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I am a 3.73/172 with a couple years of professional experience. I'm also a parent, which may/may not help me as an underrepresented/non-traditional law school student. I have no idea where to start with my law school search for the next application cycle.

Can anyone help? Based on averages, I can clearly go somewhere good, but there are so many schools to choose from. I currently live in NY, but am theoretically willing to go anywhere.

THANK YOU!

Apply to the T14 plus any strong regional school in an area in which you'd like to live/work post-graduation.

chiwachiwa wrote:Apply to the T14 plus any strong regional school in an area in which you'd like to live/work post-graduation.

Definitely agree on that, and I appreciate the response. Once I get to that level, is there really a difference? Will it just come down to where will offer me the most money?

Since you currently live in New York (assuming NYC), try NYU, Columbia & Penn. Cornell is another to consider, although a few hours drive from NYC.

If willing to leave the area, then Michigan, Virginia & Duke are worth an application. Northwestern in Chicago is another outstanding option.

CanadianWolf wrote:Since you currently live in New York (assuming NYC), try NYU, Columbia & Penn. Cornell is another to consider, although a few hours drive from NYC.

If willing to leave the area, then Michigan, Virginia & Duke are worth an application. Northwestern in Chicago is another outstanding option.

Actually in Albany...which means I definitely want to leave the area. Is Berkeley or any other non-Stanford school out west worth consideration?

WhiteyCakes wrote:

chiwachiwa wrote:Apply to the T14 plus any strong regional school in an area in which you'd like to live/work post-graduation.

Definitely agree on that, and I appreciate the response. Once I get to that level, is there really a difference? Will it just come down to where will offer me the most money?

There are so many possibilities it's hard to answer such a broad question. Apply, get acceptances and scholarship offers, and go from there.

Well, you can almost certainly filter your options to the T14, so you are really just going to be looking at those schools. You will likely be choosing between a T6 like Columbia, NYU or Chicago versus a Cornell, Penn, Michigan, etc. with some money. Do you have any strong ideas about what kind of practice you want to go into after you graduate? If you absolutely know you want to do public interest/government work, I would consider going somewhere that gives you some money and has a good LRAP program. If you want to BigLaw, I then I would just aim for Columbia/NYU/Chicago.

traehekat wrote:Well, you can almost certainly filter your options to the T14, so you are really just going to be looking at those schools. You will likely be choosing between a T6 like Columbia, NYU or Chicago versus a Cornell, Penn, Michigan, etc. with some money. Do you have any strong ideas about what kind of practice you want to go into after you graduate? If you absolutely know you want to do public interest/government work, I would consider going somewhere that gives you some money and has a good LRAP program. If you want to BigLaw, I then I would just aim for Columbia/NYU/Chicago.

I have my sights set on public interest/government. If I could get a judicial clerkship out of law school, or start practicing in public interest, those would be my top options at this point.

chiwachiwa wrote:Apply to the T14 plus any strong regional school in an area in which you'd like to live/work post-graduation.

This. Apply to everything in the 14 - even places you are less inclined to go to, because you might get money there you can use to negotiate with. If things go well you'll be looking at some higher end T-14 schools with maybe a little money (if you are lucky), lower end T-14 schools with more money, and some regional tier 1s with hopefully something approaching a full ride.

Tadatsune wrote:

chiwachiwa wrote:Apply to the T14 plus any strong regional school in an area in which you'd like to live/work post-graduation.

This. Apply to everything in the 14 - even places you are less inclined to go to, because you might get money there you can use to negotiate with. If things go well you'll be looking at some higher end T-14 schools with maybe a little money (if you are lucky), lower end T-14 schools with more money, and some regional tier 1s with hopefully something approaching a full ride.

Would a regional tier 1 be considered anything within T-50 that is outside T-14?

WhiteyCakes wrote:

Tadatsune wrote:

chiwachiwa wrote:Apply to the T14 plus any strong regional school in an area in which you'd like to live/work post-graduation.

This. Apply to everything in the 14 - even places you are less inclined to go to, because you might get money there you can use to negotiate with. If things go well you'll be looking at some higher end T-14 schools with maybe a little money (if you are lucky), lower end T-14 schools with more money, and some regional tier 1s with hopefully something approaching a full ride.

Would a regional tier 1 be considered anything within T-50 that is outside T-14?

Essentially.