3.7/167 - keep full ride to Cardozo or reapply + work? Forum

[telephuse]

I'm facing a dilemma here and wanted to see if the TLS community would be so kind as to help. My stats are 3.7 Ivy/167 and my LSAT is good for one more year.

I've got a great opportunity to work for a year in China in a job that would let me improve my Chinese from good to great and learn more about the real estate market, and I was pretty seriously considering it.

But I just heard back from Cardozo, which has offered me a full ride after accepting me from the waitlist, and now I need to make a really tough decision. I am hugely debt-averse and feel that this would be my best chance at a JD that I would not have to go into debt for.

If I turn down this offer, will they accept me again if I reapply? Are there any other schools that would give me a full ride with these numbers? Biglaw isn't important to me, I think legal training will serve me well whatever I choose to do next.

Thanks for anyone who can shed some light on the situation or anyone who might have been facing a similar situation. Hopefully this discussion helps others as well as myself.

[untar614]

which ivy? are we talking a Brown 3.7 or a Princeton 3.7?

and a solid retake could net you mid-upper T14s

[Winston1984]

Why were you on the waitlist to begin with?

[Redfactor]

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[Redfactor]

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[empyreanrrv]

Those numbers should get you free rides/$$$ at much better schools than Cardozo. Work in China and reapply next year-- you'll have at least the same offers if not better.

Where do you want to work? Also, it sounds like you are not going to law school to become a lawyer-- what do you want to do with your degree? If you have a guaranteed job and just need a law degree it may be worth it to just take the free education, but don't expect Cardozo to open many doors for you.

[DoveBodyWash]

Those numbers should get you free rides/$$$ at much better schools than Cardozo. Work in China and reapply next year-- you'll have at least the same offers if not better.

This.

[sinfiery]

Those numbers should get you free rides/$$$ at much better schools than Cardozo. Work in China and reapply next year-- you'll have at least the same offers if not better.

This.

Let us begin the echo chamber. This.

[Ti Malice]

If I were you, I would ask for a deferment and to keep the scholarship. While you're working your job in China, study hard for the LSAT and retake it. Reapply because with a 170+ you're looking at big money from schools that have much more punching power in employing their grads.

OP cannot both defer and reapply. It's one or the other.

OP, I agree with everyone else. Don't settle for Cardozo with those numbers.

[radar714]

BRO you have to reapply/work. I'm so confused...you were WL'd at Dozo? That's nuts to me.

Either way, with your stats you're gonna have a much better cycle this year (unless you have some C&F issues). I've seen a couple people on TLS get off WL to NU & Duke with 3.7/167, and those numbers will put you above most 25% and quite a few medians in the T20. I've seen some USC applicants this year get ~75-90k with your #'s.

You'd be throwing away your #'s if you took the offer, and it seems like you have a great opportunity to improve your language skills and make some connections in china in case you wanna go back there. And ya, maybe Dozo doesn't accept you again (although I find this to be an incredibly unlikely scenario so long as you write a decent withdrawal letter explaining why. I did the same 2 years ago to Loyola LA and they still accepted me the following year with a full ride), but who gives a fuck.

If you take another year off you're gonna have way better 1) school options with a down cycle, and 2) a more marketable language skill for OCI if you want to go international.

Easy choice dude, and if you can, just retake to get a few more points and you're lookin at either berkley or UCLA/USC with big schollys!

GL

edit: just saw the debt-averse portion. I still think you could go to better schools than dozo and keep your debt under 100k easy, maybe even 60k, which would still be the MINIMUM amount of debt you would have coming out of dozo cuz of NY COL. For instance, WUSTL is giving full rides to any1 with above a 166 this year.

[Nova]

Those numbers should get you free rides/$$$ at much better schools than Cardozo. Work in China and reapply next year-- you'll have at least the same offers if not better.

This.

Let us begin the echo chamber. This.

[Doorkeeper]

which ivy? are we talking a Brown 3.7 or a Princeton 3.7?

Admissions offices do not care.

Also, retake and reapply.

[MischiefMayhemSoap]

Those numbers should get you free rides/$$$ at much better schools than Cardozo. Work in China and reapply next year-- you'll have at least the same offers if not better.

This.

Let us begin the echo chamber. This.

Even without replying you could get lower T14 (Cornell for example) with the relevant work/language. But by all means do retake and see if you can bump it up a little. You shouldn't be looking at Cardozo even with money.

[StillIll]

Dude please. Don't even think about going to Cardoza. You can get into GULC with a decent scholy with those numbers. China work experience should be a plus in your favor as well.

Also, retake it! ... though not sure if that's possible from China.

[romothesavior]

A 3.7/167 can do a lot better than that. People will worse numbers than you were getting full rides to WUSTL. With your GPA/LSAT combo, a big scholarship to a T20-30 school is easily attainable. Work and reapply for sure.

[mom2law]

A 3.7/167 can do a lot better than that. People will worse numbers than you were getting full rides to WUSTL. With your GPA/LSAT combo, a big scholarship to a T20-30 school is easily attainable. Work and reapply for sure.

Being waitlisted at Cardozo seems like a big red flag that no one is acknowledging. Before everyone says yield protection, i know Cardozo offered full plus other special considerations to people with higher stats, so I don't believe that's the case.

[sinfiery]

A 3.7/167 can do a lot better than that. People will worse numbers than you were getting full rides to WUSTL. With your GPA/LSAT combo, a big scholarship to a T20-30 school is easily attainable. Work and reapply for sure.

Being waitlisted at Cardozo seems like a big red flag that no one is acknowledging. Before everyone says yield protection, i know Cardozo offered full plus other special considerations to people with higher stats, so I don't believe that's the case.

This would only make sense if they didn't offer OP the full ride. WL--Admit and pay sticker = likely not YP
WL--admit and serious money = YP

I'm still curious how OPs cycle went. Did they only apply to Cardozo or something?

[dixiecupdrinking]

There is no way in hell you should go to Cardozo. You have a great option for the next year and ought to have much better options for law school next time you apply, especially if you retake (which you should).

[Rlabo]

I'm not usually one to say retake (check my past posts), but seriously you need to retake. Hell, don't retake, but reapply, and EARLY. Short of some blatant red flag on your app, there's no reason you can't have better options with your current numbers, plus the year of work experience abroad alone should boost your app. Forget that Fordham would be a better NYC option, there are people getting into Cornell with similar numbers. Sure its a full ride, and if you can't get a job straight out it wont be that devastating as you shouldn't have much/any debt, but isn't it possible that it would be better to take on a little debt in trade for more job security, or to at least have that as an option? The market isn't exactly healthy now so a short term view may not be that appropriate. If you take the full ride it wouldn't be the worst decision in the world, but you are seriously undervaluing what you already have in your GPA/LSAT.

[alexrodriguez]

As someone who has lived and worked in Hangzhou, China I would definately head back. You're an Ivy league grad... fuck Cardozo. I went to UCF and graduated with a 3.1 and even I wouldn't go to Cardozo. Please go to China. You have your whole life ahead of you to study and become a lawyer. You're smart as fuck I imagine. Going to Cardozo wouldn't be too smart in my opinion especially with your potential.

[Clearly]

Don't go to dozo, even without a retake you'll have better risk averse options. Don't defer either. TLS cracks me up sometimes.

[Myself]

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[Clearly]

We really need more info.. where else did you apply. When did you apply etc. I'm really leaning away from yp on this, I'm thinking either timing or bad app.