3.398, 172 UCLA ED?

[yezzir]

What do you guys think? I really want to go to UCLA for several reasons. It's where I'm from and I've always had a personal connection to the school through its sports.

Do I have a solid chance if I apply early? The hourumd.com numbers give me a 50% chance right now if I apply regular but I'd much rather be in the 70-80% ballpark. Will ED give me the boost I need here?

Also if it matters, I went to a top 5 undergrad (although I know this shouldn't matter) and was Sports Editor for a year at the school newspaper. Upward GPA trend although that tends to be the case with most splitters I'm guessing. I got a 169 on my first test and a 172 just right now; thankfully UCLA takes the higher of the two although they will still see the 169 of course..

Thanks for your advice!

Jack

[buckilaw]

If you have any work experience NU would likely be a lock. An ED at UVA might work as well. What you need to consider is that you could be giving up a shot at higher ranked schools, as well as any financial aid by applying ED.

[RockyIII]

Would you be okay with USC? I would apply to both RD and try to negotiate...

[yezzir]

@buckilaw: I don't really mind giving up a shot at higher-ranked schools. Above all, I want to live in Southern California. Financial aid is not really an issue as my parents will be covering most of, if not all of my education.

@RockyIII: Honestly, I COULD go to USC but I would be pretty damn conflicted. I would almost rather go to to UC-Irvine cause I love the Orange County area. I know it's irrational but I grew up hating USC my whole life, it would be hard to go there even for grad school (I didn't apply there for undergrad). I will definitely shoot an application to them though if I don't apply to UCLA ED.

My main question is are my chances at UCLA good enough RD that I don't need the extra security of ED? Hourumd only gives me 50% and I just don't feel comfortable sending my application to UCLA with only that much of a chance. I've thought a lot about what I want from the law school I go to and UCLA fits everything perfectly.

[ViP]

@buckilaw: I don't really mind giving up a shot at higher-ranked schools. Above all, I want to live in Southern California. Financial aid is not really an issue as my parents will be covering most of, if not all of my education.

@RockyIII: Honestly, I COULD go to USC but I would be pretty damn conflicted. I would almost rather go to to UC-Irvine cause I love the Orange County area. I know it's irrational but I grew up hating USC my whole life, it would be hard to go there even for grad school (I didn't apply there for undergrad). I will definitely shoot an application to them though if I don't apply to UCLA ED.

My main question is are my chances at UCLA good enough RD that I don't need the extra security of ED? Hourumd only gives me 50% and I just don't feel comfortable sending my application to UCLA with only that much of a chance. I've thought a lot about what I want from the law school I go to and UCLA fits everything perfectly.

FWIW countless UCI students turned down USC for UCI. Granted, they received scholarships larger than 1/3, but with your numbers you could probably pull greater than 1/3 from UCI.

[buckilaw]

Check out lawschoolpredictor.com and lawschoolnumbers.com. Look at data from the past 3 years on LSN and see how high LSAT low GPA applicants have fared. My intuition is that you don't need to ED, but I've also heard that UCLA is not splitter friendly. Using LSN should allow you to make an informed decision. Best of luck.

[buckilaw]

Also, if you don't ED you could hit up Boalt and Stanford. Both of which ought to place fairly well in Southern California.

[dpk711]

@buckilaw: I don't really mind giving up a shot at higher-ranked schools. Above all, I want to live in Southern California. Financial aid is not really an issue as my parents will be covering most of, if not all of my education.

@RockyIII: Honestly, I COULD go to USC but I would be pretty damn conflicted. I would almost rather go to to UC-Irvine cause I love the Orange County area. I know it's irrational but I grew up hating USC my whole life, it would be hard to go there even for grad school (I didn't apply there for undergrad). I will definitely shoot an application to them though if I don't apply to UCLA ED.

My main question is are my chances at UCLA good enough RD that I don't need the extra security of ED? Hourumd only gives me 50% and I just don't feel comfortable sending my application to UCLA with only that much of a chance. I've thought a lot about what I want from the law school I go to and UCLA fits everything perfectly.

I know you already implied it, but this would be a terrible reason not to apply to USC especially if you want to end up in SoCal...

[cinefile 17]

Honestly...I think if you are set on SoCal you should ED UCLA. Your chances are mediocre at USC and even less than that at UCLA imho. You aren't likely to get $$$ at peer schools or higher anyway. I think people tend to underestimated the emphasis these schools put on GPA. According to the LSN charts they rarely take people under 3.5, even w/ LSATs above the 75 percentile. When you do check out LSN, check out how many of the green dots around your numbers range are ED at UCLA, almost all of them.

I got into UCLA ED with similar numbers to you (a little lower) and I WOULD NOT have gotten in RD (I don't think).

[buckilaw]

@buckilaw: I don't really mind giving up a shot at higher-ranked schools. Above all, I want to live in Southern California. Financial aid is not really an issue as my parents will be covering most of, if not all of my education.

@RockyIII: Honestly, I COULD go to USC but I would be pretty damn conflicted. I would almost rather go to to UC-Irvine cause I love the Orange County area. I know it's irrational but I grew up hating USC my whole life, it would be hard to go there even for grad school (I didn't apply there for undergrad). I will definitely shoot an application to them though if I don't apply to UCLA ED.

My main question is are my chances at UCLA good enough RD that I don't need the extra security of ED? Hourumd only gives me 50% and I just don't feel comfortable sending my application to UCLA with only that much of a chance. I've thought a lot about what I want from the law school I go to and UCLA fits everything perfectly.

I know you already implied it, but this would be a terrible reason not to apply to USC especially if you want to end up in SoCal...

+1. I was raised as an OSU fan and I'm attending Michigan. If I can deal with this situation you ought to be able to stomach USC

[dpk711]

@buckilaw: I don't really mind giving up a shot at higher-ranked schools. Above all, I want to live in Southern California. Financial aid is not really an issue as my parents will be covering most of, if not all of my education.

@RockyIII: Honestly, I COULD go to USC but I would be pretty damn conflicted. I would almost rather go to to UC-Irvine cause I love the Orange County area. I know it's irrational but I grew up hating USC my whole life, it would be hard to go there even for grad school (I didn't apply there for undergrad). I will definitely shoot an application to them though if I don't apply to UCLA ED.

My main question is are my chances at UCLA good enough RD that I don't need the extra security of ED? Hourumd only gives me 50% and I just don't feel comfortable sending my application to UCLA with only that much of a chance. I've thought a lot about what I want from the law school I go to and UCLA fits everything perfectly.

I know you already implied it, but this would be a terrible reason not to apply to USC especially if you want to end up in SoCal...

+1. I was raised as an OSU fan and I'm attending Michigan. If I can deal with this situation you ought to be able to stomach USC

Also, I went to USC undergrad but that didn't prevent me from applying to UCLA Law...

[sanetruth]

I don't think you should ED. There isn't enough evidence that ED would help you more than RD, and while your GPA is low for them, your LSAT more than makes up for it. UCLA is weird and oftentimes they will throw bones to people you wouldn't expect. Call it "holistic", call it arbitrary, but with your numbers I think you'd be screwing yourself out of better options for not that good of a reason.

[M&A621]

but with your numbers I think you'd be screwing yourself out of better options for not that good of a reason.

+1


I knew someone with a GPA below 3.0, 175 LSAT who got into UCLA. Have faith that you can get into their law school without throwing all of your eggs in one basket. With your numbers you can get great schollys at other Top 20 schools to counter UCLA (if you're waitlisted). UCLA is also my first choice, but nothing would make me ED to any school, let alone the almighty Bruins.