could someone give me some advice?

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>hey - i have a few questions about applying to law school and i'm wondering if someone could give me some advice. </p>

<p>i'm coming from washington university in st. louis, and i will have a 3.73 when i'm applying if i get the grades i think i'm going to get this semester. however-- my situation is a little bit different. my gpa is made up of a kind of crappy freshman year as i decided what i wanted to study (b's in business classes, a's in english/history classes) and a 3.49 overall for that year, and then my second year was all a's and a-'s with mostly english and french classes. in terms of my major, i hvae gotten an a or a+ in every class except for one a-. </p>

<p>HOWEVER:</p>

<p>i am choosing to graduate in three years, and 15 of my credits are from internships. i happen to have interned a lot, both at the ACLU and the Washington DC Public Defender. So, i don't know if they are going to look down upon 5 of my 4.0 "classes" being internships. i guess you could look at it one of two ways: either i'm more prepared for law school and what it takes to be a lawyer since i have had so much real world experience, or that i am taking the "easy way out" by not taking as many classes. please don't lecture me and tell me to stay an extra year, i already know that everyone in the world thinks that i should, but due to personal reasons i am not going to. </p>

<p>i have not taken the LSAT yet but i am doing well on the practice tests and i test very well. i expect (if the practice tests are anything like the real thing) that i will probably get about a 173-5ish)</p>

<p>i also work 15 hours a week tutoring kids, am in a sorority, do community service stuff, etc.</p>

<p>do you think i have a shot applying ED to columbia law? i either want to go to georgetown or columbia, and i know its a lot harder to get into columbia. i just don't want to waste my ED there if it's a long shot, and then apply EA to georgetown and not get in because i didn't apply ED. and then again, i don't even know if i could get into georgetown in the first place. if someone could give me any advice, that would be awesome. also, feel free to suggest more schools to apply to- i really want one with a good reputation, and i want to eventually live in the east coast- think between d.c. and boston. thanks so much!</p>

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<p>if you can get 170+ you have a GREAT shot at columbia law.</p>

3

<p>Georgetown has early action - but not sure if Columbia will let you do that. A lot of this depends on what you get on the LSAT. It is not uncommon for people to take the LSAT and do worse than they did on the practice test - not sure why, but it happened to quite a few people. Your grades and your LSAT (170-175) will put you in the presumptive admit pile. The assumption that you are good enough to get in is on your side. Follow up with good recs, an excellent essay, an addendum explaining freshman year (quick note), and you should be good. Because your record is not perfect, there's no guarantees - and l.s. admissions can be more random than undergrad. </p>

<p>As for schools to apply to, Boston to DC:
*BC
*BU
*Fordham
*Columbia
*NYU
*Georgetown
*GW
*W&M
*W&L
*Penn
*Cornell</p>

<p>Throw in ONE absolute, sure, no-way gonna get rejected safety (this is for your own sanity - trust me - you'll feel a lot better with an acceptance and possibly merit money in hand - rolling admissions can stink), such as: Brooklyn, Cardozo, Hofstra, American, Tulane.</p>

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<p>ariesathena, you said that people do better on practice tests than the real thing? I thought it was the other way around, at least more times than not.</p>

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<p>I scored about 4 pts higher on practice tests than the real thing; most people I know did about the same. Someone was getting 180s on practice tests and (eek) got a 174. Results will vary - talk to your doctor.</p>

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<p>Haha well it just depends on the person, some do better under pressure while others just blank out. I do believe that the more practice test one takes under real test taking conditions the better that individual would be in handling the pressure.</p>

<p>Also cant discount those who cheat themselves during practices, like stopping the timer because their pencil falls</p>

7

<p>Well, considering that I took a bunch of tests under real conditions, never stopped the timer (in fact, did 34 min. per section), not sure where you are getting your last post. </p>

<p>As I said, depends on the person - but most of the people I know did worse.</p>