<p>I have written a great personal statement and have a lot of good experience on my resume but am worried those soft factors aren't enough to distract from my sloppy gpa and lsat. I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on any top 50 schools I might have a solid shot with. Also, how many applications should I send out total to give me the best chances? I ask this because my bank account is running low from all these application fees and I now need to ration the rest of my funds out to schools that I have a reasonable shot at getting into. </p>
<p>You can plug the numbers in [url=<a href=“http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/wp-content/uploads/Law-School-Predictor-Full-Time-Programs.htm]here[/url”>http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/wp-content/uploads/Law-School-Predictor-Full-Time-Programs.htm]here[/url</a>] and see for yourself. Realistically, to make law school a reasonable bet you need to retake the LSAT for at least 170 to counter the low GPA. Otherwise the chances of you graduating law school under massive debt and with no job prospects are high.</p>
<p>save the rest of your funds for a prep course, or study on your own. With those numbers, you should not attend law school because the schools that would accept you would not enable you for a real legal job. Starbucks has better employment prospects.</p>
<p>I don’t think you have much of a chance at a top 50 with those #s, but I’d suggest you contact Berkeley. They have grids, which used to be publicly available, but I don’t think are now. In any event, they have a pre-law adviser of some sort who can tell you which places people from Berkeley with those #s got in. </p>
<p>With these numbers Berkeley is most likely out of reach. If you aren’t a resident of California then its definitely out of reach. But I agree with jonri, there’s no harm in contacting the school.
Here’s a list of top law schools with acceptance rates <a href=“http://law-school.findthebest.com/”>http://law-school.findthebest.com/</a>. Hedge your bets accordingly.
Good luck!</p>
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<p>There, I fixed it for you. The UC’s are GPA-focused, and even Cal has plenty of undergrad majors with high mean GPA’s. Without an Olympic Medal, or some other comparable EC, a ~3.3 is way low for Boalt, a top 10 LS. </p>
<p>Heck, the OP’s numbers are in the bottom quartile for Hastings which is ~45. And being in the bottom quartile, means that LS is a big stretch. And the jobless grads from Hastings number 6 out of 10; yes, only ~46% of Hastings grads obtain FT jobs that require a JD. So, even if the OP got into Hastings with numbers in the bottom quartile, the OP would be full pay. And someone would be foolish to pay sticker at Hastings for a 40% chance of obtaining a job.</p>
<p>Don’t bother with law school. You have a Berkeley degree, which brands you as smart. If you go to law school, it won’t be a well-ranked one, so not only will you have lots of tuition expenses but poor job prospects as a lawyer, and you’d also have a lower-tier school on your resume. A Berkeley degree alone would probably open more doors, and obtain more pay, for you.</p>
<p>I don’t think the OP wanted to go to Boalt Hall anyway…</p>
<p>I’m sorry if my post wasn’t clear. I wasn’t suggested that the OP contact Berkeley’s law school. I was suggesting that she contact the pre-law adviser for Berkeley undergrads. The pre-law adviser can tell him/her where Berkeley grads with similar GPAs and LSAT scores have been admitted. </p>
<p>My post is probably meaningless, but, your best bet would be northwestern law. They tend to weigh softs very heavily. That being said, try to raise your LSAT by 10 points, because at this point your prospects don’t look very good.</p>
<p>My suggestion is to apply to the best night school in your area. That gets you the law degree without the risk of not being employed upon graduation, and the admissions standards for night school are a bit easier than for full-time law school.</p>
<p>@ariesathena: The admissions standards used to be a bit more relaxed at night school, but not anymore. About 2 years ago (if I recall correctly) USNWR changed their standards to start including night school applicants in the school’s numbers. Because of this, night course standards (for those schools who have them) went to the same place as the regular full-time schedule.</p>
<p>Marquette, Michigan state, university of arkansas, Hastings in SF, these schools!! Arkansas particularly because tuition is $13,000 a YEAR and u can gain residency in 6 months </p>
<p>Retake is the only answer here to secure a school with reasonable job prospects upon graduation. Your gpa and lsat as it stands will not get you into any top 50 schools, you’ll be lucky to get into T2, and even then, you’ll be in massive debt with no job prospects. Retake. With a 170 you could potentially secure a T1 with some money. Good luck.</p>