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My only soft is work. My family is in no way able to help me financially and I have worked full time in school. I work in retail sales / low level management position. Would this help in getting into Northwestern?

I think I will get accepted into at least 1 of Duke, Northwestern, Georgetown, and Cornell.

if you are not URM, then you might get one, but it is by no means guarenteed. I think its 40/60 against you.

Retake and get 170+ if at all possible. If not, ED to a lower t14 and pray

edit: i think im being more negative actually...you'll probably get one

Northwestern only counts post-graduate WE. Rrrrrrretake!

I think you have a good shot at Cornell.

http://myLSN.info/dispresults.php?sk=qe1rg

Maybe Michigan.

http://myLSN.info/dispresults.php?sk=zq93y

If I retake and I do a little worse how badly will it hurt me for say Cornell? My only concern with retaking is that I did very well on RC section and I normally did poorly on that sections in practice. On the three other sections I did a little worse than I normally did. This put me a few points lower than I was averaging about on preptests so I feel its a very real possibility that I do a little worse on the retake.

jdpitt wrote:If I retake and I do a little worse how badly will it hurt me for say Cornell? My only concern with retaking is that I did very well on RC section and I normally did poorly on that sections in practice. On the three other sections I did a little worse than I normally did. This put me a few points lower than I was averaging about on preptests so I feel its a very real possibility that I do a little worse on the retake.

A lower score won't have much of an effect and the risk is greatly outweighed by the potential reward. Retake again if you have to. At the very least, sign for October and start studying. You can always cancel beforehand.

I applied last cycle with a slightly higher GPA and the best I got was sticker at Cornell (I have similarly weak softs). Others got money at Cornell, Vandy, or UT with our numbers.

So if you're comfortable with sticker at one of these three, you have a descent shot, but really retake (I know, a novel idea). Sticker at any of the above mentioned schools seems like a bad idea to me.

What are my options as far as ED? Would I have a shot at Penn or Mich?

jdpitt wrote:What are my options as far as ED? Would I have a shot at Penn or Mich?

Penn no. Mich maybe if the gpa is more like a 3.75. I wouldnt ED.

Could I apply ED to Mich and retake in October and if I hit the 170 mark cancel my ED to RD?

jdpitt wrote:Could I apply ED to Mich and retake in October and if I hit the 170 mark cancel my ED to RD?

Schools won't look kindly on you switching to RD. if you're going to retake, I'd just wait to apply. I waited to apply until after October scores came out.

Im concerned how well I will do in October. I was thinking the test was near the end of the month but obviously its not so I would only have about a month to study.

Also my gpa will be closer to 3.6 not 3.7 unless I have this current semesters classes counted. Would it maybe be a better idea to retake in december? I know I could apply
Ed to penns second round if I had to.

Zero shot at Penn. Michigan is in play but probably not going to happen. I think you're safe at Cornell, though.

So best bet would probably be to retake in Oct and if I am not ready at all just cancel and apply ED to Mich? Taking December test and applying seems like it would be a negative unless I did a lot better.

Possibly Boalt. Your GPA is below their median but above the 25th %ile, LSAT is above median but within the 75th %ile (basically a small splitter there). I wouldn't ED with your GPA.

I don't know I would like to go to Berkeley even if I got in, it's a long way from the east.

Why not ED with my gpa?

Because you'd lock yourself into one of the most expensive schools in the country with almost no chance at money. This is a down cycle so your numbers could garner some money from similar schools. If it does, Berkeley's matching program might be receptive

As someone with very similar stats I got sticker at Cornell. I was rejected at Berkeley, which was the other T14 I applied to. If you are set on attending a T14 I would ED to Michigan. If that falls through, hopefully you get Cornell. I doubt you will get Duke or Northwestern.

Have you thought about Eding UVA?

ETA: if you retook and were able to crack 170.

catholicgirl wrote:Have you thought about Eding UVA?

IMO, OP would have virtually no shot at UVA because he is below both medians.

El_Gallo wrote:

catholicgirl wrote:Have you thought about Eding UVA?

IMO, OP would have virtually no shot at UVA because he is below both medians.

Yup. Sorry. Didn't realize I left off a sentence in my original post. If he was able to crack 170 in October, he might have a decent shot.

I would be OK with sticker at Mich because I may end up doing a MBA/JD and they have one of the best buis schools. This is also why I am ok with Cornell the school I just would prefer something not so rural. I want to study law but if I get a chance at a good finance job after I will go that route and all the big banks recruit at these schools.

honestly, i think you'll be fine as long as you apply early and have decent cv/essays. if people can get into nyu and uchi with 168/3.85, you can land cornell or gtown

Liquox wrote:honestly, i think you'll be fine as long as you apply early and have decent cv/essays. if people can get into nyu and uchi with 168/3.85, you can land cornell or gtown

The difference is that a 3.85 is above the median GPAs of most T14s outside HYS. A 3.7 is right around median and 168 is below median. OP isn't a splitter.

Cornell is in play, GULC maybe. Duke, UVA, et al. are out

Based on what I saw from last year's cycle and assuming the amount of LSAT takers continues to decrease or stays constant, you probably have a very good chance at Cornell, and to a lesser extent GULC. I think you may be above both medians at Cornell but don't quote me on that