<p>I wanted to know what would be good things to do in between undergrad and attending a top 15 law school?</p>
<p>Candidate's Undergraduate:
GPA 3.75
LSAT 170
Engineering Summer Internships
Research during the semester
Some extracurricular activities
EC leadership position
on campus job</p>
<p>What would good things to do between Law School and Undergraduate in case someone wasn't accepted in Law School straight from undergrad? </p>
<p>Also, would studying abroad help someone's chance of acceptance into a top 15 law school?</p>
<p>From what i’ve read on here, the biggest factors is your GPA and LSAT score, if you didnt study at all prior to the LSAT, you could try studying for it and retaking it, it “may” increase your score which would increase your odds. Can’t really say how much a job would help your chances of getting in law school but it definitely adds experience, $$$, and depending on the job, marketable skills you can use after law school. </p>
<p>Thank you! I bet you were serious. I believe you Also, what if I had taken classes at other schools. Like a summer class at a community college or studied abroad for a semester. My school doesn’t factor those into GPA so they aren’t on my GPA. What if those other classes have a lower GPA around 3.4. Would admissions recalculate the GPA to include them. And would admissions frown on taking classes at a community college. I know top schools look at the quality of the school, but that was just one class.</p>
<p>Also does applying every year to the same few top law schools hurt you?
Like someone worked a job and every year applied for say, 3 years, hoping to get accepted?
Do they say that this person keeps applying and mark it as a negative?</p>
<ol>
<li><p>From my understanding they calculate your GPA from your full college transcript, meaning all your classes. As for whether they look down upon it, they dont because they will merely look at the name of the school that gave you your undergraduate.</p></li>
<li><p>Like GMTplus7 has said these are soft factors of getting into law school, they are the difference of getting waitlisted and accepted, rarely would studying abroad, getting a job, etc change you from being denied to accepted. If you go look at the law school websites and see their enrolling class, they want to brag about stuff. If they cant brag about you, they really don’t care. Higher GPA and LSAT scores mean higher average scores which they wont specifically brag about you but they are using your scores to brag about theirs. Seeing as your GPA and LSAT are around the lower quartile of accepted applicants of the top schools, you will need these soft factors.</p></li>
<li><p>I’m not a recruiter so I can’t say for sure but i’d assume it wouldnt be a negative thing. But chances are if the only thing that changes about you is how long you’ve worked, you being denied wont change either. So if you have the funds to use throwing an application each year, go ahead. Unless there is a huge discrepancy in their applicants, they are LSAT and GPA requirements are going to change as much. It’s worth more to them to have a slightly smaller class size and maintain their prestige than to accepted less-than-usual applicants and lower it. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>The LSAC recalculates your GPA. Every class you took (community college include) for credit is calculated in your LSAC GPA. Community college classes do count. The law schools will only look at the LSAC GPA, not at your 3.75. They wouldn’t frown at you taking one class there. They will, however, be a lot less likely to admit you with a 3.4 than with a 3.75. </p>
<p>"(the top 5 schools are a little different because they have more applicants with the numbers they want than they can admit, and thus have to rely more on soft factors in making their decisions)." I’m not sure about this. Know somebody who got into U of C wth a LSAT in the mid 160s and a degree (top grades) in basket weaving. I think applications are down across the board, even for the elite schools, so they are digging much further into the barrel for applicants than they once did.</p>
<p>nah, averaging is long-gone. Think about it: LS apps are down by the thousands. As a result, 17x scores are down as well. Law school Deans care about USNews rankings, and they can support their lofty rank by accepting students with high scores, regardless of how many times they have taken the test.</p>
<p>oh, nice to know, i heard the exact opposite before. So when I commit to Law School acceptance, I will make sure I can afford to take the LSAT each test date possible. (since LSAT scores can not only make or break acceptance, but scholarships from the schools)</p>
<p>But you can’t write the LSAT more than 3 times in a 2-year window.</p>
<p>Surely, as a soft, a retail job is not worth the same as an engineering job… getting a job does help but not all jobs are equal to the eyes of admissions committees, and definitely not to NWU’s eyes (which, btw, I would recommend if you actually did work for 3-5 years first)</p>
<p>Admissions does not care about what job you had. That’s because most every school does not care if you worked. Northwestern does care, but even they don’t discriminate based on what job you had. </p>
<p>I strongly disagree. In today’s environment, any job will work for NU, if the applicant has the numbers that NU wants.</p>
<p>btw: retail can be surprising, particularly if you have to work to pay your own bills. Plus, you learn a LOT about people and your possible future clients. It’s a maturity factor that you won’t likely get in an intro post-college job.</p>
Also, what if I had taken classes at other schools. Like a summer class at a community college or studied abroad for a semester. My school doesn’t factor those into GPA so they aren’t on my GPA. What if those other classes have a lower GPA around 3.4. Would admissions recalculate the GPA to include them. And would admissions frown on taking classes at a community college. I know top schools look at the quality of the school, but that was just one class.</p>