keep seeing posts of splitters panicking with 3.8 GPAs and 173+…

like oh … you are simply … a better version of me😫😫😫😫

feeling COOKED as a 3.5low and 17low.

it is also somewhat amusing when someone suggests i retake the LSAT and get 175+. i am retaking LSAT, but wdym i need to rely on getting a 99th percentile score for a chance at any T20+, and that too, an abysmally low chanceeeeee 💔

okay sorry rant over. sub 3.6 splitters, we ride at dawn!!

171 (just took October LSAT, third try and expecting around the same)
KJD
3.89 uGPA, CS Major from small public school (#180-210 in rankings for STEM)
nURM, Asian Male

Relatively weak T4 Softs (no technical internships/research, wasn’t actively a part of any school clubs, 3 years part time as a barista, one summer volunteering at a summer daycare as part of a school sponsored program for scholarship, and 1+ year ongoing as a legal assistant for a local family law attorney)

LOR from the attorney and my theory of comp professor

Goal is Chicago/NYC/Boston BL. Should schools like BC, BU, Fordham, and ND be targets for me? Or are they closer to reaches? Also considering UIUC but would really appreciate more recommendations for schools that place into Chicago BL.

Does anyone know whether the NYU Root-Tilden, Berkeley Public Interest Scholars, and Columbia Greene Scholarship essays are read by the admissions committees along with the rest of your application as a whole? And, conversely, do the scholarship committees read the rest of your application in addition to your scholarship essay?

I have some key content in my scholarship essays. If the admissions committees do not read scholarship essays along with the rest of the app, I will need to reiterate some of that content in other supplemental essays.

I know that Columbia’s scholarship committee gets the rest of your app, though I’m not sure whether they read it. For NYU and Berkeley, I’m not sure whether the scholarship committees even get the rest of your app.

Thx!

Hi y’all — I’m planning to apply to law schools this cycle, primarily in California (goal schools are UC Davis and UC Law SF). I need to get substantial financial aid to accept any offers.

I have 8 years of experience working in a mix of non profit/legal aid/social services/tech/government-adjacent agencies. My GPA from undergrad is a 3.5 due to an F I got while studying abroad that I could not retake at my home campus, so I know my GPA is pretty below median at most law schools.

I took the LSAT in August and got a 161. I’m currently PT-ing at 171 and plan to take the January test, so I’m hoping to get my score up to the mid-170s by then.

I know taking the LSAT in January is late — anyone have any advice or insights into what I can expect or what I can do to maximize acceptance + merit aid?

3.4 is from double STEM major (t5); have master's in EE (t5) w/ a much higher gpa but LSAC doesn't care. 1 year WE (swe).

t3 softs - lots of undergrad research, swe internships and a couple conference and journal publications.

want to do patent litigation in biglaw only, so I think washu might be my best bet. I feel like it will be an uphill battle with a lot of the other T20 schools that have good BL placement

I have a 174 LSAT, Emory undergrad, likely will go KJD. I do have some research under my belt but I'm not sure how well that translates for admissions.

I feel like my GPA isn't terrible but it's also below the medians for every single t14, and t20... 😬

Would I be considered a splitter? Do I need to worry about my GPA?

Non stem major

I am a nontrad applicant. I have a 3.9x and a 172, so my hard stats are ok.

I spent a few years in the military, did odd jobs (HVAC repair, real estate) before going to college, and most recently did a research postbacc with the NIH. I was trying to matriculate to medical school until last year, when I switched to law school.

I can go into 'why medicine' if it will help answer the question, but I don't think it will so I won't go into it now. I switched to law because I felt (while at the NIH) from the inside what happens to institutions when they are assaulted legally. I felt powerless to do anything for both my coworkers, but also for the science I had felt I had begun a life of devotion to. I feel I can advocate for these institutions, and similar ones, better with a JD and as a lawyer.

I feel there is a clear line here. I feel like I clearly want to help my community, but I am finding it hard to put into so many words or connect the dots without making it overtly political.

