Top Law Schools

So outside of TLS, there's a lot of hype about applying Early Decision to boost your chances - inside TLS, the general idea seems to be that it isn't worth it because you will get a weak scholarship and narrow lose a lot of options.

What about for someone who has the marks to get into some tier 1 law schools, but none of the T14? Would it make sense, then, to apply in order to get a boost? Because, let's face facts here: if you've got the marks to get into HYS, then ED often wouldn't make sense because you'll have a ton of T14 options open, but for some students who don't have a reasonable chance of getting into a T14 school, but are on the cusp (so they have the marks to get into schools in the 20s and 30s), is it worth applying ED for the boost? Does the boost even exist for people who aren't close (let's say, for argument's sake, that the ED applicant has LSAT and GPA at a T14 school's 25th percentile)?

And for people who are even further down, who have the marks to get into some tier 2 law schools, but don't have a reasonable chance at a law school in the top 40, would it make sense for them to apply ED to one of the law schools in the top 40?

Here I am, of course, focusing on the prospects of students who don't have a reasonable shot at the T14.

For people on the cusp of T14 it makes sense to ED UVA/Penn etc if finances aren't an issue because of GI Bill, rich parents etc. If debt financing then not a good idea

For people below that they should either retake until they can get $$$ from regional of their choice or not go to law school

Hi Mack, just wondering, by "it makes sense to ED UVA/PENN etc", do you mean that ED does give applicants a boost for these two schools? If so, how big is that boost? 1 or 2 points on LSAT? Also, what are etc.?

Mack.Hambleton wrote:For people on the cusp of T14 it makes sense to ED UVA/Penn etc if finances aren't an issue because of GI Bill, rich parents etc. If debt financing then not a good idea

For people below that they should either retake until they can get $$$ from regional of their choice or not go to law school

Search around, there's some blog post about how much schools differ in ED boost

GMW77 wrote:Hi Mack, just wondering, by "it makes sense to ED UVA/PENN etc", do you mean that ED does give applicants a boost for these two schools? If so, how big is that boost? 1 or 2 points on LSAT? Also, what are etc.?

Mack.Hambleton wrote:For people on the cusp of T14 it makes sense to ED UVA/Penn etc if finances aren't an issue because of GI Bill, rich parents etc. If debt financing then not a good idea

For people below that they should either retake until they can get $$$ from regional of their choice or not go to law school

http://spiveyconsulting.com/blog/early- ... bump-real/

Pay close attention to category: splitter, non-splitter, reverse splitter, because it matters.

Thank you so much for sharing Troianii!! This is very useful information.

Troianii wrote:

GMW77 wrote:Hi Mack, just wondering, by "it makes sense to ED UVA/PENN etc", do you mean that ED does give applicants a boost for these two schools? If so, how big is that boost? 1 or 2 points on LSAT? Also, what are etc.?

Mack.Hambleton wrote:For people on the cusp of T14 it makes sense to ED UVA/Penn etc if finances aren't an issue because of GI Bill, rich parents etc. If debt financing then not a good idea

For people below that they should either retake until they can get $$$ from regional of their choice or not go to law school

http://spiveyconsulting.com/blog/early- ... bump-real/

Pay close attention to category: splitter, non-splitter, reverse splitter, because it matters.