Diagnosing Fall 2019 Application Plans Forum

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LonelySprout

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Diagnosing Fall 2019 Application Plans

Post by LonelySprout » Fri Mar 09, 2018 2:18 pm

Hello all,

This is a re-post from the What are my Chances? forums primarily because I feel it was misplaced. Primarily, this is my current plan of action for applications for this next cycle. I'm curious if anyone has thoughts, suggestions, or whatever else. Thanks!

I've done my research, but I'd appreciate multiple perspectives on my numbers. Before I do. here's a bit about my goals. I'm a California resident and would like to stay in California in order for my fiance and I to be near our families; I need to be close to help take care of my severely disabled brother. As such, I'm not interested in schools outside of California. Furthermore, my fiance will graduate nursing school in a year and will, assuming all goes well, be a licensed nurse in California. I'm applying to schools this fall. That being said, here we go.

Numbers: 165, UGPA 3.9, Philosophy MA GPA 4.0

My schools in what I perceive to be a descending order of unlikelihood with Berkeley being the least likely:

1. Berkeley
2. UCLA
3. USC
4. Irving
5. Davis

Beyond that, I might toss apps to USD, Pepperdine, Loyola, McGeorge, and Santa Clara; however, from what I can discern, that probably isn't necessary.

I'd rather settle for as little debt as possible; so, I'm ultimately aiming for the best financial aid package possible. Even if my stats were beyond stellar, I would not mind attending a solid (but not necessarily elite) school like Irvine or Davis over a Berkeley or UCLA (if the money were right). I don't have aspirations of grandeur, and I'd like to practice locally.

I will take the LSAT again in June to try to up my LSAT to, hopefully, a 167-170. I teach undergraduate courses on top of my graduate work, so I was doing most of my prep during long grading sessions and my own final research projects. I admittedly did not do as many practice tests as I should have leading up to the February LSAT. So, I'm confident that, with more dedicated prep between now and June, I can gain a few points. For now, I'm curious what you all think about my plan of action as it stands.

Thanks in advance for your advice and insight! I appreciate it.

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