Northwestern without WE? Forum

[splitster1221]

If Chicago is really the place I want to be after law school (and during), would I have any chance at Northwestern without WE? I am a splitter, and my numbers roughly 3.0-3.29 with a 171-173 LSAT. I know somewhere around 5% of their class is straight from UG, but with these numbers and hopefully medians that are on their way back down, what kind of chance do I have?

[JamMasterJ]

171 - 173 could mean a lot of different things

[IAFG]

Bad chance. If you insist on being a K-JD, apply ED to Michigan and write a good "Why Michigan."

[splitster1221]

171 - 173 could mean a lot of different things

172

[splitster1221]

Bad chance. If you insist on being a K-JD, apply ED to Michigan and write a good "Why Michigan."

Do you think someone with my low GPA would have a chance at Mich ED? I know ED helps but I thought they usually cutoff around 3.4

[bk1]

Bad chance. If you insist on being a K-JD, apply ED to Michigan and write a good "Why Michigan."

Do you think someone with my low GPA would have a chance at Mich ED? I know ED helps but I thought they usually cutoff around 3.4

Michigan is one of the more splitter friendly T14's (less so than UVA/NU but moreso than Duke/NYU/Boalt. NU isn't going to take a K-JD who isn't at or above both medians.

[splitster1221]

Bad chance. If you insist on being a K-JD, apply ED to Michigan and write a good "Why Michigan."

Do you think someone with my low GPA would have a chance at Mich ED? I know ED helps but I thought they usually cutoff around 3.4

Michigan is one of the more splitter friendly T14's (less so than UVA/NU but moreso than Duke/NYU/Boalt. NU isn't going to take a K-JD who isn't at or above both medians.

So it seems that UVA is obviously the safer of the two, but Mich is probably better for Chicago. I'm just not sure how good of a chance I would be for Michigan. I know LSP puts it as a "consider." I guess it could be worse

[IAFG]

Or, you could go get a job, distance yourself from that bad GPA, improve your post-LS employment prospects, internalize the fact that life sucks so you're not one of those lawyers who think law sucks because they've never had a real non-law job, and get into Northwestern in a year and possibly Michigan too.

But no one ever wants to do that.

[bk1]

So it seems that UVA is obviously the safer of the two, but Mich is probably better for Chicago. I'm just not sure how good of a chance I would be for Michigan. I know LSP puts it as a "consider." I guess it could be worse

Ignore LSP, just use LSN. If you really want NU there's nothing wrong with taking a year off to get work experience.

Personally, I'd be a little more risk averse and do UVA rather than UMich. That's because you'll be paying sticker at either and that means you will likely have to open yourself up to working in NYC (even if Chicago is all you've ever wanted) to maximize your chances at loan repayment. At least that's what I would do.

Though you could do UMich and then UVA if UMich rejects you, but the value of a UVA ED is severely diminished when done in Dec/Jan which it will have to be since you'll have to wait on UMich's decision.

[splitster1221]

So it seems that UVA is obviously the safer of the two, but Mich is probably better for Chicago. I'm just not sure how good of a chance I would be for Michigan. I know LSP puts it as a "consider." I guess it could be worse

Ignore LSP, just use LSN. If you really want NU there's nothing wrong with taking a year off to get work experience.

Personally, I'd be a little more risk averse and do UVA rather than UMich. That's because you'll be paying sticker at either and that means you will likely have to open yourself up to working in NYC (even if Chicago is all you've ever wanted) to maximize your chances at loan repayment. At least that's what I would do.

Though you could do UMich and then UVA if UMich rejects you, but the value of a UVA ED is severely diminished when done in Dec/Jan which it will have to be since you'll have to wait on UMich's decision.

Thanks for the response, that is helpful. How much worse do the UVA prospects get with the ED in late Dec/Early January opposed to now? I know their ED option is still open until March, but would they really not accept someone with my numbers that they normally would because I applied 2 months later?

[bk1]

Thanks for the response, that is helpful. How much worse do the UVA prospects get with the ED in late Dec/Early January opposed to now? I know their ED option is still open until March, but would they really not accept someone with my numbers that they normally would because I applied 2 months later?

This gives an imperfect picture: http://www.top-law-schools.com/images/d ... rginia.jpg

The thing is that the later you wait the more likely that they will waitlist you since they've already sent out so many acceptances. It is hard to quantify and admittedly that graph does not give a great picture but having read past UVA threads on TLS there is a marked decline once you hit late Dec/early Jan. On the graph they send out a big wave of acceptances in early January and it is likely that those acceptances were already decided prior to the holiday break, meaning that if you send in late December your app is being looked at after they have already made a large batch of acceptances. The graph also shows that UVA's process is much more rolling than other schools as they admit a fairly steady stream without too many extreme spikes meaning that each day you have to wait with UVA really does hurt you.

That being said, you could ED UMich and if you don't get that or a subsequent ED at UVA you could always reapply next cycle and UVA will likely be an easy admit if done on day 1. So it's not like all is lost if you decide to do UMich first this cycle and miss out.

[Sauer Grapes]

171 - 173 could mean a lot of different things

Really just three different things.

[splitster1221]

Thanks for the response, that is helpful. How much worse do the UVA prospects get with the ED in late Dec/Early January opposed to now? I know their ED option is still open until March, but would they really not accept someone with my numbers that they normally would because I applied 2 months later?

This gives an imperfect picture: http://www.top-law-schools.com/images/d ... rginia.jpg

The thing is that the later you wait the more likely that they will waitlist you since they've already sent out so many acceptances. It is hard to quantify and admittedly that graph does not give a great picture but having read past UVA threads on TLS there is a marked decline once you hit late Dec/early Jan. On the graph they send out a big wave of acceptances in early January and it is likely that those acceptances were already decided prior to the holiday break, meaning that if you send in late December your app is being looked at after they have already made a large batch of acceptances. The graph also shows that UVA's process is much more rolling than other schools as they admit a fairly steady stream without too many extreme spikes meaning that each day you have to wait with UVA really does hurt you.

That being said, you could ED UMich and if you don't get that or a subsequent ED at UVA you could always reapply next cycle and UVA will likely be an easy admit if done on day 1. So it's not like all is lost if you decide to do UMich first this cycle and miss out.

Thanks for the help, I have actually seen that graph before. I think that is probably what I will end up doing, if Late Dec/Early Jan turns out to be too late for UVA I will wait and try again the next cycle, and throw in an app to NU with that 1 year of WE