Should I add any other schools to my list? Forum

[Coveted]

Residency: NJ

Willing to work/live anywhere in the North-East region from Boston down to Virginia.

I hate the city and couldn't see myself studying, working, or living there.

My goal is to keep my law school debt below any potential starting salaries, if I'm lucky enough to land a job!

I'm a prestige whore, but have slowly started talking myself into attending a strong regional school on a good scholarship.

The List:

Dream schools: UVA or Cornell

Reach/Prestige: BC and W&L

Target Regional + Scholarship: Rutgers Camden/Newark, Seton Hall

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Is their anything that I am missing? Should I apply to schools like Fordham, Cardozo (fee waiver), UMN (fee waiver), St. Johns (fee waiver) even though I have no desire to attend? The only reason I could see myself applying to the fee waiver schools is for scholarship leverage?

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In an ideal world I would either be at Rutgers Newark with a $15,000 + scholarship, or paying sticker at a school like UVA/Cornell. Even if I got into BC or W&L, from what I have read on these forums, I would be better off staying home and attending Rutgers to minimize debt.

Thanks for your advice!

[goldenflash19]

Saw in your previous posts that your numbers are 158/3.66 GPA (always list #s if you're making a thread) and that you're waiting to get your score back from a retake. Update this post when you get your score back. As of now, there is nowhere I would feel comfortable attending with your numbers. Best of luck.

[Coveted]

Saw in your previous posts that your numbers are 158/3.66 GPA (always list #s if you're making a thread) and that you're waiting to get your score back from a retake. Update this post when you get your score back. As of now, there is nowhere I would feel comfortable attending with your numbers. Best of luck.

That being said, why would I wait to make applications and only be further behind when my actual score is released?

The main question underlying my thread is whether or not I should worry about the extra schools or only send out applications to those I am truly interested in attending.

[rwhyAn]

Unless your LSAT improves by at least 5 points, you're probably looking at sticker at Newark. They are pretty stingy with scholarship money. Seton Hall might throw you $15k, but you'd still be looking at over $40k COA per year if you were still living at home. No chance at UVA or Cornell with your current numbers, and BC and W&L aren't that prestigious, especially at sticker.

[Coveted]

Unless your LSAT improves by at least 5 points, you're probably looking at sticker at Newark. They are pretty stingy with scholarship money. Seton Hall might throw you $15k, but you'd still be looking at over $40k COA per year if you were still living at home. No chance at UVA or Cornell with your current numbers, and BC and W&L aren't that prestigious, especially at sticker.

Thanks for the honest criticism. I am expecting a 162-164 on my December retake. In looking at previous LSN's, and especially this years, I am pretty confident that with an LSAT within that range I can squeeze at least 12k from Rutgers Newark. They also seem to like students with higher GPA's, so that should play into the consideration.

If I do get my 164 I feel like the advice I will receive from this board will be to stray away from BC and W&L at sticker even if I happened to get in.

That being said, it looks like the only school worth attending would be Rutgers Newark, commuting from home, with at least a 12k scholly?

Even if I made it into a T20-30, the sticker price wouldn't put me in any better position than attending Rutgers.

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Even with all that said, is it worth it to send out applications to Seton Hall, BC, W&L, Cardozo, etc?

I don't think they would play much of a role in scholarship leverage with a state school like Rutgers? I am just trying to decide which App's/LOR's I should be constructing while I wait for my LSAT score.

[rwhyAn]

OP, I was looking at BC's cost of attendance, and for this year, it is $63,000. Let's take the rising tuition cost out of the question, and we'll low-ball your debt to be $190,000. Do you have any idea what your monthly payments on that would be? They'd be $2400/month or $28,800 per year, and that's the amount you would have to pay as not to lose ground on your loans. So, basically if you don't make big law, you're screwed...for life! Play around with this website for a little to help you determine what your loan payments would be.

http://www.finaid.org/calculators/scrip ... yments.cgi

Also, read the article below about a 3L at BC to see how scary the situation can be.
--LinkRemoved--

If you are able to go to Rutgers and escape with $50-60k in debt or less, that's a far better option to me than paying full freight at BC or a school of similar stature. Also, it would be a good idea to apply to other schools that you don't plan on attending, especially those that give out lots of $$, so that you can leverage the offers against one another. Right now the law schools are hurting for applicants, and it's more of a buyer's market than in years past. Give yourself every advantage you can get. Best of luck!

