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Okay so I got 168 on the LSAT and a 3.7 from a solid state school. I doubt that a retake would be worth it as I studied quite a bit and my final score was one less the my best prep test...

As for the softs

Foreign Immigrant
Fluent in Polish and Russian
3 years in the AF reserve
Two summer internships (non-law related)
Writing a senior honors thesis
Political Science Major, Double Minor in Russian and History
Probably some solid Recs

Want to be an Air Force JAG

And My Schools: Safeties: Illinois (IL Resident), USC, Notre Dame Targets: Cornell, Vandy, GTown, Reaches: Duke, UVA, Michigan (ED?)

I would guess you'll be WLed at all your reaches, and maybe even a few of your targets. LSN makes it seem like you're right on the cusp for ranks 17-13 or so: http://tinyurl.com/27ufosz

However, it looks like you should get at least one of those targets (just hard to guess which), so best of luck!!

Predictions:

Illinois- In w/ $$$
USC- In w/ $$
ND- In w/ $$
Cornell- In (maybe a little $)
Vandy- In w/$$
Gtown- WL
Duke- WL, prob out
UVA- WL, out
Michigan- I think either WL or maybe even in

FWIW, I was a 168/3.75 and I am also an Illinois resident. Results at schools you are applying to:

Illinois- Full ride
Cornell- In, no money
Vandy- In w/ 60k
Gtown- WL
Duke- Rejected
Michigan (ED)- Deferred to RD and WL'd

Safeties: Illinois (IL Resident), USC, Notre Dame
Targets: Cornell, Vandy
Reaches: GTown, Duke, UVA, Michigan

Lsn is great for your purposes. Try lawschoolpredictor. com for some legit stats. The new programs been updated based on rankings and other credentials so you should be able to get a ball park estimate there. Good luck!

So I took a good look at LSP and with an ED at NYU it gives me a "consider". Is it joking? Is consider the same as deny? or do I actually have a shot?

If you look at the acceptances (green spots) on the 2009-2010 graph for NYU on LSN, you'll see that there were admits with 168 LSATs; but they had 3.9 GPAs. And most of those acceptances applied ED even with a 3.9 GPA.....

You'll probably not get into UVA or Michigan, so it might be worth it to apply ED.
I think you could get into Dook, they are a little more lax on LSAT than the other two and your grades are pretty good.
Georgetown is a coin flip. You're right in the middle (GPA slightly above median, LSAT slightly below median). You may get in- you may not.
Your chances are probably better at Cornell & Vandy than at Gtown.
I'd be very surprised if you don't get into all of the schools you call safeties.

Dr. Strangelove wrote:You'll probably not get into UVA or Michigan, so it might be worth it to apply ED.
I think you could get into Dook, they are a little more lax on LSAT than the other two and your grades are pretty good.
Georgetown is a coin flip. You're right in the middle (GPA slightly above median, LSAT slightly below median). You may get in- you may not.
Your chances are probably better at Cornell & Vandy than at Gtown.
I'd be very surprised if you don't get into all of the schools you call safeties.

Georgetown is an auto-reject, and his odds at Michigan are better than Duke. Dunno why you continue to give poor advice.

Not to be mean, but I think you've overestimated your soft factors a bit. The foreign immigrant factor won't help you too much, if at all. There are a lot of foreign-born folks who apply. What sets you apart from them?

Your ambitions matter less than what you've done up to this point. The military experience may make up for the weakness of the first two, though. Where did you do your internships? What was the nature of the work?

Unless you're going into int'l law (which I don't think you are), the foreign language skills won't help, either.

As is the case with your immigration status, your major isn't hard, so adcomms won't be impressed by that or the two minors. What sets you apart from the other people who have similar things in their applications?

One was at a US congressional campaign where I did graphic design and military outreach stuff...(aside from typical intern bitch work) the other was a Nursing College did mostly data entry and analysis (aside from typical intern bitch work)

Kswizzie wrote:One was at a US congressional campaign where I did graphic design and military outreach stuff...(aside from typical intern bitch work) the other was a Nursing College did mostly data entry and analysis (aside from typical intern bitch work)

Won't matter. You have solid enough numbers. I'd say your list looks good. ED to Michigan if you are interested.

mpasi wrote: Unless you're going into int'l law (which I don't think you are), the foreign language skills won't help, either.

