Low GPA, decent LSAT, questions(and a little about running)

You should have skipped law school, went back home, and asked your parents for a hug or something because you are seriously pissed off.

To the OP, I've known law students like this asshole who need to take things way more serious than they are to validate themselves, law students who didn't do shit, and everyone in between. The best advice I can give you is to establish yourself in school before you decide to do anything that may interfere with your studies. That being said, I currently am finishing my JD/MSW this December and have found running to be a powerful outlet. I was a 3.3 in college, 160, and will finish Fordham Law this December in a pretty decent position.

you are about to have a JD/MSW and you can't figure out where to put your car keys. gotcha.

and now you're providing contradictory advice. first you're telling him he should join his school's team and now you're saying he should establish himself in school first. which is it, counselor?

Fordham law. . .

CTC..got an email...i have some questions about fordham law

chuck d wrote:

you are about to have a JD/MSW and you can't figure out where to put your car keys. gotcha.

and now you're providing contradictory advice. first you're telling him he should join his school's team and now you're saying he should establish himself in school first. which is it, counselor?

It's establish yourself in school first. If the OP feels overwhelmed the first semester, which he may, then running competitively may not be the best idea. However, by the sound of it, I assume the OP doesn’t have to decide all or nothing as far as running. He has outdoor eligibility. By then he may not feel as overwhelmed. And, I may be wrong, but I’m also assuming the OP is a walk-on. Would I be correct? If so, I'm sure his coaches will understand if he works running around his schedule.

charles_runner wrote:

Fordham law. . .

ain't nothing wrong with fordham.

how can one find their lsac calculated gpa? reason being is i went to a school well known for not inflating grades and wanted to see if that will help me out in my applications. i have a 3.4 from william and mary and a 168, plus work experience as a teach for america corps member for 2 years and one year at a KIPP school. i know i am competitive with some top 10s, but could be with more if my gpa was adjusted. i am not very good at navigating lsac's site.

i don't know (m)any schools that would allow a distance runner to compete for one outdoor season and dictate a schedule to the coach, to boot. unless he's all-american caliber, it's not a realistic thing to be shooting for. even then i'd question whether a coach would want someone like that on their team. conference meets are smack dab in the middle of finals for the majority of schools. intercollegiate athletics and law school don't mix.

milerman wrote:

CTC..got an email...i have some questions about fordham law

Sorry, guy. I don't think its the smartest move to put my e-mail on letsrun. But whatever the question, I'd be happy to answer it on here.

I'd advise anyone planning one on the big firm life to think long and hard about it. yeah the cash is great. the work is not, and the hours you spend there will make law school seem like a breeze. and you will do nothing of consequence for 3 or 4 years. if that appeals to you, have at it (and everything said about getting into a top school definitely applies). Law ranks at the top of "the most commonly left professions".

I loved law school, I went nights while working 40 hour weeks. there's a ton of options out there, think about what you want to do with your life first.

So I've just been casually following this thread, not so much because I'm interested in law, but because my girlfriend is in the process of applying and will be taking the LSAT this Saturday.

I can't get a good read from her on what her chances are of getting into a top 10 law school as she tends to downplay her abilities/future successes. She has a 4.0 and has recently been scoring consitently in the 176-180 range on her practice LSATS. She'll be able to claim minority status on her application, and should have excellent letters of recommendation.

Is it a crapshoot once you get to the top 10-20 law schools, or is she pretty much guaranteed to get in?

***TROLL ALERT***

However, on the off-chance that this was a serious post:

If she is black/hispanic/American indian with a 4.0 undergraduate GPA, she will get into any law school in the country if she scores 168 or better (lower, if she's black) on the LSAT. The only possible holdup that I can see would be multiple felonies in her background.

Yes, to a degree it's a crap shoot with the top three schools--especially with #1 Yale--but she's as close to a guaranteed admit as anyone in the country, especially if she should score 170+ on Test Day.

[On the other hand, if her "minority" status is an East Asian genetic background, then the equation changes. Still, a 176 LSAT and 4.0 will get her in anywhere--again, with the possible exception of Yale.]

No troll. She's half black, but I doubt that they gradate their admissions process to the "degree" of your minority status. I could easily be wrong. Thanks for the response.

You are 100% troll. If you actually had a girlfriend with those numbers and that status, she would know that her odds of getting into a top-10 school are 1-1. There is no way she doesn't get in anywhere she wants. But, you are a troll, and your effort was lame in every way.

Hmmm, yes... Nothing I like better than trolling a thread about LSATS and creating a fictional girlfriend with near-perfect entrance scores to "find out" if she'll get in to a top tier school.

Eh, not so much. You've been reading LetsRun too much if this is your idea of a troll.

Anyway, I appreciate the earlier and more constructive response.

I ran during law school, but only for fun. At one point I was in 31 minute or so 10k shape - but consciously avoided get caught up in racing - law school was too much money (I wrote checks from a trading account that I had been operating since undergrad) to get caught up in races. It was an expensive, highly ranked Tier 1 school. And yet I did not find law school difficult - did not work at it more than 15-18 hours a week - did hold a part time job because it was foreign to me not to have a job and income, did do well (2nd in class, law review editor) - and found it to be a much more neutral experience than people have described. By neutral, I mean law school is what it is - you pay your money, an education is received in return, the education itself supports an economic system that parses out property rights and buying into the logic behind that is essential to success - without getting overly emotional or caught up in the day to day drivel and drama. Just learn the stuff, and it is not that difficult, by and large.

My guess is that people associate a lot of sturm and drang with law school because they haven't had the kind of life experiences that prepare them for it. I was not all that smart, really, but I had been on my own financially since age 17, paying for college on a Div. 1 scholarship and learning very early on that looking to anyone but myself to get started in life just wasn't going to work. The average law student with all sorts of growth, maturity and parent type financial issues just won't have the energy or bandwidth to compete with the sharks at a top law school - and sharks they are. And one other point - I was 24 when I started law school - and had just been married - too young, really, but what a blessing. I did not waste time dating and socializing and the like, my wife knew me from my running days and thought the whole idea of me going to law school was humorous - she didn't know me to sit down and concentrate on anything for more than an hour - yet, with her Ivy league education and with multi generations of uber education in her Jewish family, was pretty subtle and effective in letting me know just what quality, laser like intellectual work was about. Some pretty unique advantages, now that I look back on it.