An International applicant who needs help Forum

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Mokea

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An International applicant who needs help

Post by Mokea » Tue Jul 13, 2021 6:19 pm

Hi guys,

I’m here because I really need some advice concerning my future applications!

I’m an International applicant from France, I hold:

- A French bachelor’s degree in Private Law obtained with honors (Rated as « above average » by LSAC)

- A Top triple master’s degree in Corporate and Tax Law

I am fluent in 3 languages, and I am from a persecuted minority (though not URM), and I’m an immigrant so I have an interesting story to tell in my PS concerning my journey.

I took the LSAT multiple times and I ended getting a 169.

My goal is NYC BigLaw.

I’m planning on applying in September, my absolute dream is Harvard Law School, and in some way I think it would be a great option regarding my background. But I know that I am 4 points under the median, so honestly do you think my odds are that bad? Is there a chance to get in? At least being WL? Can my softs compensate for my LSAT, in some way?

What do you think of my chances to get into Columbia or NYU?

Is it a good idea for me to apply ED to a school or do you advise me to apply RD to all of them?

Thank you so much

crazywafflez

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Posts: 679
Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:02 pm

Re: An International applicant who needs help

Post by crazywafflez » Wed Jul 14, 2021 11:52 am

Mokea wrote:
Tue Jul 13, 2021 6:19 pm
Hi guys,

I’m here because I really need some advice concerning my future applications!

I’m an International applicant from France, I hold:

- A French bachelor’s degree in Private Law obtained with honors (Rated as « above average » by LSAC)

- A Top triple master’s degree in Corporate and Tax Law

I am fluent in 3 languages, and I am from a persecuted minority (though not URM), and I’m an immigrant so I have an interesting story to tell in my PS concerning my journey.

I took the LSAT multiple times and I ended getting a 169.

My goal is NYC BigLaw.

I’m planning on applying in September, my absolute dream is Harvard Law School, and in some way I think it would be a great option regarding my background. But I know that I am 4 points under the median, so honestly do you think my odds are that bad? Is there a chance to get in? At least being WL? Can my softs compensate for my LSAT, in some way?

What do you think of my chances to get into Columbia or NYU?

Is it a good idea for me to apply ED to a school or do you advise me to apply RD to all of them?

Thank you so much
I'll try and be as frank as possible (hopefully, others will chime in and be able to provide more than I can):

The Bad: You most likely won't get into Harvard. You don't have the GPA to balance out the LSAT and your LSAT is too far beneath the median. You should certainly take your shot, but I think your chances are slim to none. Your softs are in line with most folks at T20 schools. Unless you've got some hidden thing like you went to the Olympics/pro sports/rhodes scholar, your chances are limited that softs will give you a demonstrably boost.

The Good: You've got the scores to get into a T14 school, and thus, obtain your goal of NYC biglaw. You may have the scores for NYU/Penn (but I am not sure), but you are competitive for Cornell, NW, Duke, UVA, Mich, and Gtown. Those schools (albeit, I'll say not quite Gtown) all basically can secure you some form of biglaw in NYC, and I think you are competitive.

In sum: Apply to all the T14, from CCN on down, and see how it goes. I would not advise you to go to anything below the T14 though, as I'm not quite confident you'd get biglaw from WashU/USC etc in NYC, and you'll need big law for the visa.

Mokea

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Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2021 6:07 pm

Re: An International applicant who needs help

Post by Mokea » Wed Jul 14, 2021 1:16 pm

Thank you so much for your answer.
I know that my chances at Harvard are very slim, however I'll shoot my shot and I'll see. Maybe I could benefit from my diversity? (I'm from a well known, tiny community, very uncommon in US law school and in the world in general).

I was thinking to apply ED to Berkeley or NW because of their huge automatic scolarships to the admitted applicants. Is it a good idea? (I heard that ED at these schools are even harder than RD?) Also, I'm afraid of being admitted to one of them while being waitlisted or having a JS1 or even an acceptance at HLS or CLS...

