Top Law Schools

So a little background about me:
LSAT: 168
GPA: 3.70
3 years work experience

I hope to practice in Chicago and thus far my cycle has gone like this:
In: UIUC, Indiana, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Washington (St. Louis)
Waitlist: Columbia, Cornell. Virginia, and Penn
Still Waiting on: Northwestern and Michigan

I'd love to go to Columbia or Penn but is it worth waiting on them? I have my heart now set on ND and both Columbia and Penn stated I won't find out anything until mid-May (past the deposit deadline for ND).

clint4law wrote:So a little background about me:
LSAT: 168
GPA: 3.70
3 years work experience

I hope to practice in Chicago and thus far my cycle has gone like this:
In: UIUC, Indiana, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Washington (St. Louis)
Waitlist: Columbia, Cornell. Virginia, and Penn
Still Waiting on: Northwestern and Michigan

I'd love to go to Columbia or Penn but is it worth waiting on them? I have my heart now set on ND and both Columbia and Penn stated I won't find out anything until mid-May (past the deposit deadline for ND).

schollys?

sanpiero wrote:

clint4law wrote:So a little background about me:
LSAT: 168
GPA: 3.70
3 years work experience

I hope to practice in Chicago and thus far my cycle has gone like this:
In: UIUC, Indiana, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Washington (St. Louis)
Waitlist: Columbia, Cornell. Virginia, and Penn
Still Waiting on: Northwestern and Michigan

I'd love to go to Columbia or Penn but is it worth waiting on them? I have my heart now set on ND and both Columbia and Penn stated I won't find out anything until mid-May (past the deposit deadline for ND).

schollys?

Yes....but to be honest I've done really well in my professional career and money will not play a huge role in where I go to school.

clint4law wrote:

sanpiero wrote:

clint4law wrote:So a little background about me:
LSAT: 168
GPA: 3.70
3 years work experience

I hope to practice in Chicago and thus far my cycle has gone like this:
In: UIUC, Indiana, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Washington (St. Louis)
Waitlist: Columbia, Cornell. Virginia, and Penn
Still Waiting on: Northwestern and Michigan

I'd love to go to Columbia or Penn but is it worth waiting on them? I have my heart now set on ND and both Columbia and Penn stated I won't find out anything until mid-May (past the deposit deadline for ND).

schollys?

Yes....but to be honest I've done really well in my professional career and money will not play a huge role in where I go to school.

Notre Dame. Stay on the waitlists at all.

bump

Notre Dame, and stay on waitlists +1.

Just make sure they don't require you to withdraw other apps once you place your deposit.

And, I envy the hell outta you for being able to say "the money isn't really an issue". You should forget law school and move to a tropical island.

Great Satchmo wrote:Notre Dame, and stay on waitlists +1.

Just make sure they don't require you to withdraw other apps once you place your deposit.

And, I envy the hell outta you for being able to say "the money isn't really an issue". You should forget law school and move to a tropical island.

Thanks for your input.

clint4law wrote: Yes....but to be honest I've done really well in my professional career and money will not play a huge role in where I go to school.

Even if you somehow earned six figures for those short 3 years, I am puzzled by this attitude (unless your family is loaded and will throw cash at you of course). Sometimes a $60,000 differential in cost is dismissed as inconsequential, but that's like rolling a brand new Porsche Boxster off a cliff. Loaded or not, it's a big waste.

If money isn't an issue, definitely wait for the T-14. Put down a deposit if you have to, and if you get in elsewhere, just withdraw...

clint4law wrote:Yes....but to be honest I've done really well in my professional career and money will not play a huge role in where I go to school.

I'd be really interested to know which area of entry-level work allows one to amass enough wealth in 3 years to defray a substantial portion of LS cost...

As the PP said, go T14 if money isn't an issue. With your WE (if it's in business, as i presume it is), i'd be surprised if you get dinged at both UM and NU. Send LOCIs to the schools that WL'ed

sanpiero wrote:

clint4law wrote:Yes....but to be honest I've done really well in my professional career and money will not play a huge role in where I go to school.

I'd be really interested to know which area of entry-level work allows one to amass enough wealth in 3 years to defray a substantial portion of LS cost...

As the PP said, go T14 if money isn't an issue

Maybe OP is a non-trad and has had longer than a 3 year professional career.

sanpiero wrote:

clint4law wrote:Yes....but to be honest I've done really well in my professional career and money will not play a huge role in where I go to school.

I'd be really interested to know which area of entry-level work allows one to amass enough wealth in 3 years to defray a substantial portion of LS cost...

As the PP said, go T14 if money isn't an issue

to answer your question.....I started a business immediately after undergrad and recently sold it to a Fortune 500 company.

IMHO it's not worth waiting for Columbia or Penn, since you're below both medians and have zero chance of getting off the waitlists. In fact, I'd say Cornell is the only school at which you have any chance, among the WL/pending schools. So I'd deposit at ND now and ride the waitlists to the end.

keg411 wrote:

sanpiero wrote:

clint4law wrote:Yes....but to be honest I've done really well in my professional career and money will not play a huge role in where I go to school.

I'd be really interested to know which area of entry-level work allows one to amass enough wealth in 3 years to defray a substantial portion of LS cost...

As the PP said, go T14 if money isn't an issue

Maybe OP is a non-trad and has had longer than a 3 year professional career.

I'd find it hard to believe OP has 3 years of work experience and a professional career of more than 3 years

EDIT: sp

clint4law wrote:

sanpiero wrote:

clint4law wrote:Yes....but to be honest I've done really well in my professional career and money will not play a huge role in where I go to school.

