Return to Blog Homepage

Sucky LSAT and GPA Numbers? Rethink Your Plans

BPPanna-ivey-lsat-blog-gpa-lsat-score-odds
Ann Levine of US News dropped anvils of knowledge on unsuspecting potential law students this week.

In her piece on the US News blog on Monday, Levine asked the question, “Can You Really Go to Law School?” and answered it with a resounding “Sort of, as long as you enjoy Puerto Rico.”

“Just wanting to go isn’t enough,” Levine writes. “Be honest with yourself. Do you really have a chance to get into the law schools you want, or even to get in anywhere?”

Let’s acknowledge two things first. First, I’m really upset that US News decided to rank UCLA lower than USC in its most recent college rankings and am currently trying to bury my emotions in work by day and my friends Jack and Johnny by night. And second, Levine is usually of the “hey, anyone can go to law school” bent. So this is a marked shift for her, and should be indication to most people of the current realities of the legal industry.

What does it mean specifically for law school admissions? Nothing we haven’t mentioned before. If you’re sitting with a 140 and a sub 3.0 GPA, you’re probably not going to get into many (if any) law schools. But even if you’re looking at a 172 with a 2.6 GPA, like a certain writer of this blog that you are reading right now, you have to be realistic about which law schools you can get in to. The best way to figure out where your scores put you is our friendly neighborhood LSAC’s Undergraduate GPA/LSAT search.

If you’re at all familiar with LSAC’s website, you’ll notice they’ve done a significant revamp that has made everything a nearly imperceptible amount prettier and a good ten times harder to find. It took me no less than 15 minutes to find the UGPA/LSAT search, but, through gumption and good old American know-how, I found it. That said, the UGPA/LSAT search is your best friend in determining your realistic options for law school. Like Levine indicates in her post, if you’re determined to go to law school, don’t apply strictly to places where you have very little shot of admission.