Hi All,
Does anyone know a formula that could be used to figure out what LSAT I would need to give me a decent chance at a T14 if my UGPA is ~3.7? Thanks a lot.
the numbers are reviewed separately; they are not combined.
If you are above the 75th % of each number of an individual LS, you have an excellent chance of admission. If you are above both medians, you have more than a decent chance. So, the obvious question is, what if you are above median on one and not the other. Then, the answer depends on what the school is seeking that year, a boost in their LSAT or GPA.
@bluebayou great point, thanks a lot!
Lawschoolnumbers.com. When I was applying to law school, each school had grids that showed the range of GPAs and LSAT scores, and the number of applicants, and the number of admissions, for each “box” of a GPA/LSAT score combination. I believe that those grids are still available somewhere.
Just apply to a bunch of schools.
@HappyAlumnus thanks! Only applying to 1-2 T14s, such as UCB and NW most likely. I’ve always been fascinated with those schools as a whole, but I hope to apply to a wide range.
If you have a 3.6 in engineering you’re very smart and should have a good LSAT score. With a 3.6 and a good LSAT score, you should be eligible for very strong schools. You could get into 2 top 10 schools or all 10; admissions seems like luck of the draw once you’re within range of a school’s numbers, or perhaps you have certain characteristics that will particularly appeal to some schools.
So in short: if you’re within range of top 10 schools, don’t apply to just 2; apply to all or most of them to maximize your chances. You don’t want to carry a less-prominent law school’s name on your resume for life, knowing that you could have done better but didn’t simply because you didn’t apply. There are enough snooty, jerky, prestige-focused lawyers that you’ll have to deal with for your career…and it’s best to be able to be coming from a school where you can look down on THEM.
There is also no reason that I’m aware of to be fascinated by UCB or Northwestern. They’re fine schools, but law school is a means to an end, not an experience in of itself.
“There is also no reason that I’m aware of to be fascinated by UCB or Northwestern. They’re fine schools, but law school is a means to an end, not an experience in of itself.”
I often agree with your posts. I don’t agree with this comment … at all.
I agree with HA. Law school is professional school. Applying to one just bcos of fascination is silly, IMO. This aint’ like undergrad where fit can be important.
Now, if the op said that s/he was interested in Boalt bcos of its connection to Silicon Valley, or Northwestern ED for the scholarship, that would be perfectly logical. btw: Boalt is GPA-dominant.
Thanks. If UCB or Northwestern have a specific program that ties to what the OP wants to do with a career, then being “fascinated” by either school makes sense.
Otherwise, I’d generally just recommend going to the highest-ranked top-10 school you get into (other things being equal); they’re all just tickets to Biglaw or Big Public Interest (is that a term?). I liked law school a lot but most people seem to have liked undergrad better; law school is just a means to an end.
@bluebayou that is a good point, it seems to be that Boalt is very numbers based. Berkeley is my favorite institution of higher learning in the universe, but I do agree with the points that you and @HappyAlumnus made, that fit is not very important in choosing a law school. If anything, I would possibly apply to either Cornell, Columbia, or UM, as their respective median GPAs seem to be on the lower end of T14 law schools.
Apply to all of them:
- Cornell is an Ivy so if school alumni networks are important to you, you'll be part of the Ivy League alumni network upon graduation--a much larger network than any one school's network. That can be helpful in generating business, job leads, etc.
- Columbia has the best placement records into Biglaw of any of the top 10. It's not better than Harvard or Yale but it's pretty much as good and its NYC location makes it very easy to get jobs in Biglaw, which is where you want to start a career if you plan to be a private-sector lawyer.
- UM is a fine school. No reason not to apply.
Also apply to Duke (it gives big scholarships and is also a fine school) and the University of Pennsylvania (like Columbia, a job machine, perhaps because it’s equidistant between NY and DC thanks to the Acela). Why not Harvard and Yale? You never know…