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Wait and reapply broadly to T14. You should have a lot of acceptances with $ and probably at least one full ride offer. Apply earlier (i.e. the day the applications go up) this time.

The fact that you ask this question makes me think you don't want to go to NYU for whatever reason. If that's the case you should just reapply and aim for Chicago or Penn, although you are unlikely to get more money. This is more of a personal decision based on where you want to go to school though. I would say you did pretty well considering your GPA.

Your chances are pretty slim at HYS unless you have some amazing softs so reapplying likely won't help you on that front.

I think with your stats NYU with 62.5k is a solid outcome. If you don't like NYU (and you should, it is great) reapply.

I agree with philly. I think $62.5K from NYU is a pretty amazing outcome here, considering your late applications and C&F issues. I'm impressed you managed to get that much with a below 25th %ile GPA.

I definitely don't think you'll snag a better offer by waiting a year. You would probably get $75-80K from a lower T14, but not a full ride (full rides are typically reserved for applicants who are above both medians). I think NYU with that scholarship is easily justified over Northwestern or Cornell with only $15-20K more scholarship. Your chances aren't great at Harvard, Columbia or Chicago, and if by some miracle you did get in (very unlikely with your softs), it would not be worth $60K over NYU.

The deficiencies with your application, such as work gaps and c&f, will not change year to year. If you actually want to practice law, I'd take the NYU offer.

NYU with 20k(ish) a year is very solid in my opinion, but I can see why you're hesitant. It's still a fuck ton of debt. Personally, I'd wait and reapply early next cycle and see if big money from the lower T-14 becomes a possibility.

This is a pretty good outcome, for all the other reasons mentioned. I don't know if you're likely to get much more next year. I could see maybe $90k from Northwestern, which would be decent as well, and maybe worth waiting. I will say I doubt you're likely to see the same offer from NYU next year. This seems like a situation in which you were fortunate to be on the WL, and they needed your LSAT at the moment.

What do you actually want to do w/ your JD? That might help some.

This is a bet on whether you think next year will be more or less competitive application-wise than this year.

Less = benefit to waiting
More = benefit to taking the deal

same = still not guaranteed good or better options


Personally, unless you have reasons to not attend NYU--or are really really set on some other place that you'd entertain going to with potentially more debt--I'd take this offer.

Can you please post how much debt you will have at graduation?

How long ago was the DUI and what was the outcome?

You are not guaranteed a full scholarship at a T14, or even a better outcome. FWIW I don't think a 90-100k scholarship at NU or Cornell, for example, is a better outcome when you factor in the extra year of waiting. Time=money. If you want BigLaw, then you are giving up a year of a 6-figure salary in exchange for a 30-40k smaller debt load.

If you have different career goals then maybe the calculation changes.

...

Nekrowizard wrote:

lawschool22 wrote:What do you actually want to do w/ your JD? That might help some.

I don't really know. I thought I'd pick a school that gave me the most options.

This statement worries me more than your COA (which I think is too expensive personally, but justifiable). You need to realize that NYU @ at that cost doesn't give you options - it gives you one option: Biglaw. For several years. If you're cool with that, go for it. Otherwise, reapply to lower T14 and hope for $$$

stugots wrote:Time=money. If you want BigLaw, then you are giving up a year of a 6-figure salary in exchange for a 30-40k smaller debt load.

That's not how it works.

If they are still offering the full ride you should ED to northwestern in the next cycle. I think you have a good shot.

Even with that amount of $ you're going to have 200k in debt because NYC is expensive and NYU is expensive. I think you're better off sitting out. You may get Northwester ED. You will likely get more $ in the T14 so you can negotiate. Obviously you could roll the dice by attending a lower ranked school on full ride and hope that you can coif it.

stugots wrote:You are not guaranteed a full scholarship at a T14, or even a better outcome. FWIW I don't think a 90-100k scholarship at NU or Cornell, for example, is a better outcome when you factor in the extra year of waiting. Time=money. If you want BigLaw, then you are giving up a year of a 6-figure salary in exchange for a 30-40k smaller debt load.

If you have different career goals then maybe the calculation changes.

You realize the fallacy in this hypo? Taking on additional debt is real, the biglaw job is hypothetical.

OP: I don't know what better outcome you can expect. I am sorry but I find this difficult to predict. Maybe hire Spivey for advice because he has a sense of what a 174 is worth?

It is a lot of money to owe. But applying earlier might help you get a T14 with less debt.

...

Where is everyone getting the idea of full ride offers/$$$ (other than the chance at northwestern)?

I'm not fantastic at using mylsn, but when I tried doing it, there it didn't seem that great (a few $$$ options, but not enough to make me comfortable to say sit out and wait) for $$ considering OP has a 3.5

I'd take the NYU offer if I were you, unless like someone else posted whether or not you can make your application better somehow by next year.

ETA: Oops didn't see jbagels post.

Bajam wrote:Where is everyone getting the idea of full ride offers/$$$ (other than the chance at northwestern)?

