<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I'm 21 and I'll graduate next summer with expected gpa of 3.3-3.4. </p>
<p>I've been taking practice LSATs, and I'm signed up for October. So far, my average score after 3 tests is 174.</p>
<p>I had some hard times in college first 1.5 years due to illness/surgery. Also had bad suitemates first and second year where it was pretty much hell. Besides that I raised my gpa from a 2.2 to a 3.17 atm, and my gpa for last year was 3.8. I plan on doing even better this year.</p>
<p>If your actual LSAT score is consistent with your practice tests, you’ll be able to get into a good enough school. But there’s an important question I need you to answer before I can say yes: why do you want to go to law school? What do you think your job as a lawyer will entail, and which parts of it do you think you’ll like?</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>My current goal (in terms of the law path) would be the following:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Reach goal would be something like top 5 law schools. If I can get into the Harvard JD/MBA program it would be a dream come true.</p></li>
<li><p>I only plan on going the law route if I score over a 170 on the actual LSAT. I doubt my GPA is good enough even if I score a 175 or more. The people going to the really good law schools have near perfect GPAs and near perfect LSATs. The low GPA is due to personal problems I had in the first two years, and I doubt college admissions officers would care for my sob story of how I went through a bad first two years experience (medical problems aside). Thus, if it does not work out, I’m just going to go for MS in computer science. I’m doing my BS in MIS/Comp Sci. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>I am writing a paper on intellectual property and how the current IP laws affect consumers in the long term. I got a lot of insight into IP law from a broad perspective (I scratched at the surface, but what I found was still pretty interesting!), considering that before this I had very little to no knowledge about any of this. </p>
<p>I also work part time in a law firm as a staff member and I like the environment. I’m surrounded by really smart people and it must be awesome to have those kinds of credentials.</p>
<p>Beware of going to law school just because you want “status”.</p>
<p>One minute you say you want to go to law school, and two minutes later you mention an MS in Computer Science.</p>
<p>My BS is in MIS & CS. </p>
<p>I don’t think there is a preferred degree for law is there? I know a guy who has a mechanical engineering degree who went into law.</p>
<p>I am not stopping at my BS. I want to go for MS in CS if the law path does not work out.</p>
<p>I want to do an MBA a few years down the road. </p>
<p>I had a couple good internship opportunities for what I’m doing but I can’t afford to drive there as I don’t have a car, and using public transport would be tough since I am a full time student taking 6 classes/semester. For example in the summer (taking 3 classes in the summer + online class) it takes me 1.5 hours to get to campus by train one way 
and another 30 minutes one way just to get to the station from home (dad drops me off)</p>
<p>I started working at a good law firm as a staff member and I love the environment here. It is fast paced and very uplifting.</p>
<p>It sounds like you’d be fine for law school. Just be aware that, as a lawyer, chances are you will never consider broad issues like the effects of IP law on society.</p>
<p>Actually, also be aware that the environment at good law firms is not usually uplifting at all. You’ll be working 10-12 hour days at the least, in a profession where 20% of people are clinically depressed and 20% of people are legitimate alcoholics. If you love your job, it will be very much despite the conditions.</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I am most worried about my GPA.</p>
<p>In high school I had a 3.1 gpa but I did well on the SAT (2250). I was deferred from my early decision school, and I did not make it into the other schools I wanted because my GPA was the killer. I ended up going to a state school (it is not a bad school) because of my low HS GPA.</p>
<p>I had a strong robotics EC where I was in a leadership position in charge of our website and we won a national website award. I also volunteered 177 hours at a local hospital. However, my GPA ruined all those chances. I really hate GPA!!!</p>
<p>My college experience was horrible in the first 1.5-2 yrs but since then I’ve gotten good GPA. In second semester second year I had a 3.4, then 3.72, 3.8, and this year I plan on doing even better. I hope to graduate with 3.3 - 3.4 gpa since I will be taking 30-36 more credits before next summer (winter session includeded). </p>
<p>I’m by no means an extraordinary student but I was able to get seven professor recs for my internship search, and even though those did not work out due to me not having a car, all seven agreed to be listed for my current part time job as references. Two of my professors actually want me to go into law but I am honestly worried I am not good enough to make it into a top ten school even if I am able to pull off a 170+ LSAT. I hope to prepare for LSAT more than I did for SAT where I only did one practice test. If I can get a 175+ or perfect (highest SAT sub score was in writing skills @ 790, crit was lower) on LSAT I will be so happy.</p>
<p>I hope the admissions officers look at recommendations as well in addition to my GPA so they can see that in real world practical applications I did well. They weren’t there when my neighbors were up all night drinking making it impossible to study, or when my suite mate threatened to break my room mate’s stuff… or stuff like that…</p>
<p>If drunk people and asses make it impossible for you to do well, you should probably reconsider a career in law. If you end up working as a lawyer in a large firm, you will deal with drunk people and abusive asss all the time, and some of them will be your bosses.</p>
<p>Anyway, GPA and LSAT are by far the most important things on your application. For the top schools, soft factors are a bit more important, but stellar recommendations or a difficult life are not going to offset your GPA all that much.</p>
<p>^ You’re not answering his question. He is not asking if you think he is ready for a career as a lawyer. He asked if he has a good chance at getting into top law schools, because he obviously has the “top law school or bust” mentality. I saw you’re same annoying posts on another law school thread and you basically did the same thing in that post that you’re doing now. (“You’re not ready for law school. 20% is clinically depressed… blah blah BLAH”) Like OMG stop. For real. You must be one of those people that became a lawyer and hated it (not saying you actually are, that’s just what you sound like). </p>
<p>That being said, OP, I think you should definitely apply to you’re prjected law schools (maybe not HYS, but defintely the mid to lower top 14’s). If you do score 175+, you’ll be a splitter. It is really hard to predict the outcome of those. You should check out Law School Numbers and see what schools people with similar GPA’s and LSAT’s got into. Make sure you make an addendum in your applications regarding your first 2 years of undergrad to explain your low gpa. </p>
<p>Also, to the pessimist above me, he did not say it was impossible for him to do well. It was just an obstacle, as it would be for anyone. And you are so exaggerating the firm thing. People may be A-holes, but they do not come to work drunk. And on top of that, A-holes are nowhere near as bad as obnoxious drunakrds.</p>
<p>When you are applying for a job as a lawyer, your transcript is the first thing the interviewer will see. If you don’t have excellent law school grades, you will not get called for interviews. Can you afford to pay back the $200k it will cost to go to law school if you don’t get a job? It’s incredibly, incredibly tough to get a job as a lawyer now and for the foreseeable future. I’m currently sitting across the hall from three grads of a top 10 law school who are smushed into an office, sitting at card tables, for $20 per hour as temps.</p>
<p>Hi,</p>
<p>The thing is… I don’t want to blame anyone for my mistakes but honestly the fact that there would be like 10+ people next door until like 4am, or having suitemates who had no regard for others did contribute a lot to why I did not do as well as I could have. True, the early years of college are faceroll easy, but I had other things going on at the time (illness, surgery) and I slipped. I’ve done better in the last year, and plan on doing even better in my final year.</p>
<p>I looked at lawschoolnumbers and it is pretty daunting. People got rejected with high LSAT/GPAs at good schools! Dang!</p>
<p>The highest I can pull my GPA up to is 3.44 or something if I get all As, but realistically I can probably manage to get up to a 3.3-3.35. Well, time to hit the LSAT prep books and score 180. :P</p>
<p>Getting admitted is important, but being able to be at the top portion of the class is more important. If you can’t realistically be sure of that, you shouldn’t go unless you can eat the cost of law school.</p>