Is Drexel hard to get into?

[amk320]

As a PA resident from outside the Philadelphia area, I'm trying to find schools in the area that I have a good shot of being accepted to with my crappy LSAT scores and poor GPA.  I just got my score today, and it's only a 153, exactly what I deserve for the four days of study time I put into preparation for the test.  Please don't flame me about it, I assure you I've heard enough about it already.  My GPA isn't very high either, sitting at a 3.27 as of this writing, and probably 3.35 by the time I graduate in May.  I am almost 100% positive I could score 160+ pretty easily on the LSAT had I put proper time into studying for it, but because of my age (25) and my family circumstances (orphan, only child), and massive ($75,000) undergraduate debt, I don't think I can afford to support myself if I took time off to "try again next year."

That being said, Drexel is my first choice as the only school in Philadelphia I may have a shot at getting into since my stats aren't high enough for Penn, Temple, or Villanova.  I can't find reliable information on Drexel's standards for admission, and what I do find seems to be all over the place.  I do provide diversity because of my background (deceased parents, foster care) and I have a *glowing* letter of recommendation from a professor that's convinced I'm the best writer he's had in a class in thirty years of teaching.  Also, Drexel's deadline's a good deal later than most schools so I don't know that I'd be in a bad position applying this late.

I'd also like opinions on whether or not anyone thinks I should even waste the time on applying to Temple, or if I should resign myself to Widener if I want to go to school in the Philadelphia area.  Though I do plan on rooming with my best friend from high school who is still completing his undergraduate degree at Temple, and Widener is still nearly forty minutes away from the city, so it would be one hell of a commute. 

So that's my question.  Think I have a shot at Drexel?

[nealric]

RETAKE THE LSAT

You can't afford NOT to retake it- even with the year off. Talk with your lenders, something should beable to be worked out.

The only schools that will enable you to reasonably pay off that kind of debt are the kind that require a 160+ LSAT. You are only digging your hole much deeper by attending third tier law school. You would graduate with 200k+ debt and little more earning potential than with just the undergrad degree. Thaats getting to the point of might as well flee the country.

As to the difficulty of getting into schools, check out www.lawschoolnumbers.com

Also, a good personal statement about your background would go a long way towards making up the UG GPA.

[SabrinaK]

I think you have a chance.  Their LSAT range is 154-161 and their GPA is 3.11 - 3.65.  I could be completely wrong, but I think I heard somewhere that the wider the range, the less strict they are about adhering to it.  If you can write an amazing personal statement and talk about your unique background you should have a good shot.  Good luck!

http://www.drexel.edu/law/fastfacts.asp

Drexel's only 29k a year...that means 90k in debt (not 200)  If it's what you want, go for it.  Besides, if you do really well you could try to transfer later to a better school.

[nealric]

Drexel's only 29k a year...that means 90k in debt (not 200) 

29k a year is TUITION. Unless (s)he plans on living in a carbord box and panhandling, its still going to cost at least 40k a year after room and board. Plus, you failed to notice the 75k in undergrad loans the OP has. 200k is a conservative estimate.

[amk320]

RETAKE THE LSAT

You can't afford NOT to retake it- even with the year off. Talk with your lenders, something should beable to be worked out.

The only schools that will enable you to reasonably pay off that kind of debt are the kind that require a 160+ LSAT. You are only digging your hole much deeper by attending third tier law school. You would graduate with 200k+ debt and little more earning potential than with just the undergrad degree. Thaats getting to the point of might as well flee the country.

As to the difficulty of getting into schools, check out www.lawschoolnumbers.com

Also, a good personal statement about your background would go a long way towards making up the UG GPA.

I haven't found www.lawschoolnumbers.com to be very helpful. For most schools the average GPA/LSAT for "accepted" applications seems a good bit higher than what their medians actually are.  Further, it doesn't really tell you *why* people were accepted or rejected.  Taking Drexel for example, you see people with 158 LSATs, and 3.6 GPAs rejected, and people with 152s and 3.5 GPAs accepted.  That's not informative to me.  I've also heard enough about taking time off.  I'm not going to work for $30,000 a year or have to bust my ass working overtime just to pay off my loans so I can better study for the next LSAT.  There's no guarantee I will score higher, and if I have to work that much just to stay above the poverty line, I'll probably be too bummed out and unmotivated to even bother studying.  I'll take my chances at a crappy school and see what I can do to transfer somewhere that might more reliably provide me with a good income at graduation.  I don't think it's too unreasonable to think I might be able to transfer into a school like Temple if I did well enough.

