<p>So I am planning on applying to University of Texas-Austin (I do have resident status), Gerorgetown, and a few others this fall and I am a little concerned because my undergraduate major is public relations and I don't have many law related extra-curricular events.</p>
<p>Other than that, I have a 3.7 GPA from USC, am scoring around a 165 on old LSAT exams, and have pretty good leadership positions/community service background. </p>
<p>My only law related EC's are Blackstonians (the pre-law honor society) and Campus Democrats.</p>
<p>What can I do to make my non-law experience less of a problem?</p>
<p>Conventional wisdom is that at least 80% of admissions is about your #s. If you haven't already discovered it, the law school admissions council has a website that includes an odds calculator. That gives you a rough idea of how many candidates with your stats got into various schools LAST admissions cycle. It's just broken down into rough categories. So something like 25-40% of candidates with a 3.7 and a 165 got into Georgetown last year--which means of course that two cycles later when you apply, the odds will PROBABLY be a bit worse.</p>
<p>Part of the other 20% is your major. PR may hurt at some law schools. It's considered a "vocational" type major by some law schools and some law schools will discount the gpa you earned a bit. (Don't argue with me that it's unfair; I don't have any say in what policy any law school has.) I don't know if Georgetown and Texas are in this category. </p>
<p>Obviously, it's too late now to do anything about this. I would , however, check with the pre-law advisor at USC to see if there are any PR majors who have gone to LS in the last few years and where they've gotten in. Some LSs are stricter about majors than others. </p>
<p>The best advice I can give you--other than trying to do better than a 165 on the real LSAT, of course--is to spend a lot of time and effort on your personal statement. </p>
<p>Your ECs really won't be that much of a factor, as long as you've done SOMETHING and you obviously have. Moreover, from what I've seen anecdotally, community service is one of the few ECs that actualy does matter. So, I think you are on better shape on the EC front than you think.</p>
<p>Again, I'd really urge you to talk to a pre-law advisor at USC to see if he/she has some feel for how various LSs look at PR majors.</p>
<p>Thanks Jori, that is all pretty much what I expected. I have seen that LSAC calculator, and think I have a pretyt good shot at Texas (which is my first choice), expecially since I will have Texas residency. As far as raising my LSAT, I am already signed up for a kaplan class that starts in march. I think my bigger fear is that law schools will look at my app and say "why law school?"</p>
<p>Great advice, not much need to add things - just minor points.</p>
<p>Law school admissions has gotten a lot tougher in the past few years. Hard to say if it's a permanent trend (a la undergrad) or more of a temporal thing - usually, the worse the economy, the harder it is go get into grad school. Perhaps things will be slightly easier when you apply, but it's not something to count on.</p>
<p>Georgetown explicitly says that GPA is really, really important. As such, I think that your 3.7 will help you a lot... but, with a PR major, the LSAT will probably be important (proving that you have the reasoning skills). With a 165, you are a good candidate but, with the random nature of l.s. admissions, it's a toss-up. With a 170, it's a very different game. Don't take the LSAT until you are completely ready (wait through another few months if June doesn't look good), take it only once, and get your applications in EARLY - October at the latest. Georgetown does have early action, so apply that way.</p>