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Hey guys.

I need your advice on where to apply through ED.

I saw lot of comments that NU is very splitter-friendly school, but since its full ride scholarship for students from ED, the process would be much tougher i guess.

On the other hand, Cornell is not as much splitter friendly school as NU, but ED would give me some boost.

Since I have only one wild card, i want to use it very strategically and try for the best possibility...

so, what now??

FYI : Chemistry major in large state university, 3.14 GPA, 173 LSAT, 2 yrs of work experience.

Why are those your only options?

I think you have a really good chance at NU. They really value the WE and plus you're a science GPA so it weighs in your favor. Though I don't see why you need to ED.

This are both bad ideas with your numbers because Cornell at sticker is worse than you'd likely get by just RDing across the board, and NU because I just don't think you'll get it. Apply broadly with a good app, you'll likely get NU anyway, possibly with small $, and you'll also likely get better options than either of them. If you do want to ED I'd use it at a reach school like Penn or NYU.

Clearly wrote:This are both bad ideas with your numbers because Cornell at sticker is worse than you'd likely get by just RDing across the board, and NU because I just don't think you'll get it. Apply broadly with a good app, you'll likely get NU anyway, possibly with small $, and you'll also likely get better options than either of them. If you do want to ED I'd use it at a reach school like Penn or NYU.

But i think my gpa is too low for either Penn or NYU, and not very high enough LSAT score to overcome that gpa...

So NU is out since ED is much more competitive and i have good chance to get in through RD, right?

aquafina17 wrote:

Clearly wrote:This are both bad ideas with your numbers because Cornell at sticker is worse than you'd likely get by just RDing across the board, and NU because I just don't think you'll get it. Apply broadly with a good app, you'll likely get NU anyway, possibly with small $, and you'll also likely get better options than either of them. If you do want to ED I'd use it at a reach school like Penn or NYU.

But i think my gpa is too low for either Penn or NYU, and not very high enough LSAT score to overcome that gpa...

So NU is out since ED is much more competitive and i have good chance to get in through RD, right?

Apply broadly to the T14 plus pick a few regionals where you'd like to work. Who knows what the applicant pools going to look like next year, but with a 173 you'll get bites. I wouldn't ED anywhere, because if you have a professional job sticking with that is probably a better life decision than paying sticker to go to law school.

eta: no, your GPA is not too low for Penn or NYU. Neither are guaranteed, but both are very much possible.

TheUnicornHunter wrote:

aquafina17 wrote:

Clearly wrote:This are both bad ideas with your numbers because Cornell at sticker is worse than you'd likely get by just RDing across the board, and NU because I just don't think you'll get it. Apply broadly with a good app, you'll likely get NU anyway, possibly with small $, and you'll also likely get better options than either of them. If you do want to ED I'd use it at a reach school like Penn or NYU.

But i think my gpa is too low for either Penn or NYU, and not very high enough LSAT score to overcome that gpa...

So NU is out since ED is much more competitive and i have good chance to get in through RD, right?

Apply broadly to the T14 plus pick a few regionals where you'd like to work. Who knows what the applicant pools going to look like next year, but with a 173 you'll get bites. I wouldn't ED anywhere, because if you have a professional job sticking with that is probably a better life decision than paying sticker to go to law school.

eta: no, your GPA is not too low for Penn or NYU. Neither are guaranteed, but both are very much possible.

Thank you for your comment. Have one more question.

Do you think i have a better chance for Penn over Cornell? I might apply ED one of them.

You're me, but with a better GPA and perhaps a bit less in softs.

PM'd you.

aquafina17 wrote:

TheUnicornHunter wrote:

aquafina17 wrote:

Clearly wrote:This are both bad ideas with your numbers because Cornell at sticker is worse than you'd likely get by just RDing across the board, and NU because I just don't think you'll get it. Apply broadly with a good app, you'll likely get NU anyway, possibly with small $, and you'll also likely get better options than either of them. If you do want to ED I'd use it at a reach school like Penn or NYU.

But i think my gpa is too low for either Penn or NYU, and not very high enough LSAT score to overcome that gpa...

So NU is out since ED is much more competitive and i have good chance to get in through RD, right?

Apply broadly to the T14 plus pick a few regionals where you'd like to work. Who knows what the applicant pools going to look like next year, but with a 173 you'll get bites. I wouldn't ED anywhere, because if you have a professional job sticking with that is probably a better life decision than paying sticker to go to law school.

eta: no, your GPA is not too low for Penn or NYU. Neither are guaranteed, but both are very much possible.

Thank you for your comment. Have one more question.

Do you think i have a better chance for Penn over Cornell? I might apply ED one of them.

Aren't you listening? Don't ED to Cornell.

Clearly wrote: Aren't you listening? Don't ED to Cornell.

