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I don't think you have any great options here. Penn is likely the strongest of those schools for PA BigLaw, but debt of $236K is hard to defend.

I know that it's a tired meme here on TLS, but your best bet might be to retake the LSAT.

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UPenn is undoubtedly the school to be at for Philly Biglaw. A retake isn't the problem either. Your GPA is below the median, and your LSAT is at/above it depending on how the cycle is going. Money is really only going to above both medians, URM, or some really crazy story.

I would have expected better offerings from lower T14. You could retake/reapply, but even then it's the reapplying more than the retaking that would matter except for HYSCC and prob N., where its more about getting in than getting paid anyway.

Aeon wrote:I don't think you have any great options here. Penn is likely the strongest of those schools for PA BigLaw, but debt of $236K is hard to defend.

I know that it's a tired meme here on TLS, but your best bet might be to retake the LSAT.

Thanks for the advice. The large debt load is incredibly tough to swallow. With regards to the retake issue, I just don't know if a better LSAT is going to help me out here being a splitter. I'm worried about 1) getting waitlisted from schools that accepted me this cycle as I will be a reapplicant and 2) how much more money I will actually get. The 170 is at or above nearly all of the schools 75ths, so I'm not sure if I will see more money shift my way with a few point increase.

sublime wrote:I feel like you should get more from Duke and the lower T14?

While that would be a pretty great outcome! I didn't even receive the initial wave of scholly feeder emails from GTown and had to solicit one myself. Combined with their reputation for stinginess, I doubt I will get more than Cornell offered. With regards to Duke, maybe I'm being a little more pessimistic than necessary, but I just have a hard time imagining that they will give me something equal or greater than a school where I'm slightly above the GPA median and above the 75th LSAT.

Clearly wrote:UPenn is undoubtedly the school to be at for Philly Biglaw. A retake isn't the problem either. Your GPA is below the median, and your LSAT is at/above it depending on how the cycle is going. Money is really only going to above both medians, URM, or some really crazy story.

I would have expected better offerings from lower T14. You could retake/reapply, but even then it's the reapplying more than the retaking that would matter except for HYSCC and prob N., where its more about getting in than getting paid anyway.

That is pretty much what I have been thinking. Penn seems like my best shot, but there is no way I'm going to get merit aid/enough to make the cost sustainable. With reapplying, I applied early Dec due to waiting on a LOR. From what I've seen this really shouldn't have been a factor as it should have still been "early" for the cycle. Plus as I mentioned above, I did well for my cycle insofar as admissions go. I'm worried reapplying with even a 2 point increase will have negligible effect and might even get me waitlisted at waitlist heavy schools like Penn.

Thanks again guys, I don't really have anyone to discuss this stuff with so I really appreciate the help.

None of the above.

Why don't you do something else with your life (seriously). You probably majored in something stupid and unemployable, but there are other professions you could pursue besides law if you're willing to do 2 more years in school (for cheap).

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