I'd be really interested to know which area of entry-level work allows one to amass enough wealth in 3 years to defray a substantial portion of LS cost...

As the PP said, go T14 if money isn't an issue

to answer your question.....I started a business immediately after undergrad and recently sold it to a Fortune 500 company.

impressive! congrats

Our #'s are not too far apart ... my GPA is a bit higher, but I got off Penn (August) and NU (June) after having applied past both schools deadlines. I sent LOCI about every 2.5 weeks.

im_blue wrote:IMHO it's not worth waiting for Columbia or Penn, since you're below both medians and have zero chance of getting off the waitlists. In fact, I'd say Cornell is the only school at which you have any chance, among the WL/pending schools. So I'd deposit at ND now and ride the waitlists to the end.

False. Above both Penn medians. I see no reason why you shouldn't remain on Penn's WL and send a prompt LOCI, unless of course you don't want Penn over ND (in which case i'd say you're crazy)

sanpiero wrote:

im_blue wrote:IMHO it's not worth waiting for Columbia or Penn, since you're below both medians and have zero chance of getting off the waitlists. In fact, I'd say Cornell is the only school at which you have any chance, among the WL/pending schools. So I'd deposit at ND now and ride the waitlists to the end.

False. Above both Penn medians. I see no reason why you shouldn't remain on Penn's WL and send a prompt LOCI, unless of course you don't want Penn over ND (in which case i'd say you're crazy)

What? Isn't Penn's median LSAT 170? OP is probably out at all of the T-14s except Cornell. OP's LSAT is below every T-14s median except for Boalt's and Cornell's.

sanpiero wrote:

im_blue wrote:IMHO it's not worth waiting for Columbia or Penn, since you're below both medians and have zero chance of getting off the waitlists. In fact, I'd say Cornell is the only school at which you have any chance, among the WL/pending schools. So I'd deposit at ND now and ride the waitlists to the end.

False. Above both Penn medians. I see no reason why you shouldn't remain on Penn's WL and send a prompt LOCI, unless of course you don't want Penn over ND (in which case i'd say you're crazy)

3.70/168 < 3.82/170
I knew lawyers are bad at math, but jeez...

sanpiero wrote:

clint4law wrote:

sanpiero wrote:

clint4law wrote:Yes....but to be honest I've done really well in my professional career and money will not play a huge role in where I go to school.

I'd be really interested to know which area of entry-level work allows one to amass enough wealth in 3 years to defray a substantial portion of LS cost...

As the PP said, go T14 if money isn't an issue

to answer your question.....I started a business immediately after undergrad and recently sold it to a Fortune 500 company.

impressive! congrats

thanks

im_blue wrote:

sanpiero wrote:

im_blue wrote:IMHO it's not worth waiting for Columbia or Penn, since you're below both medians and have zero chance of getting off the waitlists. In fact, I'd say Cornell is the only school at which you have any chance, among the WL/pending schools. So I'd deposit at ND now and ride the waitlists to the end.

False. Above both Penn medians. I see no reason why you shouldn't remain on Penn's WL and send a prompt LOCI, unless of course you don't want Penn over ND (in which case i'd say you're crazy)

3.70/168 < 3.82/170
I knew lawyers are bad at math, but jeez...

Redacted for unprecedented idiocy

clint4law wrote:So a little background about me:
LSAT: 168
GPA: 3.70
3 years work experience

I hope to practice in Chicago and thus far my cycle has gone like this:
In: UIUC, Indiana, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Washington (St. Louis)
Waitlist: Columbia, Cornell. Virginia, and Penn
Still Waiting on: Northwestern and Michigan

I'd love to go to Columbia or Penn but is it worth waiting on them? I have my heart now set on ND and both Columbia and Penn stated I won't find out anything until mid-May (past the deposit deadline for ND).

UIUC is the best nont14 for Chicago, but ITE none of the above that aren't T13 placed well.

You should go the best you get in this order:

Columbia
NU
Mich
Penn
Uva
Cornell
UIUC
ND
Wustl
Minn
Indy

This list would change drastically if you didn't specifically want Chicago.

Desert Fox wrote:

clint4law wrote:So a little background about me:
LSAT: 168
GPA: 3.70
3 years work experience

I hope to practice in Chicago and thus far my cycle has gone like this:
In: UIUC, Indiana, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Washington (St. Louis)
Waitlist: Columbia, Cornell. Virginia, and Penn
Still Waiting on: Northwestern and Michigan

I'd love to go to Columbia or Penn but is it worth waiting on them? I have my heart now set on ND and both Columbia and Penn stated I won't find out anything until mid-May (past the deposit deadline for ND).

UIUC is the best nont14 for Chicago, but ITE none of the above that aren't T13 placed well.

You should go the best you get in this order:

Columbia
NU
Mich
Penn
Uva
Cornell
UIUC
ND
Wustl
Minn
Indy

This list would change drastically if you didn't specifically want Chicago.

So UIUC ranks higher than ND for Chicago?

clint4law wrote:So UIUC ranks higher than ND for Chicago?

From what I've heard, ND's main advantage for job placement is the strength of its alumni base. Both UIUC and ND are excellent schools, but their placement in Chicago, especially for biglaw if that's what you're interested in, is going to be tough ITE no matter how you cut it. If you check out the legal employment forum (I'm not sure of the specific thread), you can find some more firsthand evidence of this; apparently, the number of firms that came to UIUC for OCI dropped off considerably this year (although that can be said for most schools, I guess).

Personally, with your #s, I would hold out hope for a T14 to come through. If that doesn't happen, I would go with the cheapest of UIUC, ND, or WUSTL.

thanks