRE verbal and 167 on GRE quant.

Any idea of my chances? Or should I just give up the law school idea and try to kill it in tech? Thanks so much for considering!!

If nights and weekends of perfecting the LSAT seem worth a chance at these schools seems worth it, then you probably have a decent chance because of your softs. But you don't seem very interested in law to begin with. I would put this out of mind until you become more interested in the law.

[LBJ's Hair]

If you're only willing to go to HYS, you're probably not dying to be a lawyer. There's nothing wrong with that. HYPS UG probably means you can jump into a six-figure job right out of school. In your shoes, there's just too much opportunity and actual cost for law school to be worth it financially--especially when the most likely result is making 190k in NYC. If you get a FAANG position, you'd probably start at 150k+ in the Bay area and after 3 years, you'd probably be making more than 190k after 3 years that it'd take to go to law school.

You got it - I'm not dying to be a lawyer, haha. I am considering it because it seems that some of the interesting roles in tech policy would benefit from a law degree, or at least legal knowledge. I realize that FAANG jobs are the best for overall moneymaking + work-life balance (worked at one of those companies and had a full-time return offer), but I am particularly interested in the tech policy space. I'll be a product manager in tech for the next two years, however, and several of my coworkers are tech policy experts, so I will have time to evaluate whether a law degree is really necessary.

feel like you're overestimating how difficult it is to get a generic tech policy gig and you could do it out of a number of law schools across the t14 if you had a few years of tech work experience, but my sense is this is less about "tech policy" and more about "HYS."

unfortunately, as a white woman with a mid-3.7, you're a long-shot at Y/S, regardless of LSAT score. that GPA is below 25th percentile (far below 25th percentile at Yale). alums get a bump, so if that's you, that helps out a bit. but realistically you're more likely looking at Harvard + the rest of the T6, assuming a low-mid 170s LSAT score. (I don't think this job is the sort of soft that leads someone to materially outperform their numbers; like that's for combat veterans, Rhodes scholars, Olympians)

if I were you I'd do the FAANG gig for a few years and if you still have the prestige law school itch, consider applying to the H/S JD/MBA program