3.45/170, URM? Forum

[Zabini]

Hey everyone, just found this site today! I'm planning on applying to the following schools and wanted to know what my chances are? Like title said, I'm 3.45/170, mixed race (AA/white) at GWU undergrad...assorted ECs (capitol hill internship, various jobs while in school, some student orgs) nothing too impressive on that front tho.

Also, I don't know anything about applying ED and would love to know about strat re: that but I assume that's a question for a different forum?

Also, my Mom has her Ph.D from Michigan and my Dad has a masters from UChicago...not sure if those sort of legacies matter in LS admissions but thought I'd put that out there just in case.

edit: also, CA resident on the off chance that matters for cal/ucla/usc

-UChicago
-Cal (I assume this is a big time longshot)
-Penn
-Northwestern
-Michigan
-Duke
-Georgetown
-Vandy
-UCLA
-USC
-Wash U St. Louis
-GWU
-Emory
-UNC
-Hastings

Thanks so much!

[Fresh]

-UChicago - Waitlist
-Cal (I assume this is a big time longshot) - Too hard to call
-Penn - Waitlist/In
-Northwestern - Depends on how good your internships were
-Michigan - Waitlist/In
-Duke - 75% In, 25% unsure
-Georgetown - 80% In, 20% unsure
-Vandy - In?
-UCLA - In
-USC -In
-Wash U St. Louis - In
-GWU - In
-Emory - In
-UNC - In
-Hastings - In

[Zabini]

tyty, does everyone else concur with that?

Cal and Duke are the only programs I could really see myself EDing and it doesn't look like Cal has an ED program...would it be worth it to ED Duke? Will I hate myself if I somehow luckbox into Cal/Penn off the waitlist?

[s0ph1e2007]

UChicago - Waitlist
-Cal (I assume this is a big time longshot) - Too hard to call
-Penn - In
-Northwestern - Depends on how good your internships were
-Michigan - waitlist/In
-Duke - In
-Georgetown - In
-Vandy - In
-UCLA - In
-USC -In
-Wash U St. Louis - In
-GWU - In
-Emory - In
-UNC - In
-Hastings - In

[beachbum]

Don't ED anywhere. And add Columbia and NYU to your list. Good luck.

[FlightoftheEarls]

What race are you identifying on your applications? Are you writing a DS?

[plenipotentiary]

People are being way too pessimistic. Don't ED. Apply to HYS and CCN.

[Stanford4Me]

I don't agree with what has been said. People obviously don't understand the importance of being a URM (which is why it helps to have people who have gone through the app cycle help you).

You should add:

Columbia: WL/In
NYU: In
Chicago: In
Cal on down: In

I will say, however, that if you apply too late schools like Duke and Georgetown will probably WL you. Oh, and NW is for people with work experience so that may cause a WL from them.

Lastly, don't ED anywhere.

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions. Current URM NYU 1L.

Edit: Also, check out this thread.

[Zabini]

What race are you identifying on your applications? Are you writing a DS?

Will be identifying AA on applications. I don't know what DS stands for, so I don't know if I'm writing that or not...help? Thanks

[rayiner]

In at one of CCN. HYS would not be completely out of the question.

[vanwinkle]

Wait, what?

Apply only to T14. Apply to the entire T14. You should get multiple acceptances, including ones I'm sure you'd find shocking. People are telling you to apply to HYSCCN for a reason.

You're going to have a crazy good cycle.

[Zabini]

Wait, what?

Apply only to T14. Apply to the entire T14. You should get multiple acceptances, including ones I'm sure you'd find shocking. People are telling you to apply to HYSCCN for a reason.

You're going to have a crazy good cycle.

Thanks

I'd love to hear more opinions on this idea of applying to only T14 schools...it seems vaguely crazy to not have any slamdunk schools in my pocket...but I don't mind saving some $/time on applications either I guess.

Also, for those telling me to apply to CCN...I don't really have any desire to go to Columbia or NYU (I have a thing about NYC) but would it be worth it to apply there anyway with the idea of using acceptance there to leverage $ from other schools? Or are the Michigan/Duke/Georgetowns of the world not going to be moved by that?

edit: also, re: fee waivers, I've already gotten them unsolicited from UVA, Georgetown and UCLA in the past day (as well as a few other places I'm not going to apply to)...when should I expect them to stop rolling in and start asking for them?

[vanwinkle]

Thanks

I'd love to hear more opinions on this idea of applying to only T14 schools...it seems vaguely crazy to not have any slamdunk schools in my pocket...but I don't mind saving some $/time on applications either I guess.

Also, for those telling me to apply to CCN...I don't really have any desire to go to Columbia or NYU (I have a thing about NYC) but would it be worth it to apply there anyway with the idea of using acceptance there to leverage $ from other schools? Or are the Michigan/Duke/Georgetowns of the world not going to be moved by that?

You could apply to them for leverage, but if you really don't want to go, it's okay to not apply.

Also, a DS is a Diversity Statement that explains what kind of diversity you'll add to the school as (in your case) an AA student. It's not mandatory, and if you already discuss parts of your background in your PS it's probably not necessary, but a well-written DS can increase the odds of getting a diversity boost on your application.

The thing is, you're AA with a 170. There are under 100 such applicants in an entire admissions cycle each year. T14 schools should not only accept you but throw money at you. For you, a T14 is a "slam dunk" school. The only non-T14s worth it are ones close to that level in a region you like, especially if they give you fee waivers. No harm applying to UCLA on a fee waiver. But don't waste your money on UNC and Hastings, if you need that money to apply to Stanford and Berkeley. Your focus should be on hitting every T14 you can afford to hit, because you should seriously get into more than one of them.

[rqstnnlitnmnt]

The thing is, you're AA with a 170. There are under 100 such applicants in an entire admissions cycle each year.

to the OP: congratulations and good luck in law school! You're going to get into a great school.

Vanwinkle: Where'd you find that stat?

[vanwinkle]

The thing is, you're AA with a 170. There are under 100 such applicants in an entire admissions cycle each year.

to the OP: congratulations and good luck in law school! You're going to get into a great school.

Vanwinkle: Where'd you find that stat?

http://www.jbhe.com/news_views/51_gradu ... _test.html

In 2004, 10,370 blacks took the LSAT examination. Only 29 blacks, or 0.3 percent of all LSAT test takers, scored 170 or above. In contrast, more than 1,900 white test takers scored 170 or above on the LSAT. They made up 3.1 percent of all white test takers. Thus whites were more than 10 times as likely as blacks to score 170 or above on the LSAT. There were 66 times as many whites as blacks who scored 170 or above on the test.

I know there are more recent numbers that confirm this is still holding up; I just don't have the time to research further at the moment. But the data is out there, and this is one huge reason why the URM boost for AAs is so large.