Plus, the question of whether or not Drexel would accept someone like me hasn't been addressed.  Like I said, the info on lawschoolnumbers is kinda misleading.

[amk320]

I think you have a chance.  Their LSAT range is 154-161 and their GPA is 3.11 - 3.65.  I could be completely wrong, but I think I heard somewhere that the wider the range, the less strict they are about adhering to it.  If you can write an amazing personal statement and talk about your unique background you should have a good shot.  Good luck!

http://www.drexel.edu/law/fastfacts.asp

Drexel's only 29k a year...that means 90k in debt (not 200)  If it's what you want, go for it.  Besides, if you do really well you could try to transfer later to a better school.

I heard somewhere that because they're not accredited, you can't count the credits if you were to transfer to an accredited school.  Is that accurate?  Also, I'm not sure how that would work now that they have provisional accredation. I've also heard that it's harder to get into Drexel because they're keeping the class size small at around 120 or so?  And they're throwing money at people to go there, apparently.  Not that someone with my stats is the sort of applicant to have money thrown at, but I think it's too early in the game to make the claim I'll have 200k in debt.  It's possible I could transfer to Temple and pay 16k a year tuition, or get some sort of scholarship at Drexel were I to do well enough initially.

[SabrinaK]

I do believe the class size is around 120.  And they're not ABA accredited yet, but they're in the process of becoming so.  I'd say give it a shot.  Besides the app fee what do you have to lose?

[amk320]

Drexel's only 29k a year...that means 90k in debt (not 200) 

29k a year is TUITION. Unless (s)he plans on living in a carbord box and panhandling, its still going to cost at least 40k a year after room and board. Plus, you failed to notice the 75k in undergrad loans the OP has. 200k is a conservative estimate.

He.

And I have not ruled panhandling out as a means of income.  Regardless of where I go though, I'll have a crushing amount of debt to repay. I'm banking on the following:  I've always kinda been interested in working for the government in some capacity, and Uncle Sucker has a lot of financial forgiveness to give people that serve the public inerest.  They also did just pass some laws capping federal interest rates on student loans and lowering the Stafford rates to 3.something from 6.something, with some other privisions in there to set a cap on a certain percentage of discretionary monthly income that can be used to repay federal loans.

So I think if I were to be able to pull about 50k to start somewhere, with a cap of about 15% of my discretionary monthly income going to repay ALL my federal loans, with forgiveness after 10 years entirely, I'd probably be okay.  Either way it beats the 30k I qualify to make with no work experience and a liberal arts degree.  And I'd be doing something I've always wanted to do, rather than something I *have* to do until I can get a better LSAT score.


P.S. - I've also heard I can make the case that I don't standardized test well.  Snagged a 1060 on my SAT.

[amk320]

I do believe the class size is around 120.  And they're not ABA accredited yet, but they're in the process of becoming so.  I'd say give it a shot.  Besides the app fee what do you have to lose?

My pride! 

Like I said, Drexel's my first choice.  I want to live *in* Philadelphia, and I don't have the stats to get into Penn or Temple.  Also, I think that once Drexel gets the ball rolling, it'll be a pretty respectable school in the area.  At least as respectable as Temple and Villanova.


Drexel waives the fee for online applications.  And I received an official LSAT fee waiver because of my background situation anyway.  The cost of applications for me is an impressive $0.  They have the provisional accredation, which I think means graduates can take the bar exam in PA only or something?

[SouVitor]

Ok, so you might have a chance at Drexel with your numbers and potential personal statement.  HOWEVER, lets be practical.  It is almost March, deadlines are right around the corner or already passed, admissions offices are tired of reading personal statements and lots of scholarship money will be gone by the time your file is complete.  Oh, and the letters of recommendation, which you need to get the recommender to prepare, mail to LSAC so they copy and send to your school.  So, as it is, you are better off sitting out and sending your applications during the first month of the next cycle.  While you prepare for the next cycle, you might as well study hard and make the LSAT your female dog by the time you retake in the summer or fall.  A couple of extra points in the LSAT together with a well prepared application could land you money in Temple, which is regarded better than Drexel for what I gather.  Just so you know, I got a 156 in the LSAT, a lower GPA than yours, but took time to prepare my application and statements and by January I got full tuition at Temple.  About the debt as an undergrad, loans don't come knocking for about 6 months, so you can put some money together, make a payment arrangement for the other 6 months, then go back in forbearance, deferment or whatever it is called.  In sum, retake the LSAT, take time to prepare your applications and apply this fall.