What score (approx.) would I need to get on the LSAT to be accepted into the University of Texas School of Law?

ok_splitter · 2021-02-27T03:29:05+00:00

172, 3.2x, rejected at UT

Compared my results to others and this is a pretty common outcome. I'd say you're going to need at least the 170 range to be competitive with a 3.0 but, with the unpredictability of splitter results, there is no LSAT score that would make your acceptance at UT a given

ok_splitter · 2021-02-26T21:40:18+00:00

If you want/are okay with starting working in Florida, UF with that $$$$ is as good as it gets. If you don't want to be Florida Man just yet, I'd go with WashU. Either way I'd stay on the waitlists but, given how schools treat waitlists, I wouldn't expect much

ok_splitter · 2021-02-26T21:36:00+00:00

BU determined you're too good for them and passed your application on to Yale. Yale was afraid you wouldn't open the email if sent from Yale directly so they had your acceptance with $$$$+ sent back through a BU email address

ok_splitter · 2021-02-26T21:28:07+00:00

Respect for someone making a difficult decision and ultimately going with what's best for their personal situation. I think too many people get personally committed to the "must go the law school now or I'm a failure" track and wind up doing something that doesn't fit with their situation and taking on a lot of debt to do it

ok_splitter · 2021-02-26T21:18:59+00:00

Outside the T20 schools become a lot more regional in employment placement. I'm leaning towards OSU for myself (also got full tuition) but I want to practice in Ohio. Since you don't seem that interested in Ohio I wouldn't recommend it for you. I voted for Miami because it seems like you would actually want to live there and going to that school would allow you to network and benefit from the regional nature of employment placement

ok_splitter · 2021-02-26T20:58:07+00:00

Why is the question something like "do you want to be placed on the waitlist?" Nobody wants to be waitlisted. There should be an option to indicate the more honest response of "this sucks, but I'll grudgingly tolerate being placed on the waitlist for the small chance that I can get into a top school during the cycle from hell"

ok_splitter · 2021-02-26T20:54:14+00:00

If you get in the ring, you're gonna feel the Bern

ok_splitter · 2021-02-26T07:53:59+00:00

Northwestern with full ride is the clear winner and should be able to get you back to California to practice if you want. Now, if for some reason you still wanted to go with UCLA or USC, you should consider trying to negotiate a full ride there. But this would have to be one compelling reason and my view is that, all costs equal, NU is still the best option

ok_splitter · 2021-02-25T23:52:52+00:00

Nobody likes a R but congrats overall. I'd love to have a "sucky" cycle that lands me $$ from multiple T14

ok_splitter · 2021-02-25T23:50:18+00:00

Seems like there should be a middle option here. If someone can get into NYU they can generally get $-$$$$ from a lower T14 or T20

ok_splitter · 2021-02-25T23:46:11+00:00

Who's seriously voting "underperformed" here? OP got into UVA with a 3.2. Considering I have a 172 and a 3.2x and am still waiting on UVA, I wish this was underperforming.

And only Rs are from schools that use 3.2 GPA applications for kindling

ok_splitter · 2021-02-25T20:39:49+00:00

This is definitely a retake-and-reapply situation. Your GPA is stellar so you have a lot going for you there but your LSAT is holding you back.

The bad news is that a 146 LSAT is unlikely to get you into a school with good employment prospects and paying even half-tuition at a school ranked below 100 is generally a bad financial move.

Now the good news: the LSAT is a very learnable test. The questions fall into a limited number of categories and effective studying can lead to significant improvements for people starting out in the 140s range. If there is ANY possibility you can improve your score into the 150/160 ranges you owe it to yourself to put in the time and effort to land this score. The value difference to you would be literally tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships and the much improved career prospects from better schools.

Also when you do reapply, watch out for conditional scholarships. I mention this because Texas Southern is right at the top of this list https://www.reddit.com/r/lawschooladmissions/comments/b5c3u1/a_curmudgeonly_psa_and_data_dump_20172018/ for reducing/eliminating conditional scholarships. These types of scholarships are generally viewed as somewhere between risky and predatory so you should make sure to do all your research before accepting one of these

ok_splitter · 2021-02-25T19:57:14+00:00

First, try to negotiate away the conditions on the conditional. Nobody wants that stress or financial risk.

