Hope you are all doing well. I have decided to apply to law school and was wondering which schools I would be competitive for. My stats are as follows:
GPA: 3.56 Program of study: Pharmacology & Political Science w/ a minor in chem LSAT: 175 EC: captain & president of undergraduate moot, lab assistant for two years, mock trial captain, children’s aid volunteer, coding tutor
Which schools would I be a competitive applicant for as a splitter? i am also a URM
As an URM with a 175 LSAT score, you are a very strong candidate for admission to all law schools including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Columbia, Chicago, NYU, Penn, Northwestern, Duke, Virginia, Georgetown, UCal-Berkeley, Michigan, & Cornell = the Top 14 law schools.
Chicago, Columbia, NYU, Northwestern offer merit scholarships as do the others EXCEPT Harvard, Yale, & Stanford–which offer only need based financial aid.
Northwestern Law School awards a substantial merit scholarship to all accepted ED applicants.
P.S. Being a splitter with URM status and a 175 LSAT score should not be a concern as a 3.56 GPA will not be a barrier to gaining admission to any law school. Not saying that you will be admitted to Yale & Stanford, just that your application will be given very serious consideration due to your URM status & superb LSAT score.
Agree 100% with @Publisher. A 175 URM with a 3.56 is likely to have lots of choices among the T14s. Harvard may be the most likely admit among the T3.
Are you thinking about submitting applications now, to start in the fall of 2021? If so, it may be worth delaying for a year because admissions get tougher the later in the application cycle you are, and Feb-March is considered “late.” However, it’s possible that the 175/URM status would mitigate the impact of an application now, to start in the fall of 2021. But, if at the end of this cycle, you were not satisfied with your acceptances for fall 2021, re-applying for fall 2022 could make good sense.
Another consideration – if you are applying now, for the fall, it sounds like you may be “KJD” – that is, straight from undergrad to law school. If so, it may be useful to think about ways to talk about “work-like” experience, and to talk with your recommenders about ways to weave in work-related experience – leadership, team work, accountability – into their letters, and not just talk about you as an undergrad student.
If you can ignore the craziness, reddit on law school admissions has some useful information, including links to admissions predictors which will take into account URM status, merit aid predictors, and other tips about the application process. It can be a black hole, similar to CC, where desperate applicants are reading the tea leaves about the significance in changes in their admissions portals etc. so it takes discipline to ignore the craziness.
given that it is pretty late in the app cycle, start contacting profs for recs for the fall app. Late summer, you can e-mail every school that you are interested in, exclude those that you absolutely would not attend, tell them your stats and request app fee waivers. I’m guessing nearly everyone will respond positively.
Apply broadly, starting with the T14 and your state flagship (if in a state that is not a T14). For example, Texas-Austin on a full ride for someone who wants to live and practice in Texas can be a really good deal.
Agree with the others, you will be competitive at every top law school, and will receive big merit money from many.
I think you will get into nearly all of the T14 schools when you apply in the fall. ( Maybe not Yale.) Here’s why:
My daughter (Caucasian) scored 175 on the LSAT, has a 3.9 GPA, a strong internship and extracurriculars. She has been accepted to three T-14 schools, including Chicago and Columbia.
You will be much more competitive than my daughter because you are an URM.
Plus, you have a great, unusual major for a law student. Your GPA is good, for a difficult science major.