Law School

[Smiles33]

Hi everyone,

    Currently I am a junior and am an International Law major.  I received a 3.0 gpa from my CC and I have a 3.8 gpa now.

which Law Schools do I have a chance of getting accepted to.

Thank You!

[eric922]

I could be totally wrong here since this is just hearsay from another lawschool forum, but according to what I read a lot of firms do not like you to do study abroad. That didn't make sense to me when I heard about it so I'm inclined to think the poster was wrong, but it might be worth double checking on just to be sure.  One thing I think you might want to consider is do you need that dual degree?  A lot of times dual degree programs aren't worth the extra investment for a lot of people. A lot of schools offer JD/MBA programs for instance, but the MBA isn't much help in the actual practice of law.  Sorry if I seem pessimistic I just wanted to pass on those two bits of information since they may be relevant. 

[Maintain FL 350]

which Law Schools do I have a chance of getting accepted to.

Do you have an LSAT score yet, or at least a practice score?

Without an LSAT score it's impossible to say where you should apply to, beyond pure speculation. If you don't have a score yet, focus for now on keeping your grades up. Get the highest GPA possible. As soon as you can start practicing for the LSAT. Take a prep course if possible, and devote as much time to it as you can. Your LSAT score, in my opinion, is more important than your GPA. A very high LSAT score can work magic that a high GPA alone can't.

One thing I think you might want to consider is do you need that dual degree?  A lot of times dual degree programs aren't worth the extra investment for a lot of people. A lot of schools offer JD/MBA programs for instance, but the MBA isn't much help in the actual practice of law. 

I agree. An additional graduate degree is almost never worth the added expense if you want to practice law. There might be a few situations in which an M.A. or Ph.D might help, but I think that those benefits accrue to a very small number of people who are seeking very specific types of employment. For example, if you wanted to practice natural resources law I suppose an M.S. in environmental science or geology might help you understand the subject matter better, and therefore make you more marketable. Even then I'm not sure. The vast majority of legal jobs only care about the J.D., and an M.A. in some random unrelated field is unnecessary.   

[Smiles33]

I took a Practice LSAT and scored a 162

[eric922]

which Law Schools do I have a chance of getting accepted to.

Do you have an LSAT score yet, or at least a practice score?

Without an LSAT score it's impossible to say where you should apply to, beyond pure speculation. If you don't have a score yet, focus for now on keeping your grades up. Get the highest GPA possible. As soon as you can start practicing for the LSAT. Take a prep course if possible, and devote as much time to it as you can. Your LSAT score, in my opinion, is more important than your GPA. A very high LSAT score can work magic that a high GPA alone can't.

One thing I think you might want to consider is do you need that dual degree?  A lot of times dual degree programs aren't worth the extra investment for a lot of people. A lot of schools offer JD/MBA programs for instance, but the MBA isn't much help in the actual practice of law. 

I agree. An additional graduate degree is almost never worth the added expense if you want to practice law. There might be a few situations in which an M.A. or Ph.D might help, but I think that those benefits accrue to a very small number of people who are seeking very specific types of employment. For example, if you wanted to practice natural resources law I suppose an M.S. in environmental science or geology might help you understand the subject matter better, and therefore make you more marketable. Even then I'm not sure. The vast majority of legal jobs only care about the J.D., and an M.A. in some random unrelated field is unnecessary.

The only reason I can think of pursuing a dual degree is if you want go eventually go into academia.  According to my professor the days of law schools hiring retiring lawyers to teach is coming to a close.  Schools are starting to prefer academics who hold a P.H.D. as well as the JD.  He says he's the only professor at the law school who only has the JD.   Honestly, I'd rather have people who have practiced  law as opposed to pure academics, but that's not for me to decide.

[livinglegend]

I think I just responded to this post in a different thread, but as I said before you need an LSAT score. Being in model UN and having a research proposal etc is great, but most law school applicants have similar experiences. The soft factors are of minimal help in law school admissions from what I saw when I attended law school although I have never worked in a law school admissions office. However, you can imagine when 5,000 or so applications come in a guy who worked in college, participated in model U.N., and did a research project is not going to jump off the page at anyone. It is all good stuff, but if you have a 140 LSAT your not getting in anywhere.

It sounds like your doing well academically and involved which is all you can do at this point. Next step is the LSAT and practice is not the real thing until you have an official LSAT score you cannot know what your options are. Back in my OL days my practice tests ranged from 154-163 and I noticed one of the four books I was using I always got a higher score, but when real test day came I got a 157. With my 3.3 & 157 I got into numerous schools, but not Harvard-Yale-Stanford surprisingly : ).

Anyways take the LSAT and keep doing what your doing.

[Smiles33]

Thank you for your response, somewhat brutalely honest but encouraging. Thanks, I will study study and study even more!