Top Law Schools

- 3.3 (3.3) gpa
- 177 first take
- major midwest state school
- white female
- disability student- apps including addendum explaining attendance/course drops
- poli sci and intl studies majors and women's studies and german minors
- speak 4 languages
- internship with well known state senator
- already recieving summer government internship offers, holding out for a better department through WRP
- awarded our fall school dc internship and study abroad in eastern europe/ internship abroad, choosing between the two
- worked part time on and off throughout college depending on health
- volunteered with a couple of local ngos and one national ngo
- killer refrences from top poli sci professors
- excellent essays written for each school
Chances at 1. Chicago, 2. Michigan, 3. UPenn, 4. Virginia, 5. Cornell, 6. Georgetown, maybe Northwestern but no w.e. except many internships
Not interested in schools in New York City, Cali, or the south, sorry I'm a yank insult me if you must. I didn't go higher than Chicago because I figured that would be a pipe dream.

Chances at my t14 choices? Any chance for money or as a splitter am I doomed to big debt? I've got everything all lined up, planning to apply asap in fall 2012 cycle. If I wait I could have a 3.4, but posts seem to suggest applying earlier should win out over .1 of a gpa.

http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com

Having worked through college might give you some leeway to get accepted by NU, but it's probably still unlikely.

bk187 wrote:http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com

Having worked through college might give you some leeway to get accepted by NU, but it's probably still unlikely.

? That's like auto-accept. If you look at the graph there's only two rejections to the right of 170.

Chances at 1. Chicago, 2. Michigan, 3. UPenn, 4. Virginia, 5. Cornell, 6. Georgetown, maybe Northwestern but no w.e. except many internships

1. Chicago- Out unless you ED. With ED, I'd say it depends on your softs.
2. Michigan/Penn- Good chance. Even greater with ED.
3. Virginia- 99% in with ED. Not sure about regular app (it seems almost random....)
4. Cornell- decent chance
5. Georgetown- In
6. NU- hm. hard to tell because LSN doesn't give a lot of info on who has WE or not. but I'd say in. If you want, try RD.

honestly, I'd say ED chicago and hope for the best. I'm pretty sure at least ONE of the other schools will bite, especially MVP.

senorhosh wrote:Chances at 1. Chicago, 2. Michigan, 3. UPenn, 4. Virginia, 5. Cornell, 6. Georgetown, maybe Northwestern but no w.e. except many internships

1. Chicago- Out unless you ED. With ED, I'd say it depends on your softs.
2. Michigan/Penn- Good chance. Even greater with ED.
3. Virginia- 99% in with ED. Not sure about regular app (it seems almost random....)
4. Cornell- decent chance
5. Georgetown- In
6. NU- hm. hard to tell because LSN doesn't give a lot of info on who has WE or not. but I'd say in. If you want, try RD.

honestly, I'd say ED chicago and hope for the best. I'm pretty sure at least ONE of the other schools will bite, especially MVP.

Mostly credited. Except you have an even smaller chance at Chicago than this poster suggests. You should pick one of MVP that you like (I would personally go with Penn out of that trio) and ED. If you look at LSN, you can see that MVP all like to yield protect a fair bit (notice the wide swaths of yellow). With your LSAT I'm not going to say that you can't get into MVP regular decision, but there's a decent chance you will get waitlisted.

.

Wait...this is terrible advice. OP could get a 180. The only relevant advice to this post is retake.

Always, retake.

Don't ever actually go to law school, just take the LSAT over and over and over.

RETAKE!!!

Adm.Doppleganger wrote:

t14fanboy wrote:

senorhosh wrote:Chances at 1. Chicago, 2. Michigan, 3. UPenn, 4. Virginia, 5. Cornell, 6. Georgetown, maybe Northwestern but no w.e. except many internships

1. Chicago- Out unless you ED. With ED, I'd say it depends on your softs.
2. Michigan/Penn- Good chance. Even greater with ED.
3. Virginia- 99% in with ED. Not sure about regular app (it seems almost random....)
4. Cornell- decent chance
5. Georgetown- In
6. NU- hm. hard to tell because LSN doesn't give a lot of info on who has WE or not. but I'd say in. If you want, try RD.

honestly, I'd say ED chicago and hope for the best. I'm pretty sure at least ONE of the other schools will bite, especially MVP.