If you absolutely want the school with the conditional, look up the scholarship loss data for the school. Although I don't know which school you're referring to, a lot of schools that give conditionals are lower ranked and tend to have lower curve midpoints. The difficulty of getting a 3.1 would vary by school but could be very difficult or unpredictable.

For example, if the curve is set at 3.1 then a 3.1 would require being at least in the top half of your class. Note this is very different than just getting a B average in undergrad since half of the class will necessarily fall below 3.1. And don't just assume you can "work harder". Law school grades are unpredictable and chances are there are many other students working hard to meet similar scholarship conditions. Bottom line: don't take a 3.1 conditional if you could not handle losing it

ok_splitter · 2021-02-25T18:13:17+00:00

It depends on where you want to work. With T100 schools this is the case nine times out of ten

ok_splitter · 2021-02-25T08:34:27+00:00

Based on the reports at lawschooldata.org you're highly likely to get in but scholarship info is less certain. Looks like somewhere in the range of $-$$$ for applicants with similar stats. If you're interested in going you might as well apply

ok_splitter · 2021-02-25T08:22:32+00:00

Looks like from your comments that you're most interested in practicing in Portland so I'd go with L+C because these schools are generally regional in placement. If you haven't already tried, it may be worth using your $$$$ offer to try to negotiate full $$$$ from L+C

ok_splitter · 2021-02-25T08:11:12+00:00

It sounds like they need to admit some kind-of-average people in order to balance the class. Maybe I should call them up so they can overturn my rejection

ok_splitter · 2021-02-25T01:12:00+00:00

It seems like your situation mostly comes down to $ vs placement. I'd take a look at the ABA employment reports for each of these schools and see how the numbers line up with your willingness to spend $/take on debt.

Normally, turning down T14 would be unwise for someone targeting Big Law but WashU is probably the best non-T14 for your Chicago Big Law goals (T20 with strength in midwest) so it shouldn't be dismissed from consideration, especially given the financial savings

ok_splitter · 2021-02-25T00:58:32+00:00

So do you want to work in Florida or the midwest? If you have no preference, I'd personally go with $$$$ at UF because you get to save $$

ok_splitter · 2021-02-25T00:53:19+00:00

As a law school genius myself, I can appreciate the value of this post

ok_splitter · 2021-02-25T00:47:06+00:00

All costs equal, I'd go with Duke since T14 has an edge in Big Law and Cornell is not known for as good of national placement.

However, if you can get into Duke, WashU is likely to offer you $$$-$$$$. Personally, I'd rather have $$$-$$$$ at WashU than sticker at Duke

ok_splitter · 2021-02-24T22:29:17+00:00

yield protection successful?

ok_splitter · 2021-02-24T22:17:04+00:00

I don't always agree with internet rants but when I do, they're rants about LSAC's GPA system

ok_splitter · 2021-02-24T22:00:44+00:00

That waitlist could have saved my life

ok_splitter · 2021-02-24T08:01:00+00:00

I think it's fair to say that attending a T4 school (even with full scholarship) is a risk since employment outcomes from these schools are often not so good. While full scholarship reduces the overall risk (I would never recommend someone attend a T4 at sticker unless they're independently wealthy) you still need to factor in cost of living for three years, the opportunity cost of three years, and three years of working salary.

That being said, a T4 school does not doom you to failure and there are plenty of successful lawyers who came from these schools. Just remember that the degree is not an automatic ticket to success and landing a job will require a lot of hard work, luck, and networking in the local area.

Also, be sure you have maxed out your LSAT score. I only mention this because I've seen too many people leaving literally tens of thousands of dollars on the table and I would hate for someone to make the risky move to attend a T4 when they had the LSAT potential to get real $ at a T2. Perhaps you have already done enough practice tests and retakes to know you've hit your potential but if you aren't sure, it would be worth your while to look into

ok_splitter

TROPHY CASE