Law School Discussion

I know this topic has been touched upon before, but I wanted some insight to my particular situation. I'm a current undergrad at a pretty large University. I haven't had much one on one exposure with professors due to large class size. Therefore, I asked a history TA of mine who I met for ofice hours and had recitation each week for my course to write a rec for me. He happily agreed. I was wondering whether having a TA write a rec would be a terrible idea considering I'm shooting for T-14. His rec will not be "OMG he was the best student I ever had." But he will be able to hopefully reference my work and what I did in his recitation. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

So, I've been looking around at the statistics and with my LSDAS GPA: 3.65 (Ivy) and LSAT: 172 (Oct. '08) it places me borderline at many of the T14. I DO want to apply this cycle, however, if the results aren't promising, would it be OK to reapply next year? I understand that people advise against reapplying that soon afterwards, especially if nothing changes in your app, which is why I'd think I'd retake the LSAT. During my first administration, the girl next to me whispered to herself as she went through the first two sections. I told her to stop, after the 1st section, to which she continued, and then finally left the test after the 2nd section. Did I feel bad? Sure...but it was pretty ridiculous. Anyways, my score report reflected her talking, as I got all of my 7 questions wrong in those 1st two sections (LR and RC). This doesn't seem like enough to write an addendum for, but I do think that I can score higher than a 172, which would seem to help my application. Any feedback would be great. I know it sounds absurd to consider retaking with a 172, but the stats do show that holding all else constant, a higher LSAT score would increase my chances quite a bit. ***My prelaw counselor advised me agianst retaking, or else I would have highly considered taking it again this past June...

I'm intending to apply to law school this fall '09. Having talked to my admissions counselor, I've been uneasy about my chances of getting into T-14, especially with the expected rise in applications. I was hoping for some feedback. I'm particularly looking at NYU, Columbia, UPenn, and Georgetown.

Undergrad: UPenn
LSDAS GPA: 3.65
LSAT: 172
Econ major, history minor

A couple of extracurriculars, no outstanding leadership. 2 LOR (one academic, one law professor), but nothing stellar. So as you can see I'm hoping that law school admissions is truly a numbers game, rather than relying on my other factors. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.