Top Law Schools

Went to Dartmouth for Undergrad/ Will have 2 years of working experience by the time I start school. Average softs (strong leadership, president of a few organizations, volunteered at the hospital) Average - good LOR's

Chances at Columbia ED?
Chicago ED?
NYU ED?
Penn ED?

Where can I get in regular decision? Thanks! Already got into georgetown so far, and have already submitted apps in the middle of september.

evian1212 wrote:Went to Dartmouth for Undergrad/ Will have 2 years of working experience by the time I start school. Average softs (strong leadership, president of a few organizations, volunteered at the hospital) Average - good LOR's

Chances at Columbia ED?
Chicago ED?
NYU ED?
Penn ED?

Where can I get in regular decision? Thanks! Already got into georgetown so far, and have already submitted apps in the middle of september.

No.
Very Small.
Maybe.
Probably.

I'd ED to NYU if I were you. Search NYU and Penn by ED applicants for a better look at your chances

JamMasterJ wrote:I'd ED to NYU if I were you. Search NYU and Penn by ED applicants for a better look at your chances

OP, I have similar numbers to you (177/3.2) and I am going the ED to NYU route, however I am probably not making the rational choice. I'm doing it because I really want to be in NYC for law school, and I think NYC and NYU will both be a much better fit for me than just about anywhere else.

Looking at the facts though, it's really hard to tell if NYU ED will work (odds kind of seem against it), whereas there is lots of evidence that you'll be in at Penn, which is arguably just as good of a school with just as good of employment prospects.

ETA: just to clarify, my basis for the claim that Penn's employment prospects are just as good as NYU is pretty much only lawschooltransparency.com, NLJ 250 placement rankings, and searching TLS, so take it with a grain of salt.

I am deciding between NYU and Penn, but is Columbia really completely out? Especially in light of the large drop in october test-takers? It seems like in 02-03 through 07-08, they took a few people with 175 and 3.3s. Would 3.25 be a bit too low?

Tim0thy222 wrote:

JamMasterJ wrote:I'd ED to NYU if I were you. Search NYU and Penn by ED applicants for a better look at your chances

OP, I have similar numbers to you (177/3.2) and I am going the ED to NYU route, however I am probably not making the rational choice. I'm doing it because I really want to be in NYC for law school, and I think NYC and NYU will both be a much better fit for me than just about anywhere else.

Looking at the facts though, it's really hard to tell if NYU ED will work (odds kind of seem against it), whereas there is lots of evidence that you'll be in at Penn, which is arguably just as good of a school with just as good of employment prospects.

ETA: just to clarify, my basis for the claim that Penn's employment prospects are just as good as NYU is pretty much only lawschooltransparency.com, NLJ 250 placement rankings, and searching TLS, so take it with a grain of salt.

evian1212 wrote:I am deciding between NYU and Penn, but is Columbia really completely out? Especially in light of the large drop in october test-takers? It seems like in 02-03 through 07-08, they took a few people with 175 and 3.3s. Would 3.25 be a bit too low?

Tim0thy222 wrote:

JamMasterJ wrote:I'd ED to NYU if I were you. Search NYU and Penn by ED applicants for a better look at your chances

OP, I have similar numbers to you (177/3.2) and I am going the ED to NYU route, however I am probably not making the rational choice. I'm doing it because I really want to be in NYC for law school, and I think NYC and NYU will both be a much better fit for me than just about anywhere else.

Looking at the facts though, it's really hard to tell if NYU ED will work (odds kind of seem against it), whereas there is lots of evidence that you'll be in at Penn, which is arguably just as good of a school with just as good of employment prospects.

ETA: just to clarify, my basis for the claim that Penn's employment prospects are just as good as NYU is pretty much only lawschooltransparency.com, NLJ 250 placement rankings, and searching TLS, so take it with a grain of salt.

If you want T6, NYU ED is TCR. Columbia is going to have a bigger issue with your gpa that NYU will. Also, the thing about Penn's placement being as good as NYU's is not exactly accurate. NYU grads self-select PI a lot which somewhat invalidates the numbers

JamMasterJ wrote: Also, the thing about Penn's placement being as good as NYU's is not exactly accurate. NYU grads self-select PI a lot which somewhat invalidates the numbers

That makes a lot of sense and is good to know. I don't think I'm going into PI, but I do think I'd enjoy being at a school with a PI slant like NYU, as opposed to a school that is so business focused like Penn.

Also, OP, you may want to consider how you'd feel about ED to UVA if you get rejected from your first ED. If you like the idea of UVA (I sure do), then you may be willing to gamble a bit more with your first ED. The late ED to UVA is in no way a lock, since a lot of people say that they pick up their splitters early, and there's not a lot of data on what happens to a late ED to UVA splitter. I think the odds are pretty good though, and it's a nice option to have if you get rejected from your first ED.