My Offer Acceptance Criteria Forum

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[cavalier1138]

What are your numbers? What are your career goals (including regional goals)? And will you be debt-financing everything that isn't paid through scholarship?

In general, this list is a bit absurd. You shouldn't have so many schools in the sticker category, and I'm deeply confused about how you sorted Duke, Northwestern, Berkeley, and Cornell (especially Duke).

[UVA2B]

This is all sort of ridiculous as a starting point. First off, what are your goals for this degree? Second, what's your current financial situation? Would you be expecting need-based aid if HYS comes into play? And how would you expect to pay off your loans at any of these schools?

There isn't some simplistic formula for creating bright line acceptance criteria. Too many factors in your personal decision are unique to you and your situation. This is why choosing a law school threads should always include the information requested at the top of the forum. For some, going to Harvard over Duke on a significant scholarship makes sense given their goals and financial situations. And a similar applicant with entirely different goals and finances would be making a huge mistake in taking Harvard over Duke. It really entirely depends on the individual person.

So while in theory the way you're approaching this might be valid, there is no way of knowing that without knowing what your goals are for this degree, how you expect to pay for schools, and any other relevant information about your individual situation that you think is relevant to making the decision.

Don't be blinded by some objective "HYS CCN MVP at sticker" is always okay, but somehow Duke would require a medium to small scholarship.

I like that you're applying broadly and giving yourself as many options on the table as possible, but without knowing much more, no one can say whether you're on the right track or misguided.

ETA: per usual, scooped by cav

[magnum_law]

LULZ at being willing to pay sticker at the majority of t14 but lumping Duke with Vanderbilt and expecting a scholarship. Dude, almost no where is worth sticker. But even if, Duke has like the 2nd or 3rd best employment numbers in the nation.

Michigan and Berk are great schools but certainly should not be attended at full price. Nor should CCN quite frankly - although CC are employment powerhouses, so maybe more justifiable if you come from money.

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[UVA2B]

What are your numbers? What are your career goals (including regional goals)? And will you be debt-financing everything that isn't paid through scholarship?

In general, this list is a bit absurd. You shouldn't have so many schools in the sticker category, and I'm deeply confused about how you sorted Duke, Northwestern, Berkeley, and Cornell (especially Duke).

My PT are in mid-170s (2.5 more months to go to bring that up as much as possible) and GPA 2.85. Career goals are being a lawyer in a +100-atty. firm. Regional goals are just that I prefer larger cities over small ones, coast over no coast, and non-south over south. I will be debt-financing everything outside schollies.

Are you concerned that I would go to Penn, Michigan, or VA at sticker price on loans alone? I just pushed Duke and Vandy down because I don't want to live in their cities for three years or longer, but I would. NW, Berk just are in locations I would like to spend three years or more. Cornell gets the bump because it would likely lead to a larger city outside of the south than would Duke and Vandy, even though Ithaca would be a non-desirable place to live long term based on its size and distance to the coast.

Thanks for pointing out absurdities. Keep them coming. Love you guys.

First, you'll obviously need to follow through on where you're PTing. It's all pretty moot discussion until that day.

Ok, so realistically your best outcome would be as a pretty substantial splitter if you can follow through on the LSAT, so applying broadly remains a great call on your part. You won't know where you'll get acceptances, but you can pretty safely assume you won't be getting HYS or CCN with a sub-3.0 GPA. I guess there isn't harm in applying to a place like Columbia or NYU, but it's highly unlikely you'll get them.

Your goals, while pretty elastic, really do not suggest any of these schools should be put above/below one another outside of cost. You likely won't have the luxury of making decisions based on some perception of Duke being in the south as undesirable. So if you are lucky enough to nab Duke and Michigan, and the costs are equal, you can and should be making the decision based on which school/location you like more. You're likely going to be weighing NU/UVA/Michigan at sticker vs. a place with WUSTL on a scholarship. And while that's not an ideal place to be considering you're talking about sizable loans for a pretty assured chance at your desired outcome vs. less debt for a more modest chance of achieving your goals, that might be your best realistic outcome.

Anyway, this is all an exercise in frivolity because choosing a law school should only enter your mind once you have choices of law schools. For now your only focus should be nailing the LSAT and then applying broadly. That's it.

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Thank you.

[cron1834]

One general note: Virginia, Duke, Michigan, Northwestern, Cornell, and Berkeley are all basically equivalent for generic biglaw goals. Obviously there are some regional considerations, but they're all peers, and cost should be the biggest distinguishing factor. None are good at sticker -- that's too much money (unless you have a super rich family, in which case just do whatever).

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[cron1834]

One general note: Virginia, Duke, Michigan, Northwestern, Cornell, and Berkeley are all basically equivalent for generic biglaw goals. Obviously there are some regional considerations, but they're all peers, and cost should be the biggest distinguishing factor. None are good at sticker -- that's too much money (unless you have a super rich family, in which case just do whatever).

Cost probably should be the biggest distinguishing factor between those...but San Francisco.

Then I'd definitely pay more for Berkeley, but not exorbitantly so. My personal goal was to get at least half tuition at any particular T14, b/c that should leave your total debt amount roughly equivalent to first year biglaw salary. Not everyone subscribes to this rule of thumb, however.

[carsondalywashere]

Cool pretentious thread title bro

[Yugihoe]

Anyone have anything to say about my relative, somewhat general rankings before I apply?

Sticker: HYS CCN MVP

Small scholly/sticker (depending on other acceptances): Northwestern, Berkeley, Cornell

Moderate/small scholly (depending on other acceptances): Duke, Vanderbilt CCN

Full ride/not going (depending on other acceptances): WashU MVPDNB

Approach: apply to all top 20 schools whose ABA Employment numbers for full-time legal jobs in 2016 were at least 80%.

Law school location and full-time legal employment percentages played the most role in my considerations.

FTFY

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[carsondalywashere]

Cool pretentious thread title bro

just no

It's ridiculous. You haven't even sat for the lsat yet. Shut the fuck up

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[A. Nony Mouse]

You just have to take my word that my identity and interests are tied up with going to law school more than making sound financial decisions.

Well this is a little disturbing.

[mjb447]

fuck...I have to go to something. There is nothing else I would rather do with my life at this point. You just have to take my word that my identity and interests are tied up with going to law school more than making sound financial decisions. For that reason, I think I lean more toward cron and UV's advice more than yours.

Please sort these issues out before going to law school - IME, the pressure to have your identity bound up in the wrong things and let it blind you to other considerations gets worse in law school and afterward.

[cavalier1138]

Yeah, you might want to prioritize therapy over law school. And I'd say that to a current law student who said their identity was wrapped up in school. That's not at all healthy.

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