Berkeley/Vanderbilt/UVA/Retake Forum

[DJG]

Trying to decide between these schools or if I should try next cycle.

171 LSAT, 3.8 GPA, applied late January (only took LSAT once, 171 was my median from practice tests, though average was closer to 173)

Rejected at Harvard/Yale
Waiting on Stanford, NYU and Northwestern
Hold/Priority Waitlist at Duke/Columbia
Wait-listed at every other T14
90% Scholarship at Vanderbilt
Haven't heard anything from Berkeley or UVA regarding Scholarship yet and not really sure what to expect

Will be taking out loans to fund law school. Interested in biglaw into in-house counsel. I'm from Miami and want to return to Miami after law school. Also have family in NYC so not opposed to ending up there.

[Tiago Splitter]

Trying to decide between these schools or if I should try next cycle.

171 LSAT, 3.8 GPA, applied late January (only took LSAT once, 171 was my median from practice tests, though average was closer to 173)

Rejected at Harvard/Yale
Waiting on Stanford, NYU and Northwestern
Hold/Priority Waitlist at Duke/Columbia
Wait-listed at every other T14
90% Scholarship at Vanderbilt
Haven't heard anything from Berkeley or UVA regarding Scholarship yet and not really sure what to expect

Will be taking out loans to fund law school. Interested in biglaw into in-house counsel. I'm from Miami and want to return to Miami after law school. Also have family in NYC so not opposed to ending up there.

Unless a six figure scholarship at a T-14 presents itself I'd sit out a year and get some work experience. I'd also retake and see if you can grab another point or two, especially given that you were PTing at a higher number. Another point or two could be the key to getting 150k from a T-14.

[sflyr2016]

Let Berkeley and UVA know about your 90% scholarship offer from Vanderbilt. And if they offer you anything, go back to Vandy to negotiate 100%. Given your ties, you should be able to have a good shot at getting big/midlaw in Miami from either Vandy or UVA as long as you get decent grades. Feel free to pm me if you want to discuss South Florida a bit more. I'm from there as well.

[fliptrip]

I'd at the very least retake the cycle. If you apply Day 1 next year, I think you'll get better results. You should have gotten more than just Berkeley and UVA. It never hurts to retake either, of course. You're so close to opening up at least H as an option.

[TheRealSantaClaus]

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[DJG]

Thanks for the advice all.

Berkeley came back with aid and it brought COA down to ~100k.

Would you all still advise sitting out? I'm leaning towards Berkeley, but curious as to what others think.

[TheRealSantaClaus]

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[existentialcrisis]

It's not a bad option, but I'd feel significantly more confident about you getting back to Miami (particularly in a large firm position) from Duke or UVA, and you might get a larger scholarship next year from either of them. I've heard Miami biglaw is notoriously tough to crack even with ties.

I'm not really one to suggest taking on sticker debt at HYS, but isn't Florida in general supposed to be one of the hardest markets to crack from anywhere?

[TheRealSantaClaus]

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[existentialcrisis]

It's not a bad option, but I'd feel significantly more confident about you getting back to Miami (particularly in a large firm position) from Duke or UVA, and you might get a larger scholarship next year from either of them. I've heard Miami biglaw is notoriously tough to crack even with ties.

I'm not really one to suggest taking on sticker debt at HYS, but isn't Florida in general supposed to be one of the hardest markets to crack from anywhere?

Yup, but I'm not sure sticker at Harvard would be worth what may be a marginally better shot at Florida biglaw, given that UVA and Duke are the closest powerhouses.

I think I agree. The move is probably to get as much money as you can at Duke/UVA (which with your numbers seems like it should be a lot) even if it means reapplying, and then network like crazy in Miami.