Top Law Schools

I am still awaiting decisions on a few more law schools but with my LSAT and GPA will probably be denied at my top choice. Can someone give me some good honest advice on how to choose from the schools I have been accepted to thus far?
I am willing to relocate after law school. My undergrad gpa 3.1 and LSAT 162.
Here are the schools-

Georgetown-applied
William and Mary-applied
University of Colorado-applied
University of Florida -applied
American University- ACCEPTED one-time $10,000. Award
Florida State-applied
Tulane -applied
Temple- ACCEPTED
Brooklyn law School- ACCEPTED
Loyola Chicago-ACCEPTED
University of Miami-ACCEPTED- $20,000.00 a year
Northeastern-ACCEPTED-$20,000.00 a year
Penn State-ACCEPTED-$20,000.00 a year
St John’s University- ACCEPTED- Full Tuition
Catholic University-ACCEPTED $18,500.00 a year
Hofstra- ACCEPTED- FULL Tuition
Villanova- ACCEPTED
Chapman- ACCEPTED-FULL Tuition
Albany- ACCEPTED- FULL Tuition
Drexel – ACCEPTED- - FULL Tuition
Loyola New Orleans- ACCEPTED- FULL Tuition
Suffolk- ACCEPTED
University of Mississippi- applied
Thanks in advance.

ltmrem wrote:I am still awaiting decesions on a few more law schools but with my LSAT and GPA will probably be denied at my top choice. Can someone give me some good honest advice on how to choose from the schools I have been accepted to thus far?
I am willing to relocate after law school. My undergrad gpa 3.1 and LSAT 162.
Here are the schools-

Georgetown-applied
William and Mary-applied
University of Colorado-applied
University of Florida -applied
American University- ACCEPTED one-time $10,000. Award
Florida State-applied
Tulane -applied
Temple- ACCEPTED
Brooklyn law School- ACCEPTED
Loyola Chicago-ACCEPTED
University of Miami-ACCEPTED- $20,000.00 a year
Northeastern-ACCEPTED-$20,000.00 a year
Penn State-ACCEPTED-$20,000.00 a year
St John’s University- ACCEPTED- Full TUTION
Catholic University-ACCEPTED $18,500.00 a year
Hofstra- ACCEPTED- FULL TUTION
Villanova- ACCEPTED
Chapman- ACCEPTED-FULL TUTION
Albany- ACCEPTED- FULL TUTION
Drexel – ACCEPTED- - FULL TUTION
Loyola New Orleans- ACCEPTED- FULL TUTION
Suffolk- ACCEPTED
University of Mississippi- applied
Thanks in advance.

I don't know enough about the other schools or you to tell you whether or not you will get reasonable value relative to COA, but I can tell you off-hand that you can cross off at least these schools from your list and remove them from consideration. None of those will present you with enough value to warrant consideration.

Where do you want to practice? Are you IP eligible? How many years WE? Would you have residency at any of these schools? Please provide more info.

Thanks for replying-cahwc12- I'm from NY and want to practice near or in a big city. I think I want to relocate . DC would be my top choice. But Boston and Philly are also an option. I am leaning towards public interest law. I have done a lot of poltical internships throughout high school and undergrad. Not to sound ignorant but what is WE?

Sorry for being unclear: WE on this board refers to work experience, usually in years after graduation. It sounds like 0 since you are in undergrad, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but the general stream of advice is that it's good to take a year (or two or seven) off before law school to gain some worldly or real world experience (get a fulbright, teach english in a foreign country, or just get a 9-5 desk job doing something possibly meaningful).

Again, I'm just one person and this just my opinion, but based on what I know about these schools, I'd cross off at least these. Not all of the ones on this list would be good options (possibly none?) but I don't know enough about them to tell you confidently that they are bad ideas.

ltmrem wrote: Georgetown-applied
William and Mary-applied
University of Colorado-applied - ask Paul Campos
University of Florida -applied - only to leverage aid against FSU
American University- ACCEPTED one-time $10,000. Award
Florida State-applied - only because their PI placement is good, but you'll likely end up working in the small city of Tallahassee.
Tulane -applied
Temple- ACCEPTED
Brooklyn law School- ACCEPTED
Loyola Chicago-ACCEPTED
University of Miami-ACCEPTED- $20,000.00 a year
Northeastern-ACCEPTED-$20,000.00 a year - only if they increase aid
Penn State-ACCEPTED-$20,000.00 a year - only if they increase aid
St John’s University- ACCEPTED- Full TUTION
Catholic University-ACCEPTED $18,500.00 a year
Hofstra- ACCEPTED- FULL TUTION
Villanova- ACCEPTED
Chapman- ACCEPTED-FULL TUTION
Albany- ACCEPTED- FULL TUTION
Drexel – ACCEPTED- - FULL TUTION
Loyola New Orleans- ACCEPTED- FULL TUTION
Suffolk- ACCEPTED
University of Mississippi- applied

By the way, in your profile it says you were invited to a weekend in CA on them. Could you elaborate on how you got this? If so, $21 for a weekend in the OC sounds like an awesome investment for anyone with the numbers to obtain it.

My honest advice is none of these. The cheap ones on your list have horrible job prospects and the better schools would be expensive. You've got a few decent options, but I don't see any schools on this list that make sense given your ties and goals. You need to retake.

romothesavior wrote:My honest advice is none of these. The cheap ones on your list have horrible job prospects and the better schools would be expensive. You've got a few decent options, but I don't see any schools on this list that make sense given your ties and goals. You need to retake.

