Ok, so I will make this s short as possible
(My numbers do not correspond to yours)
1 - Practice and diagnostic tests are not the same as real scores. Before I took the real LSAT, I was scoring, consistently, in the 173-177 range on practice tests. On test day? 167. Yep. Life sucks sometimes. I am not saying that you will not get an amazing score, but rather am advising that you should really wait until you know your actual score before worrying about where to apply.
2 - Boalt is known for being a GPA whore. They love them some high GPA goodness. Just check out LSN and you will see that, time and again, high GPA beats high LSAT with them. In fact, I think a stellar GPA can mitigate more than a stellar LSAT because a GPA is indicative of 4 years of work, whereas an LSAT score could be a fluke (this also goes to my "don't count your score before it's hatched" argument above).
3 - Taking more classes to boost your GPA could work. LSAC calculates GPA based on EVERY college level class you ever have taken. This includes summer courses, extra courses, courses at local colleges that you took just for fun, and courses you may have taken in high school. Just going by that fact, it stands to reason that the more A's you have in there, the better. The only problem is that they stop calculating once you have completed an undergraduate degree.
4 - While you seem to have decent soft factors, they are just that: SOFT factors. Law school admission is, primarily, a numbers game. Especially with this economy, admission season is tough, and schools will pick people with high numbers who are interesting, then people with high numbers, then people with lower numbers who are interesting. That being said, my numbers (3.85/167) are a tad low for my school, but I got in (possibly because of my soft factors - PM me if you want to know what they are).
5 - Letters of Rec. are best when they come from someone who has worked closely with you and can speak, openly and knowledgeably, about your overall work quality, personality, and whether or not you were a good student. It does not matter if they are department heads, deans, or just the guy who ran a lab for the school. If they saw you often, interacted with you in a substantive way, and like you, then that should be great. Now, it is better if you have someone like that who also happens to be a dean
Okok, I think that is all I have in me right now. Off to consider outlining contracts (get the joke?? consideration??) even though I will, more than likely, sit on LSD and read more posts. Damn, I can be lazy sometimes.
Good luck!
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