Top Law Schools

How many law schools does the average kid usually apply to? like 7-10?
I have a solid list of 30, is that ridiculous?

hmmm. 30 is perhaps a bit much....I had 10 and I thought I was going overboard. Man, that would cost a crapload for app fees if you didnt have waivers

30 is not ridiculous, especially if you are a splitter.

bk187 wrote:30 is not ridiculous, especially if you are a splitter.

This. If you are a splitter 30 might be worth it. If you aren't I would be kind of skeptical as to why you would need to apply to so many.

I applied to 21, but I was a splitter and many of those were for scholarship negotiating purposes.

Yes, definitely a splitter...
I will try to bring my list down to 20 or so

"Let a thousand law schools bloom..."

OGR3 wrote:I applied to 21, but I was a splitter and many of those were for scholarship negotiating purposes.

Scholarship negotiation is another good point.

Honestly, if you don't mind the app fee, don't let it bother you. It doesn't hurt to have extra reaches or an extra couple safeties. Personally, as a splitter, I am applying to most of the T30.

Idk what world you guys live in but 30 is excessive even for a splitter or someone looking for max money.

tkgrrett wrote:Idk what world you guys live in but 30 is excessive even for a splitter or someone looking for max money.

It may be excessive, but it depends on circumstances. For somebody who is sub-3, 170+ I see 20 as being reasonable (possibly closer to 30 the farther below 3 you get).

wanderlust10 wrote:How many law schools does the average kid usually apply to? like 7-10?
I have a solid list of 30, is that ridiculous?

Apply to where you would go. If you would go to 30 schools maybe there is a problem.

sophia.olive wrote:

wanderlust10 wrote:How many law schools does the average kid usually apply to? like 7-10?
I have a solid list of 30, is that ridiculous?

Apply to where you would go. If you would go to 30 schools maybe there is a problem.

It really comes down to how many you want to try to leverage scholly $$ with.

sophia.olive wrote:

wanderlust10 wrote:How many law schools does the average kid usually apply to? like 7-10?
I have a solid list of 30, is that ridiculous?

Apply to where you would go. If you would go to 30 schools maybe there is a problem.

I don't see why. If you don't have a regional preference I'd say all of the Top 50 other than those in New Jersey are all feasible.

bk187 wrote:

tkgrrett wrote:Idk what world you guys live in but 30 is excessive even for a splitter or someone looking for max money.

It may be excessive, but it depends on circumstances. For somebody who is sub-3, 170+ I see 20 as being reasonable (possibly closer to 30 the farther below 3 you get).

30 is definitely way too many. The way I broke it down is t14 schools (UVA, GULC) or super regional schools (UCLA, BU) that I thought I had a chance at, then I threw apps at fee waiver schools and schools in regions that I'd like to live. It ended up being around 17.

Scholarship considerations for a splitter? Not that many schools are going to throw big money at splitters.

I have a hard time believing that someone would be happy or willing to work in that many areas.

flyingpanda wrote:

bk187 wrote:

tkgrrett wrote:Idk what world you guys live in but 30 is excessive even for a splitter or someone looking for max money.

It may be excessive, but it depends on circumstances. For somebody who is sub-3, 170+ I see 20 as being reasonable (possibly closer to 30 the farther below 3 you get).

30 is definitely way too many. The way I broke it down is t14 schools (UVA, GULC) or super regional schools (UCLA, BU) that I thought I had a chance at, then I threw apps at fee waiver schools and schools in regions that I'd like to live. It ended up being around 17.

Scholarship considerations for a splitter? Not that many schools are going to throw big money at splitters.

I have a hard time believing that someone would be happy or willing to work in that many areas.

+1

I was a splitter and applied to eight. 30 is overdoing it.

flyingpanda wrote:

bk187 wrote:

tkgrrett wrote:Idk what world you guys live in but 30 is excessive even for a splitter or someone looking for max money.

It may be excessive, but it depends on circumstances. For somebody who is sub-3, 170+ I see 20 as being reasonable (possibly closer to 30 the farther below 3 you get).

30 is definitely way too many. The way I broke it down is t14 schools (UVA, GULC) or super regional schools (UCLA, BU) that I thought I had a chance at, then I threw apps at fee waiver schools and schools in regions that I'd like to live. It ended up being around 17.

Scholarship considerations for a splitter? Not that many schools are going to throw big money at splitters.

I have a hard time believing that someone would be happy or willing to work in that many areas.