Yeah, you didn't specify what kind of law you want to do, but most of those schools are going to give you pretty terrible job prospects. I guess if the full tuition isn't contingent on anything you could take a flyer at one and see how you did in the first semester or year, but honestly I would not go.

Did Brooklyn just accept you recently? Because if so they haven't sent out those people's scholarship awards yet. I'd put it back on the list and pray for money you can either take or leverage against someone like NEU for even more out of them.

Assuming you can cover living expenses, taking a full tuition scholarship at one of the schools you got into would be fine.

Thanks for all your advice everyone. To answer a few questions- yes Brooklyn just accpeted me- so no scholarship info yet. As far as the weekend in California- the dean from Chapman called me up to say I was accepted and also said I was invited to Scholars weekend on them. The problem with a lot of the schools that offered full Tuition- is that the GPA stip is very high and I am afraid I will lose the money because I wont be able to maintain the grades. What is your opinions on Temple-cost of living is cheaper there and also Northeastern- no grades- co-op program and I really love the Boston area

ltmrem wrote:Thanks for all your advice everyone. To answer a few questions- yes Brooklyn just accpeted me- so no scholarship info yet. As far as the weekend in California- the dean from Chapman called me up to say I was accepted and also said I was invited to Scholars weekend on them. The problem with a lot of the schools that offered full tution- is that the GPA stip is very high and I am afraid I will lose the money because I wont be able to maintain the grades. What is your opinions on Temple-cost of living is cheaper there and also Northeastern- no grades- co-op program and I really love the Boston area

What are the grade stipulations?

By the way, it's "tuition." You should use a web browser that has spell check (I'm a bad speller as well).

The GPA stipulation is 3.00 at Chapman.

ltmrem wrote:The GPA stipulation is 3.00 at Chapman.

That isn't bad at all. View it as a motivator. If you can't get that high of a GPA at Chapman, you should just drop out of law school anyway.

UtilityMonster wrote:

ltmrem wrote:The GPA stipulation is 3.00 at Chapman.

That isn't bad at all. View it as a motivator. If you can't get that high of a GPA at Chapman, you should just drop out of law school anyway.

Stop. This is completely asinine advice. Chapman has some of the worst employment prospects in the country. Less than 2% in firms of 100+, around 5% in full time public interest jobs, and less than 40% in real, full-time permanent lawyer jobs. Its a festering shithole.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=chapman

OP, some of these schools aren't worth 3 years of your life and 3 years of opportunity cost/COL even if they're full tuition. The job prospects at some of these schools are beyond atrocious. Check out LST to see what I mean.

What is shocking to me is that some of these schools are giving you full-rides with your numbers. Just a couple years ago you had to be above both medians for full-rides, with few exceptions.

The problem with taking the full-rides on some of those schools is they really might not be around in ten years.

.

UtilityMonster wrote:

ltmrem wrote:The GPA stipulation is 3.00 at Chapman.

That isn't bad at all. View it as a motivator. If you can't get that high of a GPA at Chapman, you should just drop out of law school anyway.

Stop posting. Your advice is awful.

romothesavior wrote:My honest advice is none of these. The cheap ones on your list have horrible job prospects and the better schools would be expensive. You've got a few decent options, but I don't see any schools on this list that make sense given your ties and goals. You need to retake.

+1

with nyc col and the presence of cls/nyu/penn/cornell/fordham and more for nyc, i wouldn't do hofstra or st. johns even with those full rides

Ti Malice wrote:

UtilityMonster wrote:

ltmrem wrote:The GPA stipulation is 3.00 at Chapman.

That isn't bad at all. View it as a motivator. If you can't get that high of a GPA at Chapman, you should just drop out of law school anyway.

Stop posting. Your advice is awful.

I wouldn't go to Chapman at a full scholarship if that was my best option, nor would I recommend others do so, but a lot of people are dead set on attending, and if they can't get into any good schools they might as well go for free.

OP asked for honest advice, and the best advice is none of these. Retake and rethink it, and reapply next year if he still wants to go. OP seems a bit uninformed on the whole law school and legal market thing, but otherwise seems open to ideas and advice. He's not being irrational and saying "I'm going NO MATTER WHAT!" like some buffoons on here. Advising Chapman just makes no sense here, at all.

OP, go toy around on LST and look at the data. Then go to the LSAT forum and check out the guides, community, and resources TLS has to offer. Then go retake and reapply and do this thing right. You owe it to your future self.

Yeah I shouldn't have assumed he was unwilling to put off going to law school and retaking. A lot people are just unwilling to go through a whole application cycle again, especially when they don't know if they'll actually improve on the LSAT.

Thanks for the advice

ltmrem wrote:The GPA stipulation is 3.00 at Chapman.

Check what their median is. There are some schools that have medians in the 2 range. A 3.0 could be difficult to get, especially if they pull that kind of shit where they put everyone with the nice scholarships in the same section.

romothesavior wrote:

UtilityMonster wrote:

ltmrem wrote:The GPA stipulation is 3.00 at Chapman.

That isn't bad at all. View it as a motivator. If you can't get that high of a GPA at Chapman, you should just drop out of law school anyway.

Stop. This is completely asinine advice. Chapman has some of the worst employment prospects in the country. Less than 2% in firms of 100+, around 5% in full time public interest jobs, and less than 40% in real, full-time permanent lawyer jobs. Its a festering shithole.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=chapman

Let alone the "motivator" comment.
OP if you didn't know, plenty of schools "stack" sections with students with the same gpa stips. So for example if only 10 ppl can get a 3.0 in a section, schools have been known to put 15 students with gpa stips at 3.0.