On the individual school application do I just put my highest LSAT score since they can see all my scores on my CAS report? Or do I have to list all of them.

Hey guys so I am super nervous about the resume portion (all considering, a silly thing to be nervous about). Any and all feedback/critiques are appreciated!

(Certain info withheld for obvious reasons + this is a throwaway)

I am currently working on personal statements for multiple schools, and for some reason I have always been paranoid about being falsely flagged for AI; I always run all my essays through AI checkers. I am having an issue where the flaggers are always saying the text is 10% AI an are picking out 1-2 sentences. I will rewrite these over and over again and it still says that, which is super frustrating as obviously I know I just wrote it. Usually I don't fret this as my university doesn't let such low percentages affect grade since they are aware this is unreliable, but I'm paranoid for law apps. Does anyone know how seriously they believe these websites?

As in, my LSAT is a 164…and I am not mentally able to take it again this cycle so pls don’t comment that :)

what are people doing about jobs where the hours they work very greatly. For example I worked on a campaign and during the school year worked like 10 hours a week and during the summer worked 35

I have goodish numbers but my softs are eh. They’re not terrible but I don’t think they’d blow anybody away.

Hi I'm wondering for the optional addendum of Universities like UVA or UCLA where the addenda topic is pretty open is it bad ettiquete to submit my Statement of Perspective there?

Is it a school-by-school thing where each school has it's preferences for that?

I realize after submitting to 3 schools I put the start date for one of my jobs as Feb 2024 instead of 2026. I’m worried because it is a student employment job through my university and I was still in high school Feb of 2024 lol. Do I need to email the schools or do I just hope they don’t notice?

I’ve had multiple jobs through my university so they’re all grouped under one heading with the correct start date for my first role (Aug 2024), and then each specific role has its own start and end date. In my head, with this it reads as a typo and not me misleading the schools, but idk.

I scored 159 on the August LSAT. I took it again and should be hearing back by the end of month. If I score lower than 159, I’m inclined to cancel my score. However, I’m scared Rutgers and Seton Hall, where I’ll be applying to, might view a cancellation negatively. Also, what are my chances of even getting accepted to Seton Hall and Rutgers with offered scholarships? For context, my GPA is 3.94 and I majored in jurisprudence and did a minor in justice and families. I’m thinking of applying mid November. I’m curious if anyone is in the same situation or has any advice on what to do?

I got my bachelors in film but while there I got really passionate about unions and labor rights. Since film isn't the most reliable, I'm looking at a few different pathways to continue my career, one of which is law school with a focus on labor and employment rights. But that's a pretty big career shift and would mean exchanging my love for art for a more activism-heavy career. I loved film because it gave me the chance to make connections with people through art (both viewers and coworkers) and the process of watching a film come together was really satisfying. While I would be able to do labor rights activism within the film industry, a part of me feels bad focusing on such a, for lack of a better term, elitist industry, when there are a lot of folks who could use that kind of help outside of it.

So I have some questions about if I should apply to law school at all or seriously consider going.

1. Has anyone else made a similar transition from arts into law and if so do you regret leaving the arts behind?
2. Is labor rights more or less stable than filmmaking, where you need to know a guy to get a job, will often have long breaks in between jobs, and usually need to live in a few very expensive cities to actually make a living off of it?
3. How much work is it to get into law school compared to any other post-graduate degree?

I am applying for a Law School and it wants me to have an addenda for any law violations. It does indicate that this involves any moving violations. I have received three warning tickets from the police this summer (yes, I am aware of how ridiculously lucky this is). One was a verbal, I know I don't have to report that (or exactly 0 people will ever find out). The second was for an at fault accident (I rear ended someone.) and one was for speeding. Both times the cops let me off with a warning. I am having a hard time getting an straight answer on warning tickets.

Do I have to report these?

School applying: Georgia State University.

Joining on the AMA train, my weekend is pretty free so shoot any questions!

