LegallyClueless wrote:
Hi all! I am at the very beginning of the process of starting the LSAT prep. I have some basic questions about my chances for various law schools, and I thought this is the thread I should ask my questions:
1. I have an AA, a BA (obtained upon completion of my AA and transferring to a 4-year undergrad school), and an MBA. For GPA purposes, are my targeted law schools interested in my GPA cumulatively including AA and MBA or just BA or just the last degree I obtained (i.e., MBA)? Or perhaps this varies from one school to another? Obtained my MBA with a 4.0 GPA but my BA (completed 7 years ago) was around 3.5 I think... not too sure, have to check that... my AA GPA was 3.95 or something along those lines...
They'll use all of your grades up until your first bachelors degree. If you got a 3.5 in your BA and a 3.95 in your AA, your LSAC GPA should be higher than 3.5, perhaps quite a bit higher.
LegallyClueless wrote:
2. What are "softs"?! Do they refer to work experiences, etc.? I have what I think a law school should value highly for work experience--great accomplishments & growth from very bottom to management-level in a legal-related industry... (corporate, mortgage, insurance, etc. fraud investigations) as well as a couple of other industries in the past 10 years...
Yes, those are softs, but they matter far less than your GPA and LSAT.
LegallyClueless wrote:
3. So naturally (to me it's natural) the last question is this: What kind of score will increase my chances of getting into a T14? I think if they go with my BA GPA alone (and not AA and/or MBA or at least combined GPA), then my chances of getting into a T14 are slim no matter what I score on LSAT, no?
Not slim at all, at least in the sense that lots of people with GPAs under 3.6 get into T-14 schools every year. We don't know your LSAC GPA but if we conservatively assume a 3.5 then you probably need a 170. Regardless of your GPA, 170 tends to be a magic number for most people to break into the T-14. If it turns out LSAC's calculation pushes your GPA up quite a bit then you might manage a T-14 with something less than a 170, but the best advice is to shoot for a 180 and see what happens.
LegallyClueless wrote:
I used the LSAC law school search tool based on GPA & LSAT as mentioned by "masticore99". Very discouraging I must say when I put in a 3.5 GPA, no matter what the score is...
To look at different possibilities based off of GPA and LSAT combinations use lawschoolnumbers.com and lawschoolpredictor.com.