[Coveted]

OP, I was looking at BC's cost of attendance, and for this year, it is $63,000. Let's take the rising tuition cost out of the question, and we'll low-ball your debt to be $190,000. Do you have any idea what your monthly payments on that would be? They'd be $2400/month or $28,800 per year, and that's the amount you would have to pay as not to lose ground on your loans. So, basically if you don't make big law, you're screwed...for life! Play around with this website for a little to help you determine what your loan payments would be.

http://www.finaid.org/calculators/scrip ... yments.cgi

Also, read the article below about a 3L at BC to see how scary the situation can be.
--LinkRemoved--

If you are able to go to Rutgers and escape with $50-60k in debt or less, that's a far better option to me than paying full freight at BC or a school of similar stature. Also, it would be a good idea to apply to other schools that you don't plan on attending, especially those that give out lots of $$, so that you can leverage the offers against one another. Right now the law schools are hurting for applicants, and it's more of a buyer's market than in years past. Give yourself every advantage you can get. Best of luck!

This is a very informative post and I appreciate the time you took in responding.

In short, I could assume that you would choose Rutgers with a 12/15k scholly over any T30 at sticker? While I am afraid of the bad rep Rutgers has been receiving, from the little research I have done, it seems like they still place well in NJ and you have a strong chance of acquiring a clerkship/gov't job?

Should I even bother with keeping BC/W&L on my school list or should I just run with the fee waivers I received? (cardozo, seton hall, st johns, UMN).

I assume to even get a chance at a scholarship at those reach schools I would need a 166+ lsat?

[Br3v]

update with retake and good luck!

[Coveted]

update with retake and good luck!

I'm waiting on my DEC scores, is that not a retake?

I am simply trying to figure out where I should devote my time towards building apps so I can be ready when my score arrives.

[Br3v]

update with retake and good luck!

I'm waiting on my DEC scores, is that not a retake?

I am simply trying to figure out where I should devote my time towards building apps so I can be ready when my score arrives.

Yes, that is what I mean. Update when you have the score from your retake.

[Coveted]

update with retake and good luck!

I'm waiting on my DEC scores, is that not a retake?

I am simply trying to figure out where I should devote my time towards building apps so I can be ready when my score arrives.

Yes, that is what I mean. Update when you have the score from your retake.

So if you were in my position you wouldn't work on any applications and just wait till you receive your score?

Won't that put me even further behind the pack?

[Br3v]

update with retake and good luck!

I'm waiting on my DEC scores, is that not a retake?

I am simply trying to figure out where I should devote my time towards building apps so I can be ready when my score arrives.

Yes, that is what I mean. Update when you have the score from your retake.

So if you were in my position you wouldn't work on any applications and just wait till you receive your score?

Won't that put me even further behind the pack?

Dude,

Yes keep working on your apps. My comment just says it is hard to tell you where to target (what schools) without knowing your score.
Look at lawschoolnumbers.com and search around seeing if you got score x where you would want to apply and have a chance of getting in, if you got score y, if you got score z....

[Coveted]

So if you were in my position you wouldn't work on any applications and just wait till you receive your score?

Won't that put me even further behind the pack?

Dude,

Yes keep working on your apps. My comment just says it is hard to tell you where to target (what schools) without knowing your score.
Look at lawschoolnumbers.com and search around seeing if you got score x where you would want to apply and have a chance of getting in, if you got score y, if you got score z....

Alright, sorry for being such a derp!