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Hey guys.

I am finishing up my undergraduate degree and can potentially add a minor to bring my GPA up to a 3.72 for one more semester's worth of work. However, can you guys chance me with my current stats?

3.68 GPA/175 LSAT
Non-URM female
First generation college student
Decent softs - moved abroad at 19 and started a successful consulting firm in Italy, can spin an interesting story, etc.

I am most interested in Cornell, Columbia and NYU with a preference towards staying in NYC.

Great chances across the T14, which you should apply to if only for scholarship consideration. Getting into Harvard or getting a big scholarship at, say, Michigan could mean tens of thousands in extra money from Columbia/NYU.

Thanks!

I am debt averse so I think that's a good idea. Realistically, I have a shot? I was thinking since I am sub 3.7 I am a goner and should add the minor to boost my grades...

sleepingcat wrote:Thanks!

I am debt averse so I think that's a good idea. Realistically, I have a shot? I was thinking since I am sub 3.7 I am a goner and should add the minor to boost my grades...

Absolutely you have a shot. See below:

You may even be able to get into Yale. Starting a successful consulting firm is likely to be considered a pretty impressive soft even by YLS standards.

In any case I would absolutely recommend blanketing the T13. Don't get too fixated on any particular school (Cornell in particular - along with Berkeley - is known to be idiosyncratically snobby about GPA, though really a 3.68 is hardly "bad" even by T13 standards).

Bad news is that your GPA is terrible for a non-URM by YLS standards, and hard to see them getting excited about the softs. Feel like you'd need to be a combat veteran, former NFL player, Obama administration official or something, to get em to move past it.

But that's the only bad news. The good news is you're almost certainly getting admitted by CCN, with $$$.

I'll take it! I have no interest in YLS either way.

LBJ's Hair wrote:Bad news is that your GPA is terrible for a non-URM by YLS standards, and hard to see them getting excited about the softs. Feel like you'd need to be a combat veteran, former NFL player, Obama administration official or something, to get em to move past it.

But that's the only bad news. The good news is you're almost certainly getting admitted by CCN, with $$$.

I actually feel like a 16% chance at YLS isn't bad at all. I also think OP's successful entrepreneurial record could very well be viewed very positively. It'd depend on the reviewer and, of course, it'd depend heavily on the nature of the consulting firm - size, revenue, clientele.

FWIW, being a combat veteran is absolutely not a free ticket to YLS. And would have to have been a fairly "substantial" administration position (like, not anything entry-level) to get a real boost out of it. 0Ls who've held some policy position in D.C. are a dime a dozen at Y/S.

QContinuum wrote:

LBJ's Hair wrote:Bad news is that your GPA is terrible for a non-URM by YLS standards, and hard to see them getting excited about the softs. Feel like you'd need to be a combat veteran, former NFL player, Obama administration official or something, to get em to move past it.

But that's the only bad news. The good news is you're almost certainly getting admitted by CCN, with $$$.

I actually feel like a 16% chance at YLS isn't bad at all. I also think OP's successful entrepreneurial record could very well be viewed very positively. It'd depend on the reviewer and, of course, it'd depend heavily on the nature of the consulting firm - size, revenue, clientele.

FWIW, being a combat veteran is absolutely not a free ticket to YLS. And would have to have been a fairly "substantial" administration position (like, not anything entry-level) to get a real boost out of it. 0Ls who've held some policy position in D.C. are a dime a dozen at Y/S.

sorry I think I was unclear.

