Texas vs. Vanderbilt vs. Retake Forum

[El Principe]

Schools: Texas, Vanderbilt
Total Cost of Attendance: Texas - 100K | Vanderbilt - 150K
Financing: Loans
Ties/Location: From Texas, family in Dallas and Houston, only want to work in Texas.
Career Goals: BigLaw --> In-House or Fed Gov
GPA/LSAT: 3.6 / 158
Other Info: URM. K-JD (December Grad). I've only taken the LSAT once. Studying for a retake will be hard because I work odd/unpredictable hours, and I don't get paid much, so supporting myself financially's going to be another problem in and of itself.

[BVest]

Stats?

[El Principe]

Stats?

I updated op

[Kool-Aid]

Retake...In most cases if you think you should, you should! Save yourself from the regret later.

[BVest]

I'm not ordinarily a retake evangelist, but I think yours is a clear case in favor of it.

[Otunga]

Retake. If you have 158 and Texas at reasonable COA, you could be at HYS with a solid improvement. If not, do Texas, but obviously be good with small law before committing there.

[El Principe]

Retake. If you have 158 and Texas at reasonable COA, you could be at HYS with a solid improvement. If not, do Texas, but obviously be good with small law before committing there.

I don't have a problem with small law, but I would clearly have a problem working small law with 100K debt.

[Yea All Right]

Retake, if you get a better score then you will get into really good schools, judging by the options you already have with a 158.

If you choose not to retake, then pick Texas over Vanderbilt.

[Pneumonia]

Unless you studied more than a year, retake is extremely credited here.

[BigZuck]

I would retake for HYS

Vanderbilt makes absolutely no sense here. 100K for UT is a lot and chances of big law are iffy but URM+Texan should help somewhat.

[Nomo]

Retake. If you have 158 and Texas at reasonable COA, you could be at HYS with a solid improvement. If not, do Texas, but obviously be good with small law before committing there.

I don't have a problem with small law, but I would clearly have a problem working small law with 100K debt.

Then you have to retake. Because these options leave a very high likelihood of small law with 100k of debt.