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[ACchrn]

I have a bachelors in microbiology (GPA 2.99) and a masters in biochemistry (GPA 3.61). I am taking the LSAT on the 16th. I want to go to law school, but I will be working for at least a year in New York City before hand.

My first question: I have heard that law schools only look at your undergraduat GPA and, being realistic, I think I can score within the 150s to low 160s on my LSAT. I know that I don't have the right stuff to get into a top school, but I am hoping to get into at least a decent school. Will my low undergrad GPA prevent me from doing this? Do law schools factor in graduate GPAs at all?

My second question: I will be working before I go to law school and I want to be working in IP law. So far I have been searching for scientific advisor positions and paralegal positions and have been getting decent feedback from recruitors and I have had an interview with a NYC law firm. Are these good positions to have for someone just starting out in IP?

Thanks to anyone and everyone for their help and advice.

[still_studying]

If they didn't look at my grades during my MA, I wouldn't have gotten in anywhere.

Just do well on the LSAT.  Take a prep course (delay taking the LSAT until the September/October test if you have to).  Testmasters and Powerscore seem to be the hot schools now;  I read lots of negatives about Kaplan when I was looking into the various companies.

Even though it's rather silly to base admissions on the score on a single test, it counts heavily.  For the last couple of years, for example, Tulane has based its admissions nearly entirely on LSAT score.  Learning how to take the LSAT, and practicing those skills, should improve your score dramatically over just taking it cold.

[smurfette]

How much prep (and what kind) have you put in for the LSAT? It's one of the most teach-able tests, and it's ridiculously important to LS admission, so you may want to think about putting off taking it until you're ready.
Your grad GPA *may* help, especially if you've been out of undergrad for a while, but it won't come close to fixing both low undergrad GPA and LSAT.
Check out lawschoolnumbers.com to see where your GPA + various LSAT ranges would give you good admissions odds.
I do think scientific advisor-type positions are the best way into IP - you may get law school paid for/subsidized, and even if you don't, substantive IP experience may help compensate for a not-so-hot law school pedigree.

[Jack Reacher]

If you can get a 3.61 in biochemistry, scoring in the 150s should be a dissappointment.  Shoot for 165 at least.  Do a lot of practice tests.

Having work experience and graduate experience should mitigate your undergrad GPA, but it will still hurt you. 

[ACchrn]

I have been practicing the LSAT for almost a year now. I was originally supposed to take it in October '07, changed it to Feb '08, then changed it again for June '08. I do not think putting it off further will help me becuase after June it will be extremely difficult for me to study efficiently due to lack of time. I have purchased a few books (Princeton Review, 10 LSATs) and they have helped. I looked at a Kaplan test prep book for the logic games and rather than help me...I think it actually hurt me. Kaplan is no good.

[still_studying]

There were many positive comments made on this forum last year about Powerscore's "Logic Games Bible".  I found it to be very helpful.

https://www.powerscore.com/cgi-bin/ccp5/cp-app.pl?%%SCRIPT_COMMON_URL%%&pg=store&sub_pg=prod&ref=200

[Rick111]

What kind of an LSAT does one need to get into law school if they have a 3.3 GPA?

[marklyon]

BC had a wonderful LSAT/GPA grid back when I was applying to law schools, but they seem to have restricted it to students now.

Loretta DeLoggio still has a copy, though it's a few years old at this point:

http://www.deloggio.com/admproc/getin05.htm (about halfway down the page)

[Lxw]

There's a chance calculator for UGPA/LSAT on LSAC's website...
BC's chart is useless.