Hey all,
I am an AA male. I have a 3.5 in Politics from HYP and got a 169 on the June LSAT. I graduated in the last 2 years. I have good international internship experience with NGOs. Some leadership experience from college but nothing too impressive. Want to pursue human rights/ international law opportunities in law school and potentially afterwards. May even end up applying to a joint degree program in IR after 1L year...
I have no idea what to do about safety schools. Seriously. I got into a big argument with some family members about it (I've learned it might be best to keep my family out of my application process from now on). They think I should just apply to like the top 10 schools and call it a day. That obviously worries me. I was going to apply to almost the entire T14 and add in a few top 30 schools in regions where I'd like to practice (UCLA, USC, Fordham, GWU, etc.), just to be safe. I've heard about the AA male boost on this site, and I'm sure it does work out well for some people. I just wouldn't want to be the odd person out, so I'm trying to hedge my bets and be a bit on the conservative side. I know that I've delved into this issue in a more casual manner, but now that it's September, I feel like I need to actually get a concrete list of schools together and start applying.
As of now my list looks something like this: Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, NYU, Chicago, Penn, UVA, Berkeley, Michigan, Duke, Cornell, Northwestern, Georgetown, UCLA, USC, GWU, Fordham. Do people who have experience with URM cycles think this makes sense? I don't want to waste money applying to schools I really don't need to consider, but I much prefer over-applying to the alternative of not getting in anywhere I want to go and being screwed.
Thoughts???
In need of safety schools. Forum
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Anonymous posting is only appropriate when you are sharing sensitive information about bar exam prep. You may anonymously respond on topic to these threads. Unacceptable uses include: harassing another user, joking around, testing the feature, or other things that are more appropriate in the lounge.
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sfxx
- Posts: 53
- Joined: Mon Feb 21, 2011 9:39 pm
Re: In need of safety schools.
MVP as safeties seems adequate based on what i've seen on Law School Numbers for AA Males
If you want to leverage schollies then it makes sense to apply to a more broad range of schools
If you want to leverage schollies then it makes sense to apply to a more broad range of schools
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bmore
- Posts: 302
- Joined: Thu Nov 04, 2010 12:28 pm
Re: In need of safety schools.
You will probably get waivers so it shouldn't cost too much. No experience with URM but I can't see you needing to apply under the Top 14.
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dkt4
- Posts: 316
- Joined: Sat Feb 05, 2011 6:33 pm
Re: In need of safety schools.
so this never happens, but your family is pretty much right. don't trip, you'll be fine. you have no need to blanket the T14, but you can if you want to leverage scholarship money (barring some massive red flag on your application).
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somewhatwayward
- Posts: 1442
- Joined: Wed Sep 30, 2009 5:10 pm
Re: In need of safety schools.
you should apply to yale as well.
