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So deposit deadlines are coming up and I still haven't been able to make a decision. Looking for some help.

Schools: WUSL (COA: 70k), UCLA (COA: 110k), Vandy (COA: 100k)
Goals: BigLaw & Fed Clerkships. I'm interested in pursuing M&A's, corporate tax and/or bankruptcy. Undecided as to whether I'm more interested in litigation or transactional.
Geographic Preferences: (1) Chicago, (2) NYC, (3) SoCal
Geographic Ties: My older sister lives in Chicago and the rest of my family lives in NJ.
Stats: 3.86/169

Obviously, I know that UCLA and Vandy give me a better shot at both BigLaw and clerkships; but I don't know how to assess whether UCLA or Vandy is worth the extra $$$. Thoughts?

bkraut1 wrote:So deposit deadlines are coming up and I still haven't been able to make a decision. Looking for some help.

Schools: WUSL (COA: 70k), UCLA (COA: 110k), Vandy (COA: 100k)
Goals: BigLaw & Fed Clerkships. I'm interested in pursuing M&A's, corporate tax and/or bankruptcy. Undecided as to whether I'm more interested in litigation or transactional.
Geographic Preferences: (1) Chicago, (2) NYC, (3) SoCal
Geographic Ties: My older sister lives in Chicago and the rest of my family lives in NJ.
Stats: 3.86/169

Obviously, I know that UCLA and Vandy give me a better shot at both BigLaw and clerkships; but I don't know how to assess whether UCLA or Vandy is worth the extra $$$. Thoughts?

WUSTL at 70k is very reasonable and I don't know if Vandy is really worth 30k more than WUSTL especially if you want Chicago and not south. I would go with that unless you're big law or bust. And fed clerkships are even less likely than big law. Then you really need to do t14. Also, if you do transactional law, from what I understand a federal clerkship isn't that beneficial

I would squeeze out a few more points on a retake and go to Northwestern or ideally Chicago. None of these other schools match your career goals/primary geographic preferences/ties.

BigZuck wrote:I would squeeze out a few more points on a retake and go to Northwestern or ideally Chicago. None of these other schools match your career goals/primary geographic preferences/ties.

Hell, those numbers are good enough for NU even without a retake!

Did you not apply to T-14's or did you just have a really bad cycle? You're at or above both medians at several of them so you should have pretty big scholarships within the T-14 even without a retake, although retaking for Harvard is never a bad idea. With your goals T-14 is a must.

Tiago Splitter wrote:Did you not apply to T-14's or did you just have a really bad cycle? You're at or above both medians at several of them so you should have pretty big scholarships within the T-14 even without a retake, although retaking for Harvard is never a bad idea. With your goals T-14 is a must.

Yeah if you're dead set on biglaw, especially in those places, you gotta retake

Tiago Splitter wrote:Did you not apply to T-14's or did you just have a really bad cycle? You're at or above both medians at several of them so you should have pretty big scholarships within the T-14 even without a retake, although retaking for Harvard is never a bad idea. With your goals T-14 is a must.

I applied to all of the T14 except Yale, NYU and GULC. I applied pretty late and so far I have only heard back from UVA (wait listed), Michigan (wait listed) and Berkeley (wait listed). UChicago was/is my top choice, but even if I get in I probably won't get much, if any, money from them (I assumed the same for the rest of the T14).

(1) Is my best option to sit this cycle out, retake in June or October and just apply early for the next cycle (even if I don't retake)?
(2) If I would want to stay in the Bay Area post graduation, would UCLA at this price be a decent choice or not worth it?

Thanks for your help!

1) Is my best option to sit this cycle out,

Yes. A no-brainer.

If I were to reapply in Sept/Oct without retaking, should I expect better results from the T14 (or at worse be in the same position I'm in)?

