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I'd appreciate any thoughts.

174
3.11
2 years work experience

I applied late, as I was working on a political campaign with intent to go next cycle, but my candidate withdrew early, and I was able to get my apps off by mid-December for this cycle. I know that's late for splitters, but I took a shot.

I have: GW with $30,000 and the Preferred Waitlist at GULC (those were all I applied at).

What do you think? GW now or ride the WL and go next cycle?

30k total for GW?

I would shoot for next cycle. (GULC at sticker is scary too)

Yup, total. $10k per year.

You open to applying to more schools in the T14?

Somebody is going to want that 174 to up their stats.

I'd prefer to stay in the DC area, but I wouldn't rule out applying elsewhere. If anywhere else, I'd like to stay in a big city environment. NY seems like a reach for me for T14 based on numbers, Philly as well, so DC or Chicago could work. But DC preferably.

Next cycle....if you do more research on these forums, you'll hear some bad stories about GW.

Warning: 0L here

Effectively, it is the stories on this forum that made me a bit uneasy. I've visited GW's campus, met with various professors and students, and I've really liked it. But when I hear that anyone outside the top 20-30% is "screwed", combined with the lower scholarship package than I was hoping for (so I'm now expecting 200Kish CoA), I've become more than a little uneasy. I know to take stories here, as well as the sales pitches on campus, with a grain of salt, but all together with what I've read on other sources, everything seems to be up in the air.

Does anybody have any reason to definitely go to GW? I saw a couple votes for it. I'm really just looking for some extra perspective. Again, anybody's thoughts are appreciated.

Stormtrooper1018 wrote:Effectively, it is the stories on this forum that made me a bit uneasy. I've visited GW's campus, met with various professors and students, and I've really liked it. But when I hear that anyone outside the top 20-30% is "screwed", combined with the lower scholarship package than I was hoping for (so I'm now expecting 200Kish CoA), I've become more than a little uneasy. I know to take stories here, as well as the sales pitches on campus, with a grain of salt, but all together with what I've read on other sources, everything seems to be up in the air.

The statistics are downright terrifying: http://www.law.gwu.edu/Careers/prospect ... stics.aspx

1. Almost 20% of their students didn't find full time, permanent jobs as lawyers. That's actually not too bad for a T30 law school. But what I think is terrifying is that of those people who didn't find full time, permanent jobs as lawyers before graduation, not a single one of them was able to find one of those jobs in the 9 months after graduation.

2. Less than 25% of their grads are employed in firms of 100+ or in federal judicial clerkships. This is decent proxy for the amount of good outcomes at GW.

3. There are a lot of people in government, but we don't know if those are actually full time and permanent. We also don't know if those are jobs that require JD's.

4. Because of the bimodal salary distribution, if you're not getting a job at a big firm you're probably not making enough. This is what makes that 200k debt so terrifying (keep in mind it's likely close to 250k because of interest that will accrue while you're in school). It's not like there's a bunch of middle of the road positions out there where you can make 100k rather than 160k or 60k. They exist, but they are rare.

Wait a year and ED to NU and GULC. The WE will look very good and with that LSAT you should be able to crack the t14. Good luck.

Next cycle, ED to Northwestern.