<p>Let me preface this by saying that I don't even know if I want to go to law school. It's something I might consider doing after spending 1-2 years doing something else after college.</p>
<p>I'm a junior in college now, and my GPA just isn't that great (3.5), at least in terms of top law schools. What's holding me down? A lackluster freshman year where I didn't care that much about grades, and didn't realize that my school had grade inflation and that a lot of people were getting straight A's. Another thing that's holding me down is my language. I'm an IR major and I'm taking Russian in order to fulfill my language requirement. It's difficult, and I've gotten B's for three straight semesters. </p>
<p>Anyway, the way I calculate it, if I pull off straight A's from now until graduation (unlikely though), I will get something like a 3.66. That's not that great, and I'm not in a particularly difficult major (International Relations). However, I do test well, and got a 2350 on the SAT on the first go, plus numerous 800s on SAT IIs. Should I bank heavily on the LSAT? Where would an excellent LSAT and 3.6ish GPA take me? </p>
<p>I feel silly worrying about my grades, because I'm not even convinced I really want to go to law school. I feel like I'm concerning myself about something I don't even care about. But in the case that I develop a passion for law school in the near future, what does my situation look like?</p>
<p>Our situations are extremely similar. Here's what I would tell you...a 3.5-66 isn't that bad. I'll have about a 3.62. Look at the 25/75 cutoffs for schools you're interested in. Yale, for example, has a lower 25th percentile at around 3.8ish (slightly higher, maybe). Other schools, like NYU or Columbia, cut off around 3.6ish or even 3.5ish (check these; it's easy, and I'm probably off by a little - but you get the idea). So you really need to do well on the LSAT - get a 165 or above. Depending on where you want to go...if you don't have T14 aspirations, you have a decent shot at most schools, and you're not entirely screwed for the top schools, either, if you get it up to a 3.6something. The lower your GPA, the higher your LSAT should be to compensate. </p>
<p>I should add that your LSAC GPA isn't the same as your college GPA. Google LSAC GPA Calculator to figure out what yours is - it may be lower or higher than a 3.5.</p>
<p>Also, the LSAT is NOT like the SAT. At least, not consistently enough that doing well on the SAT means you'll get a good LSAT score. It's probably very roughly correlative, but you really need to actually take a practice LSAT (do it through Kaplan's website - they have a free online one, I think) to figure out how you'll do. Or actually attend one of their free testing sessions. I did this, got a 161 cold (no food, no coffee, no sleep, and no kind of prep whatsoever), and many people can improve their scores like 15-20 points with practice. (I intend to.)</p>
<p>One more thing - I've heard that law schools weigh the LSAT more than GPA, anyway. So if you get a high LSAT, don't worry about your GPA as much (DO get it as high as you can). You'd be in good shape.</p>
<p>You probably need a 169+ on the LSAT to get any T-14 with your GPA.</p>
<p>btw, I don't believe people normally improve 15-20 points on the LSAT from cold diag. Most people I know only improved between 5 and 10 points (leaning towards the first). Personal experience: I improved 5 points from cold diag to actual test. I took 17 full-length, actual practice tests within a period of 1.5 months and read the Logic Games Bible. </p>
<p>Reading Comp (the "unlearnable" section, apparently) screwed me. It wasn't even a time issue either. I finished the section 5 minutes early and had time to double check my answers, but this one passage literally screwed me.</p>
<p>I should have added that the person who told me scores could improve 15-20 points was a Kaplan teacher trying to sell prep classes. NOT an unbiased source of information, for sure, though this guy said he went up 20 points from his first practice test, taken cold, to his second practice test, taken after minimal prep. So I guess some people can do it; some can't.</p>