Top Law Schools

Posted: **Sun Jul 04, 2010 11:56 am**

First, think real hard about whether you want to give up your current career to practice law. Focus on that more than which school you can get into.

That being said, ED to Columbia or NYU. Spread the T14 below the school you ED. You will get into one with those numbers. Some schools will let you defer, some will not. Most want to hear a good reason. Some are so desperate to open up spots this year that they will beg you to defer. It all depends.

Posted: **Sun Jul 04, 2010 12:09 pm**

I'm a lowly 0L so you can take what I have to say with a grain of salt, but:

Like legalease9 said, first decide if you want to actually practice law, THEN worry about which school to go to. Prestigious and ego-boosting though HYS undoubtedly are, going to one of them simply because you can is not a very good reason to invest three years and $200,000.

I say that as someone whose father who went to one of those schools, largely "because he could," and although things worked out pretty well in the long run for him, he did not enjoy law school and I'm not sure he'd make the same decision over again if he had the chance.

Posted: **Sun Jul 04, 2010 12:14 pm**

Posted: **Sun Jul 04, 2010 12:29 pm**

My prediction is that you're in everywhere except Harvard & Yale.

Posted: **Sun Jul 04, 2010 12:46 pm**

sven wrote: I am not too sure if I want to go to law school next year (mainly because of the awful job market and because I am pretty comfortable in my current job) and am considering only applying to HYS this cycle and going if I get into one of them (since they've been pretty immune to the collapse in hiring at other schools). Are there any weaknesses to this strategy?

... very rational... you're thinking about this decision seriously and you should be... timing is important, especially ITE

sven wrote: I definitely do want to practice law, and I'm actually a paralegal. I'm happy with my job/life right now and wouldn't mind working there another year. So since I'm not in a rush to start law school, I would want to do anything I can to maximize my shot at getting into the best place that would take me.

also very rational.... you have a great job that you can stay at for another year.... you have the ability to postpone law school....especially ITE (in this economy).

sven wrote:Would HYS look down upon a second application the following year or do people do this all the time?

People apply and reapply to these schools....it's not a problem...

Posted: **Sun Jul 04, 2010 3:01 pm**

Posted: **Sun Jul 04, 2010 8:52 pm**

sven wrote:I am curious about my chances at HYSCCN... I have above-average softs (my weakness is LORs, but I'm sure that one will be great and that the others will have something positive to say).

Here's the thing: I am not too sure if I want to go to law school next year (mainly because of the awful job market and because I am pretty comfortable in my current job) and am considering only applying to HYS this cycle and going if I get into one of them (since they've been pretty immune to the collapse in hiring at other schools). Are there any weaknesses to this strategy? Would HYS look down upon a second application the following year or do people do this all the time?

the weakness is that you're throwing away ~$300. Your chances are very low at all three HYS. They won't look down upon a second application, but if nothing significant has changed, you could expect the same result the second time.

The job market isn't so dreadful at the other top schools. You stand a good chance for some of CCN and are likely in at the rest of the T14, leaving with you some pretty great options

Posted: **Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:42 pm**

Retake!

Posted: **Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:44 pm**

Good shot at S, HY are definitely out, and a pretty good shot at CCN. But no guarantees with a 171.

Posted: **Sun Jul 04, 2010 9:45 pm**

Not sure why people say that the OP does not have a good shot at S (given that he is above both medians). Having said that, if you can wait a year or two, definitely do.

Posted: **Sun Jul 04, 2010 10:32 pm**

romothesavior wrote:Good shot at S, HY are definitely out, and a pretty good shot at CCN. But no guarantees with a 171.

I wouldn't say H is definitely out. I had a friend with very similar numbers (171/3.9, albeit the 3.9 was from an HYP undergrad program) who was accepted at H. Moreover, 171 is within the oft-cited 25th/75th percentile range at Harvard, which means that somebody with that LSAT score is getting in, along with some other somebody's with even lower scores.

Posted: **Sun Jul 04, 2010 10:35 pm**

FutureApplicant wrote:
romothesavior wrote:Good shot at S, HY are definitely out, and a pretty good shot at CCN. But no guarantees with a 171.
I wouldn't say H is definitely out. I had a friend with very similar numbers (171/3.9, albeit the 3.9 was from an HYP undergrad program) who was accepted at H. Moreover, 171 is within the oft-cited 25th/75th percentile range at Harvard, which means that somebody with that LSAT score is getting in, along with some other somebody's with even lower scores.

OP retook a 168. For 99% of schools, that wouldn't really matter, but it does matter for HYS. I'd put OP's odds at less than 10%.

Posted: **Sun Jul 04, 2010 11:07 pm**

romothesavior wrote: OP retook a 168. For 99% of schools, that wouldn't really matter, but it does matter for HYS. I'd put OP's odds at less than 10%.

