Top Law Schools

I want to go into public interest law so cost of education is a major concern for me. I'd still like to go to a solid school though, and I was wondering if anyone knew of top 50 schools that were known to be especially generous with merit-based aid. I scored a 170 on my LSAT and have a 3.98 GPA (PoliSci major). I have good, but not extraordinary, soft factors. I plan to apply to a lot of schools in the hopes that I can draw some full-tuition or near full-tuition scholarships, but want to know if there are some schools I should really be targeting. Thanks!

Those are great numbers, you should be blanketing the T14. Some in the lower range may throw $ at you. Pick some schools you like in 15-30 to apply to as well, you will get big schollies from those schools if you don't get YPed.

djeter2 wrote:I want to go into public interest law so cost of education is a major concern for me. I'd still like to go to a solid school though, and I was wondering if anyone knew of top 50 schools that were known to be especially generous with merit-based aid. I scored a 170 on my LSAT and have a 3.98 GPA (PoliSci major). I have good, but not extraordinary, soft factors. I plan to apply to a lot of schools in the hopes that I can draw some full-tuition or near full-tuition scholarships, but want to know if there are some schools I should really be targeting. Thanks!

I know someone who received a full-ride to Iowa with lower LSAT and lower GPA.

chrisbru wrote:

djeter2 wrote:I want to go into public interest law so cost of education is a major concern for me. I'd still like to go to a solid school though, and I was wondering if anyone knew of top 50 schools that were known to be especially generous with merit-based aid. I scored a 170 on my LSAT and have a 3.98 GPA (PoliSci major). I have good, but not extraordinary, soft factors. I plan to apply to a lot of schools in the hopes that I can draw some full-tuition or near full-tuition scholarships, but want to know if there are some schools I should really be targeting. Thanks!

I know someone who received a full-ride to Iowa with lower LSAT and lower GPA.

Iowa is a good school but I'd honestly recommend that an applicant with those numbers set his sights a bit higher.

JOThompson wrote:

I know someone who received a full-ride to Iowa with lower LSAT and lower GPA.

Iowa is a good school but I'd honestly recommend that an applicant with those numbers set his sights a bit higher.[/quote]


Agreed, but if he's looking for the most generous schools in the top 50...

My numbers are lower and I got 40k/ year at Illinois. Also isn't wustl supposed to be generous? But I'd recommend you apply to all top 20 schools as your numbers are great and you may be pleasantly surprised with money higher up than wustl.

chrisbru wrote:Agreed, but if he's looking for the most generous schools in the top 50...

True that Iowa has one of the more generous T1 scholarship programs out there, but for LSAT/GPA combo, I think he could look higher up the rankings (lower T20?) and still receive serious money. Alternatively, he could attend the best school possible and use IBR to manage the debt.

ED GW for full ride?

ED to GW?

Aqualibrium wrote:ED GW for full ride?

AHHHH! Beat me to it!

OGR3 wrote:

Aqualibrium wrote:ED GW for full ride?

AHHHH! Beat me to it!

Great minds...

OP, have you checked out LRAP for public interest law?

You'll probably get full or near full rides from GW, WUSTL, and Illinois. But with your numbers, I would just go to CCN and do LRAP.

im_blue wrote:You'll probably get full or near full rides from GW, WUSTL, and Illinois. But with your numbers, I would just go to CCN and do LRAP.

+1 No need to look below T17 and the seven Dwarves for a full ride, and LRAP's probably the way to go.

Thanks for all the responses! I am considering going to a top school with a good LRAP. I also already applied to GW, WUSTL, and Illinois. I thought about applying ED to GW, but I couldn't justify throwing away the opportunity to consider a decent scholarship at a higher ranked school.

Apply to the bottom T14. Or if you have any room in your LSAT range for a retake, a couple more points gets you HLS, or near full ride at some T17s.