Top Law Schools

Hey guys,

3.67 GPA, 163 LSAT, K-JD. White male, northeast liberal arts college.

Chances at ED to Texas? I'm between their median and 25th for both stats. I'm unaware of any discernible "bump" in admissions, but acceptance comes with in-state tuition. Seems like a decent T-14 hail mary.

This is a bit of a loaded question, but I'll try to help answer in good faith.

Your chances are at least somewhat reasonable for UT. See below for a limited gauge of your chances.



But with that in mind, is admission to a law school your goal? If you get into UT, what do you hope to do with it? Considering you don't have ties to Texas, are you hoping to practice there long term?

My goals are A) federal clerkship, B) Texas biglaw, C) any biglaw, D) DOJ Honors. I'd like to eventually have a career as a prosecutor (preferably federal). If A-D fall through then I wouldn't mind using LRAP to get an early start on being a prosecutor.

So your goals are, in ranking order for the school you want to commit to in your application:

1) Extremely unlikely to the point you couldn't reasonably expect it.
2) The most reasonable outcome you want, albeit still a coin flip. And that is made much worse if you don't have TX ties, because TX firms care about having ties to their markets.
3) Limited reach in other markets. UT can place in other markets, but that's about as likely as placing in a federal clerkship. Considering you're from the Northeast, I assume you mean NYC or something in that region. UT places a limited number of graduates in that region, but it's foolish to assume you could do that.
4) The most difficult job you want. DOJ Honors is pretty universally the most difficult position to get in the Fed, and in the top 5 of any JD-required jobs period after graduation.
5) And failing all of that, you're willing to fall back on a program that is tied to federal forgiveness of your loans so you can be a local ADA in TX?

I really don't want to cast doom and gloom on your plan, but you're considering toying with $200k debt (if you don't have other sources of tuition/life payment) for relatively modest chances of the outcomes you actually want.

Why not retake to improve your financial and professional position?

UVA is right that this plan has rather limited upside.

If you're fresh out of college and you know you want to live/work in Texas, you can just move there now and work for a couple years (minimum 12 consecutive months) to get domiciled there. Bam, now you have in-state tuition. As an added bonus, this would help you build personal and professional connections, or at least get to the point that you don't come off as a clueless outsider in interviews, to mitigate your lack of ties. Or you might realize you actually don't Texas, and you can just leave, which won't nearly as feasible halfway through law school.

icechicken wrote:UVA is right that this plan has rather limited upside.

If you're fresh out of college and you know you want to live/work in Texas, you can just move there now and work for a couple years (minimum 12 consecutive months) to get domiciled there. Bam, now you have in-state tuition. As an added bonus, this would help you build personal and professional connections, or at least get to the point that you don't come off as a clueless outsider in interviews, to mitigate your lack of ties. Or you might realize you actually don't Texas, and you can just leave, which won't nearly as feasible halfway through law school.

Where does Texas fall in your intricate ranking system?

OP, you realize that anyone can read your post history, right?

You clearly aren't committed to staying in Texas, having now started threads asking about the relative merits of UIUC, BU, and going anywhere rural. Your goals are totally incongruous with your numbers and with the schools you're targeting. Stop trying to figure out how to "beat" the system and just accept that biglaw hiring is 90% prestige-based. If that's what you want to do, suck it up and retake.

UVA2B wrote:So your goals are, in ranking order for the school you want to commit to in your application:

1) Extremely unlikely to the point you couldn't reasonably expect it.
2) The most reasonable outcome you want, albeit still a coin flip. And that is made much worse if you don't have TX ties, because TX firms care about having ties to their markets.
3) Limited reach in other markets. UT can place in other markets, but that's about as likely as placing in a federal clerkship. Considering you're from the Northeast, I assume you mean NYC or something in that region. UT places a limited number of graduates in that region, but it's foolish to assume you could do that.
4) The most difficult job you want. DOJ Honors is pretty universally the most difficult position to get in the Fed, and in the top 5 of any JD-required jobs period after graduation.
5) And failing all of that, you're willing to fall back on a program that is tied to federal forgiveness of your loans so you can be a local ADA in TX?

I really don't want to cast doom and gloom on your plan, but you're considering toying with $200k debt (if you don't have other sources of tuition/life payment) for relatively modest chances of the outcomes you actually want.

Why not retake to improve your financial and professional position?

OP shouldn't ED to UT, but it's probably easier to land NYC biglaw than TX biglaw for someone from the Northeast.

HowardHamlin wrote:

icechicken wrote:UVA is right that this plan has rather limited upside.

If you're fresh out of college and you know you want to live/work in Texas, you can just move there now and work for a couple years (minimum 12 consecutive months) to get domiciled there. Bam, now you have in-state tuition. As an added bonus, this would help you build personal and professional connections, or at least get to the point that you don't come off as a clueless outsider in interviews, to mitigate your lack of ties. Or you might realize you actually don't Texas, and you can just leave, which won't nearly as feasible halfway through law school.

Where does Texas fall in your intricate ranking system?

14.5

Retake