Top Law Schools

Hi guys, I appreciate any and all feedback
I'm interested in the schools taking the GRE (Harvard/Columbia/NYU in particular)--I studied for the GRE, and I'm not willing to change to the LSAT this late in the game (set on applying for admissions for next fall).

Graduated from an Ivy League school, degree in philosophy (3.86 culm GPA). Took the GRE once last year (168V/165Q/4.5w), and had a really long break from studying-- getting back into it recently, and practice tests have an upward trend. I'm not sure as to how to weigh the relative merits of applying earlier in the cycle versus an improved score, especially with the lack of GRE medians out there.

Another thing to consider--cautiously optimistic that I can max out both quant/verbal scores, but not at all confident as to if I can get the essay score there... and not sure how to evaluate that..

Nothing really to report home about on the softs front-- working for two different tutoring agencies, and volunteering for a reputable pro bono legal service. Would seriously appreciate any and all feedback, thank you all~

One other thing I wanted to note;

I don't have any LSAT scores, but i DO have an absence on my LSAT record. I made the decision not to take the LSAT last minute, and didn't have the chance to cancel the test before hand. So, again, I have no scores on my LSAC, except one absence. As law schools have to report all LSAT scores of their candidates, am I barking up the wrong tree trying to apply with a GRE? Will this absence bite me in the butt, or am I overthinking this?

GRE-only applicants are still a bit of a black box for admissions. However, I think Berkeley's recent move actually sheds a little light on it. They indicated that they're only really considering GRE applicants who have a specialized background (e.g. science) and probably other graduate degrees. Although that isn't the public policy of any other schools accepting the GRE, I'd hazard a guess that those schools have a similar approach.

The main thing is that not every T13 accepts the GRE. So you're cutting off options by being stubborn about this.

daveum wrote:One other thing I wanted to note;

I don't have any LSAT scores, but i DO have an absence on my LSAT record. I made the decision not to take the LSAT last minute, and didn't have the chance to cancel the test before hand. So, again, I have no scores on my LSAC, except one absence. As law schools have to report all LSAT scores of their candidates, am I barking up the wrong tree trying to apply with a GRE? Will this absence bite me in the butt, or am I overthinking this?

A single absence is pretty much a non-factor. I agree with cav, though, that as a typical applicant you should put together a typical application package. Getting one or more of Harvard/Columbia/NYU is pretty reliable with your GPA and the right LSAT.

daveum wrote:Another thing to consider--cautiously optimistic that I can max out both quant/verbal scores, but not at all confident as to if I can get the essay score there... and not sure how to evaluate that..

Just my 2 cents specifically on GRE vs. LSAT as I've taken both. 165Q tells me there are some concepts covered in Q that you don't have locked down. Maybe you can max it out, but 1 missed question is a 169 and the answer formats make it easy to make silly errors. And a 170 is still not going to blow your target schools away as it's 97th percentile.

You have a 98th percentile verbal score, 89th percentile quantitative score, and 82nd percentile writing. Verbal sections have a ton of overlap with the LSAT. The other GRE sections don't. You're better suited for the LSAT.