Page 1 of 1
3.9 GPA, 174 LSAT - Evaluate My Chances
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 5:54 am
by david.patel
Do I have a good shot at getting into one of Yale, Harvard, or Stanford? 50% chance of getting into at least one? 75%?
Would Columbia and Berkeley be sufficient as my safeties, or do I need to add in a few other T14?
My 174 is a retake. I originally got a 167. Will all of theses schools take my highest score?
Finally, my college is a state school. Will this lessen the credibility of my GPA?
Re: 3.9 GPA, 174 LSAT - Evaluate My Chances
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:05 am
by lawyerwannabe
Wrong place to post. But I will respond anyways.
Your GPA is pretty much equivalent to HYS median. Your LSAT is above every school's median. Numbers-wise, you are looking solid. However, I would say that none of HYS are locks.
Your GPA nor your LSAT blow HYS medians' out of the water. Thus, for YS, you will probably need some pretty nice softs to consider yourself as having a good chance at acceptance (e.g. Ivy undergrad, great WE, military overseas, varsity athlete, etc.).
H is your best chance at the T3. They seem to view a retake the least negatively and are the most number driven due to their high medians and large class size. They do not have the luxury of being as picky with their applicants as YS. However, there has been a shift towards favoring WE at Harvard. Do you have any?
Columbia is a good safety with your numbers. I would also apply to Chicago, NYU, and Penn at least as safeties. Berkeley can almost never be considered a safety. They are as fickle with applicants as YS. Once again, number-wise your application is golden for Berkeley; but they have accepted applicants with worse numbers and rejected ones with better numbers than yourself.
Most schools will look pretty much exclusively at your higher score. HYS may be a different story though. There are some instances where an outlier WL/rejection on LSN is due to that person having their higher LSAT score as a retake. All other schools though, including Columbia, will probably look at you as a 3.9 / 174 candidate.
There are many people attending HYS who went to a college state school for their undergraduate studies. However, having gone to a better undergraduate institute is a definite plus for YS as, like I said, they have less seats to fill and pick all the "special snowflakes".
HTH.
Re: 3.9 GPA, 174 LSAT - Evaluate My Chances
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:11 am
by Dany
^Agreed with all of this.
Your safeties should be every T-14 school that offers you a fee waiver. Even if you think you'd never attend the school, it can be useful to apply for scholarship negotiations. Also, though you will likely get Columbia, only applying to HYSCB would be very foolish.
Re: 3.9 GPA, 174 LSAT - Evaluate My Chances
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:16 am
by YourCaptain
Apply to T10, you'll get something with cash, or H at sticker. Maybe Stanford
Re: 3.9 GPA, 174 LSAT - Evaluate My Chances
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:33 am
by TheFactor
Enjoy Harvard.
Re: 3.9 GPA, 174 LSAT - Evaluate My Chances
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 10:39 am
by JamMasterJ
Dany wrote: only applying to HYSCB would be very foolish.
Re: 3.9 GPA, 174 LSAT - Evaluate My Chances
Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2011 11:55 pm
by glewz
Great chance at H, C, and B. You should apply to some others to secure $$$.
S & Y would require some meaningful softs.
Re: 3.9 GPA, 174 LSAT - Evaluate My Chances
Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 12:06 am
by kazu
Dany wrote:^Agreed with all of this.
Your safeties should be every T-14 school that offers you a fee waiver. Even if you think you'd never attend the school, it can be useful to apply for scholarship negotiations. Also, though you will likely get Columbia, only applying to HYSCB would be very foolish.
This.
Also, this may go without saying but spend some time on the non-HYSCB school's apps as well. Your #s are YP territory for them, so not doing the optional essays, or sending in poor ones, will probably get you WLed.
I'd say apply to HYSCCNB as targets/reaches, and then one or two among MVP, depending on preference/fee waivers.