Chances at Top 20?

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>Hi everyone,</p>

<p>I'm a junior next year, just declared Political Science. As of now my GPA is about 3.84, however I can easily see it going down significantly over the next two years, perhaps averaging out to about 3.6 or 3.7.</p>

<p>I've taken two practice LSATs that averaged about 165, but I have not studied for the test at all yet. (I plan on doing so--should I do a class or just read from the text? My only significant problem is the logic problems, first section).</p>

<p>I go to Johns Hopkins, if that has any relevance.</p>

<p>Thanks for the help!</p>

2

<p>I'm an undergrad at Hopkins too. Have you looked at the Action Report available on the pre-professional website?</p>

3

<p>Thanks a lot for pointing that out. I had seen it before but forgotten where. Very useful. Are you also planning on law school?</p>

4

<p>Edit: nevermind.</p>

5

<p>Nevermind to what, whether you had found it, or to whether i was planning on law school? Either way, yeah, I've been looking into it for a while.</p>

6

<p>I had asked a question and figured it out, so the "nevermind" was in regards to that.</p>

<p>I've been looking at a few specifics from that file you mentioned, compared to overall statistics from the schools, and I don't see going to Hopkins helping much. Am I reading things wrong or is that the case?</p>

7

<p>Hopkins helps slightly in that GPAs can be a little below median, as can LSATs (however, going to Hopkins is much more beneficial in the GPA category). This was more pronounced in the 2005 action report, than it is in the current one. But, if you look at the exit survey for graduates you can see that 7% said they applied to law school, but I wouldn't be surprised if total law applications reached 15%, however, this still only comes to 150 or so applicants a year. And I don't think these are Hopkins' best, as a whole. I mean, the average LSAT from Hopkins is like a 160, and the GPA is like a 3.3, so these are pretty low numbers.</p>

<p>However, if you are towards the top of the applicant pool (which I'm assuming you will), you will do well in law school acceptances. I have heard this largely anecdotely. </p>

<p>Also, just looking a the action report, it looks as though Hopkins' applicants blanket the schools. The per school GPA and LSAT average for applicants is almost the same all the way through, and often, the averages for the applicants fall far below that of the accepted, so it's tough to draw conclusions based on the action report.</p>

<p>From people I have talked to, however, for the top applicants, JHU students are well looked upon. As an example, a Hopkins alum graduated with a major in history with a lowish (3.2) GPA. His LSAT, was high, however, around 174. He had an interview at UChicago, and the interviewer noted that said student had attended Hopkins, and said something along the lines of "we wished we had more applicants from Hopkins, one of the few top schools where you still have to work for your degree."</p>

<p>All said, though, I wouldn't expect any undergraduate school to "help", aside from Harvard Yale or Princeton. Most of the time it's maintained that undergraduate school doesn't really matter, and in most cases this is true.</p>