Law School help

Well, you'll need a pretty strong LSAT score to even get considered at U of H or South Texas. Considering the December LSAT is a couple of weeks away, you can't really do much in terms of a prep class.

I'm taking a prep class at House of Tutors that is really good, and so far I've taken my score from a 157 to a 165. But the class started over two weeks ago.

My advice, buy a book of old LSAT tests, and practice as much as you can.

 

My advice:

(1) hope for a great LSAT
(2) apply to schools like South Texas and St. Mary's

Honestly, a 2.4 is bad. I was worried my 3.5 would keep me out of UT, even with a great LSAT (it didn't). There's no application essay you can use to overcome those factors, although if you're a member of a minority group I'd include information about that in the essay (they can't officially consider it, but can take "personal experience" factors into consideration).

 

I couldn't agree more. I started off really bad (working 50 hrs a week until 5 am and then trying to go to school will tend to bring your GPA down.) When I was able to go full time I was on the Dean's list my last 4 semesters and my GPA in major at UTSA was a 3.9. My overall moved to just above a 3.0 and I scored a 157 on my LSAT. I was rejected from UH. From the amount of time it took me to get my acceptance letter from STCL I may have been in the second pool. Others in my class also got scholarships, and I did not.

Best I can say is good luck and get the Logic Games Bible from PowerScore.

 

I don't want to be pessimistic..but you may find that getting a job first and establishing yourself well there plays better for you for entry into law school.

 

I think your best bet is going to Baylor Law. They admit people on scholastic probation with similar profiles.

 

Yeah definitely pick this up. I've gone through the process with the same type of credentials, low GPA because of freshman f-ups, strong letters of recommendation are good, a great personal essay will help, but ultimately it comes down to the LSAT. In other words a strong LSAT poor GPA is better then a poor LSAT strong GPA. Here's a couple of links I've found valuable.

Boston College Law School Locator

http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com/

Good luck and make sure and apply to a few safety schools.

 

wow, do they really?? i've never heard of that. never heard of scholastic probation for graduate studies.

i didn't go to baylor law school, but they churn out litigators. very good at preparing you for the actual courtroom practice.

 

Just to add, law school is much, much tougher than undergrad (or at least was for me). If you're having trouble with college courses, law school is going to be a rude awakening. If you do go this route, I'd seriously reconsider what I did that resulted in a 2.4.

 

Werd. Even at the so-called no-name schools (There was a news paper article during the Pennzoil Texaco trial that was titled "Who ever heard of South Texas College of Law?") the people there are smart and mostly have the chops to do well.
Get ready to 'read until yo' eyes bleed.'
The one thing that was the most surprising, even though people had said this and I had read it, was that the profs do not teach you the law. For the most part you teach yourself the black letter law and they refine what you have learned. The Socratic Method can be both a blessign and a curse depending on who you get. We had a couple people drop off after the first few weeks. One person got hammered by a prof that lives and breathes the Socratic method and just never came back.
That being said I love it and am very happy with the experience so far.

 

DIG REBUFFED

pay closer attention next tiime Jorge.

 

Im a 1L in DC, here's my advice.

to be frank, you're gpa isnt good enough to get into a decent law school, therefore your lsat must be stellar.

doesn't really matter what practice course you take, as long as the techniques work for you, find that out first, then master them, then take the tests until you at least average a 166-170 (depending where you want to go). If you don't average those numbers before the lsat, don't take it. If you're really serious, i'd consider working somewhere law related, like being a paralegal. Master the lsat, thats my best advice.

 

One thing to keep in mind is that most law schools teach by the socratic method. Having a diverse class that brings in different views is important for this kind of teaching. Thus, schools will take your particular major, as well as other distinguishing factors, into account. Because my undegraduate major of computer science was not common for law school, I emphasized my "diverse" and "different" educational background in my essay. In particular, I talked about what I bring to the table that is different from your run-of-the-mill applicants.

 

I think you should listen to MadMax and enter the workforce first. Or you could try to get into a grad program for ECON, I don't know what the requirements for that would be. If you do as well there the whole time as you did towards the end of undergrad, you could have a better shot.

 

I went through the whole mess in 02 and am a 3L now. Im not sure how the applicat pool is but it was extremely competative when i applied because of the poor economy. I imagine that it hasnt changed much since then.

Another bad thing is the LSAC screws with your GPA some to make it match up with standards. If UT has classes that grade with pluses such as B+ then your GPA will go down slightly for each one since LSAC weights it at 3.33 instead of 3.5. They also include origional grades of classes you have retaken to include both grades.

Your GPA is going to hurt you but as others have said you may be able to offset it with a high LSAT score. If you can pull a 165+ i figure you would good for South Texas and have an outside shot at SMU (they are rumored to be LSAT heavy). Tech would be worth looking at also.

Also Baylor summer admissions is not as easy to get into that in the past. When i applied there was something like 250 applicants for 15 spots.

As for studying for the LSAT i would suggest taking a course from from testmasters (i think that the name) or Princeton Review. Since the class is expensive you may want to run through a few practice tests to see how you do.

If going to lawshcool is what you really want to do i woulnt take too much time off to work. It seems that work experience doesnt mean a whole lot and wont help offset your GPA mcuh. However make sure that you have at least a month or 2 to prep for the LSAT and you apply early in the application process to have the best chances.

You may want to check this site out. There is tons of great info if you hunt around through the individual schools.

http://officialguide.lsac.org/search/cgi-bin/search.asp

The Princton review website aslo has some info.

 

Someone was talking about GPA will be lowered if you have classes that have plusses...

will it be raised if you have classes that are minuses..

for instance , I find it very often to be the case that a prof would much rather give me say an A minus.. 3.7 gpa. than an A for a 4.0...

Do grad schools etc take this into account? My gpa would be quite a bit higher if everything was above 90 4.0 , above 80, 3.0 etc instead of the plus and minus stuff

 

It's all about the LSAT. Everything else is BS. A high LSAT will overcome any defiency on your application. Do well and everything will take care of itself. Career Services told me the hardest part about law school is getting in. The school chooses you, you don't choose the school.

My motto is: "Hey if it's ABA approved and you can sit for the bar, who really gives a f where you went to school?" Don't get me wrong you do want to go to the best law school possible (you will have more opportunities once you graduate), but don't stress yourself if you get into X instead of Y or Z. School X wouldn't be a law school if their grads didn't find jobs.

 

I suggest you get a paralegal job and study for the LSAT for a year.