Top Law Schools

Obviously a good problem to have, but I scored WAY higher on the LSAT than I thought I would and now I have absolutely no idea how many schools I need to apply to and which ones I can cut out. I am all green on Law School Predictor, but these things are unpredictable and I'm not sure how safe I need to play this (my GPA is good, but not outstanding, and I took the LSAT twice).

Originally, I was going to blanket the T14 and maybe ED to Columbia, but now I need to rethink everything. Are there T14 schools that I can cut out to save money and effort?

Also, this may be a harder question... how harmful is the 20 point difference between my two scores? It's so baffling that I'm worried it will be a red flag and possible auto-deny. It makes my cycle feel much more unpredictable, which feeds into my confusion about what constitutes a safety school.

Help please!

(Non-URM)

I would go MVPCCNHYS.
I think you cover scholarships with MVP. If for some reason you have a strong affinity for another school go for it. And drop penn if you wanna go out and blow 75ish dollars on beer to celebrate your 180.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about the score difference. The score will speak for itself, and I would be confident that your cycle would play out more or less exactly how it would have had you not gotten a 161 first. I wouldn't apply outside of the top 10, and I definitely wouldn't ED Columbia, as it will cut you out of possible money. You're likely to receive money at a decent number of the top 10, with a decent shot at HYS.

If you're willing and able to attend them, apply to T5 at the very least. ED to Columbia is not necessary since you are over their 50% on GPA and obviously WAY over the 75% even for LSAT - not to mention you could end up bound to them when you stand an excellent chance at breaking HYS. If I were you I'd write a concise but good addendum and at the very least apply to the T5. Make sure to write up a good PS especially for Yale since they seem to be very focused on well-rounded students. In terms of saving money it depends - assuming you don;t have any academic problems, decent softs, and no legal trouble I don't see why you wouldn't break the T5.

Honestly if I were you I would just apply to those 5. But then I know that I won't be happy with myself unless I do as good as I possibly can. It's up to you but either way best of luck.

Also I feel like I've seen around the LSAT forums. Congratulations on the score, that's one hell of a jump. You are headed for the T5, not a doubt.

Think carefully about which schools in the t14 you would actually like to attend. Apply to those. Profit.

Thanks, guys! So helpful.

This is exactly what I was wondering... it sounds like I could cut out Duke, NW, Cornell and Gtown without losing much sleep at night. I definitely want to keep Mich and Berkeley, so I guess the only ones still on the line are UVA and Penn. Plus, I want to go into public interest law and civil rights work, so money will definitely be an issue.

I'm not entirely sure what to say in my LSAT addendum. There were test center irregularities the first time (we were cut off 5 minutes early on two sections), but I'm not entirely sure if it's documented by LSAC on my transcript, so I'm nervous about them thinking I'm BSing. It was also an issue of losing my cool and melting down. If the experience taught me anything, it's that a huge part of this is just how things happen to go on test day. I could have scored anywhere between a 167-180 on any given day and I happened to have my 180 day on the one that counted.

with those numbers you might even get reservations at Dorsia

2Serious4Numbers wrote:with those numbers you might even get reservations at Dorsia

Seriously?? Even without pleasuring the Maître d'?

My life has changed overnight.

CapHillLove wrote:Thanks, guys! So helpful.

This is exactly what I was wondering... it sounds like I could cut out Duke, NW, Cornell and Gtown without losing much sleep at night. I definitely want to keep Mich and Berkeley, so I guess the only ones still on the line are UVA and Penn. Plus, I want to go into public interest law and civil rights work, so money will definitely be an issue.

I'm not entirely sure what to say in my LSAT addendum. There were test center irregularities the first time (we were cut off 5 minutes early on two sections), but I'm not entirely sure if it's documented by LSAC on my transcript, so I'm nervous about them thinking I'm BSing. It was also an issue of losing my cool and melting down. If the experience taught me anything, it's that a huge part of this is just how things happen to go on test day. I could have scored anywhere between a 167-180 on any given day and I happened to have my 180 day on the one that counted.

Nooooooo don't cut out those four, well NW fine (because most schools won't match them because of how generous they are)... The reason not to cut them out is Scholarship negotiation!!! Quite frankly you want as many offers as possible, Berkeley matches offers, most schools will. It's really a couple extra hundred dollars (assuming you don't get fee waivers) that could net you thousands upon thousands of dollars!! I really think it's worth it to apply to a lot of places even though your a lock for Top 6 at the absolute worst.. Congrats on the score

Edited to say unless your planning on going to the highest school you can get into, if so then apply Top 6 and you will be set

With the 3.81/180, you need to apply only T10. Michigan and UVA will give huge schollies. UofC, CLS and NYU might give decent ones as well. You are in HLS, its done. As for Y/S, they are both black boxes, but I bet Y is a better bet because they weigh LSAT more.

Have fun at CLS with sizeable scholly or Y/H

WhatToDo21 wrote: Nooooooo don't cut out those four, well NW fine (because most schools won't match them because of how generous they are)... The reason not to cut them out is Scholarship negotiation!!! Quite frankly you want as many offers as possible, Berkeley matches offers, most schools will. It's really a couple extra hundred dollars (assuming you don't get fee waivers) that could net you thousands upon thousands of dollars!! I really think it's worth it to apply to a lot of places even though your a lock for Top 6 at the absolute worst.. Congrats on the score

Edited to say unless your planning on going to the highest school you can get into, if so then apply Top 6 and you will be set

Oh woah. Good point! I would have never thought of that! I'm definitely not a "YHS or bust" kind of girl. Of T6 + Mich + Boat, I'm not sure at all who I would choose, but it would definitely not be strictly rankings-based. That being said, I don't think I would pick any of the lower T14 over those schools. Do you think it's still worth applying for leverage?

