jimbone (2022-2023)

Worked 32-40 hours per week throughout undergrad as a retail and then clinical certified pharmacy technician. Took a break from school for one semester to start and supervise a small business. First generation college student.

All scholarship info is total amount over 3 (or 4 for part-time) years.

12-21-09 : Accepted to St. Mary's via surface mail. No scholarship info. I wouldn't expect much anyway. While my LSAT is well above their median, I'm not sure it's enough to stove off my abysmal GPA.

01-29-10 : Phone call today from SMU. Accepted to the evening program. This is huge for me. SMU was easily my first choice and also quite a reach given my stats. I am very happy about this.

02-09-10 : Waitlisted at LSU via snail mail. I'll email them promptly and withdraw my application for admission. I wouldn't have gone anyway.

02-19-10 : Accepted to Baylor via snail mail today. Nice personalized note from the dean in the corner of the typed letter. This cycle is going far better than I thought it would. I now have acceptances to two of the best schools in Texas.

02-22-2010 : Got a package in the mail today from SMU. Scholarship for 8k/year for 4 years. Renewable so long as I remain in good standing. Best Monday I've ever had.

03-01-10 : Rejection from Tulane via snail mail. Not surprised or disappointed, really. LSP had me at < 5% and I didn't want to live in New Orleans anyway.

03-19-10 : Today brings the end of this year's cycle for me. I received my expected rejection from Georgetown and decided to withdraw my applications for admission to U of H and STCL since I've decided on attending SMU in the fall.

Overall, I'd say I outperformed my numbers. LSP had me as a weak consider to SMU and Baylor...both of which I was admitted to and one I received a scholarship from. If I could lend any advice (to candidates with low UGPA's) it would be to make sure that you write a GPA addendum (if you have a substantive reason for a low UGPA...such as death in the family, illness, working full-time with responsibilities, etc) and to study HARD for the LSAT. I was lucky enough to score in the low 160's for my cold diagnostic and only had enough time to practice enough to gain a few points come test time (due to full-time work schedule and massive college load). Fortunately, this, combined with my work experience, recommendations, etc was enough to squeak me into a tier one school in an insular market with firms that hire heavily from that school. The thing to remember is that there are easily more people walking around with high GPA's than there are people who score above the 90th percentile on the LSAT. If you have a very low UGPA and a decent LSAT score, DO NOT count yourself out and DO NOT fail to apply to some schools that seem almost out of the question if you think you'd like to attend them. If a school's 25th percentile GPA median is 3.4, then a 3.0 and a 2.3 are essentially the same to them in terms of their calculated medians. If you have an LSAT that is at or above their 75th percentile, I'd say it's worth the shot to send the application...especially if you have a decent explanation (not excuse) for the low GPA.