<p>As of now, Georgetown might be a potential option if you score high on the LSAT. Many of the T14s, including Georgetown, are out with 3.5 and your predicted 168 if you are not URM.</p>
<p>I think the best course of action is to study hard for the LSAT while delaying graduation if you think you can improve you GPA by staying in college longer. I recommend this for two reasons. First, LSAT is the single most important factor in law school admissions. It is different from standardized college entrance exams. Therefore, you can do better on the LSAT than you did on the SAT, percentile-wise. Studying hard for the LSAT can never guarantee a good score, but it can certainly help. Second, the LSDAS GPA is the second most important factor in law school admissions. If you can raise your GPA to 3.6 or 3.7, then Columbia, UChicago, and NYU could be potential options with a high LSAT score. Since your LSDAS GPA can’t be changed after you obtained your first bachelor’s degree and since graduating early is often detrimental to law school applications, staying in college to increase your GPA would be a smart move, if you think you can pull that off. Good luck.</p>
<p>Thanks for the great articles sybbie! Appreciate your perspective as well ivypbear. I took a diagnostic LSAT without any prior study for it as a rough measure of what my “starting point” is going to be, and I actually scored exactly the 168 I had estimated weirdly enough. So hopefully with some hardcore studying over winter break, this number could get up into the low or even mid 170s!</p>
<p>As for the GPA/ graduation question, I DO have the option of sticking around in undergrad for 4 years on my full ride scholarship. However, in the context of life, this just seems like a waste of time! If I can get my degree in two years, I don’t want to waste ANOTHER two years just taking random classes so I can pump up my GPA to look better for law school admissions.</p>
<p>This being said, one thing I could do is try to study abroad on a scholarship like the Boren and use the grades from my year abroad to raise the GPA. I was planning on participating in an international English-teaching grant program next year, but could consider just studying abroad with my university instead simply for GPA reasons. At the end of the day though, I really have to choose what’s best for me in general and not base my life decisions on “what’s going to look good”, if that makes sense? So I guess we’ll see what happens. Regardless, I will definitely be applying for schools outside the T14 (i.e. Wisconsin) in addition to those “dream schools” I initially listed.</p>
<p>Thanks again for your helpful perspectives!</p>
<p>P.S. bluebayou, a summer internship with the State Department at the United States Embassy in Paris is inarguably one of THE most competitive internship posts available to American undergraduate students. If your son HAD been accepted to this program, I am willing to bet you would be announcing it loud and proud on this thread (and you would also be abreast of how truly competitive it is)! Not saying it will affect law school admissions at all, but that doesn’t change the fact that the internship itself, contrary to your statements, is indeed quite competitive. But that’s not the question at hand, now is it? ;)</p>
<p>At the risk of being berated again, you should know that most study abroad programs grades will not be included in your LSAC GPA if you study abroad for 6 months or less, so make sure that if you plan on this route you do stay the year. While some schools will ask to see the SA transcript (Standord comes to mind) most of the other t14 schools do not. So study abroad might not help you to raise the GPA. There are exceptions to this of course, but you should check the lsac web site for details. [LSAC</a> - Future JD Students](<a href=“http://www.lsac.org/jd/default.asp]LSAC”>http://www.lsac.org/jd/default.asp)</p>
<p>And while I can see that you don’t want to do things just to look good for law school apps, getting a high lsat or gpa is not really in the same category as picking an EC in undergrad thinking it will look good on your undergrad apps.</p>
<p>Thanks for the constructive, relevant comment parentofpeople. Theoretically speaking of course, the study abroad program I WOULD participate in would be for the academic year, so around 10 months or more. The program I would participate in would be an exchange program, that is to say, I would remain a registered student at my university. All courses completed abroad would be graded on an A-F scale and appear on my final transcript as a part of my cumulative GPA. Studying abroad may be a viable option, but like I said, not sure I would do it just in the measure of raising my GPA when there are so many other opportunities for international work, study, and travel.</p>
<p>You’re not getting into Yale or Chicago with a 3.5/168. You’re not getting into GULC at your age with a 3.5/168 (it would still be highly unlikely with solid work experience). At your age and with your stats, you’re probably also getting a rejection from UCLA.</p>
<p>And tons of people do an internship with the State Department. It’s nothing special.</p>
<p>read Jonri’s (#7 post) re: LSDAS. While you are on break, register and get everything in order. You will want everything completed so once you take the LSAT in Feb you can officially apply to your schools.</p>
<p>I would suggest you look at the site_ lawschoolnumbers.com once you have your LSAT score and apply to appropriate schools. Law schools have rolling admissions so the earlier you apply the better, though as many of us with kids in law school can tell you, some schools accept,deny and defer early and others are pretty late in acceptances anyway… so my guess is, you will be in the pile with the late apps and those who are in the late pile and won’t find out until March or later if you are accepted. Just be realistic once you get your LSAT score and apply to matches and some reaches. </p>
<p>Re: SAT’s/LSAT, my son’s ACT was also 34 (all parts 33-35) and did not take an LSAT class. Scored 160 then 168, and he is a great test taker (hence did pretty well for minimal studying). Just be forewarned that due to the nature of the LSAT test, 167 was 95th percentile (son is like you, always had been 99%tile) and that T14 is mostly URM’s and those with 170+.</p>
<p>If you end up postponing law school until 2013, based on your other option once graduating, you will have time to retake the LSAT, if you decide.</p>