Where would you apply?

<p>Just got LSATs back. Got a 173 = 99.3 percentile. Cumulative average is 3.57 at a top public U. My preference for characteristics at my desired law school, in order are: high ranking for the school, civility between students and between students and profs, good quality of life, and attractive environment. Where would you apply under those circumstances and expect a 50/50 or better chance of admission? Put another way, what top rated law schools do you think I can likely get into that best meet those tests?</p>

<p>50/50 or better is a tough one. Absent that, where do you want to be geographically? What qualifies as an attractive environment? Any preferences on law journals or clinic opportunities? Political environment? </p>

<p>I can't definitely say where you would have 50/50 or better chance of getting in; you can use the lsac.org admissions calculator for some of that. Individual schools will also have LSAT/GPA/admissions result grids.</p>

<p>More info needed! If you include how many schools you want to apply to, max, I can give you a list (although my knowledge is heavily slanted to the East Coast). </p>

<p>A handful of really good schools will probably give you fee waivers - use those.</p>

<p>Applying nationwide is OK; Boston to UVA along East Coast is probably ideal, but Michigan and CA, for example, would be a great chanace to experience a different part of the country.
I see applying to maybe 2 reaches, 4-6 likelys, and maybe 2 fallbacks - if don't get in early/rolling to a likely.
By "attractive environment" I mean attractive physically - either urban or rural. For example, Stanford and UVA and Yale and Michigan all strike me as attractive environments from what I know of them.<br>
Political climate is not a big issue, although far left or right not desirable.
I have run the grids and have seen what they tell me about my chances. I am interested now in seeing what those of you who know the individual schools better than I might have to say about how the schools that I am - numerically - a decent candidate for fit in with my priorites. For example, I don't know if Penn is in an attractive environment or if it is competitive as opposed to a place where civility is more important. Or a lot of people might think that the Georgetown U. campus is very attractive and located in a great part of Washington but not realize that the law school is not on the main campus.</p>

<p>I know a guy that got into Stanford with a 167 and around a 3.6, but your great LSAT score will probably offset your GPA. Stanford is in the top five on USNWR's ranking and is supposed to have a beautiful campus and nice weather-- might as well give it a shot.</p>

<p>Might want to try UVA or Georgetown, too. I read on their respective law school websites that the average LSAT score for their incoming 1L's was in the mid to high 160's. </p>

<p>Congratulations, and good luck.</p>

<p>If I were you...</p>

<p>In no particular order of ease of getting in:</p>

<p>*Columbia, NW because they'll send you fee waivers. NW doesn't fit your geographic criteria but meets all others, incl. very friendly student body.
*Penn. Supposed to have friendly student body; don't know about location.
*Stanford as a wonderful reach. I wouldn't apply anywhere below the T14 outside of where you want to live when you graduate.
*UVA, Washington & Lee, William & Mary. Beautiful locations, wonderful student bodies, interactive profs, geographically there, and W&L/W&M are on the match/safety list.
*NYU is supposed to have a very friendly student body. Very urban, and you can't beat the location in NYC.<br>
*American as an uber-safety. Fits requirements, will probably let you in very early, and will probably give you money. Wonderful faculty and student body. DC location is excellent, beautiful, modern building. Or Brooklyn as another uber-safety that would probably give you merit to go there. Pick one of the two.
*Pick two to three of: BC, Fordham, GW, George Mason, W&M, W&L (last two listed w/ UVA for geography purposes).</p>

<p>Pare down at will, but that should be good for you.</p>

<p>Location:
Penn is an urban campus within Philadelphia. Nice campus, some streets go through it, a few are blocked off. Surrounding neighborhoods can quickly become risky as you go away from the main campus.
Stanford's campus is spread out and stunning. Occuies large part of western Palo Alto, which is a very nice city between San Francisco and San jose
NYU has no campus; location is Greenwich Village.</p>