177/3.1/International - What schools are realistic and should I take more classes? Forum

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VicariouslyAdmitted

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177/3.1/International - What schools are realistic and should I take more classes?

Post by VicariouslyAdmitted » Fri Sep 23, 2022 4:59 pm

My GPA is a combination of curve (the honors cutoff for my program was 2.9 GPA because almost every class was curved with a median of C+) and medical problems throughout most of it, but I'm aware that outside of truly phenomenal factors it doesn't mitigate much. My softs are alright, nothing incredible. I'm a Canadian trying to move to America so my GPA does transfer as usual. I'm a fair bit older, and could possibly qualify as a disability applicant if that's a consideration.

I know admissions largely boils down to LSAT/GPA. It seems I'm in the super splitter category where bottom T14 is maybe possible, but where even if I go much farther down the list I'm pretty unlikely to get significant scholarship. Given I'll be an international applicant with super splitter status I'm not sure what schools make sense to apply to. I know I could blanket the mid T14 all the way down to T25, but that's a lot of money for me right now so I'm hoping to be a bit more selective. Is there splitter friendly T25s that might have scholarship for me? Do I have a chance at any of the mid-low or bottom T14s? What seems reasonable?

I'll also apply to some Canadian schools, but my goal is to practice in America so it seems more sensible to study there if feasible rather than have to jump through the hoops of learning a new legal system and competing vs domestic school grads.

As for classes I could still take some that would be reported to LSAC in uGPA. But moving that GPA needle would be very slow even with solid As. Is a gain of .1 or .2 worth delaying applications another year, being unable to work full time, and spending say $15,000 in tuition? I know in some situations it would be because it would likely result in scholarship which could be easily +50k, but I think even at 3.35/176 I'm not likely to get scholarship somewhere I want to go compared to 3.1/176 so it seems like a huge gamble for very unlikely benefit. I'm open to the idea though.

Thanks in advance, your input is greatly appreciated.

talons2250

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Re: 177/3.1/International - What schools are realistic and should I take more classes?

Post by talons2250 » Tue Sep 27, 2022 2:22 pm

What area within the United States do you hope to practice?

nixy

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Re: 177/3.1/International - What schools are realistic and should I take more classes?

Post by nixy » Wed Sep 28, 2022 12:54 am

I'm not sure taking more classes (and spending more tuition) will be worth the investment of time/money at this point. In part, that's a lot of time/money, and it does depend on solid As, which you may or may not be able to guarantee.

But also, there's a school of thought that once you're below the median, there isn't a huge benefit to improving your GPA unless you can actually get to the median or above, on the theory that (say) a 3.3 that's below median doesn't benefit the school any more than (say) a 3.1 that's below median would; while a 3.3 is higher neither score helps in the rankings. So a school that wants your excellent LSAT and is willing to give you a pass on the 3.1 isn't going to distinguish very much between a 3.3 and a 3.1. I don't know if this is absolutely true - I haven't crunched any data on this (nor do I have the ability to) - but people make this argument.

The exception would be if data suggests a school has a hard floor - no one accepted below a 3.3 for instance - but I don't think that's the case for the school range you're talking about. And I suppose there's just the optics of having the highest GPA you can. That said, if the honors cutoff for your UG is 2.9 because of the curve, that seems pretty tough, and while you're right that it doesn't move the needle much, the curve + ongoing medical problems (assuming currently resolved) should assuage any concern that you just can't hack the work, to the extent splitters have to grapple with that circumstance.

Anyway, as for the info you really want, the classic T25 that will throw money at a high LSAT is Wash U. UVA has historically been splitter-friendly but I'm not sure how low they'll go on GPA. Mylsn.info is flawed/limited but it's also some of the only info that's out there (to my knowledge).

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