I don't think OP has a "16% chance," bad way of thinking about it. a non-URM with those numbers, absent something spectacular, is not getting in, like, period.

the people who got in with those numbers had softs that made admissions put aside the numbers, completely. my examples were meant to illustrate that, maybe they weren't fanciful enough. a generic DC aide job is obviously insufficient---I meant like, you worked directly for Rahm Emanuel and he called admissions on your behalf. that sort of thing. or you're Alex Kozinski's son. something totally ridiculous, where admissions isn't even gonna look at the GPA.

now, I'm just the peanut gallery, but am somewhat familiar with YLS culture/admissions, the sort of things the school values. I think moving to Italy and starting a "consulting firm" is very cool and demonstrates leadership and entrepreneurship and would make for a very good MBA story, and HCCN, which has much larger classes and is an order of magnitude less selective, would think that's pretty cool.

my sense YLS absolutely does not give a shit about that sort of thing, whatsoever. it views itself as a finishing school for academics and politicians, first and foremost, and there are plenty of straight white guys/gals who worked at Goldman Sachs with 3.95/174/Harvard undergrad to fill out the "business" bucket

LBJ's Hair wrote:

QContinuum wrote:I actually feel like a 16% chance at YLS isn't bad at all. I also think OP's successful entrepreneurial record could very well be viewed very positively. It'd depend on the reviewer and, of course, it'd depend heavily on the nature of the consulting firm - size, revenue, clientele.

FWIW, being a combat veteran is absolutely not a free ticket to YLS. And would have to have been a fairly "substantial" administration position (like, not anything entry-level) to get a real boost out of it. 0Ls who've held some policy position in D.C. are a dime a dozen at Y/S.

I don't think it's a "16% chance," that's my point. if you're a non-URM with those numbers, absent something spectacular you've got a 0% chance. like your GPA is several standard deviations off what they're looking for.

you need a soft that makes admissions put aside the numbers, completely. my examples were meant to illustrate that, maybe they weren't fanciful enough. a generic DC aide job is obviously insufficient---I meant like, you worked directly for Rahm Emanuel and he called admissions on your behalf. that sort of thing.

The MyLSN data in my post above was limited to non-URMs. Obviously the 16% who got in with those numbers had something special - it's not a matter of random chance. IMO being a successful entrepreneur - again, depending on the level of success of the business in question - could well qualify. I don't think it needs to be Rahm-as-recommender special, because if that's what it took, it wouldn't be 16%, it'd be <1%.

QContinuum wrote:

LBJ's Hair wrote:

QContinuum wrote:I actually feel like a 16% chance at YLS isn't bad at all. I also think OP's successful entrepreneurial record could very well be viewed very positively. It'd depend on the reviewer and, of course, it'd depend heavily on the nature of the consulting firm - size, revenue, clientele.

FWIW, being a combat veteran is absolutely not a free ticket to YLS. And would have to have been a fairly "substantial" administration position (like, not anything entry-level) to get a real boost out of it. 0Ls who've held some policy position in D.C. are a dime a dozen at Y/S.

I don't think it's a "16% chance," that's my point. if you're a non-URM with those numbers, absent something spectacular you've got a 0% chance. like your GPA is several standard deviations off what they're looking for.

you need a soft that makes admissions put aside the numbers, completely. my examples were meant to illustrate that, maybe they weren't fanciful enough. a generic DC aide job is obviously insufficient---I meant like, you worked directly for Rahm Emanuel and he called admissions on your behalf. that sort of thing.

The MyLSN data in my post above was limited to non-URMs. Obviously the 16% who got in with those numbers had something special - it's not a matter of random chance. IMO being a successful entrepreneur - again, depending on the level of success of the business in question - could well qualify. I don't think it needs to be Rahm-as-recommender special, because if that's what it took, it wouldn't be 16%, it'd be <1%.

think we just disagree about (1) the relative presence of people with Rahm-esque connections at YLS, (2) and how founding a consulting co will be viewed by YLS adcomm. which is totally fine, I'm just the peanut gallery

Just to clarify a little bit:

I employ 7 people (all foreign nationals) and work in a very, very niche field so it's not something that is immediately impressive (i.e. I'm not consulting for people who build space rockets, lol) but it's an industry that people go "Oh, that's interesting!" about for sure.

We've helped hundreds of clients since I was in high school, even before I formed the company. Without getting into too much specifics, it's a legal- and government-adjacent industry.