The George Washington Law School 2010 Forum

[Veritas]

Yeah, I posted up there (WL w/ 166/3.64) and no one cared. Are these WL YPs? What's the best way to proceed with that?

Bueller?

I don't think 166/3.64 is YP....

Fair enough. URM with 166/3.64? I'm just annoyed that William & Mary, Texas and USC said yes but GW waitlisted me. I want to go to school in DC. Am I crazy?

I dunno still about YP.

166/3.9 got flat out rejected. I think they are just picky.

[tallboone]

Has anyone been offered $$$ at GW and then been dinged at Georgetown?

[missvik218]

No no, I was wondering why you consider GW to be the better school.

I guess it depends on where you want to work and what you're interested in doing, and it may be my own anti-ND bias sneaking in, and it may have A LOT to do with lay prestige (which in my mind GW has more of than ND, but we all know thats subjective). They're ranked similarly, and GW dropped from 20-28 last year for silly reasons, when I look at their program I think of it as being ranked 20th not 28th - still the two rankings-wise I suppose would be equal. GW is IN a good (albeit saturated) market, which affords you in-school opportunities you won't find at ND.

Either way, my point was not how much better GW was than ND, but that I do not think $$ being equal ND would be a clear choice, unless you wanted to practice in the midwest. With the $$ in consideration ... if I were a person who would have had enough interest in ND to consider it, I think it would be a deciding factor for me.

[southxii]

This process is driving me somewhat crazy. G'town deferred me.

As for expenses in DC, I agree with the Arlington idea. My ex-girlfriend and friends live in Rosslyn, actually and it's very easy to get wherever in DC and a lot cheaper than you think. Also, there are some townhouses in and around Foggy Bottom that are pretty cheap.

[southxii]

Yeah, I posted up there (WL w/ 166/3.64) and no one cared. Are these WL YPs? What's the best way to proceed with that?

Bueller?

I don't think 166/3.64 is YP....

Fair enough. URM with 166/3.64? I'm just annoyed that William & Mary, Texas and USC said yes but GW waitlisted me. I want to go to school in DC. Am I crazy?

I dunno still about YP.

166/3.9 got flat out rejected. I think they are just picky.

Roger that. Still hurts. Thanks for the info.

[missvik218]

Huh? People in both DC and most of the East Coast speak very highly of GW at both the undergrad and law school level.

Yea, as a GW alum I take a little bit of offense to that. It's not an elite school by any means, but bad reputation?

I mean it's thought of at like a BU level for undergrad. Not a complete shitbag school per se but like if you have a pulse and aren't a complete moron it's thought of as not that hard to get into. Again not something to lash out at me about--I am just reporting that which I have heard from people high up in the professional/academic ladder and experienced personally with students who got into BU/GW undergrad. But cause you're going to LS, your prestige of that is going to matter way more so don't worry about.

I think MOST people will disagree with you here, both are more than a little better than "not a complete shitbag school per se"

[imisscollege]

Huh? People in both DC and most of the East Coast speak very highly of GW at both the undergrad and law school level.

Yea, as a GW alum I take a little bit of offense to that. It's not an elite school by any means, but bad reputation?

I mean it's thought of at like a BU level for undergrad. Not a complete shitbag school per se but like if you have a pulse and aren't a complete moron it's thought of as not that hard to get into. Again not something to lash out at me about--I am just reporting that which I have heard from people high up in the professional/academic ladder and experienced personally with students who got into BU/GW undergrad. But cause you're going to LS, your prestige of that is going to matter way more so don't worry about.

I think MOST people will disagree with you here, both are more than a little better than "not a complete shitbag school per se"

Disagree with me and say that they ARE shitbag UG schools? They are both in the second tier (unless I am mistaken) which makes them somewhere between really awful schools and good schools. I don't think that's a crazy thing to say. I was specifying that I was not trying to classify them as shitty schools by any means but more that their UG reps are pretty poor COMPARED to their grad programs, LS specifically in this context. It has been posited that their undergrad reps are so RELATIVELY (to the grad schools) poor that it actually hurts the way people perceive their grad programs.

[newyorklaw23]

Rejected today via snail mail. Very disappointed b/c I was just waitlisted at UVA, and I love DC. Can't say i'm too optimistic about the rest of this cycle.

[SAE]

By what method do acceptances arrive?

I just got a USPS "We've missed you" note for Certified Mail (Letter). "Return Receipt for Merchandise" box is also checked.

Getting nervous. Please advise!

[BenJ]

Disagree with me and say that they ARE shitbag UG schools? They are both in the second tier (unless I am mistaken) which makes them somewhere between really awful schools and good schools. I don't think that's a crazy thing to say. I was specifying that I was not trying to classify them as shitty schools by any means but more that their UG reps are pretty poor COMPARED to their grad programs, LS specifically in this context. It has been posited that their undergrad reps are so RELATIVELY (to the grad schools) poor that it actually hurts the way people perceive their grad programs.

Eh? GW and BU are pretty solid undergrads, one the cusp of the T-50 on USNWR's ratings. That's strong; there are a ton of schools between GW and BU and the really bad undergraduate institutions. Sure, the Ivies are higher, as are the Ivy-equivalents, a few other top private universities, and a handful of public universities. But plenty of half-decent schools are at or below both; BU and GW's law schools are about at the same level, relative to the rest of the schools, as they are for undergrad. (Only a handful of schools differ vastly on this measure; Wisconsin and UNC law schools are way below their undergrad ratings, while NYU law school is way above, but I can't think of any others with a serious disparity.)

