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I'm just finishing up a 5 year officer commitment in the Navy (joined out of college) and am looking to apply to law schools this fall to do PI work. Cost is not a factor due to the GI Bill/Yellow Ribbon programs at most schools, and my college GPA (3.95+) shouldn't limit me. I still have to take the LSAT in September, but I come from an engineering background and have a few months to study, so hopefully that won't be limiting either. However, I do have one other unique consideration: I'm a transgender woman who will be a bit over a year into my transition if I start in the Fall of 2018. Thus, I want to be in a big city that is LGBT-friendly, and at a university that has a good LGBT support network. I've lived in DC the past 5 years which makes it appealing from a familiarity standpoint, and I know the city overall is LGBT-friendly, but I've heard that Georgetown has not always had a great relationship with LGBT students. From looking at their website, NYU has a lot of resources devoted to helping LGBT students (even a gender-neutral bathroom map which will be pretty useful), which definitely sets them apart. However, given that I would eventually like to do PI work in DC (e.g., HRC), Georgetown probably has the location advantage for internships. That being said, NYU is a bit more prestigious, so I probably won't have a problem finding a good PI internship if I go there either.

While both schools have different positives, I can only apply to one ED (well, technically I think I could apply to Georgetown ED, hear back a negative from them, then still have time to apply to NYU early decision since Georgetown has a 3 week turnaround from turning in the application). That being said, I am debating applying ED to Georgetown, or holding off and applying ED to NYU. Thoughts?

For perspective, I'm still applying regular decision to Columbia, Harvard, and UC Berkeley.

You need an LSAT first before you make any plans.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, you're in the fortunate position to visit the schools prior to making an application plan to get a feel for their LGBT accommodations and communities. I would recommend visiting both, maybe meeting with admissions to talk about your interests and concerns, both personally and professionally, in each school. Admissions will paint a really positive picture of their community, but it'll at least be some insight into them.

You can pick which school you like better since you're not hamstrung by needing scholarships at either school. And GULC could hypothetically get a small edge since you want to do PI in DC, but that should probably be a minor bump because PI work is as much about the cause of that organization and your demonstrated commitment to it.

Hit the books with that LSAT, get a 165+ to be safe combined with your veteran status and high GPA, and you'll be sitting pretty good for an ED at your preference at NYU and GULC.



Small sample size because there just aren't as many data points, but this looks pretty indicative of what you need to do on the LSAT to make ED pretty solid.

ETA: GULC was also nearly all acceptances beyond this scope, sorry for the incorrect range

With regards to your transition, NYU will be super accepting and you'll find a great support network there. We do very well with placing people into PI jobs (including in DC) so I wouldn't let the location worry you. Focus on getting a great LSAT score to give yourself the best chance of success. If you can get into NYU, I think you'll have a great law school experience there.