another 30 year old applying to law school...should i bother?

[dsong02]

first post...=)  excited like a little school boy about law school, but i want someone to smack me with some reality so i can decide whether to spend the money to apply to/pay for law school...

ive been working for the past 7 years in IT and have been very much interested in emerging tech IP law.  my UGPA is absolutely horrible (2.6 from U of Penn, English) but i did pretty well on the LSAT (178). 

realistically...what are my chances of getting into a top 15 law school?  i work in new york, and i would love to stick around here if possible...looking to NYU, Columbia as my incredibly-far-reach schools. 

do recommendations account for much?  should i try to make friends with bloomberg and ask him for a rec?

should i give up the pipe dream of getting into law school? 

has anyone ever heard of an applicant getting into either of these law schools with a 2.6 UGPA?? 

SOMEONE, PLEASE SLAP ME WITH SOME REALITY!!!

very much appreciated!

dan

[forthguy]

first post...=)  excited like a little school boy about law school, but i want someone to smack me with some reality so i can decide whether to spend the money to apply to/pay for law school...

ive been working for the past 7 years in IT and have been very much interested in emerging tech IP law.  my UGPA is absolutely horrible (2.6 from U of Penn, English) but i did pretty well on the LSAT (178). 

realistically...what are my chances of getting into a top 15 law school?  i work in new york, and i would love to stick around here if possible...looking to NYU, Columbia as my incredibly-far-reach schools.

It's hard for anyone to know, but with an LSAT like that and time, I'd guess it's possible.
 

do recommendations account for much?  should i try to make friends with bloomberg and ask him for a rec?

Conventional wisdom says "No!" to both questions.  I doubt many people here have enough grounding to definitely say otherwise.  Good recommendations sure can't hurt, though.

should i give up the pipe dream of getting into law school? 

Give up the dream because maybe you won't get into one of the top schools in the nation?  I guess I'd question how much you want it, frankly.

SOMEONE, PLEASE SLAP ME WITH SOME REALITY!!!

The reality is, your UG grades are low.  It might be that the competition won't be as fierce next year, but even if it's not, it's probably not going to drop like a rock.  If you really want to go to law school and practice law, you've got lots of options in New York, and I'm sure you'd be accepted to some of the better ones, assuming an otherwise stellar application.

The problem, as is written so often, is that the top schools have their pick of applicants with high LSAT scores and high grades, often with impressive work experience.  But they also seem incredibly fickle, so who knows?

Is a few hundred bucks and the time to write and perfect the essays a hardship?  If so, maybe it's worth carefully considering it.  If it's not, then why not go for it?  Sometimes surprises come out of the other end of adcomms, and you can't win if you don't play.

Greg

[lawdawg19]

I think you will be put on the waiting list at both schools. You will get in to one and rejected by the other. That's just a guess. You may want to check out Lawschoolnumbers.com, that's where I base this information. 

[ocelatl]

I think you have a decent shot at a top 15 (especially if you apply early in the cycle).  You should focus on getting your personal statement, resume, and letters of recs together right now so when Oct. comes around you can just mail off the applications.
Some advice. . . .  Conduct a little bit of research on the programs that you will be applying to.  In my personal experience, graduate and law programs appreciate when the applicant is informed about the faculty and knows, if just a little, about their law interests.  Don't overwhelm the statement with name dropping, just a brief statement that you are interested in Prof. So and So's work concerning blah, blah, blah because that is a field that interests you.  Just my two pesos. . . .

[martinibar]

Considering that you've been out of school for 7 years law schools may be a bit forgiving on your grades. For instance, My uncle was admitted to a top 10 law school with a 2.9 GPA from Princeton, a 179 LSAT, and 10 years of work experiecne. However, he was admitted during the doldrum of admissions that was the mid 90s. Since then the competition has gotten fierce and its unlikely to get better as long as the economy is in the crapper.

If you are able to demostrate that your 7 years of work will help you with law I think you definatly have a shot. Even if you don't get into a top 15, there are some really fantastic schools in New York.

[jgruber]

If you want to be a lawyer bad enough, you'll find a school that will take you.   

[holidayinspain]

have you worked out your index #'s for the schools you want into? there was a post on here earlier somewhere about where to find those... i say look around for that, figure out your index #'s for nyu, columbia, etc... and go from there.

[dsong02]

have you worked out your index #'s for the schools you want into? there was a post on here earlier somewhere about where to find those... i say look around for that, figure out your index #'s for nyu, columbia, etc... and go from there.

yeah...about those index numbers...not sure how they work.  can someone repost where i can find that?  or lead me to the site? 

i appreciate everyone's comments on this topic.  sounds encouraging...but im not getting my hopes up.  i have checked out lawschoolnumbers and there some stats that are similar to mine that have been accepted to top 10 schools, which seems like a relief. 

and to ocelafl's comments, very informative.  ive been thinking the same thing and have been working on my personal statement since march.  i usually read it once week to see what i like and dont like over time.  ive been doing a lot of research into the programs that interest me as well, so i think i have that covered. 

the only thing im concerned about are recommendations...

but the one thing that i am sure about is the fact that i want to go to law school.  ive had 7+ years to think about it and that gave me the chance to make sure that this is what i want.  i think im pretty sure about that...

[NerdyLaw]

I was so confused on this topic until this morning. Most schools have a number that they use to compare everyone. They compute this number with the equation:
   (LSAT score x LSAT constant) + (GPA x GPA constant) + Constant = Index

For simplicity:

   (L x A) + (G x B) + C = I

Now, L and G are your own numbers. A, B, and C can be found on the LSDAS site. Just click on "Account Status/Transcripts" and click the link "Admission Index". So if school X has A = 1 and B = 2 and C = 3, then their maximum index is:
   (180 x 1) + (4 x 2) + 3 = 191. You can plug your L and G in to see how you stack up.

It's actually simpler than it looks.

[NerdyLaw]

One more note... This is the school's way of weighing LSAT and GPA. You can figure this our by:
 - Neglecting the constant (it doesn't matter)
 - Compute LSAT % = (180 x A) / (I - C)
 - Compute GPA % = (4 x B) / (I - C)

A real world example:


The University of Akron (selected because it is first on the list) uses:
   A = 0.043
   B = 0.363
   C = -4.942

So their max index is: (180 x 0.044) + (4 x 0.363) - 4.942 = 4.43

LSAT % = (180 x 0.044) / (4.43 + 4.942) = 84.5%
GPA % = (4 x 0.363) / (4.43 + 4.942) = 15.5%

LSN is updating their site to allow you to sort on an applicant's index. This will be a huge help in computing your likelyhood of acceptance.