HYS

CCN

Pick your favorite out of MVPB.

My prediction is you end up at Harvard.

dissonance1848 wrote:With the 3.81/180, you need to apply only T10. Michigan and UVA will give huge schollies. UofC, CLS and NYU might give decent ones as well. You are in HLS, its done. As for Y/S, they are both black boxes, but I bet Y is a better bet because they weigh LSAT more.

Have fun at CLS with sizeable scholly or Y/H

Woah. Seriously? Even with that 161? I figured HLS would be more likely to admit me than Stanford, but 161 is still loooow, so I assumed my chances weren't great.

Apply everywhere you want to. You have at least a solid shot for any school.

I don't think any school (outside of possibly Y, and maaaybe S) will care about the 161.

Woah, that's a hell of a score jump. Congrats.

I'll just second what others have said: apply to HYSCCN. The rest of the T14 can be applied to at your direction and will almost certainly throw a lot of money at you- which could be useful for scholarship negotiations.

Bankhead wrote:I don't think any school (outside of possibly Y, and maaaybe S) will care about the 161.

That's great to hear! But I should still write an addendum right? What should I say? It's so absurd, I don't even know where to begin.

beachbum wrote:Woah, that's a hell of a score jump. Congrats.

Thank you!! It really goes to show that a bad first score isn't the end of the world.

I wouldn't write an addendum unless there is some particular reason you scored low the first time around (test distraction, etc.).

I think it'd be fully legit to just explain the test center irregularities. As far as I know, adcomms simply want to know there's a valid reason for a score jump.

I can't fathom your not getting your pick of the T14, except YS (HLS seems to be slightly less predictable with JR now, but I think your chances there are about as good as you can hope for). And from running a search on the 180s from 3.78-3.84 on LSN, you may be in the running for a Darrow or Butler if you put together a really good package. Absent that, you'll probably land good money at a number of places.

Basically, congrats!

cavebat2000 wrote:Think carefully about which schools in the t14 you would actually like to attend. Apply to those. Profit.

no.

Thanks again for the help, everyone! This has cleared up so many questions I had.


For the addendum, do you guys think it's ok to cite test irregularities even if I don't have the documentation to back it up? Basically, I filed a complaint as did everyone in my room, it was totally legit and LSAC acknowledged it, but I don't see it noted anywhere on my records. Will the adcomms just believe me or will it look like lying/whining?

Also, honestly, this alone doesn't account for the 20 point discrepancy. It was a mental thing too... I choked. Should I mention test day anxiety or focus solely on the test irregularities?

CapHillLove wrote:

WhatToDo21 wrote: Nooooooo don't cut out those four, well NW fine (because most schools won't match them because of how generous they are)... The reason not to cut them out is Scholarship negotiation!!! Quite frankly you want as many offers as possible, Berkeley matches offers, most schools will. It's really a couple extra hundred dollars (assuming you don't get fee waivers) that could net you thousands upon thousands of dollars!! I really think it's worth it to apply to a lot of places even though your a lock for Top 6 at the absolute worst.. Congrats on the score

Edited to say unless your planning on going to the highest school you can get into, if so then apply Top 6 and you will be set

Oh woah. Good point! I would have never thought of that! I'm definitely not a "YHS or bust" kind of girl. Of T6 + Mich + Boat, I'm not sure at all who I would choose, but it would definitely not be strictly rankings-based. That being said, I don't think I would pick any of the lower T14 over those schools. Do you think it's still worth applying for leverage?

Yes I think it is still worth it, in particular because of your interest in Boalt. They match I think every school in the top 14 with the exception of Northwestern and perhaps one other, you will have to check their site for the exact list. I mean, just me personally I would apply to a lot of the T14. If If you leave your current list as is, lets say Michigan offers you 54K over the 3 years, so Boalt matches this, where as if you also applied to Duke and they offered you 65K then they would probably match that instead. Personally I think the added cost of a few applications is well worth it because of the possibility of saving yourself thousands. But that is just me

Personally I would add UVA, Duke, Cornell, and Penn to your list if you decide to go the route of trying to leverage money

CapHillLove wrote:Thanks again for the help, everyone! This has cleared up so many questions I had.


For the addendum, do you guys think it's ok to cite test irregularities even if I don't have the documentation to back it up? Basically, I filed a complaint as did everyone in my room, it was totally legit and LSAC acknowledged it, but I don't see it noted anywhere on my records. Will the adcomms just believe me or will it look like lying/whining?

Also, honestly, this alone doesn't account for the 20 point discrepancy. It was a mental thing too... I choked. Should I mention test day anxiety or focus solely on the test irregularities?

Focus on the irregularities, don't say I choked... This is just a minor part of your application, it gives a reason to explain the big difference, that is all they need to know.

Blanket the T14, consider the bottom T14s to be your safeties, write Why X essays for UVA and Penn to try to avoid their WLs, enjoy having several acceptances and $$$ offers to choose from.

2Serious4Numbers wrote:with those numbers you might even get reservations at Dorsia

Best post ever on TLS. The best Jerry.