Yeah if you apply early next cycle you'll probably do better and certainly won't do any worse. I'd retake just to see what happens but even if your score doesn't improve you should have a better cycle the second time around. Apps open up again in less than five months so sit tight. If you end up with the same numbers next cycle I'd apply ED to Northwestern because it comes with a 150k scholarship.

Tiago Splitter wrote:Yeah if you apply early next cycle you'll probably do better and certainly won't do any worse. I'd retake just to see what happens but even if your score doesn't improve you should have a better cycle the second time around. Apps open up again in less than five months so sit tight. If you end up with the same numbers next cycle I'd apply ED to Northwestern because it comes with a 150k scholarship.

Oh shit, I didn't realize that. I thought applying ED gave you slightly better chances, but also meant that the university has no incentive to offer you a decent schools because ED is binding. Right now Im on the WL at Penn, UVA, and Michigan (still waiting on HYS, CC, Duke, NU, Cornell). Perhaps I should just ride those out and if nothing comes of it, reapply in sept/oct.

bkraut1 wrote:

Tiago Splitter wrote:Yeah if you apply early next cycle you'll probably do better and certainly won't do any worse. I'd retake just to see what happens but even if your score doesn't improve you should have a better cycle the second time around. Apps open up again in less than five months so sit tight. If you end up with the same numbers next cycle I'd apply ED to Northwestern because it comes with a 150k scholarship.

Oh shit, I didn't realize that. I thought applying ED gave you slightly better chances, but also meant that the university has no incentive to offer you a decent schools because ED is binding. Right now Im on the WL at Penn, UVA, and Michigan (still waiting on HYS, CC, Duke, NU, Cornell). Perhaps I should just ride those out and if nothing comes of it, reapply in sept/oct.

Thing is, you really shouldn't be paying sticker at Penn, UVA, or Michigan. Its just an outrageous price. But, it may be possible to negotiate for scholarships off the waitlist.

Nomo wrote:

bkraut1 wrote:

Tiago Splitter wrote:Yeah if you apply early next cycle you'll probably do better and certainly won't do any worse. I'd retake just to see what happens but even if your score doesn't improve you should have a better cycle the second time around. Apps open up again in less than five months so sit tight. If you end up with the same numbers next cycle I'd apply ED to Northwestern because it comes with a 150k scholarship.

Oh shit, I didn't realize that. I thought applying ED gave you slightly better chances, but also meant that the university has no incentive to offer you a decent schools because ED is binding. Right now Im on the WL at Penn, UVA, and Michigan (still waiting on HYS, CC, Duke, NU, Cornell). Perhaps I should just ride those out and if nothing comes of it, reapply in sept/oct.

Thing is, you really shouldn't be paying sticker at Penn, UVA, or Michigan. Its just an outrageous price. But, it may be possible to negotiate for scholarships off the waitlist.

Right of course. I wasn't implying that I would if i were accepted to any of these schools. If funds were to become available as a result of people turning down offers of admission and I could take advantage of that (probably just due to pure luck) then it might be worth it. But thats a huge "maybe" and not really worth discussing at this point.

bkraut1 wrote:

Tiago Splitter wrote:Yeah if you apply early next cycle you'll probably do better and certainly won't do any worse. I'd retake just to see what happens but even if your score doesn't improve you should have a better cycle the second time around. Apps open up again in less than five months so sit tight. If you end up with the same numbers next cycle I'd apply ED to Northwestern because it comes with a 150k scholarship.

Oh shit, I didn't realize that. I thought applying ED gave you slightly better chances, but also meant that the university has no incentive to offer you a decent schools because ED is binding. Right now Im on the WL at Penn, UVA, and Michigan (still waiting on HYS, CC, Duke, NU, Cornell). Perhaps I should just ride those out and if nothing comes of it, reapply in sept/oct.

Your thought is true for most schools, which usually will give little or no scholarship money to ED admits. Northwestern is unique with their 150k scholarship program.

You have the numbers to get significant money at T14 schools, especially if you apply early. Enjoy your summer and reapply in the fall.