3.34 GPA/150 LSAT Chances?

[PotentialInABottle]

Hello all! First post, but i've been a reading a lot of the posts similar to this.  However, I would like to get the input of everyone to see if I stand a chance during admissions...

First, I have a undergrad in criminal justice with a 3.34 cum, and am predicting that I will get 150 on my LSAT (I take it in a couple weeks and am pretty confident it will be around 150).  What are my chances?  I don't mind going to a tier 2, 3, or 4 but I don't want to go to a bottom 50 law school if I can help it.  I've been studying off and on for the LSAT for about a year and a half, and I figure 150 is going to be as good as the score gets (maybe a little higher). 

I don't have any experience except 1 internship during my senior year, and I haven't been doing much in an academic sense since graduation.  I know I will be most likely going to a regional school, and I'm fine with that.  Is the 150 LSAT score just too low?  I've looked at my chances on the LSAC gpa/LSAT calc, and it seems I should be able to get into some, but is that really worth it?  Should I retake the LSAT in October if I score a 150?  I'll be applying to quite a few law schools to improve my chances, but want to avoid applying to schools that are in the middle of nowhere (as I would probably working in the state I go to law school).  Other than that, my expectations aren't very high, but plan to go 100% when I do show up at law school.  (I feel that LSAT isn't a fair judgment of what I will bring to law school). 

So, I have a 3.34 GPA, 150 LSAT, minimal experience and am Asian-American.  I will have taken about a 2 year break after graduation (I'm 24 years old), and plan to take the LSAT in June and potentially October if I bomb it in June.  What are my law school chances?  What schools should I apply?  Thanks for anyone's input, and sorry if this sounds like panicked ranting right before the LSAT (because it kinda is  )

[Jennings7]

I noticed you haven't gotten any replies. It's been over a month since you took the LSAT. What did you get?

[PotentialInABottle]

I basically post poned the test to this October, I'm studying foreals now and am getting about 155 avg, I'll post when I take it!  I figure I can't get into a halfway competent school without at least a 155-160, so anything below 155 is failure.

[Maintain FL 350]

I basically post poned the test to this October, I'm studying foreals now and am getting about 155 avg, I'll post when I take it!  I figure I can't get into a halfway competent school without at least a 155-160, so anything below 155 is failure.

Define "competent". The fact is, legal education has been standardized to such degree that the education you receive at School X will be nearly identical to that which you will receive at School Y. You'll take the same classes, study the same cases, and take very similar exams at just about every law school in the nation. That's one of the main purposes of ABA accreditation, to create predictable, standardized legal education.

Also consider this: apart from a few truly elite national schools (Harvard, Yale, etc), pretty much all other law schools have local reputations. The subtle differences in rankings between say,the #103 and the #132 schools will likely not make much difference in your career options. Getting a 160 will not vault you into the elite category anyway, and getting below 155 will not prevent you from getting into many smaller local schools. My point is, don't consider yourself a failure if you score below a specific number. Whether you get a 154 or a 159, your going to a non-elite school regardless, where you will receive a "competent" education.

[legend]

I would agree with that every ABA school is "competent." No matter what school you go to your first year will be Torts, Civil Procedure, Property, Contracts, etc. Whether your at Harvard or Cooley you will read the Palsgraf case and Justice Cardozo does not travel back in time to write a different opinion for Tier 2 schools. No matter where you read the case the firecrackers get dropped.

From what I can read you are making the all to common mistake of many 0L's and making a life altering decision based on an unregulated, for profit magazine, offering an opinion. This magazine is known as U.S. News and they are nothing more than a magazine don't make a life-altering choice based on what they think.

If you want to base your life on U.S. News then by 2032 you better be living in South Dakota, North Dakota, or Nebraska, because those are the best places to get Dental Visits. I am not making this up Dental visits made up one of the 13 categories used by U.S. News for best places to live. http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/the-best-life/2012/08/07/here-are-the-best-places-to-livein-2032 . I imagine you are not going to strive to get to South Dakota or North Dakota, because U.S. News says so.