Point taken.

To the OP: if I had a 5%-10% chance at getting into HS, at a cost of ~$100, I would apply, unless I was so strapped for cash that I was selling my furniture to buy food.

Posted: **Mon Jul 05, 2010 1:34 am**

Posted: **Mon Jul 05, 2010 1:38 am**

Hmmm your right about Stanford... they're a black box but more forgiving for low LSATs.

Depends on your UG too, tho. I'd agree with people saying <10% for H and Y, but it might go as high as 20% for S.

Posted: **Mon Jul 05, 2010 1:40 am**

sven wrote:
FutureApplicant wrote:
romothesavior wrote: OP retook a 168. For 99% of schools, that wouldn't really matter, but it does matter for HYS. I'd put OP's odds at less than 10%.
Point taken.

To the OP: if I had a 5%-10% chance at getting into HS, at a cost of ~$100, I would apply, unless I was so strapped for cash that I was selling my furniture to buy food.
Hahaha. I will definitely apply to the three schools, just to take a shot at it. I'm just wondering if it's a stupid strategy to apply just to those three schools this year and wait until next year for my more realistic applications... Maybe if it's easy to get a deferral from CCN, I might just apply to all of them.

Also, is my chance at S really below 10%? I understand Yale and Harvard, but Stanford seems to take a bunch of people with 168-170s. It's this potential for S that keeps me from just EDing one of NYU or Columbia (I prefer both to Chicago).

Unless you want to take a year off, appying to only HYS is not smart. Your odds of landing one of those three are small. Also, do not ED anywhere. You will get money to some places and you don't want to lock yourself into anything at this point.

Posted: **Mon Jul 05, 2010 11:32 am**

Posted: **Mon Jul 05, 2010 12:04 pm**

Do not just apply to HYS this year, apply everywhere you will apply next year as well.

Why wouldn't you do this? It will give you a chance to kinda see where you stand, and if you happen to make it into Columbia (obviously do not ED) you will certainly be able to defer a year (if you decide you still want to).

Posted: **Mon Jul 05, 2010 12:11 pm**

Posted: **Mon Jul 05, 2010 12:18 pm**

sven wrote:
Cilent21 wrote:Do not just apply to HYS this year, apply everywhere you will apply next year as well.

Why wouldn't you do this? It will give you a chance to kinda see where you stand, and if you happen to make it into Columbia (obviously do not ED) you will certainly be able to defer a year (if you decide you still want to).
But don't you need a reason to defer? Can I really just say "I wanna work for another year"? Also, if I reapply to schools that already let me in, wouldn't they think that I'm not really interested in going there?

From what I understand, it is not extremely difficult to get a deferral. I'm sure you would do okay explaining the need to work for one more year before you start the next phase of your life or something. And if they will not let you defer -- and to answer your second question -- no, I don't think schools will look at you unfavorably for not accepting them the year before (if they even notice).

Posted: **Mon Jul 05, 2010 6:22 pm**

Cilent21 wrote:and to answer your second question -- no, I don't think schools will look at you unfavorably for not accepting them the year before (if they even notice).

Is there any evidence to support this? Have people done this a lot in the past?

Posted: **Mon Jul 05, 2010 11:47 pm**

Posted: **Mon Jul 05, 2010 11:54 pm**

sven wrote:
r6_philly wrote:
Cilent21 wrote:and to answer your second question -- no, I don't think schools will look at you unfavorably for not accepting them the year before (if they even notice).
Is there any evidence to support this? Have people done this a lot in the past?
Good question.

I definitely do not know 100% the answer. But, IMO, it wouldn't make sense for this to hurt your app. Why would it hurt? I mean I guess maybe you could be YP pwned if they notice and think you might do it again?

Posted: **Tue Jul 06, 2010 1:23 am**

sven wrote:I am curious about my chances at HYSCCN... I have above-average softs (my weakness is LORs, but I'm sure that one will be great and that the others will have something positive to say).

Here's the thing: I am not too sure if I want to go to law school next year (mainly because of the awful job market and because I am pretty comfortable in my current job) and am considering only applying to HYS this cycle and going if I get into one of them (since they've been pretty immune to the collapse in hiring at other schools). Are there any weaknesses to this strategy? Would HYS look down upon a second application the following year or do people do this all the time?

assuming just your highest score is considered...
realistic reach: stanford, yale
target: harvard, columbia
strong target: chicago
safety: nyu

assuming average considered...
unrealistic reach: yale
realistic reach: stanford, harvard
target: chicago, columbia
strong target: nyu

Top Law Schools

168, 171, 3.92 for HYSCCN Forum

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