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I appreciate everyone's opinion in advance, ND has always been my dream school and I plan on getting all my materials in very early in the early decision. I kept multiple jobs during my undergrad and I give hundreds of hours of service to my parish. Also graduating with departmental honors in poli sci with a religion minor. Of course I plan to write why ND and a diversity statement. Thanks again for your help.

The LSAT is a little weak, but the GPA is stellar. With the religion minor and decent softs, I say in.

It's a longshot, but not impossible. ND likes people who like them, and the ED should help. They're one of the few schools that doesn't admit strictly by numbers. That being said, if you could get your LSAT up to, say, a 165 it would help a lot.

danidancer wrote:It's a longshot, but not impossible. ND likes people who like them, and the ED should help. They're one of the few schools that doesn't admit strictly by numbers. That being said, if you could get your LSAT up to, say, a 165 it would help a lot.

Am I missing something here with the fact that OP is a Native American? Surely a Native American with a record of strong Catholicism and a 3.94 is a lock for ND, even with a 162, no?

I say accepted with $$$

Edit: Didn't see Early Decision. Could cost you some scholarship money in my opinion, but you want what you want.

OP, if you want to go to ND by all means do but please do not apply ED. You will get accepted with money, also you probably will get into multiple T14 schools so I would apply to all of them and see who bites.

Thanks to everyone for their help, it really puts my mind at ease. How much would applying ED help my admission chances? Would it boost me from say 60% to 65% or from 60% to 80%?

andythefir wrote:Thanks to everyone for their help, it really puts my mind at ease. How much would applying ED help my admission chances? Would it boost me from say 60% to 65% or from 60% to 80%?

100% with $$ to 100%

5ky wrote:

andythefir wrote:Thanks to everyone for their help, it really puts my mind at ease. How much would applying ED help my admission chances? Would it boost me from say 60% to 65% or from 60% to 80%?

100% with $$ to 100%

kind of like this answer. don't ED. apply to T-14s as well. Isn't NA like the crown jewel for AA? There's a 2.8/165 NA at Cornell right now with a pretty generous scholly, from what that person's TLS profile says, anyway. Though that person is non-trad, but still--my point is, don't ED to ND.

andythefir wrote:I appreciate everyone's opinion in advance, ND has always been my dream school and I plan on getting all my materials in very early in the early decision. I kept multiple jobs during my undergrad and I give hundreds of hours of service to my parish. Also graduating with departmental honors in poli sci with a religion minor. Of course I plan to write why ND and a diversity statement. Thanks again for your help.

Strong cultural affiliation? If so, you're definitely into ND, but a pity that you're wasting that GPA.

let/them/eat/cake wrote:

5ky wrote:

andythefir wrote:Thanks to everyone for their help, it really puts my mind at ease. How much would applying ED help my admission chances? Would it boost me from say 60% to 65% or from 60% to 80%?

100% with $$ to 100%

kind of like this answer. don't ED. apply to T-14s as well. Isn't NA like the crown jewel for AA? There's a 2.8/165 at Cornell right now with a pretty generous scholly, from what her TLS profile says, anyway. Though that person is non-trad, but still--my point is, don't ED to ND.

Heh, LTEC, funny we were posting at the same time.

As I said above (to the OP,) you could do better.

You might want to consider this thread before you get too gung-ho on Notre Dame:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 3&t=123174

Wow, considering I'm coming from a medicore state school (although top-3 for Native American students) and being a big fish in a small pond which schools are possibilities?

I'd say apply to the lower t14. You should get into a few, maybe some with some money, which you can use to negotiate with ND. If you really feel the urge to go to ND, squeeze them for a lot of money!

andythefir wrote:Wow, considering I'm coming from a medicore state school (although top-3 for Native American students) and being a big fish in a small pond which schools are possibilities?

Quality of your UG school doesn't really matter that much. NA/AI applicants with your numbers have routinely gotten into T14 (outside of Y/H/S) according to TLS and LSN, if I remember correctly.

You'll get into Notre Dame. A 162 isn't that low for Notre Dame (25th percentile LSAT is 163).
That 3.94 and URM status will really work to your advantage that you'll get in without applying ED with some scholly money.

Thanks again to everyone for their advice, are there any specific schools in the top 14 who are especially likely to let me in?

As far as T-14, LSP has you a strong consider at Northwestern and Berkeley. I might ED at NU and toss an app to Cornell. Notre Dame shouldn't be a problem with URM.

andythefir wrote:Thanks again to everyone for their advice, are there any specific schools in the top 14 who are especially likely to let me in?

Yes. Dude you will get into one or multiple of the t7-t14s if you apply early.

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- Edit: Apparently ND ED is non-binding.
- Apply to schools in the T14

Apply ED to ND. Notre Dame's ED is non-binding (which posters ITT are obvi unaware of), and the scholarship awards are significantly higher for those accepted. I would suspect you will get in, and I'd also expect for you to get between $15-20K per year AT THE VERY LEAST. You will have to accept or decline by February, but in your exact situation I think the trade-off is well worth it.

You should also apply to all the T13s outside of HYSCCN, as well as Vandy, Texas, Georgetown, and UCLA, provided you're interested in those schools. NA/AI cycles are notoriously difficult to predict; I know a kid who got into both NYU and Penn and didn't get into Cornell or (I think) Northwestern... I didn't think that ever happened unless you screwed up your application to the latter schools.

colemf wrote:We're pretty much the same person, I'm a 3.49 162 NA who dreamed of ND and got in with full tution $$$$, I will be starting this fall and could not be happier, just write the why ND essay and your in; although I got shutout of the t14, you would likely do very well with your GPA.

I hate consecutively posting, that's a really good deal you landed. Most of the full-riders at ND had HYS admissions (yeah, I think it's a poor choice too), so you really made out.

andythefir wrote:Thanks again to everyone for their advice, are there any specific schools in the top 14 who are especially likely to let me in?

Berkeley = probably in, as they love high GPAs and strong cultural affiliation
Duke = probably in, as they too love GPAs
NW = if you have work experience, maybe (I didn't apply, so I don't know of their proclivity for admitting NDNs)
Michigan = if you're an Upper Midwest or Plains NDN, you're probably in. Otherwise, it's hard to tell.
Cornell = In, probably with $$-$$$
GULC = Maybe - they can be quirky sometimes (and I wouldn't go unless they gave you lots of money and you want to work in the DoI/DoJ.)

Also, look at UCLA if you want to work in the Southwest. If you choose to retake the LSAT, bumping up to the next score band would most likely get you into one of CCN, perhaps Stanford (as they're building their FIL program these days.)

PM me if you want more in-depth advice. Also, I strongly recommend looking into PLSI (http://www.ailc-inc.org/PLSI.htm) for next summer.

I appreciate ND may be your dream school, but for an NDN, going to the best school you can is generally the best course of action.

I think it would definitely be worth shooting an application at Michigan. At least from ASW, it seemed like the school is very interested in growing diversity and has a strong commitment to Native American Law.

There was also an interesting article in the most recent Michigan Quad Magazine on Alumni practicing in Native American Law - http://www.law.umich.edu/newsandinfo/lq ... df#page=10

It feels like the end of It's a Wonderful Life with all this good news coming in. Congratulations Colemf, would you mind sharing your strategy? If I wait for ND's early decision offer, then apply to the higher-ranked schools would it be too late to get in there?

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