3.12 / 170+* Forum

[SisterRayVU]

I'm wondering about my chances at either GW, Fordham, or George Mason. I feel like GULC is such a reach that there's no point unless I know I scored extremely well on the LSAT, but I'd like to hear if any of the others are such longshots that applying is a waste of dough. LSAT is gonna be in Oct but I'm confident in my ability to score around 172 based on prep at the moment, at the very least 170. I am aware that there is a substantial difference between the two scores :/ The reason I ask now instead of towards the end of October is that I need to prepare how much money I'm going to spend on applications. Unfortunately, I don't really have money to apply to more than 5 schools even with GM being cheap.

FWIW I have decent extracurriculars and almost 2.5 years of work experience + internship with a Congressman's office and his campaign. LORs and PS are strong but I'm not delusional to think they'll make all that big of a difference (not that I'm not working on making my PS stronger, though).

Appreciate the help and the knowledge.

[Samara]

If you get a 171+, you should be able to get GULC. 168+ and you're in at GWU. 165+ and you're in at GMU. Fordham is a little murkier; their GPA floor is about 3.1, but you'd still probably need a 171+ to guarantee avoidance of the waitlist. A 168+ should get you on their waitlist. Of course, if you get the 171+ to ensure admissions at Fordham, you're probably in at GULC, so it's unlikely that you'll end up at Fordham unless you reeeeeally want that school for some reason.

If you can only apply to five schools, wait to get your score before you decide on your five schools. I'm assuming you want NYC/east coast? If you get a 171+, I suggest a list of UVa, NU, GULC, GWU, Fordham. Below 171, GWU, Fordham, W&L, Emory, GMU. Hope that helps!

[SisterRayVU]

If you get a 171+, you should be able to get GULC. 168+ and you're in at GWU. 165+ and you're in at GMU. Fordham is a little murkier; their GPA floor is about 3.1, but you'd still probably need a 171+ to guarantee avoidance of the waitlist. A 168+ should get you on their waitlist. Of course, if you get the 171+ to ensure admissions at Fordham, you're probably in at GULC, so it's unlikely that you'll end up at Fordham unless you reeeeeally want that school for some reason.

If you can only apply to five schools, wait to get your score before you decide on your five schools. I'm assuming you want NYC/east coast? If you get a 171+, I suggest a list of UVa, NU, GULC, GWU, Fordham. Below 171, GWU, Fordham, W&L, Emory, GMU. Hope that helps!

Thank you so much. Your posts are always extremely helpful, especially as someone else said in the role of 'patron saint of splitters' . UVA looks very appealing for a variety of factors, but I was reluctant to apply. My original plan was to send out an application to them for ED as soon as I could. Would it make sense to do that anyway and then sit while I wait on my scores before applying to the other schools?

[Samara]

If you get a 171+, you should be able to get GULC. 168+ and you're in at GWU. 165+ and you're in at GMU. Fordham is a little murkier; their GPA floor is about 3.1, but you'd still probably need a 171+ to guarantee avoidance of the waitlist. A 168+ should get you on their waitlist. Of course, if you get the 171+ to ensure admissions at Fordham, you're probably in at GULC, so it's unlikely that you'll end up at Fordham unless you reeeeeally want that school for some reason.

If you can only apply to five schools, wait to get your score before you decide on your five schools. I'm assuming you want NYC/east coast? If you get a 171+, I suggest a list of UVa, NU, GULC, GWU, Fordham. Below 171, GWU, Fordham, W&L, Emory, GMU. Hope that helps!

Thank you so much. Your posts are always extremely helpful, especially as someone else said in the role of 'patron saint of splitters' . UVA looks very appealing for a variety of factors, but I was reluctant to apply. My original plan was to send out an application to them for ED as soon as I could. Would it make sense to do that anyway and then sit while I wait on my scores before applying to the other schools?

I'm applying ED (not to UVa), but waiting until I get my Oct LSAT score. Since they don't look at it until your score comes in anyway, there's not really any benefit to getting it in earlier. For me, I'm confident that I'll hit my targeted score, but in case I bomb it I want to have the ED option available for a different school. You can have everything prepared in your app though so that as soon as the score is received, you can hit send.