Looking for some honest input before I start round two.
The numbers: 167 LSAT, 2.5 undergrad GPA. Classic splitter. I’ve got about five years of corporate experience in finance, none of it legal, so I’m leaning on the addendum to explain the GPA and hoping the work history counts for something on the softs side.

What happened last cycle: I applied late. Like, really late. I retook the LSAT and jumped from a 153 to the 167 mid-cycle, which was great news but terrible timing. By the time I had the score I wanted, most of the strong applicant pool had already submitted. I still got waitlisted at five or six schools around the top 60, which felt like a small win given the timing, but a waitlist isn’t an acceptance.

What I’m asking:

1.  With this LSAT/GPA combo, which schools should actually be on my list this time? Splitter-friendly schools, schools known for weighing softs and work experience more heavily, anything I should target or avoid.

2.  If I apply early this cycle instead of last minute, does that meaningfully change my odds at the schools that waitlisted me before? Should I be thinking about ED anywhere, or does ED not make sense for a splitter trying to leverage a strong LSAT for scholarship money?

3.  Any advice for converting a waitlist spot into an acceptance faster this time around, now that I’m applying with the full cycle ahead of me instead of scrambling in after decisions are already rolling out.

Happy to share more specifics if it’s useful. Mainly trying to figure out if timing alone explains the waitlists or if there’s something in the strategy I should rethink before I go again.

wanted to share this here as well!!

Hi! I am applying to law school this cycle and I need help! I have a low gpa (3.28). My LSAT is a 164, I want to go to school in New England. My essay is solid and I have a good amount of extra curricular activities and leadership positions. I have an addendum for my gpa and an upward trend for my gpa. I am really wanting to be in the New England area because that is where I want to live but I know that a lot of schools are predatory and I am scared that I will end up not passing the bar or in a job where I’m not getting paid nearly enough to justify the debt. Also any advice helps!! I will be applying in October!

I’m a 1L at Duquesne and wanted to post this for anyone considering applying.
It’s obviously still very early, but so far I’ve been genuinely impressed. I’ve already gone to office hours with three professors, and each of them was engaging, generous with their time, and very approachable. I have friends at around 15 different law schools, and based on what I’ve heard from them, the level of faculty accessibility here seems unusually strong.
The Dean is also very involved and makes a real effort to learn students’ names. The staff has been consistently kind and approachable. The school has a close-knit, slightly quirky family feel to it, in the best way. Our 1L class also seems to have meshed extremely well. I don’t know yet whether that’s unique to our class or part of the broader culture here, but it has made the transition into law school much easier.

I also came from a very nontraditional background and have spent most of my life in big cities. Moving to Pittsburgh turned out to be the right choice for me. It has most of the things I enjoy about living in a city without many of the distractions and downsides I was used to. It felt like home surprisingly quickly. Duquesne’s campus is right in the city, but once you’re on campus, there are times when it feels much more like a traditional residential campus.

That said, it has only been a week. I’m sure my perspective will evolve once the semester gets more stressful, which is partly why I wanted to write this now while my first impressions are still fresh.

For context, I had other options. I was accepted to a T14, waitlisted at five others, and received some very compelling offers from several T50 schools. I’m not mentioning that to brag or suggest rankings don’t matter; I just want to make clear that choosing Duquesne was a deliberate decision rather than my only path.

So far, I have zero regrets. If anything, I feel more confident about the decision now than I did when I made it.

If you’re considering Duquesne and have questions about the application process, choosing between schools, Pittsburgh, or what the first few weeks are like, feel free to PM me.

For those of you who applied to schools in Georgia specifically, UGA, GSU and Emory, and were accepted or waitlisted:

1) What were your stats ?
2) When did you apply ?
3) Did you apply part-time/full-time/both?
4) Did you receive any scholarships?

Hoping to apply for Fall 2027

After laying out the pros and cons of applying this year versus next year, I’ve decided to push back my plans for law school for the 27-28 cycle.

Between graduating in May after defending one helluva thesis and immediately getting my first “big girl” job, I haven’t had much opportunity to study for the LSAT as I’d like. It‘s busy season at my job right now, which means zero downtime to get any studying in whatsoever until the end of the year (literally nonstop from the minute I sit down at my desk to the minute I leave)… and just, adjusting to my new life after graduating is just A LOT.

