Help Decide The Fate of 87 Traydeuce Dollars (Cornell?) Forum

[traydeuce]

So, I'm in the t5% of my t35 school, a decent amount above the 5% cutline, but I went complete very late most places (like yesterday at Columbia, Penn on Monday, Duke this morning), and am still incomplete at NYU, so I haven't gotten in anywhere yet but Georgetown early action. I want to do appellate stuff in D.C. but I like tiny boring towns and I find Ithaca scenic. Should I apply today to Cornell on the deadline tonight, or will I regret this foolishness when tomorrow I get into Columbia, or Chicago, or Penn or Duke, or who knows, maybe even Harvard?

[Lawl Shcool]

I voted yes, $87 is so insignificant in the long-term.

[Bankhead]

If you would take Cornell over GULC, then apply.

[traydeuce]

This summer has been kind of expensive with the unpaid internship and thousands of dollars of tailored clothes I unnecessarily bought to wear for that business casual dress coded internship (the judge's secretary e-mailed me the Sunday before my first day). But yeah, $87 is insignificant in the long term and I may be happier there in the hopefully unlikely event I strike out with Duke and above.

[mallard]

Seems like a waste of cash to me.

[traydeuce]

Seems like a waste of cash to me.

Am I really that much of a lock for these schools though? I did have a disastrous undergraduate track record, which has to be at least somewhat of a red flag, even after one short year of law school success.

[documentaryjunkie]

Seems like a waste of cash to me.

Am I really that much of a lock for these schools though? I did have a disastrous undergraduate track record, which has to be at least somewhat of a red flag, even after one short year of law school success.

waste of cash not necessarily because you're a lock anywhere (though you may be) but more because applying to Cornell this late may be futile, especially given that you cite your late applications as the reason why you haven't gotten in anywhere.

[bizen boat]

What's the ratio of Traydeuce Dollars to Schrute bucks?

[paz]

1295.38:1

[hoping10]

If you have good essays ready, and can get them transcripts, letters of good standing, etc. soon, then you might THINK about applying this late in the game if you have money to spare. Other than that, I would rather go to GTown over Cornell anyways, and you're problably a lock elsewhere. But maybe you like the cold.

[samiseaborn]

don't they have a really really small transfer class? That plus the lateness might make it kind of a waste unless you can really prove your desire to go there to the adcoms.

[shmoo597]

Kind of in a similar position to you - GULC EA, STILL not complete at penn, NYU, columbia, and only complete at duke and michigan this morning.

However, if you want to be in DC...honestly what the hell are you thinking? Cornell might be a cool place to live (for YOU), but there are gonna be 10x more DC firms at GULC OCI then at cornell. Your chances of getting into cornell aside, if the only reason you'd rather go there is for the nice scenery for 2 years, you're crazy.

[traydeuce]

Seems like a waste of cash to me.

Am I really that much of a lock for these schools though? I did have a disastrous undergraduate track record, which has to be at least somewhat of a red flag, even after one short year of law school success.

waste of cash not necessarily because you're a lock anywhere (though you may be) but more because applying to Cornell this late may be futile, especially given that you cite your late applications as the reason why you haven't gotten in anywhere.

Seems like a waste of cash to me.

Am I really that much of a lock for these schools though? I did have a disastrous undergraduate track record, which has to be at least somewhat of a red flag, even after one short year of law school success.

waste of cash not necessarily because you're a lock anywhere (though you may be) but more because applying to Cornell this late may be futile, especially given that you cite your late applications as the reason why you haven't gotten in anywhere.

More the reason that I haven't heard anywhere yet; if you apply 7/1, it will often take until now to go complete. I'm not saying that applying late systematically makes it unlikely that you'll get in somewhere.

[traydeuce]

don't they have a really really small transfer class? That plus the lateness might make it kind of a waste unless you can really prove your desire to go there to the adcoms.

Isn't it probably that tiny because so few people apply? I haven't heard a word about a Cornell applicant on this whole board.

[Machine Spirit]

don't they have a really really small transfer class? That plus the lateness might make it kind of a waste unless you can really prove your desire to go there to the adcoms.

Isn't it probably that tiny because so few people apply? I haven't heard a word about a Cornell applicant on this whole board.

No. It's tiny because it's tiny. They apparently take around 15 transfers, or something equally crazy.

[traydeuce]

don't they have a really really small transfer class? That plus the lateness might make it kind of a waste unless you can really prove your desire to go there to the adcoms.

Isn't it probably that tiny because so few people apply? I haven't heard a word about a Cornell applicant on this whole board.

No. It's tiny because it's tiny. They apparently take around 15 transfers, or something equally crazy.

10 last year, it seems.

[seespotrun]

Tray, you don't like sandwiches or sugar. Maybe you should try to transfer to some place warm with more exposure to UV rays...and without gorges that you may, er, "accidentally" fall into.

[bkthunder]

If it came down to Georgetown and Cornell (worst case scenario) and you'd even consider Cornell over GULC, I say apply

[traydeuce]

Well, I guess I would've considered taking Cornell over Georgetown to some extent, but I figured the chances of being left with those options was so low that I went out instead.

[yellowjacket2012]

ah, I didn't realize you were t35. Not sure why you're only applying to t6, I'm gonna say out at Harvard for sure (transfer apps), t35 top 1-3 kids maybe in at Harvard, maybe in at Columbia/NYU esp. if you're from an NY school (huge BLS presence in Columbia - but a lotta those kids are top 2%). Chicago is likely out RD - you would've had a pretty decent shot ED. They keep it tiny, kinda like Stanford.

