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I just submitted my apps. Really, really late in the cycle. I have a good LSAT (175) but my GPA (3.45) is mediocre. I wanted to wait until next cycle, but my parents really want me to go to law school and insisted that they wanted to pay for the application fees *this* year, so I did, but I am really worried that I have lost my chances and that then when I reapply next year my old application will hurt me.

What do you think? Here are the schools I applied. All reaches, I know...

LSAT 175 GPA 3.45

Harvard
UPenn
UCLA
NYU
Northeastern
BC
UVA

Can you chance me for these? I know it's gonna be a few months before I hear anything, but I am going kinda crazy here and want feedback from someone other than my parents.

you have little chance at Harvard even if you applied on Day 1.

Your second best school is NYU, where I think you will get in despite the late application. They are a pretty large law school, and pretty forgiving of a midling GPA. You probably even have better chances there than Penn/UVA due to the larger class size, despite the higher ranking.

you could apply ED to UVA right now and hear back in 15 days. in fact, that might have been your best bet (except for NYU) even if you had applied early in the cycle. definitely something to consider.

Ok, so I can choose UVA ED even after submitting my application? I have never visited campus, so I am little nervous about that, but it might be a good idea.

I'll be graduating from Harvard this spring, which I thought might give me a boost at the school. I have no idea if that's true though.

I guess that could change things. If I were you I would go and talk to someone at the harvard admissions office (one of the perks of being an undergraduate at a school with a great law school) and ask to speak to an admissions counselor. Explain your situation, and get some better advice than you are going to get from a bunch of other nervous applicants. You are pretty well underneath the 25th percentile for GPA at Harvard but they might tell you that you would have good/great chances submitting an early application, in which case you may choose to wait a year. Also, if you are fresh out of undergrad, I would suggest taking some time off anyway to recharge the academic batteries.

lmnop wrote:Ok, so I can choose UVA ED even after submitting my application? I have never visited campus, so I am little nervous about that, but it might be a good idea.

I'll be graduating from Harvard this spring, which I thought might give me a boost at the school. I have no idea if that's true though.

You can switch to ED at UVA at any time before they make an actual decision on your file, from what I understand. Contact the admissions office as soon as you can and tell them you want to do so. You'll have to fill out an ED contract and mail it in, but as long as you tell them on the phone or by E-mail that you're sending one, they'll hold onto your app and wait for it.

Realistically, of the schools you picked, the only one that's better than UVA and that you have an actual chance of acceptance is NYU. EDing would mean you lose your chance at NYU, and the very outside shot at Harvard, but honestly between those two I think NYU is the only one where you have a real shot. If you're willing to give up the chance of an NYU acceptance to try to guarantee a UVA acceptance, going ED is worth it.

Northeastern or Northwestern?

Oops, Northwestern

i'm in a surprisingly similar situation, although i have a couple years' WE. similar grades, similar LSAT, late because i retook the LSAT in december and then one of my recommenders flaked out.

i actually did apply to northeastern, as my safety, but i guess you didn't. you have time to apply to some of the schools with later deadlines, so you may want to start looking at lower-ranked schools.
but you are young and you can always apply next cycle if you don't make it this year. i may end up doing that depending on the outcome.

anyway, not that i have a whole lot of experience with law school apps, but after you decide whether to do early at UVA, it's out of your hands till april or so, you should just try to relax and enjoy your final semester of undergrad... any maybe start looking for a place to spend the next year just in case. like a paralegal job?

lmnop wrote:Ok, so I can choose UVA ED even after submitting my application? I have never visited campus, so I am little nervous about that, but it might be a good idea.

I'll be graduating from Harvard this spring, which I thought might give me a boost at the school. I have no idea if that's true though.

harvard u-grads get a boost, but it is usually minor. for example, they will take a harvard u-grad with 170/3.95 or something like that, which they won't do for many schools. 3.45 could be a stretch, but you should definitely ask the pre-law/adcomm whatever you can on campus to see if you have a shot for next year.

You'll get into NYU no problem. Columbia should have been your reach school.

I agree with what most people are saying- applying this late probably hasn't hurt you too bad at NYU (it also takes them a pretty long time to get everything processed and "complete", so if you want quick answers you prob wont get them from NYU) and you have a good chance of getting in there. Applying late will hurt a little more at UVA, but, from what I hear, going ED at UVA can help your chance (though I don't really think you would have to in order to get in there). I would just wait it out and enjoy your last semester. Have a few beers and find something to help the time pass by!

Man, getting into NYU would be a dream, I would have liked it before anyway, but given how late I applied I would be completely thrilled.

I am just so depressed about the timing of the application.

Good to know that NYU can be late getting back to you, though. Maybe I'll be able to forget about it for a while. Too bad the answers will come just before finals season though. If I have to apply again next year because I got rejected everywhere, I don't want to be all distraught and not able to study and then send my GPA even lower. Although maybe it would be a motivator...

As you can see, I am still feeling pretty neurotic about this.

lmnop wrote:Man, getting into NYU would be a dream, I would have liked it before anyway, but given how late I applied I would be completely thrilled.

I am just so depressed about the timing of the application.

Good to know that NYU can be late getting back to you, though. Maybe I'll be able to forget about it for a while. Too bad the answers will come just before finals season though. If I have to apply again next year because I got rejected everywhere, I don't want to be all distraught and not able to study and then send my GPA even lower. Although maybe it would be a motivator...

As you can see, I am still feeling pretty neurotic about this.

Good luck to you! I'm in a similar position (higher gpa, low 170's lsat). submitted most of my apps in the last two weeks and am feeling really weird about it. Its like even if I get in somewhere this cycle I will always wonder whether I could have done better had I waited and applied early the next year...looking more and more like waiting is the smart move. bleh.

lmnop wrote:I just submitted my apps. Really, really late in the cycle. I have a good LSAT (175) but my GPA (3.45) is mediocre. I wanted to wait until next cycle, but my parents really want me to go to law school and insisted that they wanted to pay for the application fees *this* year, so I did, but I am really worried that I have lost my chances and that then when I reapply next year my old application will hurt me.

What do you think? Here are the schools I applied. All reaches, I know...

LSAT 175 GPA 3.45

Harvard
UPenn
UCLA
NYU
Northeastern
BC
UVA

Can you chance me for these? I know it's gonna be a few months before I hear anything, but I am going kinda crazy here and want feedback from someone other than my parents.

I think you have pretty decent chances at both UPenn and NYU this year even with the late app. The very high LSAT along with H UG will be definite boosts.... definitely don't ED to UVA especially if you are willing to wait till next cycle.

In fact I think you should just wait till next cycle, ED to Columbia and you'd probably have a 2/3 chance of getting in.

Heh, another late applier here, throwing myself at the mercy of Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, NYU, Chicago, Boalt, Michigan, Virginia, Duke and Georgetown with a 172 LSAT and 3.8 ugpa (from an unknown school). I've got a couple years of work experience and am not 100% averse to making that one more year, if I don't get in anywhere. However, I've noticed that these schools tend to ask if you applied previously. Does that mean that, unless I do something stellar in the next year, they are likely to go, "Oh, we rejected him before with the same numbers -- ding him again!"? Would I need to scrap my personal statement? Get new letters of rec? Anything else?