3.84/174 ED NU for scholarship or not? Forum

[lifeofpipi]

Hi everyone. I'm applying this upcoming cycle with a 3.84 CAS GPA and 174 (June score, just came out). nURM. I was considering ED'ing Northwestern because of their 120k ED scholarship, which for international students like me seems hard to get at any other T13 during RD admissions (correct me if I'm wrong). I have 1 year of WE (banking) and am doing a masters degree rn. Undergrad was an Ivy League school if that matters. My goal is T13 w/ as much scholarship as possible, and career goal is NYC big law.

My questions are, 1) given my background and goals, should I do ED for Northwestern? Or do RD only and hope to get a scholarship that's bigger than 120k (is that possible)? and 2) If I do ED NU, am I likely to get in? I assume NU's ED is more competitive than its RD given the 120k scholarship.

btw ED or not, my plan is to blanket the T13 (except maybe UChicago and UVA, which seem to disfavor int'l students)

Any advice is welcome. Thank you all in advance.

[TTTTorbust]

I cannot speak to how your status as an international student affects your chances for certain, but I would suspect that any such bias is probably against those who attended undergraduate programs outside of the US, which does not apply to you. You went to an Ivy, and you did well. That's all that matters. Hopefully others can confirm or refute this. As to EDing NU, I absolutely, unequivocally advise you not to. You should only ED if NU is your top choice. Barring something terrible in your background that you have not made us privy to, you should expect solid offers throughout the T-14. You are exactly the sort of student NU wants to ED, which is to say they want to lock solid candidates who are competitive at higher ranked schools into attending. If you want NY Big Law anyway, what is the benefit of locking yourself into NU when there are higher ranked schools in NYC? You're pretty much a lock for solid money at NYU with your numbers, and you're competitive for Columbia too.

tl;dr You should RD everywhere in the T-14 from Harvard down and pick from your spoils. Only apply ED at NU if it is far and away your top choice, and with your stated goals, I don't know why it would be.

[lifeofpipi]

I cannot speak to how your status as an international student affects your chances for certain, but I would suspect that any such bias is probably against those who attended undergraduate programs outside of the US, which does not apply to you. You went to an Ivy, and you did well. That's all that matters. Hopefully others can confirm or refute this. As to EDing NU, I absolutely, unequivocally advise you not to. You should only ED if NU is your top choice. Barring something terrible in your background that you have not made us privy to, you should expect solid offers throughout the T-14. You are exactly the sort of student NU wants to ED, which is to say they want to lock solid candidates who are competitive at higher ranked schools into attending. If you want NY Big Law anyway, what is the benefit of locking yourself into NU when there are higher ranked schools in NYC? You're pretty much a lock for solid money at NYU with your numbers, and you're competitive for Columbia too.

tl;dr You should RD everywhere in the T-14 from Harvard down and pick from your spoils. Only apply ED at NU if it is far and away your top choice, and with your stated goals, I don't know why it would be.

Thanks so much for your input. I guess I'm just not confident whether I am a lock for solid money at NYU & competitive for Columbia like you said, given what happened this past cycle. I'm pretty risk averse, and I'd like to save as much as possible. I'm just not sure if I could get a scholarship as much as 120k elsewhere in the T13. Living expenses at NYU/Columbia would also be higher than in downtown Chicago...

[TTTTorbust]

Obviously nothing is a given, and the last cycle was incredibly tough. This one will be tougher than average too, but your stats put you in a solid position. If you had a 3.5 GPA and a 168 the calculus might be different, but I'd be shocked if you don't get great offers. There are a fair number of inflated LSAT scores, and I have no idea how many of those matriculated, but that would be more of a concern for someone with more middling stats than yours.

[crazywafflez]

You are a lock on a good scholly for the lower T14. I wouldn't ed unless I were set on NW. I'd prefer to compare my offers from NW, Duke, Cornell, Mich, or VA etc and see the place that gives me the best offer and negotiate from there.
You are competitive for CCN. No clue if what packages you'll get. I would even shoot your shot at HYS, as those aren't outside the realm of possibility (albeit, Y is a wildcard for anybody, always).
With your stats I wouldn't ED, but if you are nervous go ahead and do it- we can't tell you what to do and there are certainly worse things than going to NW on a good scholarship with generic NYC biglaw as the goal.
Best of luck.

[lifeofpipi]

You are a lock on a good scholly for the lower T14. I wouldn't ed unless I were set on NW. I'd prefer to compare my offers from NW, Duke, Cornell, Mich, or VA etc and see the place that gives me the best offer and negotiate from there.
You are competitive for CCN. No clue if what packages you'll get. I would even shoot your shot at HYS, as those aren't outside the realm of possibility (albeit, Y is a wildcard for anybody, always).
With your stats I wouldn't ED, but if you are nervous go ahead and do it- we can't tell you what to do and there are certainly worse things than going to NW on a good scholarship with generic NYC biglaw as the goal.
Best of luck.

that makes sense. thank you!!