Maybe I can send you my PS so you can know more about my background?

Thank you so much again for everything

crazywafflez

Silver
Posts: 679
Joined: Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:02 pm

Re: An International applicant who needs help

Post by crazywafflez » Wed Jul 14, 2021 6:18 pm

Mokea wrote:
Wed Jul 14, 2021 1:16 pm
Thank you so much for your answer.
I know that my chances at Harvard are very slim, however I'll shoot my shot and I'll see. Maybe I could benefit from my diversity? (I'm from a well known, tiny community, very uncommon in US law school and in the world in general).

I was thinking to apply ED to Berkeley or NW because of their huge automatic scolarships to the admitted applicants. Is it a good idea? (I heard that ED at these schools are even harder than RD?) Also, I'm afraid of being admitted to one of them while being waitlisted or having a JS1 or even an acceptance at HLS or CLS...

Maybe I can send you my PS so you can know more about my background?

Thank you so much again for everything
I'm not sure. I also come from a very uncommon ethno group that is extremely rare- however, I didn't really see a boost to my numbers; I basically got in at every place my scores would predict. I'm not saying it won't happen, I'm just saying it isn't likely and I wouldn't count on it. I had a friend who was a romani and another who was an irish traveler and they didn't see boosts either.
The diversity boost is really for groups that exist in the United States but are under represented per capita per their population (and other factors that I'm not going to go into because it isn't relevant to the thread nor important for any information). Suffice it to say, I truthfully don't know, so maybe you will, hah.

As far as ED, I think EDing to any that have guaranteed schollys is totally fine, especially for borderline or competitive applicants. I can tell you, personally, that I would much prefer to go to NW or Berkeley on a full scholarship than pay sticker to H, especially if my goals were nyc biglaw (but that is an equation you'll have to work out for yourself).

Yes, feel free to PM me- I don't profess to be a sage or fount of wisdom, hah, but I can give my crappy 2 cents for what they are worth.

Mokea

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Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2021 6:07 pm

Re: An International applicant who needs help

Post by Mokea » Thu Jul 15, 2021 6:02 am

crazywafflez wrote:
Wed Jul 14, 2021 6:18 pm
Mokea wrote:
Wed Jul 14, 2021 1:16 pm
Thank you so much for your answer.
I know that my chances at Harvard are very slim, however I'll shoot my shot and I'll see. Maybe I could benefit from my diversity? (I'm from a well known, tiny community, very uncommon in US law school and in the world in general).

I was thinking to apply ED to Berkeley or NW because of their huge automatic scolarships to the admitted applicants. Is it a good idea? (I heard that ED at these schools are even harder than RD?) Also, I'm afraid of being admitted to one of them while being waitlisted or having a JS1 or even an acceptance at HLS or CLS...

Maybe I can send you my PS so you can know more about my background?

Thank you so much again for everything
I'm not sure. I also come from a very uncommon ethno group that is extremely rare- however, I didn't really see a boost to my numbers; I basically got in at every place my scores would predict. I'm not saying it won't happen, I'm just saying it isn't likely and I wouldn't count on it. I had a friend who was a romani and another who was an irish traveler and they didn't see boosts either.
The diversity boost is really for groups that exist in the United States but are under represented per capita per their population (and other factors that I'm not going to go into because it isn't relevant to the thread nor important for any information). Suffice it to say, I truthfully don't know, so maybe you will, hah.

As far as ED, I think EDing to any that have guaranteed schollys is totally fine, especially for borderline or competitive applicants. I can tell you, personally, that I would much prefer to go to NW or Berkeley on a full scholarship than pay sticker to H, especially if my goals were nyc biglaw (but that is an equation you'll have to work out for yourself).

Yes, feel free to PM me- I don't profess to be a sage or fount of wisdom, hah, but I can give my crappy 2 cents for what they are worth.
Thank you so much for that.

Do you think applying ED to CLS is worth it? What would you do if you were me?

I'll send you a PM!

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