Top Law Schools

TLS can be a little disheartening on those applying to law school--especially those with less than stellar records--so to those with serious blemishes in college, alas, there is hope. I had an LSAC given 2.0 GPA and a 163 LSAT, but I was recently admitted to a couple top 40 schools. Out of paranoia that they're sensitive to this post, I'll only say they're in the mid-Atlantic region.

Granted, I didn't have a 2.0 from my undergraduate institution, I had a 3.0, but the reason for the 2.0 is because of a community college I attended where I never went to class. Also as a disclaimer, my GPA rose substantially in my later years after being academically dismissed and reentering my undergraduate institution.

I'm going to go with the more optimistic outlook that I got in because of my academic performance later in college, my recommendations, and my work experience, but I'm sure a softening market of applicants has a little to do with it .

I don't want to bash your accomplishment, but are you paying full tuition?

flawschoolkid wrote:I don't want to bash your accomplishment, but are you paying full tuition?

No. Parents.

ryoacyie wrote:

flawschoolkid wrote:I don't want to bash your accomplishment, but are you paying full tuition?

No. Parents.

point=missed

The reason TLS can be so disheartening to people who apply with poor numbers is because most of those people can't go running to mommy and daddy for $250k for full tuition. It's not getting in that's the hard part (especially in today's market); it's the inability to get enough of a scholarship where it's not financial suicide is why most people should not go to LS with poor numbers.

starry eyed wrote:

ryoacyie wrote:

flawschoolkid wrote:I don't want to bash your accomplishment, but are you paying full tuition?

No. Parents.

point=missed

+1

For those without parents, attending a generic non-T14 on full tuition will put you in crippling debt with less than a 60% of ever being a lawyer. Getting into most law schools is the easy part. Getting out in a reasonable spot is impossible for a lot of places.

American was T50 a couple years ago. Consider that....

flawschoolkid wrote:For those without parents, attending a generic non-T14 on full tuition will put you in crippling debt with less than a 60% of ever being a lawyer. Getting into most law schools is the easy part. Getting out in a reasonable spot is impossible for a lot of places.

American was T50 a couple years ago. Consider that....

That's fair. I'm just talking about acceptance into law schools. Trying to provide some amount of hope to people like me that they can get into a decent school.

You would probably get a better return if you invested the money you're parents are paying and then just went after another career, one that doesn't require grad school.

If you're paying sticker you're making a bad financial decision. If you've got enough cash that you can afford to make a bad financial decision that's fine, but it doesn't apply to most people. You're situation only provides hope for a very limited number of potential applications.

Nomo wrote:You would probably get a better return if you invested the money you're parents are paying and then just went after another career, one that doesn't require grad school.

If you're paying sticker you're making a bad financial decision. If you've got enough cash that you can afford to make a bad financial decision that's fine, but it doesn't apply to most people. You're situation only provides hope for a very limited number of potential applications.

God this website is full of depressing people.

ryoacyie wrote:

Nomo wrote:You would probably get a better return if you invested the money you're parents are paying and then just went after another career, one that doesn't require grad school.

If you're paying sticker you're making a bad financial decision. If you've got enough cash that you can afford to make a bad financial decision that's fine, but it doesn't apply to most people. You're situation only provides hope for a very limited number of potential applications.

God this website is full of depressing people.

1. Yes.
2. Reality is sometimes depressing.

Nomo wrote:You would probably get a better return if you invested the money you're parents are paying and then just went after another career, one that doesn't require grad school.

If you're paying sticker you're making a bad financial decision. If you've got enough cash that you can afford to make a bad financial decision that's fine, but it doesn't apply to most people. You're situation only provides hope for a very limited number of potential applications.

But asking parents for 250k to put in the stock market isn't likely to go as well as asking for it to go to "prestigious law school."

starry eyed wrote:

Nomo wrote:You would probably get a better return if you invested the money you're parents are paying and then just went after another career, one that doesn't require grad school.

If you're paying sticker you're making a bad financial decision. If you've got enough cash that you can afford to make a bad financial decision that's fine, but it doesn't apply to most people. You're situation only provides hope for a very limited number of potential applications.

But asking parents for 250k to put in the stock market isn't likely to go as well as asking for it to go to "prestigious law school."

Boomer parents can make stupid choices also

ryoacyie wrote:

flawschoolkid wrote:I don't want to bash your accomplishment, but are you paying full tuition?

No. Parents.

This sounds like some shit Hillary Banks would say lol

ryoacyie wrote:

Nomo wrote:You would probably get a better return if you invested the money you're parents are paying and then just went after another career, one that doesn't require grad school.

If you're paying sticker you're making a bad financial decision. If you've got enough cash that you can afford to make a bad financial decision that's fine, but it doesn't apply to most people. You're situation only provides hope for a very limited number of potential applications.

God this website is full of depressing people.

On the bright side, you just gave them a reason to pontificate so they're all feeling better. Heh.

rdawkins28 wrote:

ryoacyie wrote:

Nomo wrote:You would probably get a better return if you invested the money you're parents are paying and then just went after another career, one that doesn't require grad school.

If you're paying sticker you're making a bad financial decision. If you've got enough cash that you can afford to make a bad financial decision that's fine, but it doesn't apply to most people. You're situation only provides hope for a very limited number of potential applications.

God this website is full of depressing people.

On the bright side, you just gave them a reason to pontificate so they're all feeling better. Heh.

did you just use the word pontificate?

Rdawk is my new favorite on topic troll I think

I'm also missing the GREAT ACHIEVEMENT here. It's easy to get into law school and most law schools aren't all that good at creating lawyers.

And why is T40 meaningful? US News is a "news magazine" that isn't even a magazine any more, why would we care about whether they think SMU is better than Idaho on some arbitrary national ranking of a bunch of (mostly) regional law schools?

If people can get into schools that will likely get them the job they want at a reasonable price then great. But simply getting into some random law school(s) isn't something that needs to be celebrated IMO.

starry eyed wrote:

rdawkins28 wrote:

ryoacyie wrote:

Nomo wrote:You would probably get a better return if you invested the money you're parents are paying and then just went after another career, one that doesn't require grad school.

If you're paying sticker you're making a bad financial decision. If you've got enough cash that you can afford to make a bad financial decision that's fine, but it doesn't apply to most people. You're situation only provides hope for a very limited number of potential applications.

God this website is full of depressing people.

On the bright side, you just gave them a reason to pontificate so they're all feeling better. Heh.

did you just use the word pontificate?

hmm... may be I should have used "porntificate" instead. 250K from parents can buy a lot of hoes.

Retake.

congrats son.

this is not a good outcome

ryoacyie wrote:

flawschoolkid wrote:I don't want to bash your accomplishment, but are you paying full tuition?

No. Parents.

interested in the actual answer to this question. How much money are X schools giving you?

ilikebaseball wrote:

ryoacyie wrote:

flawschoolkid wrote:I don't want to bash your accomplishment, but are you paying full tuition?

No. Parents.

interested in the actual answer to this question. How much money are X schools giving you?

2.0 GPA so probably not much.

At least not debt-financing. OP is lucky in that regard.

MarkfromWI wrote:The reason TLS can be so disheartening to people who apply with poor numbers is because most of those people can't go running to mommy and daddy for $250k for full tuition. It's not getting in that's the hard part (especially in today's market); it's the inability to get enough of a scholarship where it's not financial suicide is why most people should not go to LS with poor numbers.

This is the issue. Especially with falling medians, getting into a T14 doesn't seem to be that difficult for moderately intelligent and hard-working students. The challenge is getting in with enough of a scholarship to not be a debt slave for decades.

.