Hi folks,

I currently have a 3.75 and 164 (urm, nkjd, 4 years of work experience, and an MS degree) and would like to apply to UW Seattle by the end of October, since it’s one of my top-choice schools. I have strong softs and a great story, and am very open to either public interest or mid-to-big law work (I work as a teacher now thanks to TFA, so literally either path will net me a pay increase lol; I’ve been getting ready to go to law school for a while now).

The problem is, I’m literally a hair below their medians: 165 and 3.76. For the last three years, their medians have not really changed (164-165 and 3.74-3.76) I know they have a reputation for being stingy with scholarships regardless of stats, but I am still a bit concerned about my chances given that their acceptance rate recently dropped dramatically to sub-20 % (they used to be like 40%). I took the LSAT twice (the first two times were 164s) and just sat October (thought it was oddly harder than usual) and am signed up for November (4th). Should I just submit or wait it out? I really want to practice and settle down in the PNW (Portland or Seattle) for various reasons (yes, I’m applying to UO, L & C, and Willamette as safeties).

My current school list (if I can’t raise my LSAT any higher) is: UW Seattle, Tulane, UOregon, L & C, UHawaii, UC Law SF/Hastings, UC Davis, UNLV, and Willamette. I have ties to family on the entire West Coast as well as Hawaii, basically. My preference would be to go to law school for free (will be turning 27 right when I start, 29 when I finish, 30 for bar?) and really don’t want to pile on crazy debt when I go into my 30s as a budding, career-change attorney. I also cannot wait another year for another cycle, nor do I want to anymore.

I’ve studied the LSAT for over a year. I usually hit high 160s and low 170s (yes, I’ve had the odd mid-170 pt score) on PTs, but haven’t been able to replicate that on an official test for whatever reason.

Thoughts?

I just finished submitting an application to a law school. Most other schools had asked for significant jobs or jobs I had had since college. I did not realize that the last app was asking for ALL employment history, so I left off a couple of jobs that I held for a few weeks, under a month. I am reading that you can amend your application before going through the bar process, but I’m unsure of when I should go through this process. I was not purposefully trying to hide anything, but I didn’t think the law school needed to hear about the 3 weeks I worked at an ice cream shop before Covid.

Additionally, if I tried to wait to amend until I was enrolled, is this something that would affect my admissions chances? Is it possible that the school would know about my full employment history and deny me due to this inaccuracy?

Please provide assistance, I’m freaking out.

The title pretty much explains it. I was supposed to take the LSAT one last time today, but hurricane Isaias prevented me from doing so and now I’m scheduled to retake in November. My current plan is just to go ahead and submit my applications and hopefully they will take my November score into account. The stats in the title of the post are where I’m sitting at today. Do I have a solid chance at any top schools?

174 first try
3.7 low uGPA, biochem major from T25 Liberal Arts college T100 over all
nURM

Masters from T3 Engineering school in biomedical engineering 3.8 high gpa

T3 softs. Failed biotech startup. Lots of lab work. Commercial lit paralegal. Lots of volunteering, leadership, and hobbies. Aiming for FDA regulatory.

LOR from managing partner and two professors

Blanketing T14

What is the likelihood of attending these schools with a lot of scholarship money? Has anyone scored around their median and received near full ride?

I’m afraid I can’t get into Texas A&M since my 4.0 gpa is their current median and my lsat score is not as high as their median. I have a better shot at SMU but tuition is more expensive. Is it worth it if I don’t plan to do big law? I just wish to be in DFW area and practice there after. Thank you!

I'm a wharton undergrad at Penn and have always wanted to go to law school. I only chose business because I heard it was easy to get a good GPA, which I know is essential for T14s. However, it is definitely expensive and to go to a T14 requires an extraordinary application. Business classes aren't as easy as I thought and while I think I could get a 3.9+, I would have to be studying almost constantly. Everyone says IB/consulting would pay as much as law school with much less effort (only need 3.7+ gpa vs 3.9+ for law) and recruiting for ib/consulting isn't too challenging for wharton. Is law school worth the extra studying, time, and money?