3.42 and 178. What dat smell like? Forum

[cahwc12]

3.42 (basically woke the f*ck up in senior year) and 178 LSAT. Berkeley undergrad.
Glowing recs from teaching assistants and a V10 partner. I work as a paralegal in biglaw (fairly prestigious, but not V10) PS on 20th century philosophy (figured this would be a bit out of the norm for most law school applicants?) and its importance to my thought process. Apps to every school in the T14 + UCLA as safety.

So, what dat smell like?

I would definitely app this cycle, and just be open to waiting if you don't get a deal you want. Schools will be clamoring for your LSAT, and one may want it badly enough to give you a big discount. There are probably 10-100 reverse splitters for each applicant like you (177+ everywhere), and pairing you together is equivalent to two median students.

You probably won't know until June or July, but applying now with the intention to wait if you don't get an offer you like is probably your best bet.

I think you're in at Berkeley if you can be convincing enough and want to stay there for law school due to home-field advantage, and I also think you've got a chance at H. The only schools I think are beyond your reach are YS.

If you don't get H though, I'd heavily consider whichever T14 throws the most money at you, or wait a year.

Is there any evidence that Boalt gives preference to B undergrads? I've heard the opposite is true. He has no outstanding softs and is probably out at Boalt.

I don't base that on anything except anecdotal evidence that those who can make in-person impressions on admissions staff tend to have better than average luck at school X (sample size: 3). You may well be right.

[gfd973]

3.42 (basically woke the f*ck up in senior year) and 178 LSAT. Berkeley undergrad.
Glowing recs from teaching assistants and a V10 partner. I work as a paralegal in biglaw (fairly prestigious, but not V10) PS on 20th century philosophy (figured this would be a bit out of the norm for most law school applicants?) and its importance to my thought process. Apps to every school in the T14 + UCLA as safety.

So, what dat smell like?

I would definitely app this cycle, and just be open to waiting if you don't get a deal you want. Schools will be clamoring for your LSAT, and one may want it badly enough to give you a big discount. There are probably 10-100 reverse splitters for each applicant like you (177+ everywhere), and pairing you together is equivalent to two median students.

You probably won't know until June or July, but applying now with the intention to wait if you don't get an offer you like is probably your best bet.

I think you're in at Berkeley if you can be convincing enough and want to stay there for law school due to home-field advantage, and I also think you've got a chance at H. The only schools I think are beyond your reach are YS.

If you don't get H though, I'd heavily consider whichever T14 throws the most money at you, or wait a year.

Is there any evidence that Boalt gives preference to B undergrads? I've heard the opposite is true. He has no outstanding softs and is probably out at Boalt.

I don't base that on anything except anecdotal evidence that those who can make in-person impressions on admissions staff tend to have better than average luck at school X (sample size: 3). You may well be right.

Actually asked about this when I was still in school (in NYC biglaw now). In general, the philosophy is that they want you to go sow your seed elsewhere. I did fire off apps to Harvard, Yale and Stanford and just submitted the rest. The general consensus seems to be "fire off your applications, and if you don't get in anywhere good, don't fret, just submit early next cycle."

Many thanks all for the advice.