Top Law Schools

Hey all,

First post from a long time lurker. Thanks to everyone here on TLS for being such a great resource.

I'm trying to decide my best course of action for the upcoming cycle.

Trying to decide if I should make a run at some top 14 or if I should be content taking money at a lesser place.

Do I have any chance EDing at NYU or Penn? I'd also add Northwestern to that list but I lack any work experience so am assuming I'm out. I assume Columbia isn't an option. Less attractive to me are Duke and Cornell because of their geographic locations, but I think I have a solid RD shot at these places anyway.


Thanks to all for your help.

You should at least apply to the T14 (probably Stanford and down).

If you are aiming for biglaw, I would definitely say T14, but that is a personal evaluation. Considering debt is a concern of yours, don't ED.

Thanks for the speedy response.

It's not that debt is an end-all overwhelming concern- If I were to get into Penn or NYU ED, id be willing to take the financial burden. The question is do I have a reasonable enough chance at acceptance that I could forgo a solid shot at full ride GW. (The person at GW who came up with this full ride ED option is a marketing genius.)

Redhornet110 wrote:Thanks for the speedy response.

It's not that debt is an end-all overwhelming concern- If I were to get into Penn or NYU ED, id be willing to take the financial burden. The question is do I have a reasonable enough chance at acceptance that I could forgo a solid shot at full ride GW. (The person at GW who came up with this full ride ED option is a marketing genius.)

I would say that your chances at Penn and NYU even with ED are not very good. Is retaking an option?

You should get in to at least one or two of michigan, duke, cornell, georgetown. If you are really attracted to GW I think that could be a good choice for you but remember at GW you will probably need top quarter for biglaw where cornell or duke you should be fine at top half.

As a semi-reverse splitter you will probably get a decent amount of WL's. You have an outside shot at Stanford, probably WL at CCN. I think at least one of MVP will take you.

Depending on how risky you feel, if you do ED I would say NYU, possibly CLS. But again I'm not entirely sure if ED'ing is worth it. Hopefully others will weigh in on this.

I decided against retaking after a few weeks of fretting over it. My PTs ranged from 169-173 with the average at 171. I figured with the nervousness of test day 3 points off my average wasn't that bad.. didn't want to risk doing worse. I do understand the massive difference 3 points can make for sure but I've decide I'm gonna play this hand.

Would it change anything if I went to undergrad at one of these top places and took a law class there? I could write about it in optional essay, etc.

bk187: why do you say ED NYU or CLS but not others like penn?

Considering you want NYC/DC biglaw, with your numbers you will likely at least get into a peer school of Penn if you don't get into Penn. Since its peer schools have similar placement to Penn, it feels like a waste to ED there. CCN do have a definite advantage for biglaw compared to the lower T14 and even compared to MVP (reading the last OCI results was that CCN placed roughly 70% of their class via OCI whereas MVP was closer to 50%). Thus I feel that reaching to NYU is worth it because of the better prospects.

IMHO bk is being extremely over generous. Look at LSN yourself. But of course throwing out extra apps is always worth it.

Patriot1208 wrote:IMHO bk is being extremely over generous. Look at LSN yourself. But of course throwing out extra apps is always worth it.

You are probably right. I'm not saying his chances are great at NYU ED, but do you think that is the wrong decision?

Right- something tells me that an ED to NYU would be a bit too much of a longshot. (that something is LSN)
I feel like an ED at penn would be a within reason shot that's worth sacrificing GW full ride for. I could be way off though..

Money talks and bullshit walks !

texaslawyer wrote:Money talks and bullshit walks !

No doubt about that my friend!

It does bring another thought: If I dont ED at GW, maybe I could count on getting their big 105k package through regular decision? (Is it true that the ED package is guaranteed while the others have min GPAs?)

ED to NYU. It's something of a longshot but they do love high GPAs. Don't go to GW if you're truly a biglaw hopeful. Over the span of your life, your earnings will probably more than justify the NYU investment.

bk187 wrote:

Patriot1208 wrote:IMHO bk is being extremely over generous. Look at LSN yourself. But of course throwing out extra apps is always worth it.

You are probably right. I'm not saying his chances are great at NYU ED, but do you think that is the wrong decision?

Depends on what is right for him, personally, I wouldn't, but i'd also probably retake.

So you think the career advantages of NYU over MVP (as described by bk187 above) outweigh the fact that the chance at acceptance at NYU is lower?
The problem with considering MVP as interchangeable is that I have a strong preference for P out of the three, based mainly on geographic location. Id be much happier paying sticker and living in a big city than I would be paying sticker and living in places that I consider much less interesting. For these reasons I'm leaning ED Penn..

Redhornet110 wrote:So you think the career advantages of NYU over MVP (as described by bk187 above) outweigh the fact that the chance at acceptance at NYU is lower?
The problem with considering MVP as interchangeable is that I have a strong preference for P out of the three, based mainly on geographic location. Id be much happier paying sticker and living in a big city than I would be paying sticker and living in places that I consider much less interesting. For these reasons I'm leaning ED Penn..

I think that NYU is definitely an advantage over MVP (70% versus 50% placement). The question is how much more likely is a Penn ED than an NYU ED. I don't think it is that much more, if at all, though I could be wrong.

I have your exact numbers, in addition to the same idea of where I want to live and practice, etc. I've also contemplated the GW scholly. Basically, we're in the same shoes.

I've pretty much decided on ED to one of CCN. Although the chances are low, I know I'd be more than happy to pay sticker for one of these schools. Also, if you get your app. in early and the decision of WL or reject comes early, you can double dip your ED and switch it to another school I believe.

It'll be very interesting to see how our cycles compare.

bk187 wrote:

Redhornet110 wrote:So you think the career advantages of NYU over MVP (as described by bk187 above) outweigh the fact that the chance at acceptance at NYU is lower?
The problem with considering MVP as interchangeable is that I have a strong preference for P out of the three, based mainly on geographic location. Id be much happier paying sticker and living in a big city than I would be paying sticker and living in places that I consider much less interesting. For these reasons I'm leaning ED Penn..

I think that NYU is definitely an advantage over MVP (70% versus 50% placement). The question is how much more likely is a Penn ED than an NYU ED. I don't think it is that much more, if at all, though I could be wrong.

This, the best data we have says around 65-70% of CCN are getting biglaw placement and just oer 50% for pmvb

And GW is more like top 25%?

Redhornet110 wrote:And GW is more like top 25%?

this has been the guestimate floating around from the limited data.