Top Law Schools

Hey guys!

Here are the basics:

3.78 GPA when including study abroad grades
172 LSAT
Graduated '09 from a small Ivy
Will have two years experience in consulting upon matriculation
Good community service background, leadership activities
Average recommendations
Strong writer

How do you think I'd do with applications to the following schools this fall:

Yale
Harvard
Stanford
Columbia
U Chicago
NYU
UC Berkeley
Penn
UVA
Duke
Georgetown

Thanks!

Yale: Deny
Harvard: Deny
Stanford: Deny
CLS: 33% chance
Chicago: Admit
NYU: Admit
Berk: Deny
Penn: 50% chance
UVA: Admit with $
GULC: Admit with $

Is 3.78 the GPA calculated by LSAC or is that GPA your calculation? Law schools will use your LSAC GPA.

Great LSAT score...unfortunately, HYS (Harvard, Yale, Stanford) are out.

Columbia: possibly if ED
Chicago: admit
NYU: admit
________
following law schools place an emphasis on high GPAs:

Berkeley: deny
Penn: waitlisted (maybe ED)
UVA: probably w/$
Duke: probably w/$
___________
Georgetown: admit w/$

There are 8 Ivies. Which one did you go to?

Penn weights GPA and LSAT about even. If anything, they weight LSAT higher but they really, really look for "fit" and interesting softs b/c their class is so small.

I think the posts above are a little optimistic about your chances to NYU and Chicago. With a 172, there's a good bit of yellow for both schools below 3.8 on LSN (Chicago is also just generally tougher to predict due to its small class size). Without an ED, I think you have a good-but-not-great chance of getting a bite from CCN. Otherwise, you're probably in with $$ at one or more of the MVP (assuming you write some semi-persuasive "why" essays).

Yale: Waitlist
Harvard: Waitlist
Stanford: Admit
CLS: Admit
Chicago: Admit
NYU: Admit
Berk: Admit
Penn: Admit
UVA: Admit
GULC: Admit with $$

.,.,.

What's with people going deny at Berkeley? I know white people who got in with worse numbers.

I think a lot of these predictions are a bit negative. Coming from a small Ivy with no work experience and a 3.81, 170 I got into CCN on down minus Northwestern (hold so I withdrew) and Berkeley (reject). I applied in September. Rejected from Harvard and Stanford.

Apply early, it's seriously so important. I'm going to predict a similar cycle to mine:


Yale: Out (I didn't apply because I knew I had no shot, you might because of your experience)
Harvard: Reject/Waitlist
Stanford: Reject
CLS: Admit
Chicago: Admit
NYU: Admit
Berk: Waitlist/Reject
Penn: Admit
UVA: Admit with 45k
GULC: Admit

For the sake of verifying the predictive power of this forum, here's how it really turned out...

Yale - didn't bother
Harvard - held and rejected
Stanford - didn't apply
Columbia - admitted
U Chicago - admitted
NYU - accepted
UC Berkeley - admitted
Penn - waitlisted
UVA - waitlisted
Duke - admitted
Georgetown - admitted