Chances - Classics, URM

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>Hello, </p>

<p>What would my relative chances be for: </p>

<ul>
<li>Harvard (family graduated here)</li>
<li>Chicago</li>
<li>Yale </li>
<li>Duke </li>
<li>UVa</li>
<li>Columbia </li>
<li>NYU </li>
</ul>

<p>Or law schools similarly ranked? </p>

<p>Top 30 University
Classics major, English minor
GPA: 3.897
LSAT: 172
URM - Hispanic </p>

<p>ACTIVITES:
Editor-in-Chief of second largest university publication
Founder for a club, and current vice president
Active in another club </p>

<p>AWARDS:
Dean's List - all semesters
Phi Beta Kappa - expected Fall 2014
Honors program - all semesters
Full merit academic scholarship for high school performance; highly selective </p>

<p>ESSAYS:
Probably excellent (writing is one of my strengths). </p>

<p>RECOMMENDATIONS:
Excellent. Very close with several professors. </p>

<p>Thank you for reading this profile and giving your opinion!</p>

2

<p>I’d expect you to have a strong chance of getting in everywhere.</p>

3

<p>Harvard: Match
U Chicago: Match
Yale: High match
Columbia: Match
NYU: Low match/Match
Duke: Low match/Match</p>

<p>Maybe Berkeley as a safety…</p>

4

<p>All but Yale are a safety. (You’d have to screw up not to get in to most.)</p>

<p>Note, however, that Duke and UVa will readily acknowledge that your chances at HLS are extremely high. Thus, they will expect a Why-Their-School essay; otherwise, you could be WL’ed for yield protection.</p>

<p>fwiw: Cal and Chicago much prefer early applicants.</p>

5

<p>UVA: Low match</p>

6

<p>“Note, however, that Duke and UVa will readily acknowledge that your chances at HLS are extremely high. Thus, they will expect a Why-Their-School essay; otherwise, you could be WL’ed for yield protection.”</p>

<p>That’s definitely true. When I was applying to law schools (almost 20 years ago), the only interview that I had was with UVA. The interviewer talked about my interests and told me that I should consider Columbia. I got into Columbia, HLS, Penn, etc., but was waitlisted at UVA. I don’t recall if I ended up being rejected from UVA or not, even though it didn’t matter since I went to HLS. </p>

<p>I got a pretty generous scholarship from Duke, and Duke was very aggressive about recruiting. I was surprised since I always considered Duke a very, very, very prestigious school that should have people beating down the door to go there.</p>

<p>To the original poster: yes, you are an URM, but if your family graduated from Harvard (as I did), you’re not disadvantaged, and it could rub people the wrong way to play that card. You’re capable of getting into all of those schools on your own merits, regardless of URM status. Maybe mention your URM status by checking a box on an application or the like, but don’t make a big deal about it.</p>

7

<p>Thanks for the tip about the lower-ranked law schools, I didn’t know that! Very interesting.</p>