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Given seat deposit deadlines coming up, I want to get some input on my decision for next fall.

GPA: 3.46
LSAT: 163, 171.
URM: MA.
Career goals: Texas biglaw litigation. A federal clerkship would be a welcome bonus if the opportunity is there.

Accepted: UT Austin (total COA ~$150k), SMU Dedman (total COA ~$150k). Financing through loans.
Rejected: Berkeley.
Waitlisted: Duke, Virginia, Cornell, Michigan.
Yet to hear from the rest of the T13.

I applied in late January, and I think that my (what I believe to be) underperformance this cycle may be attributed to being late to the table.

I’m a native Texan, and I’ve been working out-of-state for the past 7 months in a technology specialist position (think patent agent without having taken the patent bar) at a full-service law firm. Given my ties, background, and career goals, I’m comfortable with UT at the current cost. Best case - I snag biglaw, and the savings increase I would see in biglaw compared to my current job (about $100k compared to about $30k, respectively) probably surpasses any increased scholarship money I might receive by reapplying (the $70k difference means that I would need close to a full ride at UT for reapplying to be less expensive, which I find unlikely). Worst case - I return to patent prosecution in a non-biglaw capacity, which would probably still result in a significant salary bump over my current income.

My thoughts: Obviously, I’d love more scholarship money and/or landing at a T13 to increase biglaw/clerkship chances. I’m concerned that retaking and reapplying may not result in better outcomes (acceptances/scholarships) given that I’m a splitter and already over 170. Further, I haven’t negotiated with UT yet - do y’all think I’d get better results before or after the seat deposit deadline (April 15)? I was hoping for more leverage by this point, but I’m not holding my breath right now. I feel like UT will have more money to give after the deadline, but will I lose leverage by depositing?

I appreciate any and all input!

Bump.

Reapply next year the minute applications go live. Your lsat is too high to waste on your current options and their accompanying debt loads. Blanket the top 14 (plus UT but minus HYS).

TexasSplitter18 wrote:Given seat deposit deadlines coming up, I want to get some input on my decision for next fall.

GPA: 3.46
LSAT: 163, 171.
URM: MA.
Career goals: Texas biglaw litigation. A federal clerkship would be a welcome bonus if the opportunity is there.

Accepted: UT Austin (total COA ~$150k), SMU Dedman (total COA ~$150k). Financing through loans.
Rejected: Berkeley.
Waitlisted: Duke, Virginia, Cornell, Michigan.
Yet to hear from the rest of the T13.

I applied in late January, and I think that my (what I believe to be) underperformance this cycle may be attributed to being late to the table.

I’m a native Texan, and I’ve been working out-of-state for the past 7 months in a technology specialist position (think patent agent without having taken the patent bar) at a full-service law firm. Given my ties, background, and career goals, I’m comfortable with UT at the current cost. Best case - I snag biglaw, and the savings increase I would see in biglaw compared to my current job (about $100k compared to about $30k, respectively) probably surpasses any increased scholarship money I might receive by reapplying (the $70k difference means that I would need close to a full ride at UT for reapplying to be less expensive, which I find unlikely). Worst case - I return to patent prosecution in a non-biglaw capacity, which would probably still result in a significant salary bump over my current income.

My thoughts: Obviously, I’d love more scholarship money and/or landing at a T13 to increase biglaw/clerkship chances. I’m concerned that retaking and reapplying may not result in better outcomes (acceptances/scholarships) given that I’m a splitter and already over 170. Further, I haven’t negotiated with UT yet - do y’all think I’d get better results before or after the seat deposit deadline (April 15)? I was hoping for more leverage by this point, but I’m not holding my breath right now. I feel like UT will have more money to give after the deadline, but will I lose leverage by depositing?

I appreciate any and all input!

can you describe how you found the patent agent job without taking the bar? what kind of science degree or work ex did you have?