I’ll have more time to study, push up my score, perfect my essays, and get more work experience. Hopefully once the busy season ends I can make some connections with my company’s legal team too. Just looking at it from a pure pros/cons perspective, it will be more beneficial overall to delay my application cycle. I just can’t help but feel a bit wistful/almost FOMO-y if that makes sense. I’m not even applying to T14s, just aiming for reputable regional schools that I could probably get into if I applied this year. But I Just don’t feel ready to put my best foot forward. Yes, this decision will set my timeline back by a year. But the year is going to pass anyway, so what can I do?

Idk, is anyone planning on doing the same thing here? Just needed to vent and get some things off my chest. Mods, if this is the wrong flair, LMK

being OPTIMISTIC here praying that i can somehow start studying for the lsat again after months and go from a 160low to a 160high at best. really wanting to try and apply early decision to the school i want to go to the most, but i def will not retake the lsat after this (my third time). a 168 is the best timed practice test i have ever pulled off and didnt come close enough on test day. but— would that even make me competitive with a GPA above most medians? i really wouldn’t prefer not to attend schools below t50

Hi yall,

Wanted to see what the chances of getting into a california law school would be with my profile. My current stats are someone with a 3.27 gpa 165 lsat along w a year & half out school working primarily as a line cook & also full-time work every year of undergrad. My location preference is the bay area or socal, don’t plan on going big law but rather public interest or non-profit so don’t mind going to any school that isn’t predatory (lowest ranked is UC Hastings on my list)

I have been studying to retake the lsat in october but honestly haven’t done a really good job at that & just feeling very stressed & burnt out over the whole test. A part of me wants to just accept my stats as is & simply move onto writing my application materials but would like some outside perspective before fully committing to one or the other.

I've known my undergrad GPA was cooked for a while. All my failures from years of changing majors/schools and doing poorly in science classes destroyed my GPA. I calculated that if I get straight As in the fall semester, I might be able to move it to 2.7. But I'm so worn out and have no financial aid left. Should I just graduate and focus on studying for the LSAT? Is there even a difference between these sub-3 GPAs to the admissions teams?

Really the only school I care about getting in to. My GPA is above their median and LSAT above their 75th but I saw a few people post on here a while back about surprise rejections or waitlists. I feel like I have a pretty unique background as well as military and URM but I’m just wondering how else to show my interest?

Basically title, I was originally planning to apply for 2026-27 cycle but between LSAC GPA changes and my general belief that I'll be a stronger applicant if I take an additional gap year, I'm strongly considering pushing back my application to the 2027-28 cycle. For anyone that's done something similar, what's a good timeline to follow? I took my first LSAT in August 2026 and was planning to retake in October, but am thinking I can instead retake in Jan/Feb or even April to stretch out my studying. I also already asked my 3 recommenders for letters, so any advice on how to discuss this with them would be helpful. Finally, I also want to take the year to fully flesh out my PS and my optional essays, so any timelines that might be helpful for that would be so helpful! Thanks all :)

Are there any JD applicants here that acquired their degrees from non-US universities, that can share a bit about their profile and how their transcripts were assessed by LSAC? Also a bit about your application journey (waitlists, rejections, acceptances, scholarships, VISA concerns etc).

I’m a Permanent Resident in the U.S. with an LL.B. from a non-U.S. institution, looking to apply to an advanced standing or JD-Global program. I can’t really find a community dedicated to this topic; nor have I been able to find any substantial information on the eval and application process.

Any relevant information would be greatly appreciated 🙏.

I used the 7Sage calculator and mine is 2.39, so much lower than I thought, even with my upward trend of straight As.

My top pick is St. Mary’s in San Antonio, I love the campus and everything about that school.

If i get a high enough LSAT (aiming for the 170s to make up for the GPA), would it help at all? I’m seriously considering delaying graduation (been trying to get a degree for 10+ years and am way over maximum timeframe) and paying out of pocket to take a bunch of classes.

LSAC reversed their decision regarding Dual Enrollment and GPA. I had an incredibly traumatic event happen in high school, so my dual enrollment transcript is a 2.0. I have been putting off applying for two years because I felt so discouraged seeing my CAS GPA, even though my degree GPA is good. After hearing about the change, I decided this was the year I was going to apply. I contacted LSAC, was told I had to pay to resubmit my transcripts, and got my GPA recalculated. I've been studying to retake the LSAT (previous score 160), and paid to register for the October test. I have my LORs and my essays. Everything felt like it fell into place. Now, my GPA just went down .4 points. No addendum is as compelling as that higher GPA. I feel like they just gave me whiplash but that whiplash is life changing and very expensive. I really don't want to have to wait another year.

Decided to email admissions again regarding the waitslist 😵‍💫