Law School Splitter

sophiapoirier10

Hi everyone! I am just looking to get some advice...
I live in Austin (TX resident) and am applying to law school in the Fall 2021 cycle. I really want to go to UT Austin but I am a splitter and curious if anyone has insight. I know UT Austin's L50 for LSAT has risen to 168 and I am pretty far off). Here's my background:

BS in Biomedical Engineering - GPA: 3.843 (2019)
MS in Biomedical Engineering - GPA: 3.833 (2020)
LSAT: 160 (I've taken twice and I think my second time score was worse, so going with my first score)

I've worked in medical device industry for 3+ years, in R&D (as an engineer) and now full time in Regulatory Affairs (legal function) in medical devices.

Interested in IP and Patent law with my engineering background and have worked in biotech/life science for a long time.

Thoughts on applying ED? Will this greater my chances of acceptance? Is this school too high a reach for someone with my LSAT score?

Realistically, I don't think I'll be able to re-take the LSAT for a third time (August) and boost it up to anywhere near the median. I know some people have suggested I take a third time, aiming closer to 163 (L25 is 164). I know myself and working full-time still, studying this summer and writing my personal statement (and getting ready for application cycle), I just don't see myself committing the entirety of my free time to re-studying a third time..

Cynthia-2

@sophiapoirier10 said:
Hi everyone! I am just looking to get some advice...
I live in Austin (TX resident) and am applying to law school in the Fall 2021 cycle. I really want to go to UT Austin but I am a splitter and curious if anyone has insight. I know UT Austin's L50 for LSAT has risen to 168 and I am pretty far off). Here's my background:

BS in Biomedical Engineering - GPA: 3.843 (2019)
MS in Biomedical Engineering - GPA: 3.833 (2020)
LSAT: 160 (I've taken twice and I think my second time score was worse, so going with my first score)

I've worked in medical device industry for 3+ years, in R&D (as an engineer) and now full time in Regulatory Affairs (legal function) in medical devices.

Interested in IP and Patent law with my engineering background and have worked in biotech/life science for a long time.

Thoughts on applying ED? Will this greater my chances of acceptance? Is this school too high a reach for someone with my LSAT score?

Realistically, I don't think I'll be able to re-take the LSAT for a third time (August) and boost it up to anywhere near the median. I know some people have suggested I take a third time, aiming closer to 163 (L25 is 164). I know myself and working full-time still, studying this summer and writing my personal statement (and getting ready for application cycle), I just don't see myself committing the entirety of my free time to re-studying a third time..

"I just don't see myself committing the entirety of my free time to re-studying a third time.."

If you don't see yourself taking it a third time and you're aware that yourscore is way below, you can apply ED but keep in mind that your score is very well below the lowest score so chances aer stacked against you . That being said, your GPA is HIGH which might still keep you in the running. Best of luck

LOWERCASE EVERYTHING

i think your current lsat score is far below ut austin's median than your gpa is above their median to make yourself a very competitive reverse-splitter.
(ut austin's gpa-75 is 3.9; with your 3.84, you are above their median, but you are still not hitting their gpa-75. on the other hand, your lsat is far below their lsat-25.)

you can apply early decision, but how much of a boost people get from applying early decision has been debated. according to this blog, university of texas seems to be a school that treats ed applications no differently: https://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/applying-to-law-school-to-ed-or-not-to-ed/

that said, i think your background has a really great potential, given that your major was in engineering and that adcom tend to see this as a difficult major more often than not.

i see that you graduated in 2019 and have a full-time job.
is there a reason why you need to attend law school next fall?
i've seen a lot of patent attorneys who had worked as engineers for much more years.
i would consider extending my timeline a bit so that i could bring my lsat score up (work for 1-2 more years while studying for the lsat.)
if you really want to apply to ut austin right now and see how it goes, maybe ed this cycle, but be prepared for the worst, and continue working on the lsat (even if it's only an hour per day).
just my 2 cents.
good luck!

sophiapoirier10

@"LOWERCASE EVERYTHING" said:

Thank you for this input!!! Just a little extra background, I graduated 2019 and 2020 but worked full time as an engineer in undergrad/grad school starting in 2018, so as of right now, that puts me at 3-4 years of experience in the industry. You're totally right, lots of patent attorneys work for longer! But I'm at the point where I know I do not want to be an engineer and feel VERY ready for a career change and feel it is the best decision for my timeline and what I want to do with my life. I am taking the august 2021 test and studying VERY hard to boost my score even a little, so I appreciate the your advice and support!!!