<p>So here's the deal. I have just ended my third year at Cal and will be graduating next spring (hopefully) in Economics. I'm really striving for a top notch law school. My GPA is a 3.4 GPA overall, excluding my senior grades. However, my first two semesters i did really poorly with a 2.7 GPA for my freshman year (due to lots of things, mainly the whole great freshman experience, being away from home, not studying, what-not) and i really kicked myself afterwards to get nearly 4.0 my 4 semesters afterwards.</p>
<p>How does this affect my chances in getting into that of Harvard Law? What should i be aiming at?</p>
<p>On top of academics, I've also been active in my fraternity, serving as Vice President. I'm the president of 2 queer groups on campus and have other leadership positions and work experience. </p>
<p>Any help? I know a lot depends on my lsat score, but can you give me some pointers if i had "insert score here" on my lsats - what schools should i be looking at.</p>
<p>Even if you got a perfect 180 on the LSAT (top 0.02%), you'd have less than a 40% chance at Harvard Law. If you got a 170+, you could aim for schools in the bottom of the top 14.</p>
<p>Harvard and Columbia will be your best choices for "reach" schools. They heavily recruit homosexuals. As long as you nail the LSAT, you have a fighting chance at both of those schools. You can rule out Yale Law right now, though.</p>
<p>I'm not going to get into the top 3 law schools, but even a top ten, say Michigan, takes 25% of its students with 3.4 GPAs or LOWER. </p>
<p>A top 75%tile LSAT (which is much more important) puts you VERY MUCH back into the game.</p>
<p>Add in a great turn around, a top school, a tough major, and other soft factors... you're fine! A 3.5/165 still puts people into competition for schools in the top 20-25.</p>
<p>Transfer, you are describing econ as a tough major; I would agree. However, others say the major makes no difference. What do you think? Are there any majors that are regarded more or less highly by law schools?</p>
<p>From what I gather in my unprofessional opinion, majors like art history, sports mangement, hotel schools (not Cornells), and other "fluff" majors might look bad. Political science won't help you persay, but it will not be a reason to reject you, nor does it make a solid GPA look bad. Econ in my opinion gets a better view than poli sci, however it's not like a hard science where a 3.0 GPA is analogous to a 3.5 in english or philosophy. I highly suggest you google this.</p>
<p>My point was that while the OP might not have a shot at Top 3 law schools, and without an incredibly high (like 167+) LSAT very little shot at top 15 law schools, they could get a 163-166 which puts them near the medium/higher end at some top 25 law schools. My goal in college is to have a 3.5/165 and I do think I can get into some top 20 schools.</p>
<p>My guess is that most majors are fine. Heavy emphasis on "most." The exceptions are the fluff majors. I really doubt that anyone is going to say, "Well, he took history and she took econ; I bet she's a better student." If the major ends in "management" or "studies," you might have an issue - otherwise, it would probably be fine for law school.</p>
<p>Econ probably won't give you an advantage as being a "harder" major than others, but it will give you a leg up in the "preparation" analysis. Law is heavily influenced by economic thoery and having that background will be a plus in admissions, albeit a small one.</p>
<p>This might seem like an absurd question, but why is it that Law Schools view the sciences as more difficult? Last I checked, logic can be as strenuous as studying the foundations of first-order calculus, and plenty other aspects of its metamathematical components are recondite and rigorous. The entire field of philosophy, in my opinion, is a difficult one to wade through, and I do not see the justification for privileging the sciences over it.</p>
<p>I wonder if it's not so much that sciences are considered more difficult, but that fewer science majors apply to law school, and the law schools are so willing to take them that they overlook lower gpas.</p>