3.0 GPA, 175+ LSAT Forum

[realmadrid97]

Hello Everyone
I come here because I want to know what my chances of getting into a top law school are, and what universities may accept me.
I am currently a student at NMSU majoring in government with 2 minors, international relations and public law. I have a sub 3.0 gpa due to horrible early college years. I graduated HS at the age of 16 as a top student and started college at age 17. I was too young to handle college and as a result I now have a transcript full with F's and W's. I also changed majors several times before changing to government. In fact all those failed classes are mostly engineering and math classes. Now I'm a changed student and have earned all A's in this past year and hope to continue like that till I get my bachelors. However, due to my early bad years, I will only be able to increase my gpa to a 3.0-3.2.
I have been practicing for the LSAT and have taken 4 LSAT practice tests and have always been scoring above 167 (167,167,169,172). I won't be taking the LSAT until next year and have plenty of time to continue studying. I am confident I will score above 175.
I want to know where can my score and gpa take me. My dream college is 1st Cornell and 2nd UT-Austin but my gpa seems to be on my way. Which schools should I consider? Any T14 that might be interested in a student like me? I read that other good schools but not TOP schools might give good scholarships for a high LSAT score (I also like Baylor). Also, should I attend grad school and try to graduate with a much higher gpa and try to shoot for Cornell, or should I apply directly to Law school?

[sanzgo]

come back after you have a lsat score. a 175+ isn't something you just get by being confident.

if you get 175+, you have a chance at few t-14s but you're putting the cart way before the horse buddy.

[RedPurpleBlue]

Come back when you get a real score, and we can give you more specific advice. You may never get a 175+. Plenty of students perform worse than their PTs on test day or find a personal score ceiling well before 175.

That being said, this is the general outlook for if you did get a 175+



If you get some work experience, Northwestern might bite and even throw some change your way. Otherwise, you're going to be pretty much locked out of the entire T13. Based off the above chart, you might have an outside shot at Michigan/NYU, but the sample size is so small in your GPA/LSAT range that it's impossible to really tell. You'll probably get a ton of waitlists. Schools will want to save your high LSAT score in case they need to use it late in the cycle to prevent their LSAT median from dropping, but you'll likely not got off any of those waitlists. You'll just be an option in case their admissions office royally screws up with yield predictions for the LSAT/GPA medians they are looking for, which is unlikely. You could probably get a lot of many from WUSTL, because they love high LSATs, and you might have some other luck in the T20, including with Texas. Baylor would likely let you in and shower you with money, but I wouldn't go there unless you're fine working at small law firms (<25 lawyers) for the rest of your life.

If you get a 175+ and can keep your GPA over a 3.0, I'd throw out an app to Northwestern, the rest of the T20, and strong regional schools in areas you would be okay working in for the rest of your life. Just note, the further you go down the ranking list the more likely that a school's employment statistics get worse and your probability of graduating with no job, no legal job, or a small law firm job go up. There is a big drop off from the T13 to the T20 and then another pretty big drop off after the T20 with a few exceptions. From there on out, most law schools send <10% of their graduates to large firms, and most graduates are getting stuck in the state or region of the law school.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Also, should I attend grad school and try to graduate with a much higher gpa and try to shoot for Cornell, or should I apply directly to Law school?

You should probably take some time off between UG and law school (just for life wisdom reasons), but don't go to grad school to get a higher GPA for law school. Only go to grad school if you want the degree for itself (and there are decent reasons to have it). Your graduate GPA carries almost no weight in law schools admissions (it doesn't get reported for USNWR rankings) and it's certainly not worth paying for one graduate degree (in time/money) to try to improve your chances of getting into another grad program (law school).