Mostly credited. Except you have an even smaller chance at Chicago than this poster suggests. You should pick one of MVP that you like (I would personally go with Penn out of that trio) and ED. If you look at LSN, you can see that MVP all like to yield protect a fair bit (notice the wide swaths of yellow). With your LSAT I'm not going to say that you can't get into MVP regular decision, but there's a decent chance you will get waitlisted.

+1 to this statement. MVP ought to be the target.

Yeah this. If you love one of MVP, just ED and be happy with it.

UPENN would be really nice. Great school, in a decent city, and the IVY name will provide great opportunities.

Agree with the advice above. Unless you want to go to chicago significantly more than MVP, probably not worth EDing there. They've been tough on low GPAs this cycle.

Out of MVP, I'd go for UPenn, although it's worth keeping in mind that the only MVP you have a decent chance of getting money at is Michigan.

FWIW, I have a 3.35, and a 173 and I got Michigan (w/ $$), Georgetown, and UCLA before being accepted at NYU ED. I have 4 years of work experience, which probably helped me, particularly at holistic places like Michigan.

lawschoolsarcasm wrote:
Chances at my t14 choices? Any chance for money or as a splitter am I doomed to big debt? I've got everything all lined up, planning to apply asap in fall 2012 cycle. If I wait I could have a 3.4, but posts seem to suggest applying earlier should win out over .1 of a gpa.

Are you expecting to be at a 3.3 after this semester or could that go a little higher? I'd agree that applying early is important, but some schools will ask for fall grades next year and it can definitely help you to get straight As and bump that GPA up a bit.

Apply to NYU/CLS anyway for scholarship leverage. You probably won't get much money but an extra acceptance from one of those two would help. The only school where real money consistently goes to people with your numbers is Michigan, but getting in there is never a sure thing.

Thanks for the replies guys, you've given me a lot to think about. I'd probably like to end up practicing in Virgina/D.C. someday even though yes it can be an unstable market. I'm still reluctant to ED anywhere, because I sense I could miss out on a better $ offer from a lower t-14. I might consider ED to UMich because they're the most likely to offer $$ I think if I ED, but UVA is probs the best for DC market. Also I have a fiance in Ontario so Cornell is also quite attractive if they'd offer me any money, also loved the area.

Despite your stellar LSAT, your GPA will only take you so far in terms of acceptances and money. Look through lawschoolnumbers when you get the chance. Money is 99.99% of the time reserved for people who are either URMs or above/or close to both of the school's target LSAT and GPA medians.

If past cycles are any indicator, there is a sizeable chance you will get waitlisted at Cornell (they are not really a splitter friendly school). And the deans scholarship is offered to people with both numbers above median.

I completely understand the feeling of not wanting to tie yourself to one school and wanting to have scholarship options on the table. But splitters should consider themselves lucky if they get into a t14 much less expect any money (The school is basically turning a blind eye to your bad gpa and accepting you for the LSAT score...)

That said, if you apply RD to the bottom t14, some schools may bite (I think Georgetown is a pretty safe bet), but others (MVP) might waitlist you even though you would have been a near lock through ED.

Thanks for the advice, I think at the end of the day all things considered I'll ED to Michigan, even though Cornell is gorgeous and UVA is slightly advantageous for the DC market. It's hard to predict where you'll end up and it all depends on offers 4 years in the future anyway.
I like the idea of a summer start, I'm a 4.5 year undergrad so I'll have been out of school already a whole semester. Cornell is pretty but really hard to get to, I love DC but the cost of living at Georgetown, yeesh. UVA is probably the best school for the DC market but also unpredictable and Virginia is quite far away from my fiance who needs to move with me. Penn I guess I'm not terribly excited about even though they are ivy so they might get cut as it is from the list.

Thanks for all the advice especially for the scholly realism fanboy.

t14fanboy wrote:Despite your stellar LSAT, your GPA will only take you so far in terms of acceptances and money. Look through lawschoolnumbers when you get the chance. Money is 99.99% of the time reserved for people who are either URMs or above/or close to both of the school's target LSAT and GPA medians.

If past cycles are any indicator, there is a sizeable chance you will get waitlisted at Cornell (they are not really a splitter friendly school). And the deans scholarship is offered to people with both numbers above median.

I completely understand the feeling of not wanting to tie yourself to one school and wanting to have scholarship options on the table. But splitters should consider themselves lucky if they get into a t14 much less expect any money (The school is basically turning a blind eye to your bad gpa and accepting you for the LSAT score...)

That said, if you apply RD to the bottom t14, some schools may bite (I think Georgetown is a pretty safe bet), but others (MVP) might waitlist you even though you would have been a near lock through ED.