I'd hedge my bets with Cornell and Georgetown (although I'd look real hard into what the Georgetown numbers from last OCI looked like, a couple of transfer blogs into Gtown wished they'd stayed at their old school - Gtown is massive, you'll be a number, you're a big fish in your school), you might be better off at your old school dude. I'm not exactly sure what Cornell would do for you, maybe more interviews (?), their OCI looks kinda scary, as a transfer, you'll be basically evaluated primarily on your class standing at t35. Its a risk - no matter what.

As I said earlier - top 5% at your school, even a t35, should be good enough for regional big law, I would think, but you never know in this economy - I'm assuming you graded on to law review and are walking away from that as well - so walk away from LR with caution.

Did you do the writing comps for these schools (CCN)?

[traydeuce]

I applied to Penn and Duke too, they're not t6. The thing is, we don't rank so for all we know I am in the top 3 kids. I know I'm not top 2 because I know who those two are but only the one school to which we all applied (Harvard) knows that. Chicago... I mean, for one thing they took someone in the top 12% of my class early decision. And a lot of their regular decision admits so far have been similar. It's hard to say what they're looking for. Anyway, I didn't grade on because there are no grade-on spots, and I didn't write-on because I figured I was leaving. Of course, at that time I had a 4.0. But anyway. As for the writing comps, NYU's is post-admission, I did Chicago's, thought it went well enough to make their secondary journal but probably not well enough for the Law Review, though maybe I'm just a tough critic of my work, and I didn't do Columbia's because I did Harvard's that week. Of the two, I thought Harvard's question favored me much more, and I thought if I made it it could leverage me in, whereas at the time with a 4.0 I didn't really doubt whether I'd get into Columbia or not.

[yellowjacket2012]

I applied to Penn and Duke too, they're not t6. The thing is, we don't rank so for all we know I am in the top 3 kids. I know I'm not top 2 because I know who those two are but only the one school to which we all applied (Harvard) knows that. Chicago... I mean, for one thing they took someone in the top 12% of my class early decision. And a lot of their regular decision admits so far have been similar. It's hard to say what they're looking for. Anyway, I didn't grade on because there are no grade-on spots, and I didn't write-on because I figured I was leaving. Of course, at that time I had a 4.0. But anyway. As for the writing comps, NYU's is post-admission, I did Chicago's, thought it went well enough to make their secondary journal but probably not well enough for the Law Review, though maybe I'm just a tough critic of my work, and I didn't do Columbia's because I did Harvard's that week. Of the two, I thought Harvard's question favored me much more, and I thought if I made it it could leverage me in, whereas at the time with a 4.0 I didn't really doubt whether I'd get into Columbia or not.

There are a lot of schools between the t14 and t35, a good number of the top 10% of each of these schools is likely throwing out apps to t6 in this economy. This economy in particular is likely going to cause a lot of people to go OCI-shopping, i.e. transferring purely for the sake of OCI, when in a normal economy they would not have. Transferring is basically divorcing your 1L experience, which is a social decision as well as a professional decision - but this economy has likely yanked all "social" aspects of 1L and thrown them out the window, making "access to firms" the main goal of transferring - which is a-ok.

Timing is giant in transfer applications, so you're maybe facing some issues if your completions are late, although Columbia's status checker means nothing. Timing is giant based on my e-mail exchange with admits at Columbia/Harvard before I tried to apply (I googled them, they were helpful), all of them completed early.

If you REALLY want to go to Cornell for some reason - I would go ahead and apply tonight.

I think it was really ballsy to forfeit Columbia's law review, when you have a much higher chance statistically at Columbia than Harvard. Do you know if write-on performance is a factor, after-the-fact of the application completion, in admissions decisions? That would be pretty cool if it were. If you REALLY aced the Harvard law review writing comp, and if the results of your writing comp precede the result of your application - hell dude, you might be in at Harvard. Wait and see if the gamble pays off. This is like serenading the 10, when you have a higher shot with the 8.

[traydeuce]

Harvard traditionally announces their Law Review picks on or about July 19th, or whatever's the closest Monday; their Law Review has a policy of notifying the admissions committee if you make it. Harvard traditionally admits most people around 7/24. I would imagine that, if they make the calls on Monday the 19th, they probably have their list by tomorrow if not before and have communicated to the committee whatever they have to communicate. Columbia took a smaller percentage, I believe, of entries based on score alone, which is the key number if you're writing on as a transfer; they also had no editing component, whereas Harvard had a huge one that accounted for 40% of your score. I have a knack for rooting out tiny editing errors; aside from a dangling participle or two I'd be shocked if I missed more than one mistake in that whole piece. Besides that, Columbia's question ultimately came down to basically a philosophic debate about [stuff - Columbia made their picks a while ago so I'm not sure it makes any difference if I divulge the subject, but all the same] whereas Harvard asked us to write a case comment about a very technical civ pro issue. (Granted, there was a narrow minimal solution to Columbia's problem that a lot of people may have missed, but assuming at least a third of the people noticed, identifying it would only get you so far; you'd still need some kind of substantive justification for your result.) I'm just massively better at the latter type of thing than the former, and honestly felt, strategizing aside, that I'd have a much better shot at Harvard's.

[yellowjacket2012]

not sure you're allowed to post anything related to law review competition information on the internet, particularly when grading is still on-going, and people might have been granted extended deadlines for special situations (this happens routinely), there's a possibility some people who have been granted deadlines for whatever reasons don't even know anything about the columbia or harvard law review competition question prompts as I type this message - you might want to take down the post.

[yellowjacket2012]

on an unrelated note - and this is harmless info - are Harvard and Columbia's writing competitions disconnected from non-transfer student grades? In other words, some schools have policies of setting aside X spots for GPA+good faith, and Y spots for pure write-on, the odds at Harvard for a transfer drop dramatically if only a limited number of spots are 'writing comp' only.