169 LSAT 3.4 GPA URM Forum

[rockylo88]

Undergrad Institution: FIU
Hispanic
3.4 GPA/169 LSAT
Economics Major/ Philosophy Minor
Letters of Recommendation from a Philosophy prof and Econ prof (taught me Phi of law and Game theory respectively)
Founded a chapter and served on the board of an Economics fraternity (Phi Chi Theta)
Interned at the US Attorney's Office

Looking at New York are law schools, heavy emphasis on where I can get merit scholarships:

Fordham
Cardozo
Brooklyn
Rutgers-Newark
Seton Hall

If I don't get any solid scholarship offers, I was gonna stay in FL:
UF
FSU
UM

Any foresight on admission and scholarship chances would be appreciated. I'm open to other locations if a good school offers a strong financial aid package; I probably won't qualify for anything need-based because my mother has a relatively high income.

[Teoeo]

you should apply to cornell also =D

[BigFatPanda]

cuban?

[SuperCool23]

You should apply to higher schools

[rockylo88]

Yes, Cuban. I figure I can get into UF, even if I had no scholarships, it's under 15k a year...so, I'd prefer to go to school in the NY area, but only to a place where I'll pay the same or less (ie. full scholarship or close, I heard Rutgers waives out of state fees).

[SAE]

NYU? Columbia?

[rockylo88]

You should apply to higher schools

I figured that, with the competition amongst students to get into the higher schools, they're not gonna feel as pressed to offer generous merit awards...as higher schools, I considered Colombia and NYU, but even if I got in...thats a lot of $$

[theanswer]

You would probably get a full scholly from a school like WUSTL. IN general I think you are looking at good money from any t15-30. I think you are guarenteed acceptance w/ money to all of the schools you have listed so far. Check out http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com for more info.

Definitley worth it for you to take your time and consider your options. I realize you may be debt averse, but if you applied early I think there are seats for you at a handful of t14s (Michigan, Duke both have 169 median LSATs. Also I think you are a good candidate for Cornell), with modest money. Just something to consider.

[Holly Golightly]

I've read over and over again on this board that you should NOT expect a URM bump as a Cuban.

[rockylo88]

You would probably get a full scholly from a school like WUSTL. IN general I think you are looking at good money from any t15-30. I think you are guarenteed acceptance w/ money to all of the schools you have listed so far. Check out http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com for more info.

Definitley worth it for you to take your time and consider your options. I realize you may be debt averse, but if you applied early I think there are seats for you at a handful of t14s (Michigan, Duke both have 169 median LSATs. Also I think you are a good candidate for Cornell), with modest money. Just something to consider.

I will probably apply to Cornell...another region I considered was LA, so I might try SCal and UCLA as far as higher ranked schools...don't want to go away (even to a top school) to a region where I wouldn't want to work or live.

As far as the Cuban URM thing, do apps ask to specify what type of hispanic? Why would it matter at all? If a university told me that a Cuban is not hispanic, I would consider them highly moronic. That being said, maybe you're right, but there have to be some places with common sense...they can use Cubans to help their diversity numbers, that's all they really care about IMO.

[Holly Golightly]

As far as the Cuban URM thing, do apps ask to specify what type of hispanic? Why would it matter at all? If a university told me that a Cuban is not hispanic, I would consider them highly moronic. That being said, maybe you're right, but there have to be some places with common sense...they can use Cubans to help their diversity numbers, that's all they really care about IMO.

From what I have seen, Mexican and Puerto Rican are the ones that get a real boost. And yes, most apps distinguish between different types of hispanic.

[theanswer]

As far as the Cuban URM thing, do apps ask to specify what type of hispanic? Why would it matter at all? If a university told me that a Cuban is not hispanic, I would consider them highly moronic. That being said, maybe you're right, but there have to be some places with common sense...they can use Cubans to help their diversity numbers, that's all they really care about IMO.

From what I have seen, Mexican and Puerto Rican are the ones that get a real boost. And yes, most apps distinguish between different types of hispanic.

No one will tell you that Cuban is not Hispanic--they just might tell you that Cuban is not an under-represented minority in the law school admissions proccess, whereas certain subsets of Hispanics like Mexicans or Puerto Ricans are. I for one don't see how this could be the case. You could ask a pre-law advisor about this, because it is an important thing to find out.

I would think you would get a URM boost. It may not be the same boost that a black male gets, but you would definitley have an advantage over a white person.