Reapply at very start of next cycle, you should be able to get great scholarship at UT or SMU (if you want Dallas) with your numbers and URM. Also next time at SMU I recommend looking into private scholarships as well, I've heard some of them are really nice. This should help you with any schools you want, but as a side note I would also recommend staying in Texas if being in Texas is important to you. If not, aim high!

woopig2017 wrote:Reapply at very start of next cycle, you should be able to get great scholarship at UT or SMU (if you want Dallas) with your numbers and URM. Also next time at SMU I recommend looking into private scholarships as well, I've heard some of them are really nice. This should help you with any schools you want, but as a side note I would also recommend staying in Texas if being in Texas is important to you. If not, aim high!

OP, please wait and reapply. SMU should be embarrassed at not giving you everything you wanted. UT is tougher on scholarship, given its much lower tuition for in-staters. But you still should get 1/2 scholarship from UT. Just wait for next cycle and you should get into some NYU, UV, UM, maybe even HLS with your URM status. Of course, it's hard to predict these things, but stay away from the SMUs of the world with your numbers. Don't go to a school that will make it really tough outside of top 1/4 grades. Go to a school that gives you 75–80% shot at most any biglaw gig/clerkship.

BasilHallward wrote:

woopig2017 wrote:Reapply at very start of next cycle, you should be able to get great scholarship at UT or SMU (if you want Dallas) with your numbers and URM. Also next time at SMU I recommend looking into private scholarships as well, I've heard some of them are really nice. This should help you with any schools you want, but as a side note I would also recommend staying in Texas if being in Texas is important to you. If not, aim high!

OP, please wait and reapply. SMU should be embarrassed at not giving you everything you wanted. UT is tougher on scholarship, given its much lower tuition for in-staters. But you still should get 1/2 scholarship from UT. Just wait for next cycle and you should get into some NYU, UV, UM, maybe even HLS with your URM status. Of course, it's hard to predict these things, but stay away from the SMUs of the world with your numbers. Don't go to a school that will make it really tough outside of top 1/4 grades. Go to a school that gives you 75–80% shot at most any biglaw gig/clerkship.

My concern regarding the T13 schools is that I’m not in a great position to get significant money from any of them. While I’d love to have the higher employment percentages, I wouldn’t love paying an extra $100k on top of what I’d be paying for UT. For me, getting in at a T13 at sticker is equivalent to my current position of being waitlisted across the board.

That being said, I’m heavily leaning toward attending UT this fall. I think best-case for reapplying is getting into a T13 without significant money and getting into UT with more (but not significantly more) money. That marginal improvement doesn’t seem worth waiting a year given my background and career goals.

BasilHallward wrote:

woopig2017 wrote:Reapply at very start of next cycle, you should be able to get great scholarship at UT or SMU (if you want Dallas) with your numbers and URM. Also next time at SMU I recommend looking into private scholarships as well, I've heard some of them are really nice. This should help you with any schools you want, but as a side note I would also recommend staying in Texas if being in Texas is important to you. If not, aim high!

OP, please wait and reapply. SMU should be embarrassed at not giving you everything you wanted. UT is tougher on scholarship, given its much lower tuition for in-staters. But you still should get 1/2 scholarship from UT. Just wait for next cycle and you should get into some NYU, UV, UM, maybe even HLS with your URM status. Of course, it's hard to predict these things, but stay away from the SMUs of the world with your numbers. Don't go to a school that will make it really tough outside of top 1/4 grades. Go to a school that gives you 75–80% shot at most any biglaw gig/clerkship.

My concern with landing a T13 is that I wouldn’t get any significant money. While better employment stats would be nice, T13 at sticker isn’t worth it and it probably wouldn’t help with negotiations with UT. The best case for reapplying seems to be getting more money from UT, which I doubt would be significant enough to be worth waiting a year.

That being said, I’m leaning toward attending UT this fall. Wasn’t able to negotiate anything else from them, but I’m comfortable with my situation right now.