A question about applying for law school with an undergraduate in science

[dschmid3]

Hey guys first time poster here. I have a question about applying to law school with a degree in science.
I am currently an entering junior and the University of Tennessee and I am pursuing a degree in molecular Biology. I was pretty interested in Medicine until I heard about Patent law and other combinations of science and law. I was wondering what my chances were of getting accepted into a law school with such a differing background.
Here are a few notable factors:
I currently have a gpa of 3.05 but I have alot of courses left and hope to bump it to around a 3.3-3.4.
I recently took a practice LSAT with Kaplan and scored a 175. Does this make me competitive?
I have a little over a year of research experience in my field, as well as volunteer/work experience as well.

I would really like to go to the University of Tennessee Law at Knoxville. It's my home and I like it here.

Any input would be great. Thanks!

[legend]

With above a 3.0 and 160+ I think your a shoe in if you get a 175 Tennessee will likely give you a full scholarship. Your major does not matter to much if you have the option I would take a few easy classes i.e. frisbee golf, etc if it is around to boost your GPA little this can help with admissions and scholarship opportunities.

A good site to see what numbers you need to be competitive is lawschoolnumbers.com or you can just like to the LSAC calculator. If you really like Tennessee I recommend going to law school there do not get to caught up in the rankings and good luck to you.

[dschmid3]

Thanks legend! I was worried there for a moment. I was seeing people with 3.7 and 8's applying , but they only had degrees in ancient history or art.

[avarist]

The degree major does NOT matter. Only GPA and LSAT score. (unless going for intellectual property law, and then yes that would give you an edge in your personal statement-somewhat)

Just focus on the lsat and you should be fine. Your GPA isn't too bad if you combine that with a good lsat score.

[Nathaniel]

I started out in science.  In fact, I was thinking about going to medical school before going to law school,  although I oscillated between the two for quite some time.  Eventually, I changed my major to International Affairs and I graduated with that.  Funny thing is, I did better in my science courses than I did in my political science courses!

[avarist]

so why not go to medschool now instead?

[dschmid3]

My science GPA is only around a 2.8. I don't feel competitive enough for med school. I still have 3 years of science classes left so we shall see.

[avarist]

My science GPA is only around a 2.8. I don't feel competitive enough for med school. I still have 3 years of science classes left so we shall see.

Either way best of luck. There are some schools that offer joint MD/JD and joint DPharm/JD (and possibly others too) degrees. Have you looked into those?

Those Doctor/Lawyers got to be have an edge in the hiring process and mega buck salaries.

[dschmid3]

No I did not! Could you give me an idea of which schools offer this?

[dschmid3]

Also, I am considering changing my major to support a better GPA any idea on how this will affect my performance?