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Hi all,

A bit about me: I'm 25, and I have an undergraduate GPA of 3.87. I haven't taken an LSAT yet, but I plan to take it in July and perhaps again in August if necessary. My goal score is a 170. As of recently, my plan was to apply this fall to a mix of T14 schools and a few backups that have good public interest clinics.

I want to be a public interest lawyer, and I feel very confident that I will not be working for a private firm anytime in the future. So, my hope is to get a pretty hefty scholarship, if not a full scholarship, to the school I eventually attend. I'm comfortable relying on an LRAP if it's from a T14, but ideally I don't want to take on a crazy amount of debt in case of any unforeseen circumstances.

I'm worried that because of Covid-19, undergraduate enrollment will be quite low at many schools next year, and particularly state schools may have far less money in their budgets. Do you think this change will impact the amount of scholarship money allocated to incoming law students? Should I consider waiting to apply until 2021? I'm interested to hear what you all think. Thanks!

You should set your LSAT goal score as high as you can, though you'll have decent results if you land a 170. I don't think undergrad enrollment will affect law school class size or scholarship generosity, but a tighter economy means (1) weaker endowments, both as-invested and fewer donations; (2) more applicants to law schools generally; and (3) worse employment prospects for people doing firm recruitment or entering jobs during a deep recession. If you can knock the LSAT out of the park in time for this cycle, and normal life seems to be returning around September, I'd apply this fall. If not, taking another year to get a good LSAT score would not be a bad idea.