<p>Hi, I'm new to this forum, and I'm also hoping to become a lawyer one day.</p>
<p>I'm a sophomore at a California State University Chico and I'm majoring in philosophy. I would like to go to a T14 law school like Stanford or UC Berkeley Boalt Hall. I'm really concerned about the stringent admissions rates and the high costs. It doesn't seem possible for someone who is poor, like myself, to be able to go to such prestigious law schools. I'm worried that I'll never be able to attend, let alone afford it. There's a lot of information online and some of it contradictory. What must I do to increase my chances of being admitted? When should I take the LSAT? Do practice LSATs even help? What other tests do I need to take? How are the LSAT and GPA weighed and compared in T14 schools?
My current GPA is 2.99, due to a bad sememster, and if I do well this semester it will be around 3.5. I'm not sure what other things I can do, as I'm barely able to attend college as it is. I don't have a huge porfolio of achievements because I was rich and able to go all over the place. I don't have money to help me out at all. I'm really worried that I don't have a real chance of being admitted. Any help and info would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>First, you will be able to afford a T14 school.</p>
<p>Second, you must bring up your GPA. A 2.99 will not only keep you of all T14 schools, but it will also keep you out of all schools that are actually worth the cost.</p>
<p>Third, one’s LSAT is usually weighted more heavily than his GPA, but his GPA is still very important.</p>
<p>The most important thing for you to do is to raise your GPA. Try to get a 4.0 for every semester you have left at college.</p>
<p>Meikan, you need to be super-careful if you are poor and thinking of law school. “transfers” is right that you will be able to afford it. But you will probably have to take out large amounts of student loans. If your career as an attorney doesn’t work out for some reason, i.e. you cannot get a high paying job or you realize you hate being a lawyer, those loan payments could easily end up being a huge millstone around your neck. None of them are dischargeable in banrkuptcy.</p>
<p>Also, any advice you get from established attorneys should be taken with a grain of salt – even 10 or 15 years ago, law school was lots cheaper in real dollars. So that established attorneys had far more options than you will ever have. (Actually you should be skeptical of any advice you get.)</p>
<p>Meikan, you will be able to afford it via loans. Without any savings or aid, it could be upwards of 150k-200k, but if you go to the right school that debt is not difficult to pay down, as your starting salary would be 160k. </p>
<p>the good thing is (at least for you) law schools do not care about a “portfolio of activities” as you said. they mostly care about your GPA and your LSAT, so you are not at a major disadvantage due to your financial situation.</p>
<p>get your GPA up as much as possible, and start studying for the LSAT. You can definitely improve your score using old practice tests.</p>
<p>This is also a very dangerous idea. Lots of kids start law school with the idea that they will easily pay down their student loans in a year or two with their fat BIGLAW salary and then don’t.</p>
<p>Why is that? Well for starters, you might not get a BIGLAW job after all depending on various factors, including the state of the job market – which is beyond your control.</p>
<p>Second, if you do get a BIGLAW job, you will discover that $160k is not nearly as much as it seems because of the high tax rates you will face.</p>
<p>Third, it is very likely that you will not work at BIGLAW for more than a few years before you quit in disgust or get eased out. (Check the NALP statistics: Most attorneys leave BIGLAW within 2 or 3 years. Why would anyone walk away from such a high paying job?) Once you leave BIGLAW, chances are your income will take a big hit.</p>
<p>With $200,000 in debt, if anything goes wrong, you are screwed.</p>
<p>And as noted earlier, student loan debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy. This may not seem important to you now, but do some google searches to find stories of folks with student loan problems. You will see that non-dischargeability is a big deal.</p>
<p>lskinner is right. The school would be affordable in the sense that debt would not be a barrier that would prohibit you from attending. Whether it’s wise to incur that debt is another question.</p>
<p>Second, you need to stop pleading poverty as an excuse for lack of EC’s. The vast majority of worthwhile EC’s don’t cost anything. Volunteering in your community, being active with student organizations, etc.</p>
<p>Third, it’s not as if EC’s play a huge role in law school admissions anyway.</p>
<p>Fourth, the major barrier at this point is not money. It’s your qualifications. Flowerhead is right that 2.99 isn’t absolutely prohibitive, but it’s absolutely a major problem. You need to bring it up if you can, and you need a very high LSAT score. At this point, those are the things to worry about.</p>
<p>Finding loans to enable you to pay the steep tuition, fees, expenses, etc. at law school is one thing. Actually affording to pay off those student loans over a period of many years following graduation from law schools is another thing entirely.</p>
<p>There are law schools that give need-based financial aid. For this purpose, unless you are at least 27 or 28, your parents’ income will count. But if your family is really poor and you are poor yourself, there is need-based financial aid available. The catch? It tends to be the law schools at the top of the totem pole that give this and you’ll need a MUCH higher gpa to have a shot at them. </p>
<p>Additionally, if you’re a California resident, you’ve got Berkeley and UCLA as excellent in-state schools with lower tuition. Again, you need to get the gpa up.</p>
<p>The UC Regents are increasing tuition at such a rapid rate that being in-state is no longer a bargain. Berkeley already costs 53,000 this coming academic year (2010-2011) for out-of-staters (by far the most expensive top 14) and will cost 48,000 IN-STATE by the 2011 academic year, with tuition increasing after that. The UCs are soon turning more expensive for in-staters than out-of-state top 14s. The UCs used to be a bargain for in-staters, but due to tuition increases are now proving to be some of the most expensive law schools around. </p>
<p>Sorry if I’m coming off as harsh, but you seem like you’re making an awfully large amount of excuses based on your parents income. </p>
<p>It doesn’t seem that I’m as worse off as you, but my parent’s make a combined less than $50k/year in CA, which isn’t exactly rolling in dough. My best friend’s parents made less than $10k/year, he had more stuff going on in his life than anyone else I knew, and he was our school president in high school and went to a great school, as did I. </p>
<p>I’m on full financial aid and don’t have the money to do “expensive” EC’s for fun like perhaps joining a fraternity, but for the most part I don’t have to pay anything for things on my resume here at college (Student Government, AIESEC, Red Cross, Investment Club, Consulting Group). Nevertheless, economic conditions are in no way an excuse for grades, and to be blunt a 3.5, much less a 2.99, will give you a 0% shot at SLS/Boalt sans a 177+ on the LSAT. </p>
<p>Also just wondering how this math works: If you’re a sophomore, meaning you’ve currently gotten graded for 3 semesters, how can you go up from a 2.99 to a 3.5 after this semester (assuming you took the same amount of credits each semester this is mathematically impossible, unless you’re a sophomore because of external credits).</p>