<p>I was kinda like the OP. Not particularly hard working. Interested in poly sci. Since you’re in HS, you have plenty of time to grow up. Many of the people I’m friends with are going to Yale/Harvard/Stanford and they weren’t particulalry hard working in high School either. Just make the decision to put the work in. If you’re interested in poly sci, you should do well in those courses. Get the highest GPA possible. You can always decide whether or not you want to do law later, but the bulk of the good internships/fellowships/jobs applicable to poli sci majors go to the people with published work and high GPAs.</p>
<p>Law school admissions isn’t particularly difficult. It all depends on where you want to go.</p>
<p>About the bar exam (so you can become a practicing attorney)–we were told & have shared with others that it can be helpful to think of it as just a huge (& important) pass/no pass exam. You don’t have to ace it or strive to do it perfectly, just pass. Seen in that perspective, it does take some of the pressure off.</p>
<p>Law schools will share the pass rates for their students. Many folks pass the exam the 1st time they take it, while others take it more than once. The # of times an individual needs to take the bar exam before passing doesn’t necessarily reflect on how well (or poorly) an individual will do in the practice of law.</p>
<p>How hard is it to score above 165 on LSAT test. I read a couple of sample tests and it seems almost impossible to score that high. What if you score below, let;s say 150 ?? What are your chances to get to a well-known law school with a GPA of 3.8 and LSAT score, let;s say 150 ???</p>
<p>Sorry to say but its almost impossible to get into a good law school with a 150 LSAT. LSAT means so much more to LS admissions than GPA so even with a 3.8 GPA and a 150 LSAT you’d still be looking at average schools such as Baylor, Colorado, and UNC. However if you had a 3.8 and a 160 on the LSAT the level of matches drastically improves to the likes of Berkley and UT.</p>
<p>LSAT: Is it a matter of goog luck or knowledge??? I read a sample test and it was a disaster. Is it really that hard to get 160 or above on the LSAT test, without guessing of course??</p>
<p>I am a senior in high school, and I will be attending UCLA this fall. I plan on double majoring in Political Science and Asian American Studies, and POSSIBLY an educational policy minor. That being said, will my degrees in Asian American Studies and educational policy really matter when I apply for law school? I know it is very difficult to double major, so is it wiser to simply major in Poly Sci to be accepted into a top law school?</p>
<p>When do students start preparing for the LSATs, etc.? </p>
<p>It’s fine to declare “undecided” as a college freshman. There’s no such thing as a pre-law major and most law schools don’t care what your major is, let alone when you declared it. They care about LSAT scores and GPAs.</p>
<p>Galt in a previous post you said that “Publications” was an important factor in law school admissions, what did you specifically mean by publications?</p>
You might want to do a little more research on these numbers. The chances of gaining admission to Baylor, Colorado or UNC with a 150 on the LSAT, even when coupled with a 3.8 GPA, is pretty minimal. The same could be said of admission to Berkeley or UT with a 160. This is true unless you consider a match as including a school at which there is less than a 50% liklihood of admission.</p>
<p>If you’ve published a paper in a respectable journal or have had an article been accepted to a law review. People who write books or have written scholarly analysis papers for think tanks and have had those published are in demand. Publication shows tangible evidence that you have high caliber writing and its pretty difficult to publish.</p>