Top Law Schools

Hello all!

After having spent the summer and fall working on Canadian law school applications, it occurred to me that there's no good reason for me not to apply to American schools as well... I would love the chance to relocate to the US, and have long fantasized about living and working in California! So I've just decided today to give American schools a go... And I'm hoping for a bit (or lot!) of advice about where best to focus my application efforts.

I'll be applying as a mature student, after having spent 10 years as prof teaching + publishing social science stuff that addresses socio-legal issues in Europe; and I come from a nontraditional socioeconomic background / am first generation uni student. I know my GPA is a bit low, but (1) I've been reading that that maybe isn't such a big deal for foreigners, and (2) am hoping that coming to law from a fairly successful academic career will convince schools that I won't be too big of an academic risk...

At present, I'm keenest on UCB, Stanford, Columbia, Chicago, NYU, UCLA, USC -- what do you think about chances of acceptance and/or financial aid?

Thanks!

Is your GPA from an American/Canadian school? If so, that'll be your GPA. It is a fine GPA as well. A PhD will be a soft bump, even if it is one in the hard sciences. As for your numbers, I would head over to mylsn and input them and see what others have gotten.
I'd guess from the school options you listed
UCB- In
Stanford- Out
Columbia- No clue
Chicago- No clue
NYU- In
UCLA, USC- In
However, Idk how visas work and graduating from UCLA or USC may not be the safest option- I'll let folks from SoCal comment on that who know the market better. I think you should really only look at T14 schools, and I'd apply broadly from there and only go to ones that were cheap (depending on your goals that is- but I'd take Duke with $$$ way before CCN at sticker or with $). I'd also be wary if your goal is to end up back in Canada- no reason to pay 200k at Gtown and then go back to Toronto when you could've just gone there from the start if that was your goal.
Best of luck.