Not sure how to gauge my situation Forum

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askhos

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Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by askhos » Fri Apr 09, 2010 3:32 pm

Schools that accepted me so far:
USC (with an $18,000 yearly scholarship, no strings attached), deposit deadline: May 1
Fordham (with a $7,500 yearly scholarship, no strings attached), deposit deadline: April 15

Schools that waitlisted me so far:
Boalt - Waitlist won't be ranked until May 1.
Michigan - Will call you if you're admitted, beginning late April.

Schools that denied me admission so far:
GULC

Schools that are currently pending:
Yale
Harvard
Stanford
NYU
Columbia
Penn
Cornell
UC Davis
Hastings
UCLA
Chicago

I'll leave it at that for now. Thoughts?

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onthecusp

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by onthecusp » Fri Apr 09, 2010 3:36 pm

What do you want to know? Your situation is you got into USC with 18K yearly, Fordham with 7.5k yearly, and are pending at quite a few higher ranked schools.

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askhos

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by askhos » Fri Apr 09, 2010 3:40 pm

With the vast majority of the schools still pending, it's hard for me to figure out where it is I'm going to go exactly. With the limited information I have, here is what my tentative decisions are:

Since Fordham and USC cost about the same yearly, and both are in expensive cities, it seems that ceteris paribus USC is the better option, since it's ranked significantly higher than Fordham nationally (I'm not interested in any particular regional market right now), and USC is giving me more money.

That being said, there's no real point in accepting Davis or Hastings' offers, since USC is a better California school than either of those two. If anything there might be some scholarship leveraging that could be done (that's how I got the Fordham offer), but that's it.

My main concern is whether or not I should wait out the waiting list with no guarantee of acceptance into schools like Boalt or Michigan (and I predict other t14 schools), or just take USC's offer by May.

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Aberzombie1892

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by Aberzombie1892 » Fri Apr 09, 2010 3:41 pm

askhos wrote:Schools that accepted me so far:
USC (with an $18,000 yearly scholarship, no strings attached), deposit deadline: May 1
Fordham (with a $7,500 yearly scholarship, no strings attached), deposit deadline: April 15

Schools that waitlisted me so far:
Boalt - Waitlist won't be ranked until May 1.
Michigan - Will call you if you're admitted, beginning late April.

Schools that denied me admission so far:
GULC

Schools that are currently pending:
Yale
Harvard
Stanford
NYU
Columbia
Penn
Cornell
UC Davis
Hastings
UCLA
Chicago

I'll leave it at that for now. Thoughts?

Given that you were waitlisted at MI and UC-B, denied at GULC, and accepted to USC and Fordham,

I would:

1. Give up hope on the T6 (consider giving up on Penn for the same reasons)
2. Axe UC-D and UC-H

Leaving:

Cornell (more likely to offer an acceptance for you over Penn-probably)
Penn
UCLA
and
Fordham
USC

The only question would be....

Where do you want to practice?

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askhos

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by askhos » Fri Apr 09, 2010 3:47 pm

Aberzombie1892 wrote:Where do you want to practice?
Coin toss for me as of this point. I've lived in California most of my life, so I'm used to it, but I would like to try to live out on the East for a few years, and law school seems to be the best time to do it.

Since schools like the t14 can place you anywhere geographically better than the other T1 schools, and since I have no particular commitments to any region, that was why the t14 schools appealed to me more than anything else.

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askhos

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by askhos » Fri Apr 09, 2010 7:56 pm

Okay, I don't know how the hell to explain why Hastings just put me on their waitlist.

ViP

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by ViP » Fri Apr 09, 2010 7:59 pm

askhos wrote:Okay, I don't know how the hell to explain why Hastings just put me on their waitlist.
1) You applied late

and/or

2) Yield protection

Either way, happens all the time.

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askhos

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by askhos » Fri Apr 09, 2010 8:00 pm

I didn't apply late relative to their due date. What's yield protection?

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askhos

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by askhos » Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:04 pm

Got rejection letters from NYU (which was expected) and UCLA (which surprised me), so I think I shouldn't pin much hopes on being high on the waitlists. USC it is for now.

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remotelyfeasible

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by remotelyfeasible » Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:10 pm

This seems really easy. Submit money to USC on May 1 if nothing better comes. If something else comes, rethink.

Also, try not to use random Latin phrases when there is a just-as-good English phrase. People will think you're being pretentious.

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Mr. Matlock

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by Mr. Matlock » Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:12 pm

askhos wrote:Got rejection letters from NYU (which was expected) and UCLA (which surprised me), so I think I shouldn't pin much hopes on being high on the waitlists. USC it is for now.
askhos wrote:....it seems that ceteris paribus USC is the better option.
I'd ding you too.

EDIT: Apparently I'm not the only one! :lol:

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askhos

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by askhos » Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:16 pm

Sorry for using Latin. I wish I could be as awesome as you.

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presh

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by presh » Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:28 pm

.
Last edited by presh on Sun Dec 27, 2015 1:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

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askhos

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by askhos » Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:35 pm

presh wrote:Also, yield protections is when a school rejects a student because their numbers indicate that they are going to get into (and attend) a better school. They do this to make their "yield" (students accepted/students attending) better.
I looked it up earlier, but thanks. What is the reason for them wanting to have a high yield rate? It seems to be counterproductive for the schools since they don't allow themselves to admit higher qualified students. Does it affect rankings? Funding?

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presh

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by presh » Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:37 pm

.
Last edited by presh on Sun Dec 27, 2015 1:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

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askhos

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by askhos » Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:43 pm

presh wrote:Yes. Yield is part of the USNews scoring system. I'm not sure how large a part it plays, but it is in there.
That's pretty sad.

I get the feeling the rankings are important, but not for the reason people think. The rankings are meant to somehow provide a reliable list of which schools are "better" than others. Whether or not that concept maps onto reality is one thing, but I don't think the US News rankings do that.

Nevertheless, people attach significance to them because they believe other people believe the rankings map onto reality, and that's why the rankings end up becoming an important factor.
Last edited by askhos on Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Always Credited

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by Always Credited » Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:47 pm

askhos wrote: ceteris paribus
:!:

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CanadianWolf

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by CanadianWolf » Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:55 pm

$18,000 per year is more than $7,500 per year.
The #18 is higher than the #34.
USC is ranked #18 & Fordham is ranked #34.
#18 USC is giving you the $18,000 per year.
#34 Fordham is offering you $7,500 per year.

ViP

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by ViP » Tue Apr 13, 2010 9:12 pm

presh wrote:Latin is a language
As dead as it can be
It killed the Ancient Romans
And now it's killing me

On a more serious note.
I agree with remotelyfeasible. Deposit at USC and see what happens with the other schools. Deposits aren't binding.

Also, yield protections is when a school rejects a student because their numbers indicate that they are going to get into (and attend) a better school. They do this to make their "yield" (students accepted/students attending) better.
Well, just to clarify...

YP is when a school waitlists a student who they think will turn down the offer for a "better" school. The school doesn't reject based on YP.

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remotelyfeasible

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Re: Not sure how to gauge my situation

Post by remotelyfeasible » Tue Apr 13, 2010 9:31 pm

CanadianWolf wrote:$18,000 per year is more than $7,500 per year.
The #18 is higher than the #34.
USC is ranked #18 & Fordham is ranked #34.
#18 USC is giving you the $18,000 per year.
#34 Fordham is offering you $7,500 per year.
The number 18 is not higher than the number 34 sir.

Haha, I kid. :D

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