Hi, below is my profile:

Undergraduate: The University of Hong Kong (LLB);
GPA: not in half top;
One year exchange in a top Chinese university;
Two years' working experience in an international law firm;
Some internship in court and other law firms;
Detailed LORs from a professor and a senior partner;
T105.

Any chance for T14 law school? (especially Upenn)

Many thanks!

Dear pwrwg,

Unfortunately grades matter a lot. The reason being that they want to be assured that you will able to compete academically with the JDs and LLMs you will be sharing classes with.

You can possibly make that up with an LOR from a professor whose subject you did well in and a good recommendation from a partner at the law firm.But the fact is that being in the bottom 50% of the class is still a big hurdle to overcome. I would apply predominantly to the lower half of the t-14 (georgetown etc).

Dear raines,

Thanks for the reply.

I certainly understand the importance of GPA but also heared that for those who have working experience, the law school will put emphasis on their relevant working experience (not sure whether this is true).

Meanwhile, I have a classmate with an "above average" GPA (maybe 30 out of 100) but no working experience still got admitted by Upenn, GULC and Cornell.

I think his GPA advantage is not that obvious and he has no working experience which most law schools prefer nowadays (NYU maybe an exception).

Thanks.

hi,

no worry. theses schools they just re trying to make a pool of applicants with diverse work experience. Grade is part of the whole thing, but try to stress in your app your motivation ur background, experience in China... etc. A good app highlights your strengths.

From my own experience a good letter from a top law firms is something that helps you a lot. Far more than the grades in themselves.

get good recommendations letters and you ll be super fine

Hi SPV,

Thanks for the advice. Have you been admitted to any law school yet?

I have been admitted in 2011 to all my dream schools. I applied to 3 schools. all of the them in the top 14... lucky maybe, but I highlighted my strengths....

Wow, that's cool! I have reviewed your former posts about admission, so finally you chose Upenn? That's also my No.1 dream school! But you already had 3.5 years experience and I guess your undergarduate GPA is good?

Where are you now? In HK? Working for a NY firm?

Cheers.
pwrwg