Boston College 1.5L taking questions...

[dischord]

BC is my top choice. I'm afraid my GPA will hurt my chances. In other words, drank too much early in my college career and didn't care about grades. My overall GPA will be under the lower 25% of accepted GPAs however if the GPA from my most recent semester is closer to the 75% GPA average and I earn a low 160s LSAT, what do you think my chances would be?

If I wasn't admitted right away to BC but was admitted at another Boston area law school, would you suggesting working a year to build my resume or attending a lower tier school and transferring? How popular is transferring in law school in general?

Thank you

I'm going to respectfully disagree with some of Penn's analysis of and advice about your admissions chances.  Of course, anything is possible and you shouldn't get discouraged and all that feelgood stuff, and the things that he listed can sometimes mitigate a lower GPA to a certain extent.  However, if you're really committed to going to BC and your numbers just aren't where they need to be, it might be best if you took time off to improve your application.  I mean, you shouldn't apply on a wish and a prayer when there are things you could actually do to improve your chances if you apply next cycle.   BC tends to be pretty GPA- and soft factors-focused, so if you're lacking in the former you'd best be making up for it with the latter (or with a better LSAT, although last year they also seemed to be a bit biased against splitters).  Also, if you applied next year, you might consider applying early decision if only to show your commitment to the school (it doesn't sound like you've got your applications ready to go for ED this time around?).

On the other hand, if you're thinking of taking a year off, you might want to think about, well, frankly, whether your numbers are just flat out too low (you weren't too specific about them, so I can't really tell), since barring an LSAT retake and score increase, whatever you do during a year off will really only give you a minimal admissions boost.  Have you actually taken the LSAT yet?  Where in the low-160s did you or do you expect to score?  Do you think that raise your score to above BC's median or 75%?  How far below the 25% is your GPA?  A 3.45 probably won't put you out of the running, but a 2.0 probably will regardless of your LSAT or soft factors.  Also, the consensus is that the LSAC calculator isn't very accurate.  You might want to look at lawschoonumbers.com and see how last year's applicants fared. 

Penn is totally right about transferring, though.  It's difficult in general, and the fact that BC isn't exactly transfer-friendly doesn't help.

So yeah, I'm another 1L.  I'm pretty clueless, though, so I doubt anything I'd have to say about BC would be that helpful.

[Penn263]

I agree. If you get your LSAT score back and it doesn't seem to avail you of any greater potential for acceptance at the school(s) you want to get into, you should consider taking some time off...if not to build up a stronger application, you can at least use the time to re-evaluate your career plans and life objectives.

[convicted]

Can you talk about the public interest community at Boston College? Any information will be appreciated, but a few specific questions...

- What sort of LRAP program does BC offer?

- Do many students express an interest in public interest? Do many students go on to work in public interest?

- What programs, courses, professors, etc., at the school would be appealing for a public interest minded student?

Thanks!

[Penn263]

- What sort of LRAP program does BC offer?

Upon graduating and working in a public interest job paying 55k or less, BC will contribute anywhere from 1-7k for loan repayment, per year. After the first year, your salary can increase to 60k and you can still qualify.

- Do many students express an interest in public interest? Do many students go on to work in public interest?

Well a pretty sizable amount of students express at least some interest in public interest while at law school, but only about 6% actually go into working in the field upon graduation. But keep in mind there's a difference between public interest legal work, and public legal work (i.e. working for the government, which accounts for another 8-10% of grads).

- What programs, courses, professors, etc., at the school would be appealing for a public interest minded student?

The most vital program in public interest here at BC is PILF (Public Interest Legal Foundation), which you can use as a springboard to launch you into any and every type of public interest work you're interested in.

[dischord]

Here's the PILF website, there's more info on here than I think either of us could possibly type for you:

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/st_org/pilf/

Something Penn didn't mention that I thought of is that PILF runs a big program to everyone in the school (not just PILF people) to commit to a certain number of pro bono hours during the school year -- you sign a "Pro Bono Pledge".  They've already had a job fair that hosted a bunch of organizations who take 1L volunteers, so there are opportunities to get involved even your first year. 

I feel like it's a bit early at this point to know much about profs or classes for a future public interest lawyer (I mean, we haven't even gotten a list of electives that we can take for our one elective next semester, as far as I know).  I do know that there are a number of clinics.  I think the largest/most notable is the Immigration Clinic, but I think there's also Crim, Civil Litigation, and one focused on women's issues and family law. 

I'm kind of surprised that the number of people who go into public interest is that low (although I guess it's not low compared to other schools?).  I've been to a lot of the PILF events because I'm sort of toying with the idea of not going corporate, and they've all been standing room only.  From the few upperclassmen I've talked to, I've gotten the impression that the expectation is that you'll do a public interest internship the summer after 1L, even if you fully intend on going into the private sector.  So in my experience so far it seems like there's a lot of support for and interest in public interest type careers, even if the vast majority of people don't ultimately decide to do that after graduation. 

[Penn263]

Also, PILF has a summer employment fund of 4k. But, I hear it's pretty competitive to get since so many 1Ls apply for it knowing how unlikely it is to get a paying summer position at a private firm.

[Penn263]

Actually, I have a question, PJH. Why are we on here instead of writing our OM2? 

[dischord]

Psh, what are you talking about?  My first draft isn't due until . . . okay, I don't want to reveal my section.  But I have plenty of time.

[Penn263]

I assumed each section had the same general due date, maybe I'm wrong. I was just told by 2Ls and 3Ls that writing the memo takes forever because every single word and detail matters a lot (grade-wise)...

[dischord]

Yeah, I think they're supposed to be around the same time . . . I'm still not going to go into specifics b/c I really, really don't want to out myself.  In any case, my first one took didn't take too long, and comparatively my feedback was alright so I don't think I need to put in TOO much more time on the second.  But I'm a pretty fast writer.  Other people I know spent much longer writing their first.