Hispanic Applicants

[Denny Crane]

I'm a hispanic hoping to apply to the top law schools (my list includes Columbia, Harvard, Chicago, Georgetown, and maybe Yale and Stanford, among some other schools).  I have a 3.75 GPA from Swarthmore, and will be studying abroad all next year at Oxford (which while common for some applicants, is hardly typical of hispanic applicants).  What score should I aim for on the LSAT?  Rather, what score range would help my chances of gaining admission to these schools?  I'm currently enrolled in a Testmasters course in NYC, so I'm working on doing as well on the LSAT as possible, yet I would like to know what LSAT score I should hope for.  Also, how are hispanics considered by adcoms?  While some people might cynically group all URM's together, it is obvious that hispanic applicants are not given as much leway with GPA/LSAT scores as are black applicants, though they are given more leway than white applicants. 

[_____]

Yep, you pretty much understand how things work...

So I don't even know why you're asking what LSAT you need.  The answer is, "As high as you can get."  And then just apply anyway.

I hit the entire Top 20 with a 3.77 as a hispanic from Berkeley with a 161 and did ok.

161 was the best I can do.  If you can do better, do it--and good luck! 

(Basic rule of thumb: you MUST MUST MUST BREAK 160.  159 or less, and your chances just went way down...)

PS Applying to that many schools isn't really that expensive--the schools will send you waivers based on your GPA, LSAT, and UG insitiution.  So I applied to 25, but only paid for 12, meaning I doubled my exposure for only an extra $156 ($12 for each LSAC report x 13 schools = $156)

You can see my results below...

[risingMC]

I would also check out the latino/a board. There's some good stories there.

Given your ugrad, your GPA and the fact that you're coming straight from college (and not knowing anything about your extra-currics or nationality), I'd say you have to break 165 as a minimum. Schools are finicky about us Hispanics, for some reason. Nationality (Puerto Rican, Cuban, etc) seems to matter at some schools, while other schools will pay attention to socio-econ factors, and yet other schools won't give *any* boost to Hispanics. It depends.

H/w, check out lawschoolnumbers.com.

Hope this helps! 

[Denny Crane]

I would also check out the latino/a board. There's some good stories there.

Given your ugrad, your GPA and the fact that you're coming straight from college (and not knowing anything about your extra-currics or nationality), I'd say you have to break 165 as a minimum. Schools are finicky about us Hispanics, for some reason. Nationality (Puerto Rican, Cuban, etc) seems to matter at some schools, while other schools will pay attention to socio-econ factors, and yet other schools won't give *any* boost to Hispanics. It depends.

H/w, check out lawschoolnumbers.com.

Hope this helps!

I also decided I needed to break a 165, which I think is possible, especially since I'm taking a TM course which has been incredibly helpful.  It sucks that hispanics get variable boosts (I'm not complaining that we don't get enough boosts, but I'd like as many advantages as possible).  I've checked the LSN site, but there aren't enough hispanics with numbers comparable to mine for me to get a good idea.  You are one of the very few, but even you have ridiculously good work experience that I'm lacking.  Whatever, it's all a crapshoot anyway.  Thanks for the advice.

[ImVinny!]

I'd say do as best as you can and apply to all those schools you want to go to, if they don't accept you for your merit and you yourself, then they don't deserve you. Good job on everything so far!!