@Sagacious_Saxon0424 1000% agree with you!! I wanted to add my two cents lol
I have yet to apply so i can't speak from personal experience (application cycle wise) but i know of people who go to southwestern bcs they're alums from my uni and i'm from SoCal. Definitely think about it and do tons of research. Being in LA does have the advantage of having a shot at being employed pretty much anywhere. But if you're set on a career in big law or something, look at their employment stats and talk to their counselors to see if that's the best option for you.
Since Southwestern isn't as prestigious, it is overshadowed quite a bit by the other law schools in SoCal. Again, think about what field you want to go into because it will be challenging competing for a big law job when you're going up against students in T-30 schools. If you're looking into public interest, it won't matter so much.
However, I also look at the contract for your scholarship. I can be totally wrong on this but im pretty sure Southwestern has contingencies (so do Chapman & LMU but idk how strict they are compared to SW) on their scholarships where you have to be above 50% of the class regardless of what the GPA requirement says. It leads to the classes being sooo cut throat, competitive, and toxic bcs the school basically promises all this money if they keep up with the class. It's not a very nice environment to be around while you're already stressing about learning the material.
Look at it this way, you probably weren't rejected/ waitlisted because of your merits, you probably were waitlisted because there simply wasn't enough room to accept you. The schools probably did want you but couldn't offer you a space since they already offered acceptances to students who applied earlier.
You can ask Southwestern if it's possible to accept, keep the 200k offer, defer it AND be ALLOWED to apply this next cycle. Or ask around on reddit to see if anyone has any answers before you ask the school(maybe it's a no and they're super strict on it but it's worth a shot). That way you can keep the safety net while you apply this cycle.
If your LSAC gpa really is a 3.8 like you said, I would definitively reapply for the next cycle. Do the supplemental materials on schools you really want to go to so that you show strong interest. You have a really strong chance to get into T-14s as a splitter, (an alum from my socal uni got accepted into berkeley law with a 3.9 gpa but a 156 lsat score and is now working in big law. however, bcs of her low lsat score they didn't give her a lot of financial aid. kinda also why she chose big law) even if you choose to not retake the LSAT. But if you do and your increases even a little bit higher, it'll only help you (you should still try taking it again to shows schools you stayed dedicated & wanted to improve).
It's already August, the cycle starts up again in a few weeks and you can apply super early like the beginning of October. Remember, the earlier you apply, the more money that can be allocated to you and the more opportunities you have to negotiate. It doesn't really hurt to try again because with stats like that, chances are you'll get accepted into your safeties with a lot of money AND possibly better schools with better scholarship offers that can be both merit and need based.
Best of luck to you and I hope everything works out in your favor!! <3
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