Top Law Schools

Hi everyone, long-time lurker here looking for some much appreciated help. I graduated from a T25 school with a 3.8 in accounting with average softs and a 162 on the June test. I'm retaking the LSAT in October, but am not counting on a higher score (previous score was within my normal preptest range).

I plan on working in corporate law, and as such I'm looking for the school that gives me the best career prospects in that field. From what I've been reading, my numbers are not competitive at any schools with national reach, so I should be looking at schools within the region that I plan on practicing in. Unfortunately, due to SO complications I have pretty much no clue at this point which region I'll end up in, other than likely being in the eastern half of the US. Living within at most a 5-6 drive of him is extremely important to me and something that I'd be hard pressed not to do.

I figure that my best bet is the shotgun approach, applying to 25-35 schools. I don't have an issue with this, but am honestly lost on which schools I should apply to. I tried using lawschoolpredictor to start setting up a gameplan, but I got the feeling that it was generally too optimistic (e.g. a "Consider" with my numbers at GW, WashU, USC, ND).

Can anyone throw out some schools that I should definitely apply to, and categorize them in the appropriate reach/target/safety category? Thanks in advance for any help.



Edit-- Law school is either this year or never, I won't be able to wait a year for my situation to become any clearer.

fitterhappier wrote:Hi everyone, long-time lurker here looking for some much appreciated help. I graduated from a T25 school with a 3.8 in accounting with average softs and a 162 on the June test. I'm retaking the LSAT in October, but am not counting on a higher score (previous score was within my normal preptest range).

I plan on working in corporate law, and as such I'm looking for the school that gives me the best career prospects in that field. From what I've been reading, my numbers are not competitive at any schools with national reach, so I should be looking at schools within the region that I plan on practicing in. Unfortunately, due to SO complications I have pretty much no clue at this point which region I'll end up in, other than likely being in the eastern half of the US. Living within at most a 5-6 drive of him is extremely important to me and something that I'd be hard pressed not to do.

I figure that my best bet is the shotgun approach, applying to 25-35 schools. I don't have an issue with this, but am honestly lost on which schools I should apply to. I tried using lawschoolpredictor to start setting up a gameplan, but I got the feeling that it was generally too optimistic (e.g. a "Consider" with my numbers at GW, WashU, USC, ND).

Can anyone throw out some schools that I should definitely apply to, and categorize them in the appropriate reach/target/safety category? Thanks in advance for any help.

srsly? people do this?

Are Wake Forrest or UNC anywhere close to your desired area? You've probably got a decent shot at both of those places.

figuring out where you're going to be considered isn't exact science, but it's pretty close. just go to LSN, search users like you, and see what schools they got accepted/rejected at. and choose your favorite schools, look at their graphs, and see if you fall in the green.

then apply to 10. or maybe 15. because 35 is ridiculous and will eat up all your time and money. they're like 85 bucks a pop. plus, for me more apps would mean less time spent on each, which is not good.

so choose a few favorites, APPLY EARLY, and spend some time on your apps. really, no need to spam... there's not much mystery to law school acceptances or rejections.

garrett09 wrote:figuring out where you're going to be considered isn't exact science, but it's pretty close. just go to LSN, search users like you, and see what schools they got accepted/rejected at. and choose your favorite schools, look at their graphs, and see if you fall in the green.

then apply to 10. or maybe 15. because 35 is ridiculous and will eat up all your time and money. they're like 85 bucks a pop. plus, for me more apps would mean less time spent on each, which is not good.

so choose a few favorites, APPLY EARLY, and spend some time on your apps. really, no need to spam... there's not much mystery to law school acceptances or rejections.

I agree that having to cook up 35 apps will probably hurt each one's quality, but I think the negatives of not doing so outweigh the benefits. If I apply to 15 schools, maybe 3-4 of those schools will end up being in the region that I'll want to be in. That leaves me with approx one reach, target, and safety that will be relevant come decision time, and that's before considering acceptances. I don't know if I'm comfortable with that scenario.

Though it sucks majorly to spend ~2k up front on app fees alone, I think that it's an investment that will pay off if it helps me get into the right school.

Law school admissions is so predictable and so numbers-driven that spending thousands on apps is absurd in the utmost. That $2,000 would be better spent on an LSAT tutor, class, prep materials, etc. You are very likely out at all T30 schools, and almost certainly out at the ones you mentioned (WUSTL, ND, GW, USC).

Also, fwiw... I had very very similar numbers after my June test last summer (162/3.75). I retook and got a 168, cracked the T14 (Cornell) and got big scholarships to T20s (UIUC, WUSTL, Vandy). A retake is absolutely in your best interests, so study hard and improve that score.

fitterhappier wrote: I agree that having to cook up 35 apps will probably hurt each one's quality, but I think the negatives of not doing so outweigh the benefits. If I apply to 15 schools, maybe 3-4 of those schools will end up being in the region that I'll want to be in.

nothing outweighs the negative of having a crappy app. it doesn't matter how many schools you get into, its which one you pick and how good it is. and about the region thing... why would you even apply to schools that aren't in the region you want to be in? one or two for finaid negotiations... but you'd really apply to 11 schools you don't want to go to?

you have to make decisions about these things sooner or later... sooner will save you money that (agreeing with the above poster here) you can spend on an LSAT tutor to boost your score a few points.

I applied to 8 schools, and looking back, even that was too many. I knew I likely wasn't going to Georgetown or Boston University, and I shouldn't have applied. But I guess I didn't lose anything at BU since I got a fee waiver.

romothesavior wrote:Law school admissions is so predictable and so numbers-driven that spending thousands on apps is absurd in the utmost. That $2,000 would be better spent on an LSAT tutor, class, prep materials, etc. You are very likely out at all T30 schools, and almost certainly out at the ones you mentioned (WUSTL, ND, GW, USC).

Also, fwiw... I had very very similar numbers after my June test last summer (162/3.75). I retook and got a 168, cracked the T14 (Cornell) and got big scholarships to T20s (UIUC, WUSTL, Vandy). A retake is absolutely in your best interests, so study hard and improve that score.

I agree that raising my score should be my primary concern, but I'm doubtful that I can substantially change it. It might be hard for many here to believe, but I think I've pretty much maxed out. I studied 20-25 hours a week for 4 months last time and came up with that score. I'm giving it my best shot again but am already having to resort to reusing material.

garrett09 wrote:

fitterhappier wrote: I agree that having to cook up 35 apps will probably hurt each one's quality, but I think the negatives of not doing so outweigh the benefits. If I apply to 15 schools, maybe 3-4 of those schools will end up being in the region that I'll want to be in.

nothing outweighs the negative of having a crappy app. it doesn't matter how many schools you get into, its which one you pick and how good it is. and about the region thing... why would you even apply to schools that aren't in the region you want to be in? one or two for finaid negotiations... but you'd really apply to 11 schools you don't want to go to?

you have to make decisions about these things sooner or later... sooner will save you money that (agreeing with the above poster here) you can spend on an LSAT tutor to boost your score a few points.

I mentioned earlier that the biggest issue is that I have won't have an idea of which region I want to be in until after the app cycle, so only a fraction of the apps I send out will be relevant come decision time.