Chances at $$ in T14? Forum

[SecretWizard]

So basically title, i'm aiming at t14 with a 169 lsat and a 3.86 gpa.
The schools i'm looking at right now are Cornell, Northwestern, Michigan, Berkeley and NYU. What are my odds like of getting in and getting money. Should I apply to Georgetown and lower ranked schools to try and negotiate for scholarships?

[The Lsat Airbender]

Definitely add Duke and Georgetown to your list at the very least; Columbia/Penn/UVA are also worthwhile. Nothing is guaranteed but your numbers are definitely scholarship-worthy for a lot of the T14.

[SecretWizard]

Thanks! Do you think it would be worth applying outside the T14 to try and get higher scholarship offers to negotiate with?

[sadgrl]

Thanks! Do you think it would be worth applying outside the T14 to try and get higher scholarship offers to negotiate with?

I would apply if you're actually thinking about attending. Not worth applying just for numbers to negotiate with unless you're willing to throw away money on extra applications...I had pretty similar stats and applied to pretty much every T14 plus my home state (UT, which was T15 at the time I applied) and city law schools since I wanted to save on that tuition $$$. I found lower T14s offered more scholarship money (for me, I think Duke and Michigan offered the most) and were more open to negotiating but I think ultimately it's hard to negotiate unless you're offered scholarship money from other T14s. Schools know their ranking and will generally only match offers from similarly ranked schools. I didn't apply to UC but from my friend's experience, neither UCLA nor Berkeley were willing to negotiate and were quite rude too. (But of course, never hurts to try!)

[SecretWizard]

Thanks! Do you think it would be worth applying outside the T14 to try and get higher scholarship offers to negotiate with?

I would apply if you're actually thinking about attending. Not worth applying just for numbers to negotiate with unless you're willing to throw away money on extra applications...I had pretty similar stats and applied to pretty much every T14 plus my home state (UT, which was T15 at the time I applied) and city law schools since I wanted to save on that tuition $$$. I found lower T14s offered more scholarship money (for me, I think Duke and Michigan offered the most) and were more open to negotiating but I think ultimately it's hard to negotiate unless you're offered scholarship money from other T14s. Schools know their ranking and will generally only match offers from similarly ranked schools. I didn't apply to UC but from my friend's experience, neither UCLA nor Berkeley were willing to negotiate and were quite rude too. (But of course, never hurts to try!)

Thanks for the advice! I'm mostly trying to work in the New England or DC so that's been influencing my decisions. Do you mind saying where you ended up going?

[Sackboy]

Thanks! Do you think it would be worth applying outside the T14 to try and get higher scholarship offers to negotiate with?

When I applied with essentially identical stats, I was getting 1/2 scholarships from the lower T14 (e.g. Michigan, Duke, Northwestern). None of them were interested in negotiating with offers from schools outside of the T14, and I believe that holds true today. I'd only apply to a school below the T14 with your stats if you're extremely debt adverse, the school has very good ties to the market you want to land in, and you don't mind significantly increasing your chances of missing out on biglaw.

[sadgrl]

Thanks! Do you think it would be worth applying outside the T14 to try and get higher scholarship offers to negotiate with?

I would apply if you're actually thinking about attending. Not worth applying just for numbers to negotiate with unless you're willing to throw away money on extra applications...I had pretty similar stats and applied to pretty much every T14 plus my home state (UT, which was T15 at the time I applied) and city law schools since I wanted to save on that tuition $$$. I found lower T14s offered more scholarship money (for me, I think Duke and Michigan offered the most) and were more open to negotiating but I think ultimately it's hard to negotiate unless you're offered scholarship money from other T14s. Schools know their ranking and will generally only match offers from similarly ranked schools. I didn't apply to UC but from my friend's experience, neither UCLA nor Berkeley were willing to negotiate and were quite rude too. (But of course, never hurts to try!)

Thanks for the advice! I'm mostly trying to work in the New England or DC so that's been influencing my decisions. Do you mind saying where you ended up going?

I ended up going to Duke (was offered a scholarship worth a bit more than 1 year's tuition) ultimately because I wanted to start in New York. (Currently NYC biglaw.) I think if you're looking for New York or DC, there's no need to limit just to T14s in those geographic areas since everyone knows the markets in NYC/DC are the biggest and it's easy to spin a move (ex. "Interested in the larger market/main office, most cutting edge legal work done there, etc") during an interview. Everyone I know in law school who wanted NYC/DC ended up exactly where they wanted, and I'm sure that's true at pretty much any T14. It's harder to spin if you want to move to a smaller New England market though like Boston for example - in which case, it might be worth looking at more local schools if you don't already have clear ties.

Also agree with everything Sackboy said re: hard to negotiate with T14s unless you have scholarship offers from other T14s. I had pretty much the same experience. I tried to negotiate by showing that other schools, although offering less money, would still be a much lower COA (ultimately unsuccessful but of course, always worth trying to negotiate anyways).