I think it is still a safe strategy for you to apply to schools for which you have a median or above-median LSAT. Your 169 puts you in play at every school outside the t14. You could also make Mich, Cornell, and Duke your reaches.

For best results, apply early and often.

[miamiman]

Cuban here. Thanks for opining everyone, especially when your opinions are completely ungrounded in fact (or experience).

Reality: Cuban is not URM at most schools. It is dependent upon the needs of the school. My experience was that it helped at a few T10s and was neutral mostly everywhere else. Apply early. Pen a great DS. Cross your fingers and wait.

[dudders]

We're numbers twins! I'm white though, so keep in mind that schools want you more than me.

In NY, I got rejected at Columbia (no surprise there) and accepted at Fordham with a measly $6700/yr. I didn't apply anywhere in Florida.

Attending - GW ($15k/yr)
Accepted - William & Mary ($10k/yr), UC Hastings ($5k/yr), Colorado ($5k/yr), BU, USC
WL - Michigan, BC, ND, Vanderbilt, UCLA
Rejected - Penn, Duke, Georgetown, Virginia, Northwestern, Columbia

I got crappy $$ offers from pretty much everywhere, even Colorado and Hastings. I'm an independent student and made less than $30k last year, but hopefully schools will consider you a URM and give you a $$ bump. Good luck!

[rockylo88]

thanks for all the input

[mi-chan17]

We're almost numbers twins (my GPA is only slightly off), and I'm also a Hispanic of the non-URM variety.

I think you're in at basically all the schools you listed - they aren't, however, places I applied to so I'm not sure on things like merit aid. I think with your stats you might want to consider some schools higher ranked than the ones you listed, because I think you could get in and possibly with some money. My cycle looked something like this:

IN: GWU (105k/3 yrs), WUSTL (117k/3 yrs), ND (75k/3 yrs), USC (30k/3 yrs)
WL: Michigan, GTown, Duke, UCLA, Chicago

So I think it might be worthwhile for you to shoot apps to places higher up on the list - bear in mind that you'll likely get fee waivers to do so. Based on my stats and my outcomes, I wasn't treated as an URM. However, I also didn't write a DS - I just checked the appropriate boxes on the applications (and yes, they did typically ask what type of 'Hispanic' I was). Writing a good DS, like Miamiman suggested, might give you a larger boost than any I might have received.

Good luck with your cycle!

[SupraVln180]

I'm Cuban too and I have heard we do not get much of a boost, however I am American Indian as well, could that give me a boost by being of very diverse cultural origin?

[NU_Jet55]

I'm Cuban too and I have heard we do not get much of a boost, however I am American Indian as well, could that give me a boost by being of very diverse cultural origin?

American Indian blood is GOLD. Can I have some?

[Jacktone]

I'm Cuban too and I have heard we do not get much of a boost, however I am American Indian as well, could that give me a boost by being of very diverse cultural origin?

American Indian blood is GOLD. Can I have some?

I see this comment about the value of the NA URM bump here on TLS sometimes, and I'm wondering why posters have this perception. I'm not saying that this isn't the case. In fact, I personally hope this is the case as I myself am a legally enrolled member of a federally recognized Indian Tribe and am a 170+ LSAT scorer. However, in trying to gauge my own chances, I have spent a fair amount of time searching TLS, LSN, and available ABA data for NA related information. The conclusion I have come to is that there are so few NA candidates that it is impossible to determine how large of a bump NAs really receive. The few NA 160+ LSN profiles from the past few cycles, though, have gone consistently worse than cycles I have seen of AA applicants with similar numbers. Again, the data is so small that I can't be certain, but if forced to hazard a guess I would say NA URM bump is closer to that of Mexican URM bump. I sometimes suspect that Native Americans are such a small segment of the US population that some schools feel if any percentage of their student bodies is NA then they have done their jobs. I know that data about matriculants is not necessarily indicative of offers of admission, but I still find it disheartening that some T14s have even had 0% NA enrollment at certain points during the past decade and that Yale in particular does not enroll any Native Americans some cycles.

Again, I am not saying that American Indian blood is not GOLD. It's just that some of my first feedback from TLS gave me HYS aspirations, and my subsequent research has made me question that assumption. I'm just very interested in understanding why people think NA is one of the most substantial URM boosts.

[smov_operator]

You should apply to higher schools

+1