Retake and Fall 18 Start question Forum

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IamKrisBars

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Retake and Fall 18 Start question

Post by IamKrisBars » Fri Feb 23, 2018 1:51 am

I scored a 156 on the exam. I took the test after only taking 2 practice exams and no other studying. I have a 3.93 Degree GPA but a 2.93 Cumulative because of a bad year in 2010.

Is it possible to put a deposit on a school, retake the test in June 2018, and have enough time to pull out from attending the university I put a deposit on assuming I increase my score significantly? Moreover, what score would be worth withdrawing from a school I place a deposit on?

I know you would need what school and scholarship info to say 100% but I'm just looking for general information.
Please don't respond with how law school is a waste at any school with those numbers or anything like that.

sparkytrainer

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Re: Retake and Fall 18 Start question

Post by sparkytrainer » Fri Feb 23, 2018 9:55 am

You are making a life ruining decision to go to law school with your gpa and lsat. There, I said it. And its true.

I did retake in June and get into schools to start two months later. But I also was told by a lot of them no. It is really ad hoc.

Plan on retaking and be ready to reapply in the fall.

IamKrisBars

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Re: Retake and Fall 18 Start question

Post by IamKrisBars » Fri Feb 23, 2018 4:12 pm

sparkytrainer wrote:You are making a life ruining decision to go to law school with your gpa and lsat. There, I said it. And its true.

I did retake in June and get into schools to start two months later. But I also was told by a lot of them no. It is really ad hoc.

Plan on retaking and be ready to reapply in the fall.

My parents are paying for it debt doesn't really factor in.

IamKrisBars

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Re: Retake and Fall 18 Start question

Post by IamKrisBars » Fri Feb 23, 2018 4:13 pm

sparkytrainer wrote:You are making a life ruining decision to go to law school with your gpa and lsat. There, I said it. And its true.

I did retake in June and get into schools to start two months later. But I also was told by a lot of them no. It is really ad hoc.

Plan on retaking and be ready to reapply in the fall.
My parents are paying for it, debt doesn't factor in so idk that its all that life ruining.

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preamble

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Re: Retake and Fall 18 Start question

Post by preamble » Fri Feb 23, 2018 6:31 pm

IamKrisBars wrote:
sparkytrainer wrote:You are making a life ruining decision to go to law school with your gpa and lsat. There, I said it. And its true.

I did retake in June and get into schools to start two months later. But I also was told by a lot of them no. It is really ad hoc.

Plan on retaking and be ready to reapply in the fall.
My parents are paying for it, debt doesn't factor in so idk that its all that life ruining.
Why have your parents sink so much money for a law school which might not actually lead to you being a lawyer? Obviously having no debt is a great position to be in, but I'd rather not part with well over a quarter of a million dollars unless it was for something worthwhile.

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IamKrisBars

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Re: Retake and Fall 18 Start question

Post by IamKrisBars » Sat Feb 24, 2018 2:26 am

preamble wrote:
IamKrisBars wrote:
sparkytrainer wrote: Why have your parents sink so much money for a law school which might not actually lead to you being a lawyer? Obviously having no debt is a great position to be in, but I'd rather not part with well over a quarter of a million dollars unless it was for something worthwhile.

I feel like that's an overstatement of the lack of ability to work in the field. I am underachieving at a South Texas or U Memphis. I am 100% aware of that. I've had 7 straight semesters with a 3.6 or higher; four of them being consecutive 4.0's. I didn't study for the LSAT.. I'm gonna retake it, but I scored a 156 cold. Obviously in June if I score a 165-170 I am going to sit out (or try UNC due to its 8/1 deadline). My GPA will increase as well, seeing as I will be adding 12 credit hours at at least a 3.8 gpa this semester, likely 4.0.

My thing though, is with a majority of the competition at a school like U Memphis or Ole Miss or South Texas actually belonging at that school on merit, I feel like it would be unlikely to fall below the 30% mark in the class. If 50% finds employment, wouldn't that be a pretty strong indicator that being top 20% or top 30% (realistically I believe top 10% or 5% at a school like this) would be included in those who are able to work in the field?

In 2010 I stopped attending school twice in a row leading to 28 credit hours at 0.32 GPA. Without that included in the LSAC Calc my overall is a 3.78. I find it very hard to believe I would fall into the bottom half at a school like that.