I'm not fantastic at using mylsn, but when I tried doing it, there it didn't seem that great (a few $$$ options, but not enough to make me comfortable to say sit out and wait) for $$ considering OP has a 3.5

I'd take the NYU offer if I were you, unless like someone else posted whether or not you can make your application better somehow by next year.

ETA: Oops didn't see jbagels post.

Selection bias.... most people with similar numbers to OP won't bother with EDing to NW - either because they think they won't get it, or because they are gunning for a higher-ranked school (probably unjustifiably). If you look at the last three cycles, everyone with a 170+ got accepted. It's too small a sample to say decisively one way or another, but it's worth a shot if the OP decides to re-apply.

Rahviveh wrote:

Bajam wrote:Where is everyone getting the idea of full ride offers/$$$ (other than the chance at northwestern)?

I'm not fantastic at using mylsn, but when I tried doing it, there it didn't seem that great (a few $$$ options, but not enough to make me comfortable to say sit out and wait) for $$ considering OP has a 3.5

I'd take the NYU offer if I were you, unless like someone else posted whether or not you can make your application better somehow by next year.

ETA: Oops didn't see jbagels post.

Selection bias.... most people with similar numbers to OP won't bother with EDing to NW - either because they think they won't get it, or because they are gunning for a higher-ranked school (probably unjustifiably). If you look at the last three cycles, everyone with a 170+ got accepted. It's too small a sample to say decisively one way or another, but it's worth a shot if the OP decides to re-apply.

Yeah, I wouldn't bet the farm, but it's possible. All but one of the 170+ people got accepted, but some of them were bumped into the RD pool. FWIW, I think OP has a good offer from NYU (my vote was for him to attend), but he could probably eke out more money from a lower T14 next cycle.

3.84/172 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.84/171 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.83/171 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.69/172 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.67/172 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.66/171 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.65/172 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.60/173 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.55/174 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.49/170 - Deferred to RD -> WL
3.48/174 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.30/171 - Deferred to RD -> WL -> Admit
3.09/175 - Deferred to RD -> WL -> Admit
2.90/174 - Deferred to RD -> Admit
2.54/173 - Deferred to RD -> WL -> Admit

Max324 wrote:

Rahviveh wrote:

Bajam wrote:Where is everyone getting the idea of full ride offers/$$$ (other than the chance at northwestern)?

I'm not fantastic at using mylsn, but when I tried doing it, there it didn't seem that great (a few $$$ options, but not enough to make me comfortable to say sit out and wait) for $$ considering OP has a 3.5

I'd take the NYU offer if I were you, unless like someone else posted whether or not you can make your application better somehow by next year.

ETA: Oops didn't see jbagels post.

Selection bias.... most people with similar numbers to OP won't bother with EDing to NW - either because they think they won't get it, or because they are gunning for a higher-ranked school (probably unjustifiably). If you look at the last three cycles, everyone with a 170+ got accepted. It's too small a sample to say decisively one way or another, but it's worth a shot if the OP decides to re-apply.

Yeah, I wouldn't bet the farm, but it's possible. All but one of the 170+ people got accepted, but some of them were bumped into the RD pool. FWIW, I think OP has a good offer from NYU (my vote was for him to attend), but he could probably eke out more money from a lower T14 next cycle.

3.84/172 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.84/171 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.83/171 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.69/172 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.67/172 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.66/171 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.65/172 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.60/173 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.55/174 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.49/170 - Deferred to RD -> WL
3.48/174 - Admit w/ full-ride
3.30/171 - Deferred to RD -> WL -> Admit
3.09/175 - Deferred to RD -> WL -> Admit
2.90/174 - Deferred to RD -> Admit
2.54/173 - Deferred to RD -> WL -> Admit

Ahhh, good catch. Still, looks like 3.5 and high 170's might be the sweet spot to make you competitive.

So it seems like its NYU this year or possibly take a full ride offer that could occur for OP next year if he were to reapply. I'd still take NYU. The debt is real, but the uncertainty for me is enough to ehh....

Bajam wrote:So it seems like its NYU this year or possibly take a full ride offer that could occur for OP next year if he were to reapply. I'd still take NYU. The debt is real, but the uncertainty for me is enough to ehh....

I know of people who re-applied and got the same offers the second time around. I wouldn't say it's a take or leave it situation.

Rahviveh wrote:

Bajam wrote:So it seems like its NYU this year or possibly take a full ride offer that could occur for OP next year if he were to reapply. I'd still take NYU. The debt is real, but the uncertainty for me is enough to ehh....

I know of people who re-applied and got the same offers the second time around. I wouldn't say it's a take or leave it situation.

Did they get the initial offer off the WL though? That's where the uncertainty comes in. There are so many variables at this stage in the cycle that I don't think it's easy to predict how it will shape up next cycle at this time. Who knows, maybe next year they need to take GPAs from the WL and OP doesn't get pulled. Or maybe OP gets in off the WL, but they're out of money. You just can't be as certain.

Unless you really don't like NYU, just go. Your GPA is too low to get major money from peer schools (I have a higher GPA and LSAT and got $75k from NYU applying fairly early) and I think NYU has some value over the lower T14, especially if you don't know what you're going to do after school.