Top Law Schools

Hello all,

3.31 GPA (significant major change caused a couple C/C+ which dragged down GPA) at a liberal arts school notorious for grade deflation

171 LSAT, single take

3 years work as legal assistant intern at a commercial real estate development company (significant legal experience)
1 year full time employment as legal assistant at NYC law firm
8 years mock trial (college + high school)

I have not applied yet. Applying next cycle. What are my chances for/should I apply to:

Stanford
Columbia
Cornell
NYU
Boston College
University of Virginia
UC Berkley
Syracuse
University at Buffalo
University of Florida (Tallahassee)

IMO, take Stanford off the list. Not worth paying for the rejection there. Boston, Syracuse, buffalo, and Florida don't belong on your list either, unless it comes free and you want live in the state. Berkeley likes their GPA > LSAT so you're the wrong kind of splitter there. ED nyu or Columbia if you really want them.

Then again, retake the LSAT and get even 1 point higher and you're beating 75th at both schools. Get 3+ points and Columbia and nyu come with $ and Cornell/UVA $$. I'd stick to applying only to the t-14 starting at CCN and down unless you've got real fixed plans to take a top regional school for serious money and want to settle down/work there.

is this school Princeton, or does that not count as a LAC? Stanford does pretty holistic reviews, if it's a school that's ACTUALLY well-known for grade deflation then I would throw an app their direction, too.

scoobers wrote:is this school Princeton, or does that not count as a LAC? Stanford does pretty holistic reviews, if it's a school that's ACTUALLY well-known for grade deflation then I would throw an app their direction, too.

Or OP could light some money on fire. Both options would be similarly productive.



I wouldn't waste the time/$ for Stanford, unless you've got money to burn. Apply CCN on down.

My money is on the LAC being Swarthmore. I would send apps to CCN down- high LSATS (170+) are rarer and rarer.

Florida is in Gainesville. Florida State is in Tallahassee.

Don't bother with Stanford.

No admissions committee cares about grade deflation they care about keeping their numbers up, a 4.0 at the worst garbage school is worth more than a 3.31 at the best schools, as long as both come with high LSAT scores.

Cellar-door wrote:Don't bother with Stanford.

No admissions committee cares about grade deflation they care about keeping their numbers up, a 4.0 at the worst garbage school is worth more than a 3.31 at the best schools, as long as both come with high LSAT scores.

The problem is that you're applying non-YS logic to S.

But I agree that Stanford won't happen.

midwest17 wrote:

Cellar-door wrote:Don't bother with Stanford.

No admissions committee cares about grade deflation they care about keeping their numbers up, a 4.0 at the worst garbage school is worth more than a 3.31 at the best schools, as long as both come with high LSAT scores.

The problem is that you're applying non-YS logic to S.

But I agree that Stanford won't happen.

They've taken 2 non-URM students below a 3.5 in the last 5 years according to LSN and both were over 175. And Neither was as low as 3.4. They have a hard GPA floor and fight hard to keep that 3.85 GPA, with the decrease in applicants a few 3.5 or so GPAs slip in to get those 175+ LSATs, but the only way they really play around with distinguishing by undergrad is among top GPAs.

FWIW, I have a higher GPA and LSAT and I felt like I was flushing 100 dollars down the toilet when I submitted my Stanford app. I'd apply everywhere else on your list and prepare for a unpredictable cycle.

sorry I'm just an optimistic person