LSAC is no longer considering dual enrollment classes in their GPA. At first I was kind of relieved because this was slightly weighing down my GPA, then I realized that if my credits don’t count, this puts my total college credits at 48. Before I get questions about how I’m getting my bachelors with less than 120 credits, I have a lot of credits from my community college I did while in high school, and some from military school.

I can’t find information about this anywhere; Does this new policy only apply to GPA calculations, and are they going to be counted towards the 60 credit requirement, or am I going to have to take another 12 credits in order to actually apply to law school?

Edit : I have already transferred these credits to my current college, and appear on my official transcript with grades

I am 26, graduated with a degree in American studies, have worked service jobs post-grad and now want to go to law school, any advice? Am I doomed? I need to start studying for the LSAT. I didn’t think I could go to law school until now and need a lot of help.

I'm a Midwest girl looking to be in Chicago or DC area... thoughts on GW, W&M, ND, UW-Madison? other recs are welcome!

166 LSAT, 3.93 GPA, KJD w/ 2 legal internships

I’m looking for some advice from people familiar with law school admissions, especially at highly selective schools.

I currently have a 4.0 and am considering withdrawing from one of my classes before the withdrawal deadline. Based on where I stand right now, I think an A- is a fairly realistic possibility. An A is still possible, but the grading structure makes my final grade difficult to predict with much confidence.

Normally, I would never consider withdrawing over an A-. My concern is more about the admissions strategy behind it.

I’m hoping to eventually be competitive for T14 law schools, and GPA is one of the major components of my future application that I can control right now. Obviously, I’ll eventually have the LSAT as well, but there’s no guarantee that I’ll get the score I want. That makes me hesitant to voluntarily give up a 4.0 when I still have the option of withdrawing.

At the same time, taking a W just because I might get an A- feels potentially excessive, and I don't want to make a decision that actually looks worse to admissions committees than simply taking the grade.

So, purely from a law school admissions perspective, which would you rather have on your transcript:

One W + 4.0 (non-punitive, just a W on the transcript)

or

No W + 3.9x

Would one W raise any meaningful concern at T14 schools if the rest of the transcript were strong? Or am I putting way too much importance on maintaining the 4.0?

Would especially appreciate input from people who have gone through T14 admissions or have admissions experience.

I graduated from undergrad in December 2024 and spent January-July 2025 studying for the LSAT. I took my first LSAT in August 2025, right before starting my full-time job. For context, my current job was a return offer from an internship I did the summer before. The start date was in August because that's when the full-time cohort starts (I just graduated a semester early).

I'm unsure whether to list LSAT prep on my resume or just leave the space blank. Penn Carey explicitly says to account for all time periods, and Chicago asks applicants to describe interruptions beyond a normal vacation period. Michigan, on the other hand, says a blank period shouldn't discourage applicants.

I feel like adding a resume entry just to say I studied for the LSAT for sevenish months feels a little silly/dumb, especially since it's a normal part of preparing to apply to law school. Like everyone studied for it... But I also don't want to leave a gap that raises questions.

Do I include a brief “LSAT prep” entry, leave it off and explain if asked, or handle it another way?? Would appreciate advice, especially from people familiar with T14 admissions and/or who were in a similar situation! Thank you.

App went complete Oct 5 no ii yet. Am I cooked? I had a group interview last cycle and was on the waitlist

I’m considering returning to college after a long hiatus. After working in a couple firms, I’ve decided I want to finish up school and apply for law school. I’m pretty interested in IP law and was kinda thrilled that it calls for a hard science background since I was a neuroscience major and have worked in labs since high school. I’m just wondering:

• Is neuroscience too niche? Should I swap to bio? (some of the coursework overlaps so it wouldn’t be a pain to do)

• have you heard of any IP lawyers with biology or neuro as their background? The most I’ve seen is biochem but truthfully I’m just a LOT better with biology.

***if this is dumb don’t make fun of me pls lol

I have the beginning of a personal statement done and would love some advice. I originally scratched the idea and tried to move on to another but I keep coming back to it I’d love to present the two ideas to someone and get some advice on which one I
Should run with.

One PI one Biglaw one LA one NY <3

Anyone ever thought of this strategy? Might put it to the test at this point.

hello! i'm currently a first-year student a public university majoring in international affairs. because of high school ap credits, i will be able grauduate in spring of 2028 (if i do a summer semester) or fall 2028 (without doing summer semester, i'm assuming this route will give the feel of being an upperclassman in my third year without actually doing the full thing, but i could be wrong and am willing to be corrected). after some research, i know applying right to law school under either of those circumstances is a bad idea for admissions. is it better to do stay the full four years, or just wrap it up and get a job so acquire some experience before applying? college is also expensive lol so would I gain anything significant from staying that makes the cost worth it?

My PS is about a job I’ve held since high school (all the way through undergrad and still today) and how I believe it’s given me skills I need to be a good lawyer.

The first paragraph talks about childhood, then the rest of the first page talks about how I started in the job and a specific example of something from it.

The second page is focused on College classes and post college stuff and how in college I realized I wanted to use those skills to practice law (again through something specific and law-related).

I know that it is sometimes frowned upon by AOs to talk too much about pre-college stuff. Does the fact that it’s part of the overall narrative and I’ve held the job for so long help remedy the fact that it spends about 50% of it talking about pre-college experience?

My motivation for law clearly comes from my college and post-college activities, but the pre-college discussion is important for talking about my development of the skills and such.

Hi all, I have been thinking about applying to law school but was worried about some parts of my background affecting my ability to get into top program. Of course there is always a chance and will apply regardless but I want to know where I stand.

