Top Law Schools

Hi Everyone:

I'll keep it pretty brief. I am a graduate with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering + Chemistry from a big 10 school, on a 3/4 ride (best decision of my life was to go to college for a heavy discount). While there I was published twice in academic journals (I won some awards for the research) and I earned a 3.6 GPA. After that, I went to get an MS in quantitative finance (this field has basically become a mix of statistics, computer science and data analytics) and graduated with a 3.96, and wrote an academic paper on quant finance too. I've also been working for two years in finance (think large consumer finance company). It is a big data/quantitative analytics role, and have also interned at a government agency. I want to move into something more strategic/executive, and I am considering Law School and wondering what I schools I could realistically attend.

I want to go to Law School because I am envisioning a dramatic shift in the paradigm of transactions and contracts in the coming future, and I want to position myself to be ahead of it. Ideally I'd like to focus on transactions,contracts and IP.

I have gotten a 165 on my LSAT. Say I don't retake it, are schools like HYP, columbia and NYU off the table? Would part-time law school make any sense? I make a decent chunk of change at my current job, so I am wondering if this decision would be a wise one, and if I am going to have to pay sticker price.

I am not sure which details to include so if I am missing some, let me know and I'll provide them.

Thanks!

First things first:

joeybadafuco wrote:I want to go to Law School because I am envisioning a dramatic shift in the paradigm of transactions and contracts in the coming future, and I want to position myself to be ahead of it. Ideally I'd like to focus on transactions,contracts and IP.

Does this mean you actually want to practice law? Because I don't know what "being ahead of" this dramatic shift entails in terms of your career.

joeybadafuco wrote:I have gotten a 165 on my LSAT. Say I don't retake it, are schools like HYP, columbia and NYU off the table? Would part-time law school make any sense? I make a decent chunk of change at my current job, so I am wondering if this decision would be a wise one, and if I am going to have to pay sticker price.

What is "P" in your HYP grouping? In general, a 165/3.6 is not getting into any T13 school. No, this decision probably doesn't make sense for you. Yes, you'll likely have to pay sticker or close to it at any T20.

So does an MS with a 3.96 not mean anything? Not taking it personal, just want to know the process I can re-take the LSAT and score higher if I dedicate a significant amount of time to it.

Otherwise, does work experience and academic publicationsn not count for anything, either?

joeybadafuco wrote:So does an MS with a 3.96 not mean anything? Not taking it personal, just want to know the process I can re-take the LSAT and score higher if I dedicate a significant amount of time to it.

Otherwise, does work experience and academic publicationsn not count for anything, either?

Both the master's degree and your experience are nice plus factors, but your undergraduate GPA is about an order of magnitude more important, as is the LSAT.

It's not unreasonable to think of law-school admissions as roughly 60% LSAT, 30% uGPA, and 10% everything else combined. Schools that deviate from that model usually up-value GPA at the expense of the LSAT.

joeybadafuco wrote:So does an MS with a 3.96 not mean anything?

Unfortunately, Master's degrees have become (relatively) very common and many Master's programs inflate GPA. Further, law schools are only required to report undergraduate GPA (as calculated by LSAC) for rankings purposes, so that's the only GPA they actually care about for admissions purposes. As others have noted ITT, the Master's will be a "plus" factor, but you shouldn't expect to dramatically outperform your undergraduate GPA and LSAT score due to having a Master's.

joeybadafuco wrote:Otherwise, does work experience and academic publicationsn not count for anything, either?

Like the Master's, these will boost you around the edges, but even a single point or two on the LSAT would probably do more to improve your chances than WE and academic publications.

I firmly believe law school would be a waste of your time. You are better off staying in your career.

Law school isn’t like science. You generally don’t leave with much practical knowledge.

It’s also standard advice that law school is only valuable or necessary if you intend to practice law.

Thanks for the input everyone