Top Law Schools

Ok, I have a 165 in June, 172 in Oct, and a 176 in Feb. I have so far been rejected from UVA ED and Vandy, waitlisted at UCLA, Northwestern (no WE), and Michigan (ED), and accepted at WUSTL with 84k (about 2/3 tuition). I am still pending at Columbia, Cornell, GULC, Notre Dame, and Alabama. I did not get any apps out until early November, and I didn't get my Cornell/GULC apps out until mid Dec. Columbia app was sent out on Feb 11 after they gave me a fee waiver to boost their selectivity (I assume).

Things I am almost definitely doing:

I am emailing WUSTL to see if they'll bump my scholly up for my higher LSAT (seems unlikely since they gave me the same scholly they gave most low 3 170+ applicants)

I will be writing a LOCI to Michigan, because they waitlisted me a few days ago, and I think one of their supplemental essays and 4 more points on the LSAT is about as much as I could have hoped to include in a LOCI.

I will be praying/crossing my fingers/hoping that Columbia has not already thrown my app away and will see it with the 176 instead of the 172. I know I still have close to no shot there, but the 176 is definitely more of a shot than the 172 was, since I actually help their LSAT median/75th now.

Things I am considering and that I want to ask TLS about:

Waiting a year. I am currently working retail and absolutely hate it. I live in a small town and there are no paralegal jobs available. I would probably play online poker and volunteer a lot if I had to wait another year, or maybe try and land an LSAT tutoring gig, although Kaplan turned me down. If I wait, I think I could really polish my personal statement, and I think that even if I don't, my numbers would get me into UVA ED if I send out the app as soon as it becomes available.

My app is still pending at Gtown and Cornell, and I was thinking I would get into one of them with my 172, so now I'm thinking I might get both. I'm complete at both schools, they've just had my app on hold while they waited for my LSAT score, so hopefully I will hear from them soon. I really liked my GULC interviewer. He did a decent job building the school up after TLS tore it down, and I think I would consider GULC even at sticker. Of the two of these schools though, Cornell seems more my style, and their latest placement stats aren't half bad.

So, poll is going up, please vote, and if you have any advice in addition to your vote, by all means, share it.

I don't understand this poll. You dould do all of these. I wouldn't go to WUSTL in your situation unless you've been there and really liked the vibe. I have very similar stats to you, 3.35/173, got into GT and Virginia, I imagine you'd have a good shot at all of your targets except CCN is probably a terribly long shot.

Looking at it again, I can definitely appreciate that. I'll change it to something more poll-worthy.

Okay, in the event that you re-apply next year right when applications open, your cycle will probably go as follows: WL/R at CCN, possible WL/A at MVP (WL at V for sure if you don't ED and are OOS; MVP is kind of a tossup either way since they're all kind of waitlist happy with splitters and it's hard to tell), NU probably won't like your WE enough, Duke will hate your GPA, and Cornell/GULC should be an admit (more GULC than Cornell, but I think you should be able to snag both). Berkeley is a black box and probably unlikely. And those retakes will hold you back. So most likely you would be looking at: one of MVP at sticker (if you ED), or Cornell/GULC. If these options sound better to you than WUSTL with $$, wait and reapply.

I guess I thought that the only schools that hated higher retakes were HYS. I mean, I know everyone hates retakes that result in lower scores, but I was thinking it would be easy to get them to weigh the 176 the most with a half decent addendum.

Kabuo wrote:I guess I thought that the only schools that hated higher retakes were HYS. I mean, I know everyone hates retakes that result in lower scores, but I was thinking it would be easy to get them to weigh the 176 the most with a half decent addendum.

Obviously higher retakes are better than applying with just a lower score, but having two retakes will still give some adcomms pause - one is easier to explain away with an addendum (either could have been a fluke, so why not believe the lower one was?); two is a little more complicated. Many schools don't care, but anecdotal evidence suggests that some do. Some choose to depending on how they feel about the rest of your application.

I think this applies mostly at HYS-CCN though*. The lower T14 probably won't be affected by your retakes.

*Especially true for splitters. They want a reason to take your abysmally low GPA (not meaning to insult, my GPA is around the same and by T14 standards we're in a pretty abysmal boat ), and a strong LSAT is the best way to overcome it - but having three LSATs kind of muddies the waters.

Lol, I am well beyond feeling insulted about my GPA. I've only felt shame and regret about it since finding TLS. This is still news to me regarding retakes though. I know HYS hates them, and I know CCN and B can be erratic with how they look at them, but I thought retakes of 3 pts or more improvement were generally looked on favorably. If anything, I thought having my last 2 be within the 99th% would show consistency or something and make it easier for them to overlook the GPA.

Well, I'm not saying retakes are bad - a good retake is better than no retake, but with a 3.22 CCN were very long shots to begin with so having that 176 offset by two lower numbers is probably going to reflect adversely unless there's some other aspect of your application that makes an adcomm want to take you regardless.

All I'm saying is, with regards to CCN, yes, having a 176 will help them overlook the GPA more than not having the 176 at all would. But having the 176 with a 172 and a 165 will help them overlook the GPA less than just having a 176 would.

(Also, I think the standard response from schools regarding retakes is actually 6 points or more)

Like I also said though, I doubt it will impact you at MVP and below.