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preamble

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Re: Retake and Fall 18 Start question

Post by preamble » Sat Feb 24, 2018 7:56 pm

I think those sorts of speculations are pretty risky. What sort of job do you want? Even if you could guarantee that you'd be in a position to get a job from UMemphis by virtue of class rank (pretty shaky) - there are only certain jobs that Memphis graduates are getting.

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Eleven

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Re: Retake and Fall 18 Start question

Post by Eleven » Mon Feb 26, 2018 11:49 am

IamKrisBars wrote:
preamble wrote:
IamKrisBars wrote:
sparkytrainer wrote: Why have your parents sink so much money for a law school which might not actually lead to you being a lawyer? Obviously having no debt is a great position to be in, but I'd rather not part with well over a quarter of a million dollars unless it was for something worthwhile.

I feel like that's an overstatement of the lack of ability to work in the field. I am underachieving at a South Texas or U Memphis. I am 100% aware of that. I've had 7 straight semesters with a 3.6 or higher; four of them being consecutive 4.0's. I didn't study for the LSAT.. I'm gonna retake it, but I scored a 156 cold. Obviously in June if I score a 165-170 I am going to sit out (or try UNC due to its 8/1 deadline). My GPA will increase as well, seeing as I will be adding 12 credit hours at at least a 3.8 gpa this semester, likely 4.0.

My thing though, is with a majority of the competition at a school like U Memphis or Ole Miss or South Texas actually belonging at that school on merit, I feel like it would be unlikely to fall below the 30% mark in the class. If 50% finds employment, wouldn't that be a pretty strong indicator that being top 20% or top 30% (realistically I believe top 10% or 5% at a school like this) would be included in those who are able to work in the field?

In 2010 I stopped attending school twice in a row leading to 28 credit hours at 0.32 GPA. Without that included in the LSAC Calc my overall is a 3.78. I find it very hard to believe I would fall into the bottom half at a school like that.
Have fun working as abarista after you graduate

IamKrisBars

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Re: Retake and Fall 18 Start question

Post by IamKrisBars » Mon Feb 26, 2018 5:47 pm

Eleven wrote:
IamKrisBars wrote:
preamble wrote:
IamKrisBars wrote:
sparkytrainer wrote: Why have your parents sink so much money for a law school which might not actually lead to you being a lawyer? Obviously having no debt is a great position to be in, but I'd rather not part with well over a quarter of a million dollars unless it was for something worthwhile.

I feel like that's an overstatement of the lack of ability to work in the field. I am underachieving at a South Texas or U Memphis. I am 100% aware of that. I've had 7 straight semesters with a 3.6 or higher; four of them being consecutive 4.0's. I didn't study for the LSAT.. I'm gonna retake it, but I scored a 156 cold. Obviously in June if I score a 165-170 I am going to sit out (or try UNC due to its 8/1 deadline). My GPA will increase as well, seeing as I will be adding 12 credit hours at at least a 3.8 gpa this semester, likely 4.0.

My thing though, is with a majority of the competition at a school like U Memphis or Ole Miss or South Texas actually belonging at that school on merit, I feel like it would be unlikely to fall below the 30% mark in the class. If 50% finds employment, wouldn't that be a pretty strong indicator that being top 20% or top 30% (realistically I believe top 10% or 5% at a school like this) would be included in those who are able to work in the field?

In 2010 I stopped attending school twice in a row leading to 28 credit hours at 0.32 GPA. Without that included in the LSAC Calc my overall is a 3.78. I find it very hard to believe I would fall into the bottom half at a school like that.
Have fun working as abarista after you graduate
Considering your in the 2021 cycle as well I'm gonna take that with a grain of salt. The fact of the matter is BB are on their way out and Gen Y is assuming leadership in the workforce. Luckily for me (us), that means that there will be employment perspectives for the young generation to fill entry level positions. Couple that with the fact that there are one million working attorneys and they cant staff the entire workforce from T14 or T1, I have a feeling the outlook isn't AS bad as everybody makes it seem.

Bit of an elitist perspective coming from somebody who is 0L as well anyway, wouldn't you say?

