3.4/175 UChi or Northwestern Forum

[johmica]

poor GPA - 3.4
Better LSAT - 175

39 years old, graduated from undergrad in 2000, B.A.'s in Philosophy and German.
Thomas J. Watson Fellow

Want UChi, would be happy with Northwestern.

Chances? Monies?

[nebula666]

http://myLSN.info/v84x8n

You are a tossup for Chicago. In at Northwestern. You should consider NYU as well.

[Ti Malice]

http://myLSN.info/v84x8n

You are a tossup for Chicago. In at Northwestern. You should consider NYU as well.

Even as the number of applicants has declined, Chicago seems to have become much pickier about GPAs. See results for the last two cycles: http://myLSN.info/fvhldp. Granted, we're looking at a very small sample size, but their recent 25th-median-75th GPA stats confirm this.

This coincides with the availability of the Rubenstein grants, though I have no idea if this is the primary driver here. It's a little surprising to me that the grants could move the needle that much, especially with the headwind of declining high-number applicants, but I suppose it's possible with Chicago's small class size. Anyway, the limited data seems to suggest Chicago is less likely now than before for the OP.

Agreed on the rest, though.

[johmica]

Would an ED to Chicago help me at all?

[Ti Malice]

I honestly don't know what kind of boost ED applicants get at Chicago. It couldn't hurt, but I don't know if it really helps much. That would be a good question to post over on the Admissions Forum.

On the other hand, Northwestern might throw a decent amount of money at you ($60-90K). Be sure to apply throughout the non-YHS T14; you could land other scholarship offers for use in scholarship negotiations with your favored schools.

Best of luck!

[2014]

I pulled myself off LSN out of paranoia, but I had slightly worse numbers than you OP and got into UChi off the WL. ED would probably help, but it still wouldn't be a sure thing.

You would be in with money to NU though and would probably be a better social fit age wise there if that concerns you. You would be the oldest person in our class by about 5 years as far as I know. Apply to more of the T14 for scholarship negotiation purposes though.

[rebexness]

[Ti Malice]

Are you applying this cycle?

You'd probably be good for the NU ED monies with that 175.

I don't know. From LSN data, that seems pretty unlikely. Only one person under a 3.5 (a 3.47) has received the full grant from NU on LSN. Almost everyone has a 3.7+.

[Doorkeeper]

1) What do you want to do after law school?

2) Do you have to be in Chicago for personal reasons?

3) Have you done anything awesome since graduating in 2000?

You are a lock for Northwestern, so the only consideration is whether you could get the ED full-ride.

Summary: You have a small chance at Chicago (20% before WL, chance of being pulled from WL), so you might as well ED there if and only if you're not competitive for the ED full-ride from Northwestern.