<p>Hello everyone! I am very much aware that there are several discussions featuring anxious students wondering about their chances of getting into a good law school,.... but I'm gonna do it anyway because I have to admit that I'm a bit anxious about law school admission as well! </p>
<p>My concern is about my chances of getting into Harvard Law (or Columbia, Stanford, or Cornell). I am a junior at a top 30 school, double majoring in East Asian Studies and International Relations, and minoring in Anthropology and French. On a random side note, I have studied French, Japanese, Korean and Chinese so far and plan on adding Arabic senior year. Because of a terrible course I took in the spring, I currently have a 3.5. However, I will raise it to a 3.7 by the end of Junior year. </p>
<p>I am the founder and president of the Chinese Table Club, I volunteer every year for a huge show held by the Asian American Student Association, I have had two on campus jobs (one at a career center and one tutoring international students in English). I have just become the Department representative for East Asian Studies and the Chinese Department, which means I will be making some huge improvements in both departments!! I have taught intro Chinese classes for high school and middle school students at Yale and Princeton and I am a member of an honor society (which I will hopefully hold a board position in soon). On the side, I went to Beijing to study VERY intensive Chinese for the summer. I plan on applying to be an orientation leader later on. </p>
<p>I have only taken one Practice LSAT and I'm around 170, but I'm gonna try for the 174-177 range. </p>
<p>I'm so sorry that's a bit of a handful!! So do I have a good chance of getting into Harvard? <em>Bites nails</em>
Thank you in advanced for reading and for your advice!! </p>
<p>for large schools like Harvard, it comes down to two numbers – and you know what they are. If you are above both medians, you have an excellent chance. If you are below both medians, you have a very low chance. </p>
<p>I don’t think you have a good chance. I’m sorry. Harvard is one of the hardest schools in the world to get into and your GPA being a 3.7 isn’t too bad, it’s the predicted SAT score that will come. A 170 PSAT is 1700 SAT wise, well below Harvard’s standards. EC’s are good I think, but maybe get involved in student government. Take the SAT then take the ACT. Usually you do better at one than the other. I don’t think your stats are strong enough for the Ivy Leagues, unless you write killer essays and get great test scores. Remember to pick safety schools!</p>
<p>For sure! I tend to improve faster when I study by myself, so I bought a couple of books. My goal for the LSAT score is 176. Would that give me a better shot with all my extracurriculars and 3.7 gpa?</p>
<p>I had a friend who attended the best university in Virginia with a GPA close to yours and a perfect score on LSAT. He didn’t get into Harvard Law… and why would you apply to Cornell when you are aiming for Harvard? Try Univ. Chicago, NYU, and UPenn instead. </p>
<p>Wow greenlight, your friend’s luck kind of sucks! I would say he had a well over 50% chance of getting into HLS, unless his GPA was significantly lower than a 3.7. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for him - hope he found another great option.</p>
<p>OP - if you can really pull off a 3.7 and a 176, your odds of HLS should be pretty fair, though of course you’ll want some good safeties. I would by no means call it a “high reach” though.</p>
<p>I went to HLS and would say that it’s certainly a possibility. I don’t recall any of my classmates’ GPAs, but I do recall people’s LSAT scores, and there was certainly variation in them. </p>
<p>Unless all of the activities that you’re doing- particularly being the department rep- will get you a strong recommendation letter, I’d ditch many of them. I’d also ditch the additional language senior year. In short, clean your plate of anything that won’t result in strong grades/LSAT scores and a great recommendation. When I was in college, I did some extracurriculars, but I was constantly in a state of panic about grades, and so studying (for classes and the LSAT) was my #1 priority, and I even recall resenting being asked by the department in my major to help out with teaching/grading.</p>
<p>I’ll agree with the last two posters. If there’s anything you can do actually to get that LSAT up to 177, other than hoping, that would be the thing to do. I’m assuming the reference to “Top 30” school means something in the Tufts or Carnegie Mellon range, rather than Harvard or Princeton, though referring to them as “Top 30” would be technically accurate.</p>
Harvard is one of the hardest schools in the world to get into and your GPA being a 3.7 isn’t too bad, it’s the predicted SAT score that will come. A 170 PSAT is 1700 SAT wise, well below Harvard’s standards. EC’s are good I think, but maybe get involved in student government. Take the SAT then take the ACT. Usually you do better at one than the other. I don’t think your stats are strong enough for the Ivy Leagues, unless you write killer essays and get great test scores. Remember to pick safety schools!</p>