Top Law Schools

Okay, first post but I've been reading these forums for about a year now. As I prepped for the LSAT my PT scores were anywhere from mid 150s-160s, so I could never get entirely consistent. I have a laundry list of softs (Student Government throughout college, campaign manager for a State House Race, internships in state politics, Resident Advisor at my university, and I received a merit based scholarship my freshman year of college as well). I prefer somewhere on the East Coast. I've tried to compile a realistic list of schools, with a few safeties and reaches in the mix. I'm curious to see if the TLS community agrees with me. I plan on applying within a month of apps going live for the fall semester. I've been told it can effectively add points to your GPA/LSAT if you're one of the first in the door (any credence to this?) I'm also a North Carolina resident, so UNC-Chapel Hills numbers are high, but I feel part of that is the inflation from the 30% of out-of-staters. Also hoping being a southerner plays to my advantage for some of the New England based schools who are trying to have the "we have x amount of states represented by our school" criteria. Here is the list:

Reaches:
UNC-Chapel Hill
Northeastern
Villanova
Tulane

Middle:
Rutgers-Newark
UConn
University of Maine
Quinnipiac

Safety:
Campbell
Elon

Where do you want to live & work after law school ?

Based off the things I've read I hear you generally stay in the same vicinity as the law school you attend. Staying in NC would be okay, but I'm more than happy to live in the northeast, as it simply has a better legal market. Any of the states I'd be applying to off the aforementioned list would be fine for me to live in.

Really think long and hard about where you want to be. Getting big law from all of these schools is pretty much not a possibility. You'll be gunning for small firms and local govt., which is a lot about networking. And who seems like a safer bet, someone who's from the area and networked, or some dude who just wanted to go to law school anywhere.

I'd retake and try to get into UNC or another southern school.