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Hey everyone,

I applied ED at Loyola Law in LA. As I was doing my applications, Pepperdine started looking really really good to me. I called Loyola's admissions and they said that I had to turn in a ED contract for it to be binding, if I don't I just get put into the normal applications pile. My stats are 159 and 3.27 (I have an F before college, otherwise its around a 3.6) and a great statement/softs. I would be devastated if I didn't get into Loyola, and I think the ED would give me that extra push. Keeping in mind the drastic decrease in the number of law school applicants, do you think I should just go the safe route and lock myself into Loyola? Or should I keep the option of Pepperdine open? Thoughts?

I assume you used LSAC to apply. If you did, the ED contract is merely selecting the ED option on the application + the little verifying signature part.

So if you did that, I would suspect you already sent in your binding ED contract.

That being said, EDing to Loyola Law School is an extremely dangerous and poor choice.

Also, be aware that if you were to retake the LSAT and get just 3-4 points higher you would be looking at significant scholarships to both Pepperdine/LMU.

actually I selected "Fall 2013" and within the application it asked what program I was applying for and I selected ED. That's why I called the admissions to ask, and they replied that its binding when I sign and fax/mail the contract. I was avging 162 so 159 was a dissapointment.. and I think its too late to retake for Dec. Why do you say that ED is a poor decision?

When you apply ED, there is no reason for the school to offer you any type of merit aid. So, if you get accepted to LMU you will be paying $140k in tuition to attend LMU without any other offers to compare with.

I sat in your situation last year and almost made a horrible decision to attend one of the lower ranked CA schools without knowing what I was getting into.

You can look throughout TLS, read the depression blogs like:

http://thirdtierreality.blogspot.com/20 ... a-law.html

or read employment data here: http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=loyola

I am not saying attending LMU is a bad decision in all cases. But doing a binding admission to a school with extremely bleak employment statistics with no merit aid is an extremely dangerous situation.

1) They have no reason to offer you scholarship money to encourage you to come, since you would be legally bound to attend by the ED, so
2) You will likely be on the hook for over $250K for
3) a 40% shot at getting full-time" work http://www.lstscorereports.com/?school=loyola and only
4) a 7% shot to get the kind of BigLaw you would need to pay off $250,000 in debt

EDIT: Partly scooped.