Yea, this. Unless you have a wildcard that you haven't told us about (100% GI bill eligibility, Bill Gates is your dad) don't ED anywhere, because there's not a law school in the country that's worth giving up a professional job+paying sticker. If you feel like you absolutely have to ED, ED northwestern because there's no downside to doing so. You probably won't get in, but that's better than locking yourself into 300k of debt.

Just throwing this out there, but a September/October ED to UVA would probably be an acceptance.

Yup, applying ED anywhere is a bad move. You lose leverage in negotiating aid, you lose the ability to consider other offers if you're accepted, and at most schools the advantage is negligible. Apply broadly and keep your options open. You don't have to go for the $$ if you don't want, but you seriously don't want sticker to be your only option.

I know that the consensus is not to ED as a splitter and as I understand ED at NU isn't likely for a splitter but is there any harm in throwing an ED app at NU? Does NU still offer the full tuition scholarship for those who are admitted ED? I don't think you're likely to get a better offer than that with 3.14/173. Worst comes to worst you get deferred to RD (I guess worst case scenario is that you get straight up rejected but that seems unlikely with those numbers).

Does this make sense or am I misunderstanding something?

birdlaw624 wrote:I know that the consensus is not to ED as a splitter and as I understand ED at NU isn't likely for a splitter but is there any harm in throwing an ED app at NU? Does NU still offer the full tuition scholarship for those who are admitted ED? I don't think you're likely to get a better offer than that with 3.14/173. Worst comes to worst you get deferred to RD (I guess worst case scenario is that you get straight up rejected but that seems unlikely with those numbers).

Does this make sense or am I misunderstanding something?

The problem is it's just not going to work. Northwestern isn't a stupid place, and they aren't going to give someone a full ride, when that persons BEST alternative might actually end up being NU at sticker...

I know that it is very, very unlikely but I guess I'm wondering if there would be any harm in applying ED to NU with numbers like this.

..

birdlaw624 wrote:I know that it is very, very unlikely but I guess I'm wondering if there would be any harm in applying ED to NU with numbers like this.

Yes, there would be loads of potential harm, because it could lock you out of good offers, as has been stated. Early Decision is almost never the right decision.

ymmv wrote:

birdlaw624 wrote:I know that it is very, very unlikely but I guess I'm wondering if there would be any harm in applying ED to NU with numbers like this.

Yes, there would be loads of potential harm, because it could lock you out of good offers, as has been stated. Early Decision is almost never the right decision.

ED at NU comes with a full scholarship no? You think that a 3.14/173 would get a better offer than that?

birdlaw624 wrote:

ymmv wrote:

birdlaw624 wrote:I know that it is very, very unlikely but I guess I'm wondering if there would be any harm in applying ED to NU with numbers like this.

Yes, there would be loads of potential harm, because it could lock you out of good offers, as has been stated. Early Decision is almost never the right decision.

ED at NU comes with a full scholarship no? You think that a 3.14/173 would get a better offer than that?

I was unaware of this. If true, maybe a reasonable option. Unless you are a URM, in which case definitely do not ED with those numbers.

If NU continues its full scholly ED thing, you could ED there, but its highly unlikely they will accept you. More likely is ED deferred to RD and then acceptance. Seems like an ok plan to me.

ED was TCR for splitters back in the day when a 3.14/173, might not get a T14 at all, and definitely couldn't expect money. But with the drop in apps, schools have become desperate for high LSAT's. NU's median is down to 168, from 170 a few years ago. You're quite likely to get money at both NU and Cornell.

There is no benefit to you applying ED anywhere below Penn. You will get one of the lower six T13, and they're too fungible to warrant losing bargaining power re: $ by ED-ing to any of them. Sticker at UVA is not better than a little money at Cornell.

I'm saying NU is his only long-shot at a T-14 full-ride. Despite what people are saying around here, the lower T-14 is not making it rain on splitters, even now. I see no harm in going for the long shot full ride and letting the chips fall where they lay [may?] when he (most likely) gets deferred to RD.

francesfarmer wrote:I'm saying NU is his only long-shot at a T-14 full-ride. Despite what people are saying around here, the lower T-14 is not making it rain on splitters, even now. I see no harm in going for the long shot full ride and letting the chips fall where they lay [may?] when he (most likely) gets deferred to RD.

I agree with this. Full ride at NU, if it exists for ED, is better than any offer OP is possibly going to get from upper T-14s anyway.

I don't see a problem with EDing to Northwestern. It's likely OP will get rolled over to RD and perhaps get in. I think applying ED gives you a bit of a boost because Northwestern knows you want to go there. Also, its not unheard of to apply ED, get rolled over to RD and still get scholarship money. Don't see a downside to applying to Northwestern for OP.

Definitely ED NU. NU at a full ride is a great outcome. You should also apply to HYS because those are great outcomes. I think UChi stopped giving out rubies but you should also apply there because if you got a half scholly that would be a great outcome. I think CLS still gives out full rides so apply there as well.