Chance me: AA Female lsat 161 gpa 3.1 Forum

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Overcomer

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Chance me: AA Female lsat 161 gpa 3.1

Post by Overcomer » Sat Dec 08, 2018 1:46 pm

Any chance at the t-14? If not I'm fine with going to a tier two school and hopefully receiving a scholarship. I'm looking to stay in the tri-state area. Any suggestion for schools I should be applying too?

Overcomer

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Re: Chance me: AA Female lsat 161 gpa 3.1

Post by Overcomer » Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:52 pm

Any help, please !

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trafalgar

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Re: Chance me: AA Female lsat 161 gpa 3.1

Post by trafalgar » Wed Dec 12, 2018 11:53 pm

We dont have much to go off, but barring any CF issues you have a not-zero chance at t-14. Schools like GTown/Vanderbilt/WashU are probably going to look a little bit more favorably, but one of UVA/Northwestern/Michigan might bite at close to sticker price depending on how strong your application is. Do you have any work or military experience? Special soft factors? Anything in particular that might catch an admissions officers eye?

albanach

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Re: Chance me: AA Female lsat 161 gpa 3.1

Post by albanach » Thu Dec 13, 2018 1:10 am

Your account is new. How much time have you spent on the LSAT forum? Are you sure you couldn't do better? Or are you wealthy, so that $200k wouldn't matter?

You don't tell us what you want to achieve as a lawyer? Your happy with a lower ranked school but can it line you up for any employment, let alone the employment you seek? Have you looked at the lower ranked schools and compared outcomes to the T-14 at law school transparency? Are you comfortable with six figure debt and only a 70% chance at employment as a lawyer?

Overcomer

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Re: Chance me: AA Female lsat 161 gpa 3.1

Post by Overcomer » Wed Dec 19, 2018 10:16 pm

I have no exceptional softs and I am not wealthy. I will be financing most of my education hopefully with scholarships and loans. I want to stay and work in the tri state area. I ultimately want to go into public interest law, but I would not mind working corporate for a few years. I'm happy with my score and I do not plan to retake.

lawschoolhopeful98

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Re: Chance me: AA Female lsat 161 gpa 3.1

Post by lawschoolhopeful98 » Wed Dec 26, 2018 2:09 am

Following this thread due to similar stats, but applying for the next cycle.

albanach

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Re: Chance me: AA Female lsat 161 gpa 3.1

Post by albanach » Wed Dec 26, 2018 12:57 pm

Overcomer wrote:I have no exceptional softs and I am not wealthy. I will be financing most of my education hopefully with scholarships and loans. I want to stay and work in the tri state area. I ultimately want to go into public interest law, but I would not mind working corporate for a few years. I'm happy with my score and I do not plan to retake.
You have every right to be happy with your score. That said, retaking could make your future path easier and save you a few hundred thousand dollars.

You mention that you ultimately want to go into public interest law. PSLF is not guaranteed to exist in the future. While the split in Congress might make it harder to change, the bills are now coming due and the federal government is going to be under pressure to at least limit the program, I would be very cautious of committing to substantial debt, particularly if you are attending a school that doesn't have a fantastic LRAP program.

Of course you must make your own risk assessment.

PI has a lot of different forms. If you want to be a public defender, or work in legal aid, go to the best school that you can get in to for low/no tuition. Spend your entire time in school volunteering with the type of organizations you would want to work in. You might accept paying some tuition for access to better organizations or officer for volunteering purposes. If the school is outside your target market, you will need to find ways to maintain contact there - can you summer back in the Tri-State area?

If your goal is something like working at the ACLU HQ or an equivalent organization, that's going to be much more challenging. They can easily pull from top schools. You may, as mentioned earlier, be able to get accepted into a top school - and the T-14 will open doors for you that a lower ranked school simply cannot - but you're likely taking on $300k in debt to obtain a comparatively low paying job.

Retaking and increasing your score into the mid-upper 160s could open up top schools at a much lower cost giving you greater flexibility in your future career.

Overcomer

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Re: Chance me: AA Female lsat 161 gpa 3.1

Post by Overcomer » Wed Dec 26, 2018 9:24 pm

albanach wrote:
Overcomer wrote:I have no exceptional softs and I am not wealthy. I will be financing most of my education hopefully with scholarships and loans. I want to stay and work in the tri state area. I ultimately want to go into public interest law, but I would not mind working corporate for a few years. I'm happy with my score and I do not plan to retake.
You have every right to be happy with your score. That said, retaking could make your future path easier and save you a few hundred thousand dollars.

You mention that you ultimately want to go into public interest law. PSLF is not guaranteed to exist in the future. While the split in Congress might make it harder to change, the bills are now coming due and the federal government is going to be under pressure to at least limit the program, I would be very cautious of committing to substantial debt, particularly if you are attending a school that doesn't have a fantastic LRAP program.

Of course you must make your own risk assessment.

PI has a lot of different forms. If you want to be a public defender, or work in legal aid, go to the best school that you can get in to for low/no tuition. Spend your entire time in school volunteering with the type of organizations you would want to work in. You might accept paying some tuition for access to better organizations or officer for volunteering purposes. If the school is outside your target market, you will need to find ways to maintain contact there - can you summer back in the Tri-State area?

If your goal is something like working at the ACLU HQ or an equivalent organization, that's going to be much more challenging. They can easily pull from top schools. You may, as mentioned earlier, be able to get accepted into a top school - and the T-14 will open doors for you that a lower ranked school simply cannot - but you're likely taking on $300k in debt to obtain a comparatively low paying job.

Retaking and increasing your score into the mid-upper 160s could open up top schools at a much lower cost giving you greater flexibility in your future career.
Thank you so much for the advice. I will consider your thoughtful words as my acceptances come in.

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