somewhatwayward wrote:Congrats on W&L and sorry about UMinn. Your LSAT is pretty low, but your WE is impressive. Expect the unexpected in your cycle. URMs frequently get rejected by a lower-ranked school and accepted by a higher-ranked school. They look more to softs for URMs, I think. I was just looking at W&L's LSN graph and saw that last year they accepted someone with a 142/2.13 (he didn't seem like a flame) so they must've been impressed with his softs.
While it is wonderful you got into W&L, don't get too far ahead of yourself. There are still many more decisions and, much more importantly, financial aid packages to come. Getting too attached to one school this early is probably not a good idea because you want an objective head once you have all the financial aid packages in front of you.
IMVHUO (in my very humble and unsolicited opinion), I think it might be better to wait it out and retake the LSAT if you don't get significant $$$ from some of these T30s or get into NW/Mich. You have a decent GPA and WE and a few points could yield you a lot more. But as they say....more will be revealed. And congrats again!
ETA: I also really commend you for being willing to put the time and effort in to taking the LSAT 3x. It seems like you are really committed to doing this "right."
Thanks for this.
Re: LSAT. I only wish I knew that oct was my last retake. For some godly reason I thought the rule was 3 exams in one year so I counted on taking the dec exam if I bomb oct (since my first LSAT was dec11). If I knew its 3 in two years I would have waited and taken the dec LSAT. But... It is what it is.
Re: getting attached to W&L I think you are right. I was so happy to see an acceptance and I'm sure excitement will shape into place as the cycle continues. I am considering them but then again if I get into NW or Mich it's game over (pretty much). Mich is a huge huge reach for me and NW, only since I'm applying to the AJD prog, feels better but still I won't be surprised if I get rejected.
Re: waiting a year. It's prob not going to happen. I really don't know how high I can go with the LSAT and I am not ready at this point to wait and retake in dec, partly because I could not apply until jan '14. Also, I'm already feeling like this year is a waste. I can't get a 'real' job and I find myself counting the days until Im back in school. That's why if NW or Mich happens (both summer start) it's incredible just from a timing perspective.
I am by far not a traditional applicant, for good and bad, and I believe I fall into the "oh, that's an interesting app!" kind. That said, I have conviction in what I bring to the table. All I need is someone out there taking a chance on me.
