164/3.2X/nURM Chances at Temple, Drexel, Villanova. Forum

[huntingpink]

I "wasted" my first semester of freshman by partying and drinking in excess, and flunked two courses. It is what it is. After realizing how embarrassing this was, I started taking my classes way more seriously and transferred after my sophomore year with a 3.0, which is a long way from where it was.

I am now finishing up my last semester of my transfer school and have a 3.8x. Expect to graduate summa, yada yada. My past school's GPA and those two failures obliterate my GPA, and although I haven't seen the CAS adjustment, I expect it to be between 3.2 and 3.3 -- worst case possible scenario, a 3.1, which would be absolutely brutal given my recent track record. My GPA is the main concern here because unlike the LSAT, there’s nothing I can do about it anymore. I did as best as I could with the mess I made for myself.

My LSAT is lower than expected, and I signed up to retake in November. I plan on applying to Villanova, Temple, and Drexel after in December.

I don't really have aspirations of biglaw, I value my life and time more than ~$400k followed by burnout. I'm happy to be involved in a smaller or mid-sized practice in the Philly metro area. That said, family friends have boutique firms in Philly, one is a senior partner at Cleary Gottlieb in NYC, one is a senior partner at Hogan in Philly. It’s possible that I could network myself into a position if my mind were changed, but that is, of course, only a remote possibility.

Villanova is actually my top choice. I love the campus, love the people, and have been around it all my life. I know a lot of people here dislike the school, it’s location, and it’s culture, but I’m local and grew up around it, so it’s a place where I’m very comfortable. I also have some legacy status.

I heard the Dean puts an emphasis on softs and essays, which may turn out in my favor if true. I run a fairly young startup (fintech-ish, has to do with promoting socio-economic equity) and we are entering into the venture stage and have been meeting with VCs and some tech CEOs (for those of you wondering, I would probably drop law school if this takes off big time).

I know a lot of people here say not to attend schools like these without huge scholarships, as the salary payout is more often than not insufficient to offset the debt. I’m fortunate that my parents will take care of most of this, so it’s not a huge concern.

Drexel and Temple are my bottom two, and I don't know if I would go should I be accepted, but I will definitely send applications.

Thanks if you made it through, I look forward to hearing what you guys think my chances are, particularly at Nova.

[cavalier1138]

Even if you weren't a URM, you'd be practically guaranteed admission to all three of these schools with your current numbers.

Although these schools are all basically equivalent, you might want to do some research on their regional placement power. I recall seeing other posts on this forum from PA natives who identified specific schools as being better at placing grads in Philadelphia vs. other parts of PA, so you should be prioritizing that over the "feel" of a school.