As the title suggests, I severely underperformed in undergrad but earned a 176 on the LSAT

I'm reaching 4 years FT as a software engineer at FAANG+ company. How much weight will this have on admissions?

To be transparent... coming from a poor background, my immediate priority in undergrad was money... I never anticipated pursuing a graduate degree where GPA mattered. law was always the dream growing up in a poor neighborhood, but never felt realistic. Now that I've built a stable engineering career, I'm motivated to see what being an attorney would really be like. How bad are my stats for admissions?

I was excited because I got a 162 on LSAT and thought I’d have a real change in getting into the law schools that I want.

I just got my GPA back from my undergraduate institution (financial stuff) and saw that I have a 2.19.

Feeling a sense of doom. I knew my GPA was bad, but I thought it was like a 2.7, not a 2.19.

I plan on taking the LSAT again to hopefully get into the 170s.

Some example schools that I was aiming for are:

Ole Miss
GSU
Stetson
FIU
Memphis Law
Howard
Jacksonville

Now I feel like my chances just got more out of reach. Any advice/ do you think I still have a chance with my GPA?

The sample size is really small on LSD so sorry... I was a STEM major and have been working as a data analyst at a reasonably large company since graduating last year. I got a 173 on the most recent LSAT and wanted to know what results I would likely get if I applied with the score I have now. I was getting some better scores during my studying. Would I have any shot at Michigan (ED), UNC, BU, BC, Notre Dame, etc? Would I have a shot at them or any better ones with a 177 (recent PT average)?

Hello! I have recently finished my undergraduate law degree at Oxford with a mid 2.1, which is converted usually to an ‘above average’ rating by the LSAC. In the mock LSAT I did today, I scored 176. I have no US citizenship or green card.

I am not planning to apply for JD this coming cycle, as I know KJDs are disadvantaged in the JD admissions process. My plan is to sit for the SQE (UK’s bar exam) this coming year, and then paralegal or work for the UK government for 2-3 years to gain experience.

What will be my chances for T14 law schools after gaining 2-3 years of work experience and passing UK’s bar exam, assuming that I get a 176 in the real LSAT exam?

-non-URM

-5ft 11.964inches

-210 bench but looking to get that number up

-Bottom 10th percentile rizz

-From Massachusetts

How am I looking?

I grew up with abusive parents and that deeply affected my confidence. I struggled with depression through college and my gpa is so low because I was afraid to try and fail. Law school had been my dream since I was 17, but my parents discouraged me from it saying I didn’t have the work ethic for it.

Since then, I have work experience at a reputable PE firm, and I have done tremendous work in untangling the bullshit they put me through. I’m a completely different person now, and I feel sad at the idea that the path of doing a federal clerkship and working as a generalist associate at a big law firm may be closed forever to me because of circumstances I didn’t choose.

Can someone help me out on where to go from here?

Super Splitter here. 176 LSAT, 2.9 undergrad GPA with no real defining reason except laziness at the time, graduated in 2023. Have been working professionally post-grad for 3 years, however, my job is not necessarily applicable / attractive towards law.

Sending applications to as many reputable schools as you could think of - what are my chances at anything T14 and in the range of schools outside.

All insight is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Stats
GPA: 4.0
LSAT: 174
WE: 3 years out with legal job
LOR: Solid (Very close relationship with professors from a strong undergrad and supervisor)
Non-URM

Interests: Unicorn PI

Thank you all for your time! :)

Update: I’m definitely fked for Yale Law, 175 median is unbelievable.

Just saw a freshman in college stress about not getting into a T13 law school cause of their 3.68 gpa of the entire year..meanwhile I’m sitting here with my 2.5 of sophomore year confident I’m gonna impress Harvard admissions for the ‘29 cycle.

First, big congrats to everyone who just got their score released, and officially done with LSAT. (I hope to be in the same boat very soon!)

I know this is super late to start the LSAT prep for 2027 admission, but I decided to take my chance. Here’s my concern.

Took the first pt about 3 weeks back (with 30% extended time), got 140. Took another one yesterday, got 141.

My friends suggested that I just aim for 2028 admission cycle since it’s too late and my score is not improving fast enough.

My goal is to attend a regional law school in my area, University of Baltimore law, since I plan to live in this area and prefer to work in public sector. Their median is 155 with 3.45 gpa.

I signed up for the September test.

Below is my brief profile:

-3 yr full-time work experience
-Currently in my final semester with expected graduation in August 2026.
-Expected LSAC GPA 3.73. Didn’t do well in my first two semester, due to family illness.

My questions are:

1. All things considered, what would be the LSAT score I need to secure admission in UB Law?
2. Anything you would like to share. If I’m truly being delusional, feel free to enlighten me.

