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Hello TLSers,

This post is an update from a previous post. Accepted: Michigan (negotiating), UCLA, USC, and Georgetown. Wait list: Harvard, Penn, Duke, NYU, (probably Columbia today). Rejected: Yale and Boalt. Awaiting decision from Stanford.

Scholarships/COA:
Georgetown: $135,000 total; ~$104,000 COA
UCLA: $129,000 total ~$95,000 COA (Will gain CA residency after 1L)
USC: $159,000 total, ~$92,000 COA

I will be financing my education through loans. If it makes any difference, I could probably reduce COA at UCLA/USC by living with family or living with friends in LA.

Current undergraduate in CA. CA is definitely preferred market. I would say my ties in the area are average.

I am hopeful for biglaw. Not entirely set on biglaw, but definitely private practice. No interest in PI.

LSAT: 168; GPA: 3.9 (NA-URM). This was an issue on my previous thread. I am indeed Native American, but I am not officially enrolled in a tribe. I understand this may carry weight. Schools were aware of my ethnicity (mail and phone calls).

Also of note from my previous thread: I do not have any record and/or disciplinary issues. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Took LSAT once after 6 months of classes. Was PTing in a wide range of 163-169 range.

I'd appreciate any input. The conventional wisdom on my last post was retake. I wanted to see if my new offers from GULC and UCLA change anything.

I'm ignorant here, but what is the process for enrolling in a tribe? Your stats are killer. You should certainly have much better offers on the table.

If you didn't get a boost because you weren't enrolled, could you enroll over the course of this year and then reapply next year?

OhBoyOhBortles wrote:I'm ignorant here, but what is the process for enrolling in a tribe? Your stats are killer. You should certainly have much better offers on the table.

If you didn't get a boost because you weren't enrolled, could you enroll over the course of this year and then reapply next year?

I'm not sure if enrollment does make a difference. Data on this would be very difficult to acquire. Enrollment requirements vary greatly between tribes. I do not believe I am eligible to enroll in the next year due to my particular tribe's requirements if that helps

http://mylsn.info/6sokd2/

Did you not apply to Berkeley? Northwestern? Cornell? I think you should definitely have more T14 offers than this.

GULC student here. GULC does 'OK' in CA market, but it's not our primary focus (surprise!). You'd have to be above median to have a decent shot, and even then your options at OCI would be more limited than USC/UCLA. The price for GULC is OK but not if you've got your heart set on California.

If you had to choose now, I'd say UCLA/USC are comparable enough that whoever gives you the most money is probably best (both have ~40% BigLaw placement, although USC's hiring at this level is recent, they tend to be a bit lower historically).

The best answer is to retake and sit out a cycle - you should be seeing better offers already, but a 170+ will see you getting some decent money at the lower t14's you can either take or use to get a full ride at UCLA/USC.

AlohaFriday wrote:Current undergraduate in CA. CA is definitely preferred market. I would say my ties in the area are average.

I'd say GULC would give you a slightly better shot at Northern California, though you would still need good grades.

For Southern California big law, all your options are about equal. GULC might give you a slight advantage with certain firms, though I'm not sure about that.

For Southern California non-big law, UCLA/USC are better than GULC.

Was your personal statement, "I love money. I want to make lots of money. Please accept me into your money making machine." ??

It's the only explanation I can imagine for your cycle. OR, for whatever reason, yours may be a case too out of the ordinary for TLS to really help with. With those numbers and your goals, Boalt should be the correct answer, and tbh should already be on the table. Since it isn't...I don't know. Retake for 170+?

The Boalt black box moves in mysterious ways.

Did you apply late?

rejected by Boalt as a diversity candidate with great numbers.....something amiss, here.