2.8 and a 172 - out of school for 3 years

[Navigator]

I know, it doesn't make any sense. I was a drunk in college (poli sci major that went to class when i felt like it), barely got a commision in the Navy and have been bouncing around the world for a few years driving ships. I sat still long enough to study for the LSAT and did well - now the question is, will anybody in the top 10-15 take me seriously?

p.s. don't ask about how to get a 172, i really don't have a clue.  

[RyanTX]

Good question - I saw a bunch have viewed with no responses, so I figured I'd respond.  I don't know.  Awesome LSAT - but this year is extemely tough.  I would just explain why there is the discrepancy in your essay, and hopefully they will understand.  Thousands would kill for your LSAT, so it is quite possible.  You might research which schools put more weight on GPA and which on LSAT.  Good Luck!

[Aonghus]

Id say you are an automatic in the top 20-25... but as far as the top 15 go... here is what I would reccomend... If you go to LSAT, and take a look at the ratios that each school applies to gpa v lsat, you will find some schools that seem to weight LSAT much more strongly than others.

WashU gives alot of weight to LSAT, so does Duke, as does George Mason...

I know someone who got into WU with a 3.2/167.... and I did the numbers, I would have applied to GMU with a 165 with a decent chance of success and to Duke with a 170, based on last years numbers.

WashU and GMU would likely be automatic admits.

also check out www.lawschoolnumbers.com, and see if anyone who fits your profile is getting into law school.

good luck man.  Im in the same boat, but didnt study for the lsat, so you have 10 points on me.

I should have gotten ready for logic games instead of trying to gut them.

[Revenant]

good luck man.  Im in the same boat, but didnt study for the lsat, so you have 10 points on me.

I should have gotten ready for logic games instead of trying to gut them.

Haha... I know how you feel... I figured they were hit and miss anyway so I didn't think it'd matter.. after doing so well on the other sections and getting half of the logic games wrong from guessing, I envy the potential 170+ had I taken the logic games seriously.

[blizzard of ozz]

You probably won't get into any of the top 14. There's a fair chance you won't get into the top 25 or so schools and there's a none too slim chance you'll get rejected from all the schools you apply to in the first tier.

Apply to LSAT whore schools, and apply to lots of them. Lots of places will ding anyone with a GPA below 3. So you need to cast a wide net.

LSAT whore Schools:

Northwestern, Fordham, WUSTL, Duke, and Penn.

Schools to avoid: Cal, UCLA and any other UC schools, UNC.

You may as well throw away your app fee rather than apply to any of the UC's.
Check where some other splitters got in on lawschoolnumbers.com for more insight.

[Revenant]

Heh, yeah... Berkeley is the biggest GPA-whore school if you ignore U of Puerto Rico.  However, I disagree when it comes to Northwestern and Duke, if the index values on LSAC's site are accurate at all.  If you compare the LSAT and GPA multipliers, you'll find that the biggest GPA whore schools (at least of all the big names) are Berkeley, UNC, BYU, Temple, Northwestern, UT, Duke, and Hastings.  On the opposite spectrum, we have George Mason, Iowa, Wake Forest, ASU, American and Cardozo.  Fordham is slightly biased towards LSATs, while no data is available for UCLA (though I do not doubt they are similar to Berkeley), WUSTL and Penn (or any of the big big names like Harvard, Columbia, Chicago, etc. for that matter).  UCDavis is actually slightly in favor of LSATs, but closer to neutral if anything.  Schools like Boston U and Houston are dead center.

You probably won't get into any of the top 14. There's a fair chance you won't get into the top 25 or so schools and there's a none too slim chance you'll get rejected from all the schools you apply to in the first tier.

Apply to LSAT whore schools, and apply to lots of them. Lots of places will ding anyone with a GPA below 3. So you need to cast a wide net.

LSAT whore Schools:

Northwestern, Fordham, WUSTL, Duke, and Penn.

Schools to avoid: Cal, UCLA and any other UC schools, UNC.

You may as well throw away your app fee rather than apply to any of the UC's.
Check where some other splitters got in on lawschoolnumbers.com for more insight.

[jas9999]

With that spread, you will NOT get into any of the top tier schools in larger markets. You'd probably be able to get into the larger public top tier schools, so long as you don't mind living (and potentially working) in the midwest.

As for second tier schools, you'd be auto-admit at many, with a fair amount of money. High LSAT = merit aid from second tier schools. That will probably be your best bet, especially if you want to be in a larger market.

I do find it interesting the way people analyze the indexing formulas. To me, all the UC schools are very GPA heavy, and while Fordham does favor LSAT, it's not auto-admit even if you're above their 75% mark. I got waitlisted with a couple points above last year's 75%.

[Revenant]

Yeah, I just wanted to clarify to anyone looking into index scores.  By no means does a certain GPA and LSAT guarantee you admission to a law school, especially since not all GPAs are created equally, and not everyone has the same range of diverse experiences.  However, it was interesting to note that in my case (typical engineering gpa that was waaaay lower than the avg gpa applying from my school + above average lsat), all the schools that quickly rejected me were those on one side of the index analysis and those who either accepted or have been pondering my file since January are either neutral or in favor of LSATs.  But that's just my experience. ^^

With that spread, you will NOT get into any of the top tier schools in larger markets. You'd probably be able to get into the larger public top tier schools, so long as you don't mind living (and potentially working) in the midwest.

As for second tier schools, you'd be auto-admit at many, with a fair amount of money. High LSAT = merit aid from second tier schools. That will probably be your best bet, especially if you want to be in a larger market.

I do find it interesting the way people analyze the indexing formulas. To me, all the UC schools are very GPA heavy, and while Fordham does favor LSAT, it's not auto-admit even if you're above their 75% mark. I got waitlisted with a couple points above last year's 75%.

[ebrumm]

I totally disagree that you will not get into any top schools in large markets - I think youll have a competitive app. Explain your GPA somehow in your PS, your LSAT is excellent, and a lot of schools will love the whole Navy bit. Good luck!

[TrueBeliever]

hey Navigator,

I thought seriously about the Navy BDCP (BA degree completion program) for Intel or Navigator, but chickened out.  What was it like being a Navigator?