Help/Advice Needed Forum

[texastotennessee]

UG: Vanderbilt

LSAT: 170
GPA: 3.31

Good recs, one year out of UG and have been in community service position with NGO for full year. Didn't apply until after I took my February LSAT, very late.

Admitted: UT (no money), Vanderbilt ( $$)

Pending: NYU, Penn

Waitlisted: Georgetown

Considering waiting until next cycle, retaking because I'm 90% sure I can improve my LSAT score, and shooting exclusively for a T14. Thoughts/Advice? I've got in-state at UT and am debating whether to matriculate if I could leverage money from Vandy into a similar offer, would make total debt below 50k for a UT degree. Help would be greatly appreciated.

[lawskool234]

Wait and reapply early. I have a 169 and 3.2X, and I'm in at Northwestern with $90K, and in at Gtown with scholarship amount pending, and wait listed/held at multiple other T14s. If you retake and get higher, even better.

[transferror]

Yeah, big splitters need to get that LSAT out there early in the cycle. Retake and reapply, although that 170 and a 3.2x from a respected UG should get you money at a lower T14 as it is.

[texastotennessee]

Thanks for the help y'all, not sure if this matters but I likely want to work in Texas or California after graduating. In light of this, should I even take NU/Georgetown/Duke/Cornell over UT? It seems to me that if I want to stay in Texas a degree from UT law gives a prospective applicant a significant boost, possibly more important than a lower T14 degree?

[lawskool234]

Not sure if UT would provide you w a significant boost over lower T14, but if you're dead set on that area, I think the general consensus is that it's not a bad option at all. You also want to be cognizant of how much debt you're taking on, though, and I definitely think if you sit out a cycle and reapply early you'll be in a better position not just for acceptances but also for $$

[McAvoy]

If you want to work in Texas then it doesn't make all that much sense to me that you'd go most places in the lower half of the T14. It will be harder to get a good job in Texas from a Cornell or GTown than from UT..

UT for under 50K in debt with Texas ties and ambitions sounds like a pretty safe bet to me. You'll have better outcomes if you wait a cycle, for sure, but I doubt that would be a decision you'd really regret. UT could still be working on your scholarship offer if the timeline is really how you say, and they have a matching program, too.