Thinking Ahead: Considering Schools

[wyatth]

Hi everyone,
Long time lurker here but finally registered. Some great insight, so I thank you all for that.

I am currently in my final year of undergrad at UBC in Vancouver, Canada. I hope to take the next year off and live/work in China. Then I'll return to the US for Law School.

I am considering these 3 schools:
University of San Diego
Loyola Marymount University
University of Santa Clara
(As you can see, I would like to be in CA - too bad I don't have the grades for USC/UCLA/UC-Hastings, UC-B, etc. I might consider Pepperdine, but probably not.)

Anybody on here attend these? How do you like the campus - profs, fellow students, curriculum, overall environment?

My GPA in first 2 years was not so hot, it is better now but as you all know it is very hard to bring up an average. So my final question is this: How do you find out how each school weighs your GPA? Both in terms of GPA/year (all equal vs 3rd and 4th year weighed more), and compared to the LSAT (ie, 50% GPA/50% LSAT, or 60/40)?

Thanks a lot, looking to participate more on this board as I get closer to crunch time.
One last thing, might as well ask if there are any other members on here from UBC/Vancouver? Looking to take the TestMasters LSAT prep course this summer.

Cheers,
Wyatt

*I think this is in the wrong sub-forum.

[G o Matic]

I would attend some campus visiting days and also law school fairs (which can be found out about at the LSAC Web site) to discover more about how the law admissions officers think.  I did multiple times and it was very useful.  It partly can be boiled down to this:  Do well on your LSAT test.

If you can take 4-6 months to prepare for the LSAT and score well, you will have a much easier time in your personal essay explaining briefly why the admissions staff should pay more attention to year 3 and 4 grades.  I studied by myself and used 4 books, but if you study better in groups with deadlines, the $1,200 Kaplan class is a great investment.  If you score high enough on the LSAT, the schools you list above will offer you acceptances and scholarships.