What are my chances?

[mygpasucks]

Hello everyone I am new to the site. I have a question about what my odds of acceptance are with my current stats, I hope I am posting in the right section. So I have a terrible gpa of a 2.55 thanks to two years of partying in college, however, I have a very noticeable upward gpa trend. My GPA's are as followed: 1.83, 2.03, 2.07, 3.0, 3.25, 3.56.  I am currently prepping for the LSAT with Testmasters and my most recent diagnostic was a 161. I am confident I can reach the mid 160's, but I am shooting for 170. My goals for law school would be attending either UF,FSU,UMiami, or FIU, in that order. I looked through different predictors which give me a very low chance at UF and FSU, but these do not take into consideration the changes I have made as a student. I think going from a 1.83 to a 3.56 is a pretty big deal. So, my question is do I have a shot at those schools and will my upward trend help them overlook the gpa to some extent? I know I cant get around a 2.5 but it's not like I was getting straight C's my entire college career, If I had not turned things around I would be below a 2.0. Anyways, sorry for the long story, hope to hear from you all soon!

[3LintheHeights]

Not sure about those schools in particular, but I also had an upward trend in my grades, and I got in places where my GPA shouldn't have been good enough. (I just checked the admissions statistics for the school I attend, and my UGPA was well below the 25th percentile for admitted students.) I think admissions offices will look at trends in your grades.

Also, make sure everything else in your application (LSAT but also recommendations, personal statement, resume) is as good as it can be. People will tell you that these things don't matter, but they are really important, especially for people who are trying to outperform their GPAs.

Good luck!

[MissMelissRoths03]

Not sure about those schools in particular, but I also had an upward trend in my grades, and I got in places where my GPA shouldn't have been good enough. (I just checked the admissions statistics for the school I attend, and my UGPA was well below the 25th percentile for admitted students.) I think admissions offices will look at trends in your grades.

Also, make sure everything else in your application (LSAT but also recommendations, personal statement, resume) is as good as it can be. People will tell you that these things don't matter, but they are really important, especially for people who are trying to outperform their GPAs.

Good luck!

So true. Recs, personal statement, and your resume actually do contribute to your chances of getting admitted, especially for someone like you with a lower GPA. It is definitely a plus that you improved over time. Just stay focused and have the rest of your application close to perfect! Good luck!

[Tiery Eyed]

To answer your original question, I'll take a chance at predicting your cycle.

If you get to the 170 you're shooting for....
FIU - In
Miami - In
FSU - In
UF - Waitlist

If you get the mid-160 (165) you think you can get...
FIU - In
Miami - Waitlist
FSU - Waitlist
UF - Reject

If you get the 161 you're currently at....
FIU - Waitlist
Miami - Waitlist
FSU - Reject
UF - Reject

[bmlinds]

I feel for ya OP, I'm in a similar situation. My overall GPA is in the ballpark of 3.15 or so, taking into account that i took community college courses, got a 3.4 and then got a whopping 1.45 my first semester at Clemson. I too bounced back my Senior year with GPAs above 3.5 to end up having a Clemson GPA of 3.03.  It's pretty frustrating knowing that I could've done a lot better if only I had the goal of law school in mind all 4 years. Good luck on the LSAT score (I ended up with a 154..).

My top choices are: 1) Oregon 2)Wyoming 3)Lewis & Clark 4)Tulane, and Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Kansas. The goal I have in mind is to go west somewhere, practice environmental law in any fashion I can and spend my life living the good life and slowly paying off student loan debt.

I feel I made a very good case for myself in my personal statements, which highlighted my vision of beginning a life in a new place while doing something which stimulates me (studying environmental law). I started a law firm job right before I applied so hopefully that will pay some dividends

I guess we'll both have to wait and see /shrug