Truly bad schools are the kind no one not from within a fifty-mile radius has heard of.

[muggie]

By what method do acceptances arrive?

I just got a USPS "We've missed you" note for Certified Mail (Letter). "Return Receipt for Merchandise" box is also checked.

Getting nervous. Please advise!

I received my acceptance through USPS 1st class mail, delievered to my door.

[quadsixm]

Just got WL'ed via snail mail... Perfect splitter.

[tesoro]

With regard to the above discussion about lay prestige:

I attended one of BU and GWU for undergrad. As an undergraduate at that institution, I honestly knew nothing about the law school. When I met a law student, I figured they did shitty on their LSAT or got poor grades and ended up there. Granted, I was never a "pre-law" person, so I never had any insight at all into law schools until well after I had graduated.

Why was this my mentality? I thought of my own undergrad as "nothing special." As in, not a toilet university, but basically of the same caliber of any random SUNY school except ludicrously expensive. I still think this way about my UG - I actually attended there because I thought it would be easy to rise above everyone else while slacking off, and turned down several top5 engineering schools (i was an EE). My plan worked and I don't regret it, but I think my opinion of my own UG was shared by most of my classmates.

So, just giving my 2 cents, the lay prestige of the law schools is apparently equivalent to that of the UG programs, which isn't that great. Coming from an alumnus of one of these schools.

That being said, I'd be perfectly happy/thrilled to attend either of these schools . As it turns out, their Law programs are top notch!

[ndirish2010]

I actually think the lay prestige of BU and GW undergrad far exceeds their academic prestige...most people in the Northeast I think consider both to be tier 1 schools, and BU undergrad often is even confused with BC, ranked ~30 spots higher in USNWR.

[jbrowning82]

Speaking of lay prestige, subjective as it is, you really think GW has MORE than ND? That strikes me as a little crazy. Notre Dame's name is huge.

[ndirish2010]

Speaking of lay prestige, subjective as it is, you really think GW has MORE than ND? That strikes me as a little crazy. Notre Dame's name is huge.

I doubt anyone outside the top 14 has more lay prestige than ND...

[pennstatepride]

Speaking of lay prestige, subjective as it is, you really think GW has MORE than ND? That strikes me as a little crazy. Notre Dame's name is huge.

I doubt anyone outside the top 14 has more lay prestige than ND...

I agree. I think in terms of lay prestige ND would win out over GW. I also think that BU and GW are kind of tied in terms of lay prestige (I always thought BU's undergrad was underrated in the first place though).

[ndirish2010]

Speaking of lay prestige, subjective as it is, you really think GW has MORE than ND? That strikes me as a little crazy. Notre Dame's name is huge.

I doubt anyone outside the top 14 has more lay prestige than ND...

I agree. I think in terms of lay prestige ND would win out over GW. I also think that BU and GW are kind of tied in terms of lay prestige (I always thought BU's undergrad was underrated in the first place though).

Can't say I agree about BU, but that may have something to do with the fact that I attended BC for my first year of undergrad. Still don't like them. Otherwise, +1 haha.

[pennstatepride]

Speaking of lay prestige, subjective as it is, you really think GW has MORE than ND? That strikes me as a little crazy. Notre Dame's name is huge.

I doubt anyone outside the top 14 has more lay prestige than ND...

I agree. I think in terms of lay prestige ND would win out over GW. I also think that BU and GW are kind of tied in terms of lay prestige (I always thought BU's undergrad was underrated in the first place though).

Can't say I agree about BU, but that may have something to do with the fact that I attended BC for my first year of undergrad. Still don't like them. Otherwise, +1 haha.

lol although ND isn't in the Big-Ten, I very much dislike them (kind of football rivals), so it was definitely difficult to give them a compliment haha

[ndirish2010]

Understandable, though I still kind of like PSU and I'll be graduating from ND undergrad in May. We don't play often enough for me to have to dislike you guys, though I wish we played more often.

[pennstatepride]

I mean it's more of a love-hate thing I guess. I really do hope you guys join the Big Ten when they expand again soon; seems like a perfect fit.

[beef wellington]

WL'ed. 171 3.2

This sucks. I'm surrounded by green on LSN. What gives?

[imisscollege]

With regard to the above discussion about lay prestige:

I attended one of BU and GWU for undergrad. As an undergraduate at that institution, I honestly knew nothing about the law school. When I met a law student, I figured they did shitty on their LSAT or got poor grades and ended up there. Granted, I was never a "pre-law" person, so I never had any insight at all into law schools until well after I had graduated.

Why was this my mentality? I thought of my own undergrad as "nothing special." As in, not a toilet university, but basically of the same caliber of any random SUNY school except ludicrously expensive. I still think this way about my UG - I actually attended there because I thought it would be easy to rise above everyone else while slacking off, and turned down several top5 engineering schools (i was an EE). My plan worked and I don't regret it, but I think my opinion of my own UG was shared by most of my classmates.

So, just giving my 2 cents, the lay prestige of the law schools is apparently equivalent to that of the UG programs, which isn't that great. Coming from an alumnus of one of these schools.

That being said, I'd be perfectly happy/thrilled to attend either of these schools . As it turns out, their Law programs are top notch!

exactly what i was saying

[jk11287]

I would advise people with decent numbers (and splitters) that have been WL to not lose hope just yet; there were so many applicants this year that people who applied on the later side of things just have to be patient.

[welkyn]

need help !!

I applied on 1/19/10 and never heard anything from them, not even an email, is this normal?