I've never gotten the territorial preferences that aren't big city vs smaller city or home versus away. If you don't care about weather, regions aren't that different IMO. People are people.

Also, nobody has really provided a reason not to apply to a bunch of schools. Low chance at scholly money is still a chance, and if you get a fee waiver it's a pretty small price for a gamble.

..

With your numbers, I think that you are doing the right thing by applying to at least 20 law schools. And, if you can handle 30 applications, then do it.
I applied your numbers to lawschoolpredictor.com which resulted in only rejects or "consider" for Top 50 Law Schools. You may want to save time & money by avoiding the Top 20 as your highest ranked "admits" were New Mexico & Hawaii--neither of which is in the Top 50.

flyingpanda wrote:
Scholarship considerations for a splitter? Not that many schools are going to throw big money at splitters.

I have a hard time believing that someone would be happy or willing to work in that many areas.

I admit I applied to about 30 schools. I received 4 large scholarship offers ranging from half to full. I admit no scholarship money came from the t14. In fact I had only one acceptance from the t14 and a ton of waitlists. So if scholarship money is important the t14 might be a longshot and up to you whether to take the chance. Don't do what I did and apply in January though. I highly recommend following the advice to apply early and apply in October if possible.

Also I was on a bunch of t20 waitlists. I just chose not to ride them out in favor of accepting a scholarship offer. But if you are willing to pay sticker for t14 then ride out the waitlists and contact the schools frequently enough for them to know you are still interested but not so frequently that they think you are pest. April-June once a month should suffice. From mid-June or so after 2nd deposits are received then every couple if weeks make sense. UVa stressed to me they weigh expression of interest fairly high in removing people off the waitlist.

Hannibal wrote:
I don't see why. If you don't have a regional preference I'd say all of the Top 50 other than those in New Jersey are all feasible.

Fail. There are no top 50 schools in NJ.

Burger in a can wrote:

Hannibal wrote:
I don't see why. If you don't have a regional preference I'd say all of the Top 50 other than those in New Jersey are all feasible.

Fail. There are no top 50 schools in NJ.

Doesn't technically void my point

I thought Seton Hall and Rutgers were top 50 for some reason.

Hannibal wrote:

flyingpanda wrote:

bk187 wrote:

tkgrrett wrote:Idk what world you guys live in but 30 is excessive even for a splitter or someone looking for max money.

It may be excessive, but it depends on circumstances. For somebody who is sub-3, 170+ I see 20 as being reasonable (possibly closer to 30 the farther below 3 you get).

30 is definitely way too many. The way I broke it down is t14 schools (UVA, GULC) or super regional schools (UCLA, BU) that I thought I had a chance at, then I threw apps at fee waiver schools and schools in regions that I'd like to live. It ended up being around 17.

Scholarship considerations for a splitter? Not that many schools are going to throw big money at splitters.

I have a hard time believing that someone would be happy or willing to work in that many areas.

I've never gotten the territorial preferences that aren't big city vs smaller city or home versus away. If you don't care about weather, regions aren't that different IMO. People are people.

Also, nobody has really provided a reason not to apply to a bunch of schools. Low chance at scholly money is still a chance, and if you get a fee waiver it's a pretty small price for a gamble.

As someone who has done minimal travelling, I am applying to a lot of schools (list of 25, will probably actually send out at least 20 of them) because I really don't know which places I would like to live and which I wouldn't. I do not have the time to go visit all these places before applying. So, I am applying, and anywhere I get in that is reasonable money vs. ranking, I will go visit to assess from that point.

Hannibal wrote:

Burger in a can wrote:

Hannibal wrote:
I don't see why. If you don't have a regional preference I'd say all of the Top 50 other than those in New Jersey are all feasible.

Fail. There are no top 50 schools in NJ.

Doesn't technically void my point

I thought Seton Hall and Rutgers were top 50 for some reason.

Haha I guess since you were trying to mock Jersey, you sort of inadvertently succeeded anyway.

I guess the question is, did you get application fee waivers?

I mean, if you got an application fee waiver to that many schools or a lot of them, by all means, go for it. Otherwise, it might be a bit much. I don't know how many is too many; I only applied to four, but I wasn't a splitter.

Eh, I say do what ya gotta do. With a decent amount of fee waivers, applying to 20 or 30 schools might be in the best interest of a splitter. If you're able to get into a top-ranked school, or if some of those offers allow you to negotiate a decent scholarship... well, then the process more than pays for itself. Besides, there's nothing worse than wondering "What if..."