Thank you and congrats again!

Chance me for T30, gpa is from college of engineering at a school with <19% acceptance rate if that helps.

Sorry to be that person but I have anxiety lol

Stats: 3.77 GPA, 176 LSAT, BA/MA in English

Softs: nURM, 1 year WE in a private WC law firm, two internships at a finance company, worked as a translator, library assistant, and tutor throughout college. Volunteer at a bookstore/community center. Based in Boston, applying to east coast schools

LORs: One from my boss (attorney), two from professors who I developed a rapport and took multiple classes with

Schools: Yale and NYU are my top choices. Applying to Harvard, UMich, BU (my alma mater), BC, Northeastern, Suffolk for my safety. Considering UVA and Georgetown as well

Money is a major consideration and Yale and NYU are my top choices because of their loan repayment/support programs. I intend to do PI and I write about it in my essays.

Also open to suggestions! I would like to stay on the east coast and eventually settle in Boston or New York.

I have a 166 LSAT and 3.8low GPA. Is this a realistic goal in the T100? Im mostly looking at the East Coast, but I'm open to anything.

3.75 GPA, 171 LSAT (though am signed up to retake in Nov and am PTing at 175). URM, T3 softs (+undergrad was HYP, though I don’t know how much that matters.)

I know Y/H/S/C are probably out of reach no matter what my LSAT score is, but do I have realistic odds of getting into one of the mid/lower T14s? I would esp love UVA, Penn, or Georgetown

Buuuuut I may be lying to myself and need to adjust my expectations, so would love a reality check if so

I plan to apply to law school next September as a super splitter. My GPA is well below the medians because I had to work a job to support my family after my father became disabled. As for the LSAT, I am planning to retake it to maximize my score.

LSAT: 170 (2nd attempt)
GPA: 3.2 (small state school)
First gen college student
Naval Officer Medically Retired
Senior Electrical Engineer at Apple
Founder of company raised 100k in the first year
Letters of rec from military, tech, and personal life.

what schools would you put ur money on me getting in, I ED’ed at one school, can you guess which one?

I want to go to law school. I enjoy law and want to be a lawyer. However, I am extremely, extremely averse to taking on debt. I was able to get through undergrad for free and have said before that, as much as I want to go to law school, it's not worth the debt and I'd only go if I could get out of it with little to no debt.

But... How realistic is that? Is it "worth it" to go through the entire admissions process with that stipulation? How likely is it for someone to get a scholarship, let alone a full ride?

Stats around how many schools give out scholarships and of what amount seem hard to find reliably, but maybe I'm looking in the wrong place. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

If it helps: 3.7 GPA & haven't taken the LSAT yet, mostly because I'm so unsure whether it's "worth it" to go down this path. I'm currently working a $20/hr job in a position with little room for growth, so in terms of cost-benefit, I'm not exactly downgrading by looking at law.

I’ll be applying next cycle: 174, 4.0ish, KJD, T2/3ish softs (MBB + a lot of semi impactful policy work in one issue area), prestigious undergrad. I know I’ve “checked off” many of the boxes but I’m curious to see whether others think I’d have good odds at HYS. LSD will only really tell you so much, and I’d appreciate any anecdotal information as well!

Would especially love to get insight from anyone at HYS. Admissions at the upper end of the T14 is such a black box, any info would be much appreciated!

I’m not trying to be a hater I’m just kind of confused as to why people here think the other people on this sub will be able to tell them anything helpful about their odds. I understand if someone is asking about a specific school and has a niche question but we all have access to the same median info which is often the only thing provided. Even when people provide softs there are almost always comments pointing out how hard it is to estimate what tier softs are. Am I missing something? I’m really asking

I want to go t14 but honestly don’t think I have the stats. My extracurriculars are good and I have three letters of recommendation but I just don’t know if I need to take the LSAT again. Is it worth it with where I’m at or should I be grateful I’ll just get in somewhere decent?

Stats: 4.02/173/skjd/T3 stats

Hi all, looking for some guidance on my law school app. I'm thinking about applying this fall, but I'd be open to applying next year after my master's. Only shooting for T14, maybe T20. My profile is detailed below:

Stats:
- 3.74 uGPA in STEM, low-ranked state school
- Expecting 175+ LSAT edit: diagnostic 172

Softs:

• Research program jointly funded by Fulbright and org. in host country (I'm pretty sure I'd be counted as a Fulbright recipient, at least i hope 🥺), as well as an undergrad research fellowship at my school during academic year, both competitive. Also summer research work rn, should have some stuff in preparation/submitted to journals by application hopefully 🙈
• Graduated in 2 years, doing combined BS+MA program and the past academic year I had a full graduate courseload. Will graduate with master's next spring (partly why my GPA is lower, didn't get any boost from gen eds since I tested out most)
• At uni on National Merit scholarship, qualified by scoring in top .5% of my (top) state on PSAT in HS. I know it's a high school accomplishment but it has some name recognition I think
• Director of student-run portfolio managing mid 7 figs
• URM at ultra PWI

I have goals of work in a pretty niche public interest with only a handful of firms doing work in the area, hoping to get some experience doing work in this area before applying. And I know the LSAT estimate seems ridiculous but I did a ptest a few years ago and really only struggled on LG which ofc is now gone, and along the lines of the PSAT I have a good history with standardized tests.