 The law school rankings are no different please do not take them to seriously especially if you have a 3.34 and 155-160 LSAT nobody is really going to know the difference between the 84th or 111th best school and it certainly won't be worth moving across country for.

When choosing your law school consider location, personal feeling about the school, cost, and if you have to U.S. News, but if it is not Harvard, Yale, Stanford, or some place that everybody KNOWS is exceptional then it is not worth making a life altering decision.

However, I could be wrong I have gone through law school, but that doesn't make me an expert on anything and remember when reading anything on this board my post included or other boards it all comes from anonymous internet posters who could all be shooting heroin while posting.

Hopefully the LSAT turns out well, but if you get a 154 you will get a solid legal education. Good luck.

[PotentialInABottle]

Thanks, I appreciate the words of wisdom and encouragement!  Failure is a strong word... I am exaggerating a little bit there, but yes, I try not to be married to the US News Rankings.  I know my school of choice will probably be a "regional" school and I am content with that, and in no way am I saying getting below a 155 is lawschool-death, but it sure does it make a bit more difficult.

Coming this November, I will be sending many applications to "regional" schools, wish me luck!

[PotentialInABottle]

And thanks legend, makes me feel good there are "commoners" like me 

[AlwaysSunny]

Honestly, I don't know if you should go to law school if you can't get into a tier 1 or 2. The job market is really rough, and unless you're independently wealthy you'll likely be going into 100+k of debt. Unless you have some serious experience/qualifications in a specialty, you'll likely be beat out for jobs by tier 1 or 2 graduates every time. Make sure you really think this through and research the job prospects for your school - http://www.lawschooltransparency.com

[cooley3L]

Honestly, I don't know if you should go to law school if you can't get into a tier 1 or 2. The job market is really rough, and unless you're independently wealthy you'll likely be going into 100+k of debt. Unless you have some serious experience/qualifications in a specialty, you'll likely be beat out for jobs by tier 1 or 2 graduates every time. Make you really think this through and research the job prospects for your school - http://www.lawschooltransparency.com

Always Sunny, how long have you been an attorney and where did you graduate from?
If not, what is your LSAT score and when did you complete you BA?
I'm guessing no to all the above.

I could give you a lecture on the job market overall being "hard" and unemployment being lower in the legal field than other fields, and on IBR,  etc,etc, but anyone who cares about all that already knows it.

[Maintain FL 350]

Honestly, I don't know if you should go to law school if you can't get into a tier 1 or 2.

The applicability of such a broad statement is dependent on the OP's goals. Depending on those goals, I don't think that any T1/T2 is necessarily a better choice than any T3/T4. For example, if the OP wanted to live and work in Los Angeles, they'd probably be better off going to Southwestern (T3) than the University of Georgia (T1). The opportunities for internships and clerkships in LA are going to much better for the SW student. OTOH, if that same applicant was trying to decide between SW and UCLA, that's a different story.

So, I think it's important to understand that very few T1 (and zero T2) schools are considered so elite that a graduate can rely on his/her pedigree alone to get a job. Plenty of T1 schools will not provide a graduate with any meaningful edge outside of their immediate geographic region. Again, depending on the OP's specific goals, a local T3/T4 may be a better choice than a non-elite T1. (Especially if a scholarship is involved). There are plenty of T3/T4 schools that have solid local reputations and can prepare the OP for a successful career.

Unless you have some serious experience/qualifications in a specialty, you'll likely be beat out for jobs by tier 1 or 2 graduates every time.

In my experience, the T1 grads and T3/T4 grads are rarely competing for the same jobs. The UCLA grads, for example, are trying to get into big firms and federal agencies, and the local T4 grads are going for small firms and local government jobs. The exceptions might be the local DA/PD offices, which seem to attract everyone.  I think it's a bit of a fiction that these groups are in direct competition with each other.