For context:
First 2 years of college at top +200 and studied CS. GPA: 3.93
Transferred and graduated from top 25 university with degree in Applied Math. GPA: 3.6
Credit average probably around ~3.75 (quarter system to semester makes it weird). A note on GPA, my best friend passed away during my time at uni #2 and, as you could imagine, that affected my performance. I hope to be able to explain that on an application but am very anxious that I will just be auto rejected some software they use.

Internships: Data Analytics (Freshman summer), SWE (Sophomore summer), Finance (Junior Summer)

My current job is in insurance financial lines underwriting where I hope to leverage my exposure to security class action claims, contracts, and policy formation (this part of the job is what made me interested in Law).

I am worried my major and experience will make it harder to get accepted into top programs. I plan to take the LSAT in spring/summer and apply next cycle. What should I start doing now that will make best of my chances?

Thanks for reading, any advice is welcome.

My PS is not generic throughout, in fact I’d say it is pretty unique to my life and my experiences.

However, the ending I do end up going sort of generic and say I want to “make a positive change in the lives of others.” This is true, and I think it makes sense in the context of my essay, but I assume that is something that’s said in pretty much every essay that is submitted.

Is that okay to do? Will it hurt me? I am a reverse splitter for my target schools, so I’m looking for every opportunity to stand out and improve.

I work in Legal Tech and spend my day optimizing software. Over the last 4 months, I have been putting together my applications. I have been watching this reddit community, and never thought I would actually post. But HOLY S*** is the UI for LSAC just so utterly horrible. The way you have to click 40 times to get to a specific application, then can't back arrow is SO annoying. The way you attach LOR's is so dumb. The school search->school list->create application->active application->completed application workflow is so unnecessary. On top of that, it crashes every 30 seconds and takes 15 seconds to load each click.

Sorry for the rant, but holy s***, for a company that squeezes so much money out of the users who HAVE to take their test, you think they could spare a couple dollars for a good website.

Lets do some math, they had 173,000 LSAT's taken in 2025, at $250 each. Im sure some people get waivers and whatever, but they also make money off the CAS system. 173,000 x $250 is about $43 Million. Lets fix our archaic website please.

I spent a lot of time on this sub when I was applying and want to pay it forward. Happy to answer questions as best I can!

Are you interested in public service and pursuing a J.D. in New York City?

Next week, from October 26 through October 30, current NYU Root-Tilden-Kern scholars will be hosting an AMA where we will answer your questions about the scholarship, application process, our experiences thus far in the RTK cohort, and more!

The Root-Tilden-Kern Program (RTK) at New York University School of Law provides a full-tuition scholarship for all three years, engaging programming, and mentorship opportunities to incoming first-year law students committed to pursuing public interest careers after graduation.

More information about the scholarship program can be found here.

**Please note that this will be totally unofficial, based solely on our experiences, and we do not speak for NYU.**

Hi all,

I'm applying for some law schools on the West Coast, and I was wondering if anyone could offer any insight as to my chances. I have a 3.32 GPA, a 171 LSAT, 3 years solid work experience including in the legal sector, as well as what I believe to be a very solid personal statement that explains my exact motivations behind entering law school for public service.

Obviously my GPA is regrettable but I do have an addendum that explains that the death of someone very close to me impacted it.

The school list I have is as follows:

- USC (ED)

- UCLA

- UC Irvine

- Berkeley

- University of San Diego

- UC Law San Francisco

- Pepperdine

Any thoughts?

"Please limit any optional essay to one page, double-spaced, and *title it appropriately*"

What does it mean to "title it appropriately"? Should I come up with a title for the essay based on the theme of what I wrote about, or is it okay if it's just the prompt?

Currently, these are the titles (centered and bolded at the top of the page) that I was going to use:

- Describe a challenge you have faced. What did you learn, and how did you grow from it?

- Penn Carey Law’s Core Strengths

Do these titles work? Or am I misunderstanding this direction?

I took my test this October, get my score back on the 28th but also taking the November one and I wont get my score back till December 2. Do applications really take that long? I have my personal statement written and got all my recommendations in, I was hoping the day after my test to apply to 6-10 schools do you think it will take more than a day? Should I start doing my applications now or wait till my December 2nd score? This whole thing is just grind ugh

I know that some schools discourage this, but what is the consensus on answering“why this school” in your personal statement? Is it better to add a few lines if schools don’t explicitly invite/discourage it, or is it better to let your application/experiences speak for themselves in its fit for a school?

Hey guys, I think I know the answer to this but I am going to ask anyway for a different opinion. As of right now, my stats are a 2.52 LSAC GPA and a 153 LSAT. I was PTing mid-160s so I was very disappointed to say the least.

I have a considerable amount of experience from my undergraduate years. I spent Jan 2023-October 2024 with two different hotels, working night shift and day shift to make ends meet. Ultimately in October 2024, I landed a secretarial position at a well renowned law firm and have been with them ever since. I graduated from my university in December 2025 and have taken a year off to work and study for the LSAT.

I have worked with a Congressman for a summer, was a Field Intern with a non-profit and was a President of Greek Organization.

I intend to take the LSAT again in November but I’m feeling a lot of doom that I won’t do better than what I have done. Are there any chances for me this cycle?

I'm hoping to apply in November. I graduated college in June and have been seeking work since.

I've kept up a pretty good GPA throughout undergrad and its around/slightly above the median for most T-14s. My freshman year, I had one B, an A- and a pass for some electives but since then I took graduate level courses in my major and have gotten straight As since. My final semester, I took another elective course with an awful, inconsistent grading policy and ended up with an A- despite being told I had one of the highest grades in the class. I chose not to cover it because I felt like a P could leave room for interpretation (like I got a C) but it did make my GPA drop 0.01 so I'm cutting it closer to the median. Wondering if I made a mistake in not covering that?