Would love to hear any feedback, and especially if people have specific recommendations that would be great! Thanks again :)

Would love to chat with those who’ve applied recently as KJDs. I have a 4.0 and 174, and am curious what I can expect.

FWIW I’ve already looked through LSD so I have a very general/numerical idea, but would like to hear more anecdotally how people tended to do. I know that with these stats (along with fairly good ish softs), I’m looking at great odds at something in the T14, but I was hoping to hear about those that have gotten into T6 specifically.

I go to a top lac which typically sends a handful of people to T14s every year KJD with just a couple going to T6s or h/s. The people I know had ~median stats and usually ended up across the T14 (the exception being schools that are super unfriendly to KJDs - no recent grad I know has gotten into Yale or Michigan).

Would love any insight as to (a) whether T6 is in play for me and (b) what successful T6 KJDs have done.

Is applying to UT Austin worth a shot? and do yall think generally applying to any T30 schools will likely lead to an admission to any of them? I have 3 years of experience as a legal assistant in immigration, and 6 months as a legal assistant in personal injury. My GPA was rather low my first 2 years of college but the last 2 years I had great semesters with only A’s. Any thoughts are appreciated! I am a texas resident!

I am looking to get a realistic view of my chances for admission into law school during the 2026-27 law school admissions cycle. I would greatly appreciate any honest feedback. I am currently working toward obtaining a double BA in Philosophy and Political Science,as well as minors in Legal Studies and Ethics. I will be applying to KJD (i.e., straight from undergrad) and will be graduating at 21 years old.

Based upon how LSAC treats my two early math F's, I anticipate my projected LSAC GPA to be around 3.32 – 3.40. An important piece of information regarding my academic history is that I began college at a very young age (14). During my early semesters I obtained some B’s and C’s and earned two F's in algebra for calculus while I was still transitioning to academia. Since then, however, my academic performance has improved dramatically and I have maintained a consistently good grade level.

In terms of my major and minor GPAs they are significantly better than my overall GPA. At present, I hold approximately a 3.92 GPA in Philosophy and a 3.8 GPA in Political Science, in addition to a 4.0 GPA in both of my Legal Studies and Ethics minors.I intend to submit a GPA addendum detailing my early college start and academic progression.

I obtained a 176 on the LSAT which I was obviously ecstatic about; however, I am now fairly apprehensive about applying to law school during the 2026-27 cycle. Lately, I have seen numerous students with GPAs of 3.9 – 4.0 and LSAT scores ranging from 178-180 being denied admission and/or placed on a waitlist from both T14 and T20 schools. As such, I am beginning to believe that my lower LSAC GPA may place me at a serious disadvantage in comparison to these applicants. Although I am confident in my 176 LSAT score, I am now starting to feel that my possibilities at the upper tier law schools may be dwindling.

Although I am basing most of my assessments on numbers, I believe I have built a strong academic and extracurricular profile. I have been actively engaged in philosophy research and academic writing, including publishing multiple papers. Additionally, I have participated in various academic conferences and collaborative research projects with faculty members. Furthermore, I am a national speech and debate finalist which has been a significant component of my undergraduate experience and has allowed me to hone my argumentative and public speaking abilities. I believe that when reviewing the research, publication and national competition experiences that I will be submitting, I will be evaluated to be within the T1-T3 soft range.

From a background perspective, I am a first generation college student and an immigrant from Burma, and my early college start has had a significant impact on my academic narrative. From a transcript standpoint, I believe my record demonstrates that I was a very young college starter, experienced difficulty initially, and thereafter demonstrated substantial improvement in my academic performance over time.

My primary concern is how competitive I will be as a "splitter" with a projected LSAC GPA of approximately 3.3 – 3.4 and a 176 LSAT, but with strong major GPAs and a clear upward trend, as a candidate for T14 or T20 schools. I intend to apply broadly to the T14 and T30, but seeing so many high-numbered candidates struggle recently has made me quite anxious about my chances.

Thank you in advance for any honest insight.

This is how I am feeling right now staring at my phone.