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jbp15860

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Re: Retake and Fall 18 Start question

Post by jbp15860 » Tue May 01, 2018 2:39 pm

Ol here, as well, but I live in Houston and a handfull of my friends have already gone through this whole thing in Louisiana and Texas. I can tell you with 100% certainty that South Texas supplies a massive amount of attorneys for the city of Houston. Do they leave school and work at the biggest 500+ people firms starting at 180k? No. But the DAs office is packed with them. And the small and mid law firms that are started by Houstonians are packed with them. Now, you should shoot for UH or UT if you're trying to work in Texas but STCL is not a death sentence or a barista sentence. That's just not true. Most of my friends where I'm originally from in Louisiana went to Tulane or Loyola, but the two that are doing the best actually went to Southern which is an awful school. So, it's possible. Just throwing that out there. I'm expecting to go to UH, but if I had to go to STCL, that wouldn't be the end of the world, especially since I want to start off at the DAs office.

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realsonnyp

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Re: Retake and Fall 18 Start question

Post by realsonnyp » Tue May 08, 2018 10:11 am

IamKrisBars wrote:
Eleven wrote:
IamKrisBars wrote:
preamble wrote:
IamKrisBars wrote:
sparkytrainer wrote: Why have your parents sink so much money for a law school which might not actually lead to you being a lawyer? Obviously having no debt is a great position to be in, but I'd rather not part with well over a quarter of a million dollars unless it was for something worthwhile.

I feel like that's an overstatement of the lack of ability to work in the field. I am underachieving at a South Texas or U Memphis. I am 100% aware of that. I've had 7 straight semesters with a 3.6 or higher; four of them being consecutive 4.0's. I didn't study for the LSAT.. I'm gonna retake it, but I scored a 156 cold. Obviously in June if I score a 165-170 I am going to sit out (or try UNC due to its 8/1 deadline). My GPA will increase as well, seeing as I will be adding 12 credit hours at at least a 3.8 gpa this semester, likely 4.0.

My thing though, is with a majority of the competition at a school like U Memphis or Ole Miss or South Texas actually belonging at that school on merit, I feel like it would be unlikely to fall below the 30% mark in the class. If 50% finds employment, wouldn't that be a pretty strong indicator that being top 20% or top 30% (realistically I believe top 10% or 5% at a school like this) would be included in those who are able to work in the field?

In 2010 I stopped attending school twice in a row leading to 28 credit hours at 0.32 GPA. Without that included in the LSAC Calc my overall is a 3.78. I find it very hard to believe I would fall into the bottom half at a school like that.
Have fun working as abarista after you graduate
Considering your in the 2021 cycle as well I'm gonna take that with a grain of salt. The fact of the matter is BB are on their way out and Gen Y is assuming leadership in the workforce. Luckily for me (us), that means that there will be employment perspectives for the young generation to fill entry level positions. Couple that with the fact that there are one million working attorneys and they cant staff the entire workforce from T14 or T1, I have a feeling the outlook isn't AS bad as everybody makes it seem.

Bit of an elitist perspective coming from somebody who is 0L as well anyway, wouldn't you say?
People have been saying the Boomers are on their way out for years now,and we haven't seen any substantial change. I don't know what you're on about in regards to not being able to staff the workforce with T14s, Georgetown isn't even a guaranteed job anymore and they have one of the most historically reputable Law Schools in the country. The Northeast is completely saturated with Lawyers, and as time goes on it looks like they'll spread to less congested markets, i.e. the South.

You obviously wouldn't be working as a barista, but consider this. You've already attempted the LSAT and have (most of) a college degree. You have some sort of ambition to work in a respected profession or at least make some serious money. Sure, 50% find employment, and let's assume that you will be in this range. Even if you are, what will you be doing? You'd be making <50k a year, and even with no loans the time taken out to go to lawschool has a huge opportunity cost. If you think you could be a successful lawyer, why not take a few years out to go into finance and work your way up? It'd give you the high society status of working in law, with a job that's not radically different from that of a lawyer's (despite what TLS may believe).

Whatever you do, just don't apply now. Don't play the odds with withdrawing-do a quick analysis involving likelihood of success and the payoff, and you'll discover it's not worth it. If you spend the time to get your score up 12 points, then you'll have a shot at a T2 school, then maybe you'd be able to have a fighting chance in this job market.

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