Columbia ED

[scandk]

I can't seem to find too many stats on Columbia ED. Mylsn has one person in my statistical range who applied ED, and she got in. I'm a 169/3.9, and I've already taken the LSAT 3 times. Does anyone have a good feel for the range of stats for Columbia's ED? Is it worth it for me to risk ED?

[R. Jeeves]

Why do you want to ED Columbia?

You can get a decent amount of $ from lower T-14s with your stats.

If you have to pay sticker at Columbia your debt at graduation will be pretty damn close to $300k

I know this doesnt answer your question about your ED chances - ill let someone who is more knowledgable about ED admissions field that one.

[Hutz_and_Goodman]

You can get good money at T14s (Duke, UVA, Northwestern, Gtown, etc.). I don't see why you would ED Columbia unless there is some reason you need to be in NYC for law school. Even then, I would apply Columbia and NYU regular decision.

[Clearly]

Yeah I just wouldn't do it. You're right that there's limited data, but that's because just the schools rank and numbers aren't conducive to early decision. My theory is this, the difference between say Columbia and uva is less than the difference between say uva and schools ranked 17-25. For many kids who couldn't punch into t14 without ED, there's a good incentive to do it if they want prestigious outcomes, but for kids who are competitive for CCN ED, they have viable options for money at lower t14.

[03152016]

applying ED makes negotiating scholarships more challenging, and you run the risk of paying sticker
if you are debt financing, i would consider sticker debt a poor outcome given your numbers
you should be able to get into multiple t14s regular decision with a good shot at substantial merit aid
as much as you may want to attend a certain school, if you are debt financing law school, the prudent decision is to blanket the t14 regular decision

[3499]

I don't know much about the Law School Admissions by the Numbers blog, but there's an August 11, 2013 analysis there making the case that that there is no benefit at all to applying to Columbia ED. The link is http://admissionsbythenumbers.blogspot.com/.

[scandk]

to answer all, I will probably be debt financing, which means I won't apply ED columbia. I got excited after seeing the admit on mylsn, but the cost is too expensive. Looks like I'll be RD'ing all and hoping for the best.

@3499, that link was actually incredibly helpful. That article, along with the one that quantifies the benefits of applying early were really eye-opening.