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statistically it will improve your chance. If you have the money and time, go for it.

But if you put very little thought into the applications since you're applying to so many schools then they may be tossed.

But you never know what could happen. You might have some soft factor some school wants.

ask for fee waivers?

I'd consider this a good approach. If you get into one good school or get one solid scholarship offer out of 20 applications, the $1500 will look like a pittance.

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It's a good approach, but email every school first and ask for fee waivers.

yeah, just email and ask for it. i don't think there is anything you can say in this email that would make them say yes if they would otherwise say no. schools want to increase their total apps so it is in their interest to grant them.

Just say you would appreciate any financial assistance, and give your LSAC #, GPA, and LSAT.

It shouldn't be more than a few sentences, and you can use the same email with different names for schools.

If you think the benefit is worth the cost, apply to every school you would consider attending.

I applied to 33 schools last cycle. I had similar stats as you and was weak everywhere in the T100. I applied to several T3's and then spammed about 28-29 schools in the 80-30 range. I was rejected from most but ended up at a school ranked in the 40's.

I was waitlisted at some lower T2 schools and only accepted to one other school in the T100, ranked in the 80's.

It worked for me, even though I have a stack of approx 28 denial letters, I only needed that one good acceptance to make me happy.

Good luck.

Shotgunning more than worked out for me. Instead of spending unreal money on applications, I simply took every fee-waiver from a Tier 1 and begged individual schools for ones. Ended up getting full-rides and near-full-rides from schools I didn't consider attending beforehand.

titcr

my plan in a nutshell. applied to 28 schools. 1 acceptance so far... time will only tell how the rest of the cycle goes.