<p>Hello, I'm currently on the track of transferring to UC Irvine from a community college; I plan on attending this incomming fall. And, I plan on majoring in Criminology, law, & society. My current gpa is a 3.56 (work done in community college). Also, I'm part of the honors program, honor societies, and other extracurricular programs. I have two years to complete at UC Irvine before applying to many of my intended law schools. So, I have a few questions to ask. First, I plan, or wish, to attend a prestigious law school. For example, some of my dream schools to attend include the following: UCLA, Yale, Stanford, Hardvard, & USC. Although I understand these are a huge milestone, I plan on still pursuing my dream. My first question is: As a transfer student with two more years of school to go, how high can I get my gpa from a 3.56 in order to have an excellent chance of admission? My second question is: May I start working on LSAT practice two years before actually taking the LSAT? My third question: May I use books, or practice guides, that are about two years old? My final question: does anyone have any experiences? I want to know everything there is to know because I want to know what is expected in order to achieve my goal. Thank you in advance.</p>
<p>I personally am not involved in the law track, but from What I have seen my friends do: Law school heavily stresses LSAT SCORES. as long as your gpa is not bad, you will need to have an amazing LSAT score to get in those top schools. so yea, if you want to start studying for the LSAT, go ahead. Obviously you want to have a high gpa, so far your gpa seems good.</p>
<p>Second the advice about focusing on the LSAT. In most cases, the LSAT and GPA are the two most important factors in your law school admissions decisions, with the LSAT generally either being weighted just as much as your GPA or more. Also, this is kind of an unspoken “rule” but law schools don’t like people to major in pre-law or anything that has to do with law. They want to recruit math majors, language majors, poli sci majors, economics majors – on the grounds that building up a class with all these people makes it more diverse, as well as the fact that everyone knows something besides just law. </p>
<p>Just one note about top law school admissions. HLS is known to be far more numbers-based than YLS and SLS (i.e. if you have a very strong LSAT and GPA, you should expect a reasonable chance of admission), while at the other two, extracurriculars play a larger role.</p>
<p>Once attending UC Irvine, I may easily switch my major from criminology to psychology and social behavior. My question here is: which one, in your opinion, seems like a better ideal major? Why?</p>
<p>honestly man, from what I have learned in my 4 years of college, just do what you WANT and ENJOY. major in something you are really interested in, because it wont feel like work, and you will learn and expand your intellectual abilities. Almost any professional school( medical,dental,law, etc), it just really does not matter what you major in, do something that you genuinely can see yourself studying for 4 years.</p>
<p>Read this: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/1132224-what-i-learned-about-law-school-admission.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/law-school/1132224-what-i-learned-about-law-school-admission.html</a></p>
<p>Then take a look at the other threads in the Law School Forum.</p>
<p>@happymomof1: Wow, thanks for the wonderful link.</p>
<p>One question to everyone: If I attend a university, such as UC Irvine, and I get a great LSAT score & GPA, would it be possible to attend an Ivy league? Possibly, UCLA or USC considering they are local?</p>
<p>^ If your GPA and LSAT scores are high enough, a degree from UC Irvine could get you into any law school. But let’s be clear: for Yale and Harvard Law Schools that means a cumulative undergrad GPA of 3.8+ and an LSAT score score in the mid-170s, just to be competitive. </p>
<p>It’s going to be hard, or maybe next to impossible, to get your GPA that high by the time you’re applying as a senior. Even if you get all As for two straight years, starting from a 3.56 in your first two years that would put you just shy of a 3.8 cumulative. So Yale and Harvard seem like a longshot unless you pull off a near-perfect LSAT score; and even then, given their low admit rates it’s still a longshot.</p>
<p>Columbia Law School’s middle 50% GPA is a little lower, 3.61-3.82. Penn is 3.54-3.9; Cornell 3.55-3.8. That exhausts the Ivies. For your top local schools, UCLA Law’s middle 50% GPA is 3.56-3.87, which puts it in roughly the same ballpark as Columbia, Penn, and Cornell. At USC it’s only slightly lower at 3.46-3.73. And keep in mind a GPA at that level is no guarantee of admission; it only makes you competitive, and then only if your LSAT score is also competitive. I’d say if you work hard and get terrific grades at Irvine you could pull your GPA up to 3.7 or so, high enough to be competitive at some very good law schools, but probably not Yale or Harvard. Good luck! And start working on that LSAT!</p>
<p>So, which top schools, in your opinion, do I have a good shot at?</p>