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I graduated in 2016 and majored in Psychology. My gpa from that school is a 3.14. However, I transferred from a community college where I did not do as well, which brings my overall GPA to a 2.47. I took the LSAT in January earlier this year with the intent to not apply to any schools unless I received a 175 or higher. I received a 171. I will be taking it again in July and hopefully apply for admissions for the 2021 year. Since graduating, I have been working as a case worker for formerly incarcerated men and women seeking to re-enter the workforce. I have also been very involved in leading and planning local community events which has gotten me recognition from the mayor. To my surprise I applied to a very well known and competitive fellowship and was recently accepted for the 2020-2021 year.

I am hoping that a high LSAT score, my experience, and participation in the fellowship will help set off my GPA for a top 20 school. I am hoping to get into Northwestern, WashU-STL, UVA or UCLA. I know it may be a stretch but I am also planning to apply to Columbia University and University of Chicago. The lower rank schools I plan to apply to are UC Hastings, Loyola Law School (LA), Depaul University, Howard University, and Brooklyn Law School.

What are your thoughts on my chances of getting into these schools.

To be clear, is 2.47 your actual weighted GPA, as LSAC would calculate it? You're right that you're a long shot for most of the T20, excepting WashU, but even there you'll need to improve on your 171 to get their attention.

The non-T20 part of your list makes little sense to me. What kind of lawyer do you want to be, and where (geographically) do you want to practice? For any given answer to those questions you can cross off most or all of those schools.

Cosign LSAT Airbender's post above. Also, why do you want to be a lawyer?

Even with a 175, you'd be an extreme splitter and probably still out of contention for the top 3-6 schools. Note that Chicago, UVA, Penn, and certain other schools tend to be pretty picky about GPA and thus not very splitter-friendly. If you decide to go to law school, you should apply broadly among schools ranked ~7 to 20 to maximize options. I'd only apply below that to schools in the city where you want to practice.

The Lsat Airbender wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 25, 2020 10:22 am

To be clear, is 2.47 your actual weighted GPA, as LSAC would calculate it? You're right that you're a long shot for most of the T20, excepting WashU, but even there you'll need to improve on your 171 to get their attention.

The non-T20 part of your list makes little sense to me. What kind of lawyer do you want to be, and where (geographically) do you want to practice? For any given answer to those questions you can cross off most or all of those schools.

I second this. Furthermore, if your aim is to continue to work in public service, I would focus your efforts on lower-ranked schools with LRAP programs in the region you want to practice.