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Thank you in advance for taking the time to read and reply. I’m a longtime TLS lurker and have learned a great deal here. My apologies for not contributing anything useful to the site thus far, but I didn’t think I could really offer much given my 0L status. I just wanted to make chance thread to see what I can reasonably expect from this year’s cycle. I’m hoping for HYS (just like everyone else) or T14/UT with money. I don’t plan on applying to Columbia, NYU, Penn, or Cornell, and I figure my relative lack of W/E precludes me from NU. Are these reasonable expectations given my current numbers?

-LSAT: 169
-GPA: 4.00 from a “meh” school with a “meh” liberal arts degree
-URM: Native American
-Softs: Unique, but incredibly average. Definitely nothing Rhodes/Truman/Marshall/All-American athlete/TFA caliber.
-W/E: 1 year in an interesting (to me, at least) but non-law related job. My only college W/E was a random assortment of summer internships.
-Career Goals: I am most interested in academia and tribal law, but banking on either of those would be ridiculous. Clerkship opportunities and PI are more appealing to me than BigLaw, but there’s a good chance that will change as my debt grows.
-Geographic Preferences: Thanks to an unusual family situation while growing up, I have essentially zero ties to anywhere. I’ve lived in nearly 10 different states, but none long enough to create useful professional or social networks. My SO has family in Texas and my most meaningful jobs were in the Mountain West and Florida, but that is as strong as my ties get. I have absolutely no desire to work in NYC, but I understand that it is the most likely landing spot for people like me. If I had to rank my preferences, they would probably go something like:
CA/TX > FL/Mountain West/Mid-Atlantic > Chicago/DC > the South >>> Anywhere Else, USA >>>>>>>>>>> NYC > rest of the Northeast
-Miscellaneous: I'm lucky enough to be debt-free coming out of undergrad and my SO has a stable, easily transferable job that will pay the rent while I'm in school. That said, I would like to avoid being buried under $200,000+ of student loans if at all possible.

I was hoping for a 170-173 on the LSAT, but one LR section killed me. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to retake until next June due to work and family circumstances. I have no problem retaking and waiting yet another year if my applications do crash and burn.

Thanks again for making it through my long-winded post.

Enjoy one of HYS.

you'll probably get one of HYS (most likely stanford I think).

If you really want to be secure, retake in oct and score 170. But as is...pretty sure you'll get one of HYS

Enjoy HYS

LaMuSayonga wrote:I’m hoping for HYS (just like everyone else) or T14/UT with money. I don’t plan on applying to Columbia, NYU, Penn, or Cornell, and I figure my relative lack of W/E precludes me from NU.

Hahaha. You're not going to be precluded from any school with those numbers. Like everyone else has said, enjoy one of YHS.

Wow, this is surprising. I was kind of expecting that LSAT score to hold me back a bit at HYS. It's been difficult finding advice for Native American applicants, so I appreciate the insight from everyone. Thanks again.

LaMuSayonga wrote:Wow, this is surprising. I was kind of expecting that LSAT score to hold me back a bit at HYS. It's been difficult finding advice for Native American applicants, so I appreciate the insight from everyone. Thanks again.

its difficult cause there are not many NA applicants period. Since your numbers are ballpark HYS...welcome to HYS

You will get HYS. This is a certain joy you must bask in, from now until forever.

You will get HYS.

But apply to CCN just in case. Plus they'll throw money at you.