Top Law Schools

been out of school for a few years now.
#s are : 3.3/ 171

softs :
- served in the army for a few years
- worked in finance a few years
- took some law school electives and got As (crosslisted finance courses).

reaching for : (not looking at schools in nyc)
- upenn
- duke
- maybe even uchicago (very doubtful)

EDIT:
non-URM. International. Not looking for scholarship.

assuming non-URM, this is about what you should expect. You might slightly outperform due to good softs, but only at schools where you'd have a chance anyway (i.e. Duke and UVA).

james.bungles wrote:
assuming non-URM, this is about what you should expect. You might slightly outperform due to good softs, but only at schools where you'd have a chance anyway (i.e. Duke and UVA).

thanks JB.

any chance duke undergrad bme will work in my favor for duke law?
how about upenn?
would you recommend ED to upenn or duke?

wait you are URM? what race because that would make a huge difference. Also what do you mean by international? Did you serve in the US army?

JB. Jeez I've been typing on my phone. I meant non-URM. Apologies.

makeitsnow wrote:JB. Jeez I've been typing on my phone. I meant non-URM. Apologies.
Served in the Korean army. Went to prep schools in the states if that helps in any way.

Lol sorry, I was very confused for a second. So yeah your results should generally reflect the LSN graph.

ED only if you are ok paying sticker, because that is typically the result of ED acceptances.

If you do want to ED just to get into the best school possible, I'd probably ED chicago early and then if that doesn't work then ED Penn for their second round (Jan 7 deadline)

HTH

I don't recommend applying ED; sticker is daunting, even at a T14. I was accepted ED and regret it; applicants with similar numbers to me have gotten in with aid, while I'll almost certainly be paying full price. The small bump isn't worth losing options and the ability to negotiate aid, IMO.

Which option would you recommend? (Again, happy to pay sticker)
- opt a : ED Penn and then ED Duke
- opt b : ed duke and then ed penn
- opt c : Ed Chicago and then ed penn

I honestly think Chicago is a reach at this point. Would appreciate any opinions to the contrary. My goal is to lock in admissions as soon as possible (hence the sticker-happy).

I'd prob just blanket from T6 down and see what sticks personally.

I think both Penn and Duke are in the cards. Duke tends to not be very splitter friendly, so Penn is very possible if you give it a hard sell, and UVA/Northwestern you should be in.

TBH Penn may be at sticker either way with a 3.3, ED or RD. How much debt are you comfortable with? To get a large scholarship you'd have to reach down to T20, but with some decent negotiation you could definitely snag a little $ at lower T14.

jbagelboy wrote:I think both Penn and Duke are in the cards. Duke tends to not be very splitter friendly, so Penn is very possible if you give it a hard sell, and UVA/Northwestern you should be in.

TBH Penn may be at sticker either way with a 3.3, ED or RD. How much debt are you comfortable with? To get a large scholarship you'd have to reach down to T20, but with some decent negotiation you could definitely snag a little $ at lower T14.

I'm completely happy to pay sticker. I don't mind dipping into debt if need be.

So would u recommend penn ed over duke ed?

What are you career goals? BME from Duke is Biomedical engineering? If you want IP take the money as it mont matter as much where you go.

Why pay sticker if you don't have too. Just apply T6 on down and see where you get in.

Penn has been quite the GPA snob this cycle. Uva less so... and i have no clue about Duke tbh.

J-e-L-L-o wrote:What are you career goals? BME from Duke is Biomedical engineering? If you want IP take the money as it mont matter as much where you go.
Why pay sticker if you don't have too. Just apply T6 on down and see where you get in.

@Jello. Yes. BME is Biomedical Eng. I'm leaning towards either corporate (finance) or IP.
Reason why I'd pay sticker is a) want to keep options opened and b) need to finalize admissions asap. Professional school tuition is the single best worthy investment.

AlwaysPlayTheFox wrote:Penn has been quite the GPA snob this cycle. Uva less so... and i have no clue about Duke tbh.

@Fox. Here's what I've gathered so far. Duke's not friendly on splitters but sort of like UGs (not "like" but have more faith in Duke UG education. they trust their UG). UVA likes veterans. Northwestern likes work experience.
Any insight on Penn? Wharton ties? I have pretty good finance-related softs I want to use if possible.

OP: I have same numbers as you and got into Chicago, NYU, Penn, and Duke this cycle. Non-URM as well. I have unique softs, but if yours are really strong, I wouldn't rule any of these out.

makeitsnow wrote:

J-e-L-L-o wrote:What are you career goals? BME from Duke is Biomedical engineering? If you want IP take the money as it mont matter as much where you go.
Why pay sticker if you don't have too. Just apply T6 on down and see where you get in.

@Jello. Yes. BME is Biomedical Eng. I'm leaning towards either corporate (finance) or IP.
Reason why I'd pay sticker is a) want to keep options opened and b) need to finalize admissions asap. Professional school tuition is the single best worthy investment.

AlwaysPlayTheFox wrote:Penn has been quite the GPA snob this cycle. Uva less so... and i have no clue about Duke tbh.

@Fox. Here's what I've gathered so far. Duke's not friendly on splitters but sort of like UGs (not "like" but have more faith in Duke UG education. they trust their UG). UVA likes veterans. Northwestern likes work experience.
Any insight on Penn? Wharton ties? I have pretty good finance-related softs I want to use if possible.

This professional school being the best investment thing is crap.

@Clearly. Clearly you're barking up the wrong tree. Let's spend our money as we see fit. hoes/school/bling etc.
I hate to be the righteous one (trust me I'm not righteous by any means). Don't take my word literally when I say it's the best investment. But I do think law school tuition (200+k with prospects) has a higher ROI than UG (200+K with no promise).

makeitsnow wrote:@Clearly. Clearly you're barking up the wrong tree. Let's spend our money as we see fit. hoes/school/bling etc.
I hate to be the righteous one (trust me I'm not righteous by any means). Don't take my word literally when I say it's the best investment. But I do think law school tuition (200+k with prospects) has a higher ROI than UG (200+K with no promise).

I went to undergrad for 5k a year... but regardless, paying more for school than you need to just because you're willing to, doesn't increase your ROI. And I say this as someone who EDed to one of the schools in question.

Clearly wrote:

makeitsnow wrote:@Clearly. Clearly you're barking up the wrong tree. Let's spend our money as we see fit. hoes/school/bling etc.
I hate to be the righteous one (trust me I'm not righteous by any means). Don't take my word literally when I say it's the best investment. But I do think law school tuition (200+k with prospects) has a higher ROI than UG (200+K with no promise).

I went to undergrad for 5k a year... but regardless, paying more for school than you need to just because you're willing to, doesn't increase your ROI. And I say this as someone who EDed to one of the schools in question.

Especially when you factor in the schools get you the same outcome. If you want big law it wont matter as much and you will make the same salary once you get there. The calculus comes into play with your grades and how far firms will go to hire you from your particular law school.

But since you like to throw money at the US education system by all means go ahead.

I want to call troll because I am grumpy and lol @ bme grad from duke taking finance classes and working in finance.

Bro your emotions are getting ahead.
Why do you think a) an engineer would only want ip, b) an engineer can't double major in finance, and c) a duke grad would be trolling here?
I stayed in Pratt (duke eng) too long before I wanted to make bank (100k usd starting).

makeitsnow wrote:Bro your emotions are getting ahead.
Why do you think a) an engineer would only want ip, b) an engineer can't double major in finance, and c) a duke grad would be trolling here?
I stayed in Pratt (duke eng) too long before I wanted to make bank (100k usd starting).

Sorry bro, just a bad day.