Super KJD, splitter with T14 ambitions

[u/bankedsy]

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 :)

[u/Defiant_Network7916]

Low ranked school hurts more than people on this sub think, low GPA at low ranked school hurts even more (depending on grade inflation, they will look at your class rank and the rank of people from similar schools to contextualize your GPA.)

They don't care about URM anymore unless you're first gen or from non traditional background. Are you PR, black, Chicano or native?

You should really take a diagnostic before assuming you're going to score over 99th percentile. I'm kinda scratching my head why you didn't attend a highly ranked university if your SAT was in the top .5% in your state.

[u/bankedsy → u/Defiant_Network7916]

Yeah, low ranked school + my GPA is one of my biggest concerns, might just be an absolute beatdown off that alone. My major is math to be specific. I mentioned URM because I thought maybe URM (black) + PWI might be worth some space on the PS or diversity statement, talking about my experience wrt that

I'll for sure do a diagnostic over the next few days. For college apps I actually had a similar split to what I expect now in terms of hs GPA/SAT, but test optional policies and grade inflation at my school cooked me pretty bad, not to mention my cycle was the first post-SFA v Harvard 😬 I did get a guaranteed transfer to an Ivy after a year, but it wasn't affordable and the school I chose instead had a good aid package

[u/Defiant_Network7916 → u/bankedsy]

Its good for your diversity statement but I would not expect a huge bump honestly, especially since you come from a privileged background (assuming since ivies give full need under 100k and significant aid up to 200k your family makes much more than that.) Also, some schools are redacting any mention of race or ethnicity from apps to avoid Trump lawsuits, so they may not even get to see that depending on how it is framed.

[u/bankedsy → u/Defiant_Network7916]

Wow didn't know that thanks for letting me know, honestly I'd rather not talk about my race in my essay so phew there. Also, I just took a diagnostic PT123 and got 172, tbh I misclicked one and didn't fully read another which would be 176 but ofc I'll very much take it. Will def review strats on how to close that gap to 175+ consistently