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DISCLAIMER: Used up all 3 LSAT takes, so retaking is not an option. I devoted valuable time to the test so Im looking for advice on what kind of decision to make.

Lsat: 165
GPA: 3.93
3+ years W/E (nothing spectacular)
Average softs

So I live in the Philadelphia area and have always had dream of going to penn. I really really want penn, but not sure if I can justify Penn at sticker. Penn has ED round 2 ending tuesday, and stats show that penn ED has been favorable to high gpa applicants with low lsats. I have a significant other, so Im not looking to go to school really that far. Basically wanna stay in the Philly/NJ area.
Should I ED Penn? Or should I play it out and apply RD? Other viable options for me would be Rutgers-C (probably full ride) and temple (theyre stingy with money)
Any advice would be appreciated.

goldenboy514 wrote:DISCLAIMER: Used up all 3 LSAT takes, so retaking is not an option. I devoted valuable time to the test so Im looking for advice on what kind of decision to make.

Lsat: 165
GPA: 3.93
3+ years W/E (nothing spectacular)
Average softs

So I live in the Philadelphia area and have always had dream of going to penn. I really really want penn, but not sure if I can justify Penn at sticker. Penn has ED round 2 ending tuesday, and stats show that penn ED has been favorable to high gpa applicants with low lsats. I have a significant other, so Im not looking to go to school really that far. Basically wanna stay in the Philly/NJ area.
Should I ED Penn? Or should I play it out and apply RD? Other viable options for me would be Rutgers-C (probably full ride) and temple (theyre stingy with money)
Any advice would be appreciated.

If you want biglaw, then sticker at Penn isn't terrible. Their placement is good. That said, you'd have a shot with RD, probably WL then a possible admit with good LOCI.

You're best shot with a LSAT below 170 for Penn would be to ED I think.

Make sure in your personal statement that Penn knows that they're your first choice.

Would you consider Columbia? Not to far from Philly.Anyone think the OP has a shot at Columbia ED?


OP if I had your awesome GPA with a 165, I would blanket the T-14 minus YH maybe S.

California schools are GPA whores, so maybe Stanford will bite. They've traditionally taken lower LSATs with high GPAs. So if you'd like to go to a top 3, that wouldn't be a bad idea either.

withoutapaddle wrote:You're best shot with a LSAT below 170 for Penn would be to ED I think.

Make sure in your personal statement that Penn knows that they're your first choice.

Would you consider Columbia? Not to far from Philly.Anyone think the OP has a shot at Columbia ED?


OP if I had your awesome GPA with a 165, I would blanket the T-14 minus YH maybe S.

California schools are GPA whores, so maybe Stanford will bite. They've traditionally taken lower LSATs with high GPAs. So if you'd like to go to a top 3, that wouldn't be a bad idea either.

I have a S/O here so id prolly rather stay in this market. And id take Penn over most schools, just not sure if cost of Penn at sticker is better then say rutgers at full ride. Im lookin to stay in this market

I don't know what Penn will do, but I got a full scholarship from Temple with numbers very similar to yours (same lsat, .1 difference in gpa) but it wasn't until mid-July. This was after repeated attempts to get them to come up from their initial 10k a year (I'm a PA resident so that wasn't bad, but not good enough). I think Temple for free is a pretty good option if you are cool with staying in Phily and are not dead-set on working at a big firm. I wouldn't be surprised if Temple is a little more generous a little earlier this year, but who knows.

jchiles wrote:I don't know what Penn will do, but I got a full scholarship from Temple with numbers very similar to yours (same lsat, .1 difference in gpa) but it wasn't until mid-July. This was after repeated attempts to get them to come up from their initial 10k a year (I'm a PA resident so that wasn't bad, but not good enough). I think Temple for free is a pretty good option if you are cool with staying in Phily and are not dead-set on working at a big firm. I wouldn't be surprised if Temple is a little more generous a little earlier this year, but who knows.

I agree, and think you made a great decision. I would probably favor Temple with full ride since I want to work in area and think Penn isnt necessary for philly work. That being said, I am a NJ resident so I would have to get a huge offer from Temple to get a full ride and I just dont see that happening. Temple is stingy and out of state full ride would be alot of money to dish out

arklaw13 wrote:
If you want biglaw, then sticker at Penn isn't terrible. Their placement is good. That said, you'd have a shot with RD, probably WL then a possible admit with good LOCI.

This. Of the most recent graduating class that the ABA has data on, 77% of Penn grads got jobs in BigLaw or fed clerkships. That's in league with HYS. Sticker shouldn't be a deal-breaker.

Also, while I've never lived there, I've heard that getting around the Northeast Corridor is fairly quick and inexpensive thanks to the train network. Couldn't you look at schools in the DC or NYC markets and you & your significant other can just train to each other rather regularly?