My son has a 3.8 at UT undergrad (philosophy/ liberal arts honors), 171 LSAT and a great LOR from a current prof who is a former dean and provost at UT, and another LOR from a UT prof. His first choice is UT law. Being a UT grad lacking in any kind of diversity, he realizes he may be denied admission to UT law. So, he is thinking of applying binding early decision. Because UT is so much more affordable, even if he were to receive a scholarship from a similarly ranked or higher ranked law school, UT would still be cheaper. However, in looking at lawschoolnumbers, it seems that some students with his scores are receiving scholarships. I wonder if he is possibly leaving money on the table by applying binding early decision. Any thoughts on the binding early decision process/ merit money at UT for a student with these numbers?
ED is a bad idea. There are only a single-digit number of law schools that actually care for diversity of any type, and they are all T14s, which UT-Austin is not.
There are those T14s he should apply to as well and he’ll get at least one or two offers from schools in the 7-14 range. But do your son want to practice law in Texas?
ED is an awful idea. DON’T DO IT. Since ED binding, UT has zero reason to offer him any merit money.
With those numbers, he will easily get into UT and many other schools with big merit money. (unless he is a felon)
Use other school’s offers to ‘negotiate’ with UT, as in, "I really love Austin, but xx Law School is offering me xx, what can you do?
fwiw: UT is a fine regional school, but its degree doesn’t travel very well. If he wants to permanently reside in Texas, UT is a great option…
Thanks for the feedback. He really does want to practice in Texas.
If he really does want to practice in Texas, he should go to Duke or Harvard. Binding early decision is a very bad move, since with a 3.8/171 he’ll get in most anywhere, although perhaps waitlisted at Stanford or the like, and he shouldn’t give up hope of getting off any waitlist until classes actually start.