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That's quite an LSAT - where did you find the time to prepare? I have a few friends who got back from Iraq a while back and it seemed like it took a good year before they were even able to function again.kedom wrote:Hi, I've been an Army officer for three years, deployed to Afghanistan. University of Georgia undergrad. Any idea on chances at t14? I'm thinking HYS is obviously out....
Maybe Kedon won the Distinguished Service Cross, which would pretty much overcome any great softs a URM could offer.im_blue wrote:I'm going to strongly disagree with having any shot at Yale. The lowest GPA in the entire class last year was a 3.5, which is almost certainly a URM with much stronger softs than military experience. Similarly, Harvard and Stanford almost never take non-URM GPAs below 3.5-3.6, regardless of softs. The military soft gets a boost, but nothing close to the URM boost.vanwinkle wrote:It's possible Yale might take you with a really solid PS, they seem a little less number-obsessed than Harvard, so I'd throw them an app too. If you really wanna make sure you get into a great school you can ED to Columbia or Chicago, but that might not be recommended 'cause then you can't go to Yale if they do accept you.
I would approach applying to T14 as if the numbers were something like 3.4/175, so ED to NYU or UVA would be my recommendation.
N is no better than some of MVPB for academia.johnstuartmill wrote:Stanford's GPA low last year was something like a 3.15. I don't see why they wouldn't strongly consider an applicant with great softs and an LSAT above their 75th percentile, so long as they wouldn't be the lowest GPA they admit.
My guesses:
Y: 10%
H: 5%
S: 20%
CCN: slightly better than even
MVPB: 80%
Everywhere else: IN
Definitely don't ED anywhere, unless you have a specific reason (such as, you want academia and anywhere below CCN won't get that for you).
Study, retake, and reapply next year. And thank you for serving.Battle wrote:Man, I am so jealous. I returned from Iraq in Nov, took the LSAT in Dec, and tanked it. Now im scraping at the bottom of tier 4 begging for them to give me a chance. Way to go!
Two more years of experience wouldn't hurt you, not to mention the added benefit of saving more $$ and riding out the economy in the meantime. If you raised your LSAT in those two years it could really help.Battle wrote:I wish that was even an option. This was my only window to leave the Army for at least two years. I effed this one up badly, but I have no one to blame but myself.
Pick some schools to apply to as big reaches. Hopefully they'll look past your LSAT score and see your service. Good luck.Battle wrote:I wish that was even an option. This was my only window to leave the Army for at least two years. I effed this one up badly, but I have no one to blame but myself.
That's awesome. I had heard of the Yellow Ribbon program, but didn't realize some schools paid enough to it that it would cover all tuition. I am also 100% eligible for the new GI Bill as I came in with no student loans from undergrad. Did you pay into the older one? What happens with that money?big_blue79 wrote:UVA also offers full ride Yellow Ribbon for up to 5 veterans (assuming you're 100% GI Bill qualified). Among my apps, UCLA is also offering up to ~$17k (w/$17k VA match), which I believe is a full "ride" for in-state rates.
Post-911 GI Bill may be the single greatest investment I'll ever make...
OP, good luck on your apps.
UVA and UCLA were the exceptions, rather than the rule, and their Yellow Ribbon slots are limited to only a few slots. I believe UVA's is first come, first serve. For comparison's sake, Columbia offers an unlimited amount of $1k (with $1k VA match), and NYU (non-undergrad) nothing.kedom wrote:That's awesome. I had heard of the Yellow Ribbon program, but didn't realize some schools paid enough to it that it would cover all tuition. I am also 100% eligible for the new GI Bill as I came in with no student loans from undergrad. Did you pay into the older one? What happens with that money?
bahama wrote:Don't ED. You are going to get into plenty of great schools without it and you may be screwing yourself out of the option at more $ at another school if you lock into one early with an ED.
Your numbers are going to matter a lot less than for most people. For one thing you are primarily competing against the other military applicants, many of whom have a lower gpa because they tend to come from schools/majors with less grade inflation and tend to have had a lot of other things going on in college other than grades. Also, the context of your undergrad grades matters. Do you have something that can explain your gpa such as you were a technical major and div 1 athlete and really involved in ROTC? Or maybe you were enlisted for a few years and got bad grades freshman year while making the adjustment back to school. Your typical 3.2/175 straight out of undergrad is either someone who put much more effort into test prep than classes (and possibly a retaker), or someone who is good at tests and just kind of drifted through college and blew things off knowing they could cram for the final or write a paper the night before it was due and come out okay. With your background you will be a lot more appealing to law schools than these folks.
GI Bill isn't going to help if the Army helped pay for undergrad unless either:
- You have eligibility left from prior enlisted time
- You serve past your initial obligation (3 more yrs for full eligibility)
I agree.Drew2010 wrote:I feel like the military soft may be getting over valued in this thread.. I don't think it is as strong as people think it is. At least it hasn't appeared so to me.
Yea, I went OCS. We had the option of Student Loan Repayment or GI Bill, and I took the latter.big_blue79 wrote:UVA and UCLA were the exceptions, rather than the rule, and their Yellow Ribbon slots are limited to only a few slots. I believe UVA's is first come, first serve. For comparison's sake, Columbia offers an unlimited amount of $1k (with $1k VA match), and NYU (non-undergrad) nothing.kedom wrote:That's awesome. I had heard of the Yellow Ribbon program, but didn't realize some schools paid enough to it that it would cover all tuition. I am also 100% eligible for the new GI Bill as I came in with no student loans from undergrad. Did you pay into the older one? What happens with that money?
http://www.gibill.va.gov/GI_Bill_info/c ... ribbon.htm
I paid $1800 into the GI Bill, including the top-off, and I haven't touched it yet. My brother (Marine) got out, did a semester on the Montgomery GI Bill at UMinn, then took a semester off and coverted to post-911. I assume they just pro-rate it.
Do officers get the GI Bill? I guess if you went OTS instead of ROTC or Academy you would...
What about working for a year and then retaking and reapplying? There are still places looking to hire junior officers who get out.Battle wrote:I have applied to everything from Berkeley to Hofstra. I am crushed considering the fact they were the first two schools to reject me.
I popped in a few more applications to some tier 4 schools this week. Time to roll the dice and see if I catch a break. I just need ONE admissions officer to see my potential and not just my stats. My PS, LOR, and additional addendums are superb. Thanks for the encouragement. It is greatly appreciated.
It seems to matter quite a bit for some folks and not much for others.Rawlsian wrote:I agree.Drew2010 wrote:I feel like the military soft may be getting over valued in this thread.. I don't think it is as strong as people think it is. At least it hasn't appeared so to me.
I also concur. Military service is great, but it's not curing cancer.Rawlsian wrote:I agree.Drew2010 wrote:I feel like the military soft may be getting over valued in this thread.. I don't think it is as strong as people think it is. At least it hasn't appeared so to me.