<p>Experience: Planning on taking these next few years off. Currently employed as a legal assistant at a small law firm. Otherwise, I've had a lot of work experience in the legal field w/ internships at law firms, in the superior court and for UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall.</p>
<p>LSAT record: I took it once and did awfully, I also have one "absent" on my record from last september when I felt unprepared for the test but had passed the deadline to cancel my registration. I plan to re-take the LSAT sometime in the next year and, realistically, I think i can get a 165.</p>
<p>Do I have a shot at getting into ANY law school? I just feel that admissions so incredibly competitive and I'm not sure I have what it takes :/ </p>
<p>I'm hoping to stay in California for law school and think I can potentially get into: Santa Clara, USF, Golden Gate, UC Davis...</p>
<p>I mean, you haven’t given us enough information to go on to evaluate your chances anywhere else. Golden Gate can be expensive and job prospects can be rough.</p>
<p>Of coure you can get into A law school. That is the problem with law school, that anyone who wants to get into a law school can. Why would that be a bad thing? Well you need to do some more research, because the job prospects out of a lot of these law schools, like golden gate, are almost non-existent. At Golden Gate you will have a very high chance of ending up unemployed completely and if you do find employment it will be for around 40k a year and you will be 120k in debt.</p>
<p>Thanks. Well, what if I actually want to, let’s say, work for the Office of the Public Defender…then does the rank of the law school I attend really matter?</p>
<p>Legal unemployment is about 12% right now and rising. If nothing is done about the current system, legal unemployment could easily hit 20%. Kids at higher ranked schools than you would go to are now having a hard time finding the same firm jobs that they would have enjoyed otherwise. Because of this kids at these schools are now filling up less prestigious positions like public defenders jobs. This is not to say at Golden Gate you couldn’t get a job, but you may now be competing with Berkeley, UCLA, USC, Etc grads that you wouldn’t have had to otherwise.</p>
<p>Also, with your stats, if you go to Golden Gate, you will likely end up 150K in debt. Believe me no one wants to work a job where they will make 50k a year their whole career with that amount of debt because you will never pay it off.</p>
<p>If you can’t get into a decent school, then you should not go to law school. Unless you graduate in the top 10% of your class and make law review, you will have dismal job prospects. You will face a life of doing document review for little pay and no benefits.</p>
<p>And public defenders make less than garbagemen. I am not joking. To go $150k in debt to become a PD is a very abd idea.</p>
<p>If you can score a 160+ on the LSAT, with you GPA and presumed work experience (over the next several years), you will be highly competitive for ABA accredited, well-respected “local market” schools around CA (assuming this is where you want to practice). In the Bay Area, University of San Francisco and Santa Clara both rank amongst the top 100 law schools (USNWR) and you would be HIGHLY competitive; perhaps even qualify for a scholarship depending on whether you could really bump your LSAT score up. There is also McGerorge (UOP’s law school), which is locally respected in Sacramento and has a high-placement rate in gov’t sector. Should you look elsewhere in California, you would be competitive for Univ. of San Diego, possibly Loyola and definitely Southwestern (perhaps, even at Pepperdine). All of these schools that I list are ABA accredited, all are schools that have relatively high bar passage and job placement rates. If you can bust through 165, add in Hastings (reach, but maybe), Davis (placing increased emphasis on LSAT) and perhaps several others. For some of the people to suggest that you would only be eligible for GGU is ridiculous - and they don’t know what they’re talking about. Also, while GGU is a little shaky (not ranked, has been on ABA probation at least once in the past), there are many who work hard, graduate and do well. None of these schools are likely to land you the $160k/year “Big Law” job, unless you place in the top 5% of your class, but all will give you a great shot at your desired career path. Go for it.</p>
<p>Nobody has suggested that he can’t get into a place like McGeorge (although, again, whether he’d want to is an open question). What we’ve said is that we don’t have enough information to evaluate his chances. Which is true.</p>
<p>“If you can score a 160+ on the LSAT, with you GPA and presumed work experience (over the next several years), you will be highly competitive for ABA accredited, well-respected “local market” schools around CA”</p>
<p>Law schools do not care about work experience. It’s all bout GPA and LSAT.</p>