Smart for me to apply to law school??

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>My name is Joshua, and I am a male, Asian American (specifically Korean), and grew up in a low-income household. Currently I have a 3.4 GPA at UCLA with a psychology degree (maybe 3.5 by the time I graduate). Also I am a transfer, with a 3.7 GPA at my city college. I was thinking of law as a profession but not sure if I should pursue it. From what I heard, there's still a lot of discrimination in law schools (things like it's a white people's network) but most of this was from years ago and I was wondering if this was true. </p>

<p>Also what will I need to get into law school? I know I need an excellent LSAT score, letters of rec, and a good personal statement because of my low GPA (is that GPA even low)???
Also the type of extracurriculars I will need (or do law schools even look at that)?</p>

<p>And a few questions about law school. I heard the job market is harsh, but is there a difference in job demands with different lawyering fields? (environmental, immigration, etc)</p>

<p>Is there financial benefits for law school, me being an Asian American who lived in poverty?</p>

<p>And last but not least, do I need to graduate from a T14 school to have a higher chance of getting a job as a lawyer (I want to be an immigration, environmental, or lawyer of civil rights of poor Asian Americans). And will I need a higher GPA to get into these top dog schools?</p>

<p>I have a lot of extracurriculars, I am involved in research, leadership, activism, etc!!</p>

<p>I was planning, after I graduate to find internships, history classes, and math to help me prepare for law school. I was a transfer so I'm going to take classes at my city college (in which I have a 3.7 GPA)</p>

2

<p>No question; going to a T14 school will increase your chances of getting a job-although there’s some debate-at least on CC-as to whether you better go to Ivy League/Stanford to get a job. BUT in order to get into a top school with a 3.5, you’ll need to do very well on the LSAT. There are others on CC who can give more detailed advice, but the consensus seems to be that GPA/LSAT rule all in law school admissions.
Regarding discrimination against Asians in admissions: I’d like to think that doesn’t happen, but can’t address it.
All that said, it is clear that your biggest issue is financial. After getting into law school, you’ll need to determine if it’s worth it. Law schools-most graduate schools, actually-offer very few true scholarships; most financial aid is in the form of loans, and there are numerous law school grads with 100+K debt and no job. That’s the real issue you will have to confront, unless you’re one of the few who get a true scholarship.
And the competition for law jobs is brutal nationwide; my experience is admittedly anectodatal, but when our office lists a 53K a year entry level job, it gets dozens of applicants, many of whom have years of experience as lawyers.</p>

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<p>Thanks for your input, it has helped a lot! So it is usually loans, are there any grants for low-income students?</p>

<p>And for discrimination I meant if I get into a law school, will I face discrimination among peers? I heard in law school it is a network of white males who will mainly get jobs after graduation. Not sure if it’s true anymore but wanted to make sure!</p>

4

<p>Hi Joshringu – Re: financial aid, there are very few grants given for law school. It’s nearly all loans, no matter how little money you have. I don’t think you’ll find it to be a whites-only network. I think in that regard law is probably more welcoming than business school. Top law firms will hire whoever they think will put the hours in; they don’t care too much about color. Maybe there is more racism in the lower-tiered firms. </p>

<p>It sounds, though, like you need to do a bit more research into what lawyers do, and also to do a cold-headed assessment of how well you’ll do in law school. I graduated with honors from Harvard Law, and it was hard enough to make it. Check out </p>

<p><a href=“http://www.lawschoolcure.com%5B/url%5D”>http://www.lawschoolcure.com</a> </p>

<p>for some quality reading on those points. </p>

<p>-d</p>

5

<p>Law school admissions looks at LSAT first (you want at least high 160s, 170+ is even better, and they seem to be OK with retaking vs one-and-done), undergrad GPA second. No idea how they’d evaluate CC vs UCLA vs cum GPA. I assume it is based on how the LSAC GPA is calculated. [As the parent of a 0L (soon to be 1L), I don’t know 1st-hand. I’d check on the LSAC site for details.] Your personal statement, interviews, ECs and “relevant” experience appear to be used as tie-breakers and address borderline cases depending if a particular schools looks much past the raw numbers. IMO, “relevant” experience is far more useful to you (confirmation that a career as an attorney or where a JD is required is what you want to do) than it is to the law school (although a few years successful work experience may be beneficial, especially if they want more mature and accomplished students vs the K-12-BA-JD track). </p>

<p>A great deal of useful self-reported data and much better discussions than what you will find here at CC are at several sites specific for law school applicants:
[Law</a> School Predictor Target Acquired…](<a href=“http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/]Law”>http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/)
[Welcome</a> to LawSchoolNumbers.com | Law School Numbers](<a href=“Recently Updated J.D. Profiles | Law School Numbers”>http://lawschoolnumbers.com/)
[Top</a> Law Schools](<a href=“http://top-law-schools.com/]Top”>http://top-law-schools.com/)</p>