UChicago & Duke Law School Chances??

Graduate School Law School
1

As basic as this is, I really need an outside un-biased opinion about this. I will give my credentials below (I’m going to be somewhat vague since this is the internet) and I would really love some feedback about my chances! Thanks so much for reading in advance.

UGPA: 3.5

School: small liberal arts college in the south

Year: Rising Junior (2015-2016)

LSAT: Only have taken practice tests and have gotten scores between 168-171 (taken about 8 practice tests)

Major(s): Political Science and Economics

Minor(s): Political Economy and Pre-Law

Internships: (5 internships completed) worked for the governor as a lead intern on re-election campaign, worked on state representative campaigns, Guardian Ad Litem (volunteer child advocate services), district aid intern for state representatives, and several personal injury law firms.

Honor Societies: Phi Alpha Delta (Pre-Law Honors Society), Phi Eta Sigma (Freshman Honor Society), Delta Sigma Pi (Professional Business Fraternity), Omicron Delta Kappa (National Honor Society), Pi Sigma Alpha (Political Science Honor Society), and Phi Alpha Theta (History Honor Society)

Extra Curricular Activities: published journal articles through SAGE Publications, Exec board for Model United Nations, participated and won awards for Model Senate, started Mock Trial Association on my campus, participated and won awards for Model Arab League, help found AIPAC on my campus, junior achievement (going to a tier 1 school and teaching middle school students about making smart business decisions), on a Geico Academy advisory board for one of the local high schools to find resources for high school students to take more business classes, and member of College Republicans. I’m on the executive council for a majority of these organizations but I didn’t want to get into too much detail.

Weaknesses: Low GPA and small liberal arts school (maybe not enough internships?)

Possibly writing an addendum for low GPA due to the semester it went from a 4.0 to a 3.2 because I was involved in a car accident that temporarily paralyzed me from the waist down and I was gone a lot due to surgeries and what not. Should I do that?

Thanks!

2

yes, write an addendum, but it won’t much matter for Chicago, which has a median of 3.9. (Chicago is very GPA focused, but it also has a high LSAT @ 171.) So you’ll need a 172+ to have a shot.

Take a year off after graduation to work so Northwestern is also a possibility Plus, you get one last semester to raise your GPA.

Ace the LSAT. Good luck.

3

Practice tests are a red herring and mean nothing. Come back after you take the LSAT.

4

An addendum doesn’t add much unless it’s about something really out of the ordinary, which certainly applies in your case. That seems like a rather serious injury and is worth a short, to the point explanation.

Also do not worry about your school having an adverse effect on your applications- it will have a minimal effect if any at all. The best thing you can do at this point is to ace the rest of your classes and take as many of those practice tests as you possibly can (and do them timed). Practice tests really don’t mean anything unless you’ve done a lot of them correctly and actively study your mistakes

Good luck