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Hi everyone!

I'm a second-year, English major. I'm graduating in two years (Spring 2020), which is why I am applying to law schools now.

Stats:
LSAT 166
GPA: 3.90

Extracurricular:
- fellow in an undergrad organization that partners with the Berkeley Asian American Law Journal (we meet biweekly and have a law student mentor)
- Library Director in the student government - worked on mental wellness programs in the library system
- Served as the student representative on the school's library board of directors
- recruitment director of my pre-law fraternity for the past year
- meditation instructor at my dorm (weekly sessions)

Jobs (work 18 hours per week):
- tutor for my school's athletic department
- desk assistant for my dorm's office

My LSAT is definitely not where I want it to be, so I've been concerned. Also, I have not had the chance to get extensive legal career experience. I just submitted my ED application to Berkeley and was wondering what my chances are for Berkeley and other T-14 schools.

I would withdraw the ED app from Berkeley. I actually think there is a decent chance they will accept you, but you would be paying full price which is an INSANE amount there. Secondly, I imagine that you are quite young for law school. I would sit out at least 2 years so that you are at least the "normal" age for a law student. Being very young without work experience could hurt you when interviewing for jobs. The time off would also allow you to retake the LSAT to get it to where you actually want it instead of rushing into law school.

Yeah, slow your roll.

Going straight through from undergrad is generally a bad idea. It's a doubly bad idea in your case, because your age will have a big impact on hiring. Don't rush things; you will only benefit from delaying law school at this point.

Wubbles wrote:Secondly, I imagine that you are quite young for law school. I would sit out at least 2 years so that you are at least the "normal" age for a law student. Being very young without work experience could hurt you when interviewing for jobs.

I may have missed something but where does OP say they are especially young? It's not at all uncommon for folks to go K-JD and I see no reason to suspect OP is any younger than their fellow K-JD applicants this cycle.

QContinuum wrote:

Wubbles wrote:Secondly, I imagine that you are quite young for law school. I would sit out at least 2 years so that you are at least the "normal" age for a law student. Being very young without work experience could hurt you when interviewing for jobs.

I may have missed something but where does OP say they are especially young? It's not at all uncommon for folks to go K-JD and I see no reason to suspect OP is any younger than their fellow K-JD applicants this cycle.

OP is graduating after only 2 years of undergrad

Thank you for all the replies!

ED to Berkeley law means you get a $75,000 scholarship minimum, which saves a huge sum of money.

For clarification, I'm applying to:
- Berkeley
- Columbia
- NYU
-Upenn
-Georgetown
-Cornell
-USC
-UCLA

You are likely to get admitted early to Berkeley, which renders the whole rest of the discussion moot.

You have a good at getting admission at several schools in the T14, but you would have trouble at schools that or more sensitive to LSAT scores (e.g., you might get dinged at Columbia and NYU). Your extra-curricular activities are fine, but nothing special in the greater scheme of law school admissions.

If you had a higher LSAT and a similar GPA, you could have been looking at a free ride at CCN or admission at HYS... but it's a bit late for that now. Still, Berkeley with a bit of money isn't a bad overall outcome.

Taking time off is normally a chance to build the general life skills/maturity that come with working, and it can make you more interesting at OCI. But going K-JD isn't the worst thing ever. As long as you are in the top half of your law school class, it will probably be a non-issue in terms of career prospects.