How many law schools CAN I apply to before I look foolish? Forum

[betsyclaire]

Hi! I am in the process of applying for law school for the Fall 2011 start date and have a 174 on my LSAT and a 3.89 GPA from a large, respectable state university. I have about seven law schools that I would like to apply to and would seriously consider attending. Then I have another 10-15 I'd also like to apply to for admission, primarily because I want to receive scholarship offers to encourage the schools I wish to attend to give me more money. However, I know that each law school I apply to will see the other law schools I have applied to for admission. Will I just look foolish applying to twenty schools? I remember when applying to colleges I was told that admission boards expected students to apply to 5-10 colleges.

I should point out that I have fee waivers for almost all of my extra schools, so it isn't going to cost me a fortune!

Thanks for your thoughts in advance!

[2Serious4Numbers]

I don't really see why.. If you got a waiver then why not. Do law schools really see everywhere else you applied to?

[arism87]

Hi! I am in the process of applying for law school for the Fall 2011 start date and have a 174 on my LSAT and a 3.89 GPA from a large, respectable state university. I have about seven law schools that I would like to apply to and would seriously consider attending. Then I have another 10-15 I'd also like to apply to for admission, primarily because I want to receive scholarship offers to encourage the schools I wish to attend to give me more money. However, I know that each law school I apply to will see the other law schools I have applied to for admission. Will I just look foolish applying to twenty schools? I remember when applying to colleges I was told that admission boards expected students to apply to 5-10 colleges.

I should point out that I have fee waivers for almost all of my extra schools, so it isn't going to cost me a fortune!

Thanks for your thoughts in advance!

With your numbers I wouldn't look below the T6 and I'm not sure that they would necessarily care about scholarship offers from lower schools that they may not consider "peers". Even for $ I don't think you need to look beyond the T10 though.

That said, I don't think it hurts to apply broadly if you don't mind paying. I didn't think schools really saw/cared where you applied anyway.

[traehekat]

Nothing "foolish", per se, about applying to 20 schools. However, like others have said there really wouldn't be a point in doing it in your situation. I would confine yourself to T14.

[northwood]

apply to the schools you are seriously thinking of attending. For the group of 10-15, pick your top 5 that you like, think you have the best chance at money, etc, and go with that. It sounds liike you are going to the t14, so why waste your time and their time?

[IAFG]

apply to the schools you are seriously thinking of attending. For the group of 10-15, pick your top 5 that you like, think you have the best chance at money, etc, and go with that. It sounds liike you are going to the t14, so why waste your time and their time?

For better leverage. Aid is unpredictable.

[r6_philly]

180 174

Seriously there is no foolishness. Apply to any and every school that you could see yourself going to, and can afford to. $12 a pop is still quite a bit once you go over 20.

[TheOcho]

180 174

Seriously there is no foolishness. Apply to any and every school that you could see yourself going to, and can afford to. $12 a pop is still quite a bit once you go over 20.

This is spot on. I have applied to 15 so far, basically because I can't be sure about aid and I want a variety of options when it comes down to it. But even with all the fee waivers I had it still ends up being pretty expensive in the end. GL op.

[2014]

OP, I really doubt that any of your target schools are going to match an offer from WUSTL or USC for example. You really have no reason to apply outside of the t14, and even then if a school doesn't offer you a fee waiver, you have good reason to not bother with some of the lower half.

As someone above said though, you are going to get into a t6 and they probably won't care about your Michigan scholarship or whatever, so don't spend too much time applying outside of your targets unless it helps you sleep better at night and you enjoy donating $12/each to LSAC.

[stratocophic]

OP, I really doubt that any of your target schools are going to match an offer from WUSTL or USC for example. You really have no reason to apply outside of the t14, and even then if a school doesn't offer you a fee waiver, you have good reason to not bother with some of the lower half.

As someone above said though, you are going to get into a t6 and they probably won't care about your Michigan scholarship or whatever, so don't spend too much time applying outside of your targets unless it helps you sleep better at night and you enjoy donating $12/each to LSAC.

They won't. The only reason for you to apply to one of those schools would be if you were ridiculously debt-averse and trolling for a full ride. Even then you'd likely be better off taking 20-25k/year from Michigan or Virginia or wherever.

[IAFG]

As someone above said though, you are going to get into a t6 and they probably won't care about your Michigan scholarship or whatever, so don't spend too much time applying outside of your targets unless it helps you sleep better at night and you enjoy donating $12/each to LSAC.

You don't know what you are talking about. You can absolutely use MVP money against CCN to get more money.

[GATORTIM]

1

[Jack Smirks]

1

THOUSAND.