ApolloKHP

Strait and to the point......I just graduated from the University of Virginia (UVA) and majored in Political Science. Perfect start ...right? Well I played sports for all four years and ended up graduating with a 2.0. This is simply because D1 sports are hard and take up a lot of time...on top of the fact that I didn't bust my ass in the class room as you can see.

I want to go to law school and would like to think that if I get a year or two of work experience while I study for the LSAT, I could still possibly get into a pretty good school if I did very well on the LSAT. My reasoning here simply rests on the name of UVA (which always stays in the top 3 best public schools along with Berkley and Michigan). I'm by no means trying to sound pompous here because after all I'm stressing because I'm my 2.0.

Now to my question:

Do I still have a shot at getting into a semi good law school (top 100?) if I do well on the LSAT. If so how well should I shoot to do, obviously I want to score as high as possible...but how high do I need to get?

What other things should I do to better prepare myself for applying to better schools..other than simply doing well on LSAT and giving reasons why I didn't do as well in undergrad?

Does anyone know of well respected schools that "look at the whole package" instead of simply the GPA and LSAT?

How much effect will the fact that I went to a respected university have on my admissions process? I've read that this sometimes helps because law schools like to post where their student body attended undergrad.

Someone throw me a bone here.....wahooo waaa

Kulakai

Law School admissions is mostly about GPA and LSAT. Even with a perfect LSAT score you likely won't get into the very top schools with that GPA. You will essentially be a splitter and will want to apply to a wide variety of schools and hope that likes your essay and recommendations.

Check the admissions statistics for the top 25 schools at lawschoolnumbers.com to get an idea of what gpa splitters had when getting admitted.

aigiqinf

Unfortunately Law school and medical school admissions are almost completely about your GPA and LSAT scores. If I understand it right this is because these two figures highly affect the law school rankings.

I don't think having gone to UVA is going to change your application one iota with a 2.0. I think you might be able to get into some law school...but it may not been one anyone's ever heard of.

silverturtle

"If I understand it right this is because these two figures highly affect the law school rankings."

Also because the LSAT has consistently shown strong correlation to success in law school.

ApolloKHP

So I would not be out of my mind to still apply to law schools that are in the top 50? I just don't want to be wasting my time applying to schools that I should simply forget getting into.

Also, what about the the transfer method? I don't know much about this when it comes to law school. Attending one law school of less recognition and then transferring into one of more depending of course if you do well. Any ideas? Is this common?

Would I have a better chance applying to private colleges? Law schools that are from private colleges? ex University of Richmond, or William and Mary.

Do law schools give any favoritism to people applying that attended undergrad at a college in the same state?

kwu

Score exceptionally well on the LSAT, 99th percentile or above.

You can do it.

ApolloKHP

Now that's the kind of encouragement I'm looking for.

Anything else.....

zoeydoggie

William and Mary is a public school.

ThePhilosopher

Your best chance will probably be Virginia law schools (I assume you are in-state). Otherwise, conjecture is pointless until you have an actual LSAT score.

jonri

Take a practice LSAT under timed conditions. You can download one for free at LSAC.org Homepage.

Sure you can study and your score will improve but you want to get SOME idea of how you will do. Add about 3 points to the number if your score is under 160 and 2 if it's between 160 and 170--a conservative estimate of the impact studying will have on your score. (Don't add anything above 170.)

Plug those numbers into the search function on LSAC.org Homepage. Not all law schools use this search, but the vast majority do. Look at the law schools you're likely to get into with that score and a 2.0. Do you want to spend $180,000 to go to one of them?


Then walk over to the career and graduate program counseling office or whatever it's called at UVa and sign up to see the pre-law advisor. Ask to see the grids. This will show you where UVa students with your gpa and projected LSAT were admitted.

I think that law schools are a bit forgiving of gpa from varsity athletes, but a little forgiveness means they might treat you as if you have a 2.25.

If it looks as if you might be able to get into a good public U law school, check out what you need to do to become a resident of that state. You might want to consider moving to such a state. SOME state law schools accept lower stat in-state students. And IMO it would be advisable to avoid a lot of debt if you can't get into a top law school.

It would be even better if you like the state well enough to stay there after law school grad, because the local area will be where you have the best prospects for getting a job.

As for transfering...for most, it's a pipe dream. yes, folks do transfer. Some law schools accept a lot of transfers. However, everyone--well almost everyone--starts at a law school that's not in the top 14 with the attitude that (s)he is going to work really hard and end up at the top of the class. For most folks with that plan, it doesn't work out. So, IMO, you should never start law school unless you know you are willing to go into the amount of debt you will incur to get a JD from the law school where you begin. If you can move up--great. But don't go to a school ranked 90 with the plan of transferring to one ranked 25 or so because the odds of that happening are against you.

jonri

Too much time has passed to allow me to add this to my previous post:

PS: Since you think UVa is roughly equivalent to Berkeley--I'm neither agreeing nor disagreeing--you might want to take a look at the condensed version of Berkeley's grids. Have to say --doesn't look good for a 2.0 or 2.25.

https://career.berkeley.edu/Law/LawStats.stm

sallyawp

I would stop making excuses, because trying to blame playing sports for your poor grades in a law school personal statement won't help you at all. Plenty of four-year varsity athletes do well in undergrad and go on to successful law school careers. I would try to focus on your strengths in any law school application.

flowerhead

Is a .4 correlation relatively strong? Yes. Is it anything, in the grand scheme of things, to write home about? No, not really.

Bob32566

I would like to attend Law School. Does anyone know which School I should Apply.
I graduated from NYU with 3.97 GPA (1989) and served 20 years as an Officer in the US Army. Also served as deputy court clerk for 5 years. I am now 62 years of age and wonder if any school will let me in?

ThePhilosopher

^ You will need to take the LSAT, but your GPA is exceptional. If you also do well on your LSAT (170+) you will get into VERY good law schools.