so my bf applied to law school this past jan. after taking the dec 09 LSAT. He did well, 166, gpa is 3.8. He had high hopes of going to berkeley, but that didnt pan out as he got a rejection letter wed. He applied to Santa Clara Univ. School of Law and they also said no. Santa Clara's GPA/LSAT admissions number are such that he would get it.

One caveat- he does have two misdemeanors that have not been expunged. One misdemeanor DUI and another misdemeanor reckelss driving. Santa Clara said that his criminal history was not something the school wanted in their students.


Will he not get into a 1st tier school? Should he wait a year, take the june LSAT and shoot for a 170? any advice is appreciated.

I don't want to sound like a patronizing old stiff, but I don't think it's appropriate for someone with a DUI and reckless driving past to think he deserves to get into a 1st tier law school. It's hard enough for law schools and bar exams to try to weed out immoral or lazy lawyers with their exams and other hurdles, and allowing criminals (not saying he is one) is just one risk they can't afford.

I say he accept a lower-ranked school, if they let him in.

Sorry to hear that. I disagree with bjorn... People do stupid things when they're young. One DUI and one reckless driving should not haunt you for the rest of your life.

Next time when he applies to schools, explain fully why these records no longer reflect the person who he is now, and how he has learned from his mistakes... HTH

^No it shouldn't haunt, but there's a reason they keep it on the record. I can't tell you how many students in my law school class had no morality at all- they did coke and hung out with prostitutes almost every weekend... yet just because they were clever and witty they could get by in law school. That to me is the most dangerous type of type of lawyer.

Being a lawyer isn't just some clerical accounting profession that anyone can sign up to do, you are an officer of the court. I've been interested in the law since I was a kid, yet these ITT tech/liberal art majors just float into law school cuz there's 'nothing else to do' and they happen to be good at because of their petty secretarial abilities. Hell, even these cokeheads in my school wouldn't get near a vehicle if they were drunk.. and any thoughtful intellectual person wouldn't have done that EVEN IF THEY WERE YOUNG. I'm sorry, but any idiot-savant can get a good LSAT score, that doesn't entitle you to be a solemn arbiter of justice with people's lives at stake.