Not to attack your position but why would law schools specifically ask whether you have language skills if they weren't important to them?

Kswizzie wrote:Not to attack your position but why would law schools specifically ask whether you have language skills if they weren't important to them?

So that when they publish their incoming class profile, they can say "we have students who speak 12398 different languages, including Aramaic, Esperanto, and Klingon."

..

Is it bad every time I see the phrase "nice softs" I giggle a little bit to myself?

Edit: Aw, typofail.

webbylu87 wrote:Is it bad every time I see the phrase "nice softs" I giggle a little bet to myself?

I do the same thing

Kswizzie wrote:

mpasi wrote: Unless you're going into int'l law (which I don't think you are), the foreign language skills won't help, either.

Not to attack your position but why would law schools specifically ask whether you have language skills if they weren't important to them?

How is it relevant to a legal education, especially one that doesn't involve international law courses?

mpasi wrote:

Kswizzie wrote:

mpasi wrote: Unless you're going into int'l law (which I don't think you are), the foreign language skills won't help, either.

Not to attack your position but why would law schools specifically ask whether you have language skills if they weren't important to them?

How is it relevant to a legal education, especially one that doesn't involve international law courses?

Aren't there many firms with offices all over the world wouldn't it be an asset to be able to speak to people that work for your firm in other countries even if you're not specifically involved in the same practice area maybe wrong but I do know that language skills are considered valuable in most lines of work in our era of globalization

Kswizzie wrote:

mpasi wrote:

Kswizzie wrote:

mpasi wrote: Unless you're going into int'l law (which I don't think you are), the foreign language skills won't help, either.

Not to attack your position but why would law schools specifically ask whether you have language skills if they weren't important to them?

How is it relevant to a legal education, especially one that doesn't involve international law courses?

Aren't there many firms with offices all over the world wouldn't it be an asset to be able to speak to people that work for your firm in other countries even if you're not specifically involved in the same practice area maybe wrong but I do know that language skills are considered valuable in most lines of work in our era of globalization

How much contact does a JAG attorney have with global firms, though? I'm not knocking your skills, but rather questioning why you think your language proficiency is such a sparkling asset. It's not. English is a (near) universal language...someone in those global firms et al speaks it incredibly well. Millions of people are already fluent in it, or learning it. Globalization works both ways. I won't even touch on translators, or senior staffers who speak the same lanuages.

I'm not saying you won't get into law school, or that the ones that give you a good look won't appreciate your abilities, but to continue with this unique snowflake mentality is a little silly. Your numbers matter far more than the languages you speak. The schools you're applying to won't go "oh, he speaks this and this, let's admit him now!". They don't know where you'll end up at the end of your education. They probably won't care. So, in light of that, how does the language proficiency matter so much?

I agree with you about 95%, I don't think language skills are going to something that will have a huge impact on my cycle but they are a distinguishing factor between myself and someone with like numbers that doesn't have them. As to importance for JAG, JAGs are deployable and you never know where you may land. Language skills are important for all military officers to the point that demonstrating proficiency gives you increased pay. In the spirit of bringing our debate to a close... what r my chances at my schools in your opinion?

I think you need to move Cornell and Vandy to "reach" column, and maybe add American and GW to your target list, and add Catholic to the safeties. A reservist friend of mine is at American now, and seems to love it. Someone else on this board is in the National Guard and attends GW part-time. I think DC would be best for you, given your interest in military service and the military-friendly nature of the DC schools. Please keep us (or just me) updated on where you end up.

mpasi wrote:I think you need to move Cornell and Vandy to "reach" column, and maybe add American and GW to your target list,

Vandy certainly isn't a reach, though Cornell got tricky around the 168/ 3.6-3.7s this cycle. American is a safety, GW as well...though those are definitely good schools to add.

amyLAchemist wrote:Have apps gotten more competitive lately? I would have though UCLA/USC/Texas/Vandy would be targets

I really, really think they are. Same LSAT, lower GPA and got in to almost all of those (save 1) and ended up with some solid money at Texas, my ultimate pick.

amyLAchemist wrote:Throw an app to Berkeley as a reach, seriously. My friends who were ex-military had seriously lower numbers than you, and were not URM. Your numbers are in the ballpark.

Not that it is a bad thing, it is a small plus, but I do think you are overestimating how good the language thing is though.

Daisy Dukes? Bikinis on Top?