So it’s basically straight GPA and LSAT?
Does anyone know the criteria for how money/scholarship is awarded?
For the top 3, it’s need based aid only.
I know for Harvard at least, the need based aid isn’t nearly as generous as for undergrad studies. When my ds was applying, the minimum amount a student would have to pay was about $50K/year.
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Law school admissions is determined primarily by an applicant’s LSAT score, undergraduate GPA, URM status, and personal statement.
Other factors may be given consideration.
But, the most significant factors are an applicant’s LSAT score, undergraduate GPA, and URM status for law school admission decisions. One’s personal statement is also given consideration.
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Not just Harvard and Yale. I know a federal court judge who had two children who both attended UVa law school after each of them worked for 3 years post-baccalaureate; the judge told me that more elite law schools are looking for students who have “real life” experience before going to law school (a good thing, IMO).
The OP’s daughter also needs to apply to her state’s flagship public law school, and some other safety schools. And the OP needs to understand that people can have extremely successful and satisfying careers in the law without coming within spitting distance of a T3, or T20, or T50, law school. The obsessive focus on getting into a “top” law school is another variant of the unhealthy idea that getting into an Ivy League (or some other “prestigious”) school for an undergraduate degree is the only way to guarantee success in life.
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Merit is given to attract the students with the LSAT and gpa the school needs to maintain or improve its ranking. There are online sources which show admissions and merit for law schools, such as the “law school numbers” and “law school data” sites. Each law school’s ABA 509 report also shows the 25/50/75 median for admitted students’ LSAT and gpa. Merit and admissions are usually fairly predictable in law school admissions because it is all about the LSAT and gpa. While I don’t encourage students to go down the rabbit hole of reddit’s law school admissions, there is a wealth of information there, including links to a number of sources with lots of admissions and merit data.
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The OP’s daughter also needs to apply to her state’s flagship public law school, and some other safety schools. And the OP needs to understand that people can have extremely successful and satisfying careers in the law without coming within spitting distance of a T3, or T20, or T50, law school. The obsessive focus on getting into a “top” law school is another variant of the unhealthy idea that getting into an Ivy League (or some other “prestigious”) school for an undergraduate degree is the only way to guarantee success in life.
For someone pursuing a CS degree, I would say it is not going to be that different going to a T10 school or other schools. For for law and business schools, I am not sure if we can say that. There is clear correlation with employment rate between top law schools (T14) and the rest. IMHO, it is not worth spending $300,00 to go to any law school. I am sure there are always counter examples
As with everything, the devil is in the details. It depends on where you want to live and what kind of legal career you want to have; not every law student wants to clerk after law school, or live in a large urban area grinding out 60-80 billable hours a week. The “clear correlation of employment rate with T14 law schools” may be applicable to those who want to practice Big Law; but that isn’t every law student by any means. Personally, I graduated from my state’s public flagship law school – certainly not a T14 law school – and had no trouble finding a job or having a satisfying and successful career practicing law for the past 30 years; I also had no desire to clerk after law school, or live in a large metropolitan area.
I agree with you completely that it is not worth spending $300K to go to any law school.
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A young friend applied to several T-14 schools, her state schools, and a few others. She was accepted to quite a few but chose one just outside the top 14 that gave her a big merit award. It worked out very well for her as she was a leader in her school, on law review (she is a gifted writer), got a federal clerkship and now works for a top law firm and DC.
She did go k-JD because that’s what she wanted. If she’d wanted to go to Harvard or Yale, she may have had to come up with a different plan, and she wouldn’t have qualified for need based aid. She was very happy with her route.
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