T30 school?...Evaluate Me! Forum

[joefiore]

Hi All,

I'm bored and just wondering what my odds of getting into a T30 or T15 school next application cycle might be...

Numbers
164 LSAT, pending June 2010 retake (hoping for improvement!)
3.61 UGPA (Environmental Policy and Political Science double major)...upward trend after Freshman year
*Boston University

College Resume Highlights
-Managed two nonprofit organizations (100+ volunteers in each)
-Won prestigious community service leadership award (given to 2 of 4,000 graduates)
-International Honors Program study abroad trip (pretty selective); 3.68 gpa
-Extensive community service experience

Post Undergraduate
-Teach for America 2009 corps member (selective; 2,500 out of 40,000 selected)- teaching special ed at a High School in Brooklyn
-Masters in Special Education; 4.0 GPA

I applied during my senior year of college (Fall of 2008) and here were my results...
-Cardozo- Accepted, 30k/year
-Brooklyn- Accepted, 40k/year
-NYU- Reject
-Columbia- Reject
-Fordham- Waitlist, Accepted Part Time
-GW- Waitlist, Rejected
-Georgetown- Rejected
-American- Accepted, 5k/year
-BU- Waitlist, Rejected
-BC- Waitlist, Accepted in July
-Cornell- Waitlist, Rejected

My goal is to get into a T15 school, NYU being my dream as I want to go into Public Interest Law. Do I have a shot?

If not, what about T30? Fordham, BU, BC, GW?

Or should I be happy with a school like American/Cardozo/Brooklyn?

Thank you in advance for your opinions!!! To return the favor, I plan on giving my opinion in a few of the other postings

THANKS!

-Joe

[birdmann783]

if its public interest...i think the rank wouldnt really matter.... you have a good set of skills.......although public interest would waive the price tag of nyu ...im not sure if its worth stressing over..

good luck

[cinefile 17]

http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/wp-co ... ograms.htm

[eandy]

If you apply earlyish, you can get into UGA, which is 28.

[daesonesb]

apply to IU Bloomington, UNC, UC Davis....

You are @ or above median for them, and they like good softs (grapevine evidence from a friend who got into all 3 of them with a high GPA, low LSAT, good softs).

EDIT: With a retake, and score 165+, Blanket apply 15-30, and throw in Cornell as a reach.

[eandy]

EDIT: With a retake, and score 165+, Blanket apply 15-30, and throw in Cornell as a reach.

165 is not high enough for that advice.hth.

[daesonesb]

EDIT: With a retake, and score 165+, Blanket apply 15-30, and throw in Cornell as a reach.

165 is not high enough for that advice.hth.

K maybe not 165, but I did it with a 167 and average softs.

[traehekat]

I had almost exactly the same numbers and applied to most of the T30. I was dinged by UIUC, BC, BU, Emory and ND. Waitlist at UNC, IUB, Wisconsin, and W&M. Only T30 acceptance was to Iowa (which I am attending, obviously).

With your numbers, your most likely acceptances will come from Davis, Georgia, Iowa, and IUB.

Hopefully you rocked the retake though and you will be looking at some possible T14's!

[Grizz]

EDIT: With a retake, and score 165+, Blanket apply 15-30, and throw in Cornell as a reach.

165 is not high enough for that advice.hth.

K maybe not 165, but I did it with a 167 and average softs.

167 is veeeery different than 167.

[Grizz]

if its public interest...i think the rank wouldnt really matter.... you have a good set of skills.......although public interest would waive the price tag of nyu ...im not sure if its worth stressing over..

good luck

It matters. Why, you ask? The biglaw cutback cased a trickle-down effect through the rest of the economy. People who would have been a lock for biglaw might consider taking PI/govt. jobs to IBR their debt. Good PI jobs are still extremely competitive.

[daesonesb]

EDIT: With a retake, and score 165+, Blanket apply 15-30, and throw in Cornell as a reach.

165 is not high enough for that advice.hth.

K maybe not 165, but I did it with a 167 and average softs.

167 is veeeery different than 167.

167=167

right?

[Grizz]

167=167

right?

Haha my bad. 165 is veeery different than a 167.

[joefiore]

Thanks for the feedback! I really am hoping I did better on the June LSAT (I score in the low 170s on practice exams, but nerves have killed me on the real thing).

I'm really looking to stay in the North East. So, NYU would be my dream school, but I'm also going to apply to Fordham, Cardozo, Columbia, BC, BU, American, GW, Georgetown, and maybe some others.

[mountaintime]

167=167

right?

Haha my bad. 165 is veeery different than a 167.

I completely agree. 165-166 is kind of a dead zone.

[joefiore]

Okay got my score back...166

So with all of my softs that I listed above (Masters Degree, Teach for America, prestigious community service award) and my 3.61 and 166...Does that give me an outside chance at NYU?

If not, how about Fordham? BC? BU? Georgetown?

I've typed the numbers into Law School Predictor so I know the results of a purely quantitative analysis. My question is how much do my softs really help me out?

Opinions from real people rather than random number generators would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

[Grizz]

Okay got my score back...166

So with all of my softs that I listed above (Masters Degree, Teach for America, prestigious community service award) and my 3.61 and 166...Does that give me an outside chance at NYU?

If not, how about Fordham? BC? BU? Georgetown?

I've typed the numbers into Law School Predictor so I know the results of a purely quantitative analysis. My question is how much do my softs really help me out?

Opinions from real people rather than random number generators would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

Go to LSN and look at graphs. Don't count on your softs to do much, if at all.

[joefiore]

Well, I hope it doesn't count for nothing

I guess I'll find out this fall. I'd really like to end up at Columbia, NYU, or Fordham (yes the first two are a long shot). I really don't see myself at Cardozo or Brooklyn.

Does anyone know which schools place a heavy emphasis on soft factors? Or community service background? It's killing me that I didn't break 170 and make NYU realistic.

[eandy]

Well, I hope it doesn't count for nothing

I guess I'll find out this fall. I'd really like to end up at Columbia, NYU, or Fordham (yes the first two are a long shot). I really don't see myself at Cardozo or Brooklyn.

Does anyone know which schools place a heavy emphasis on soft factors? Or community service background? It's killing me that I didn't break 170 and make NYU realistic.

Unless you are are URM, Fordham is the only one you even have a shot at. Retake or have fun at Cardozo or Brooklyn.

[Grizz]

With a 166, apply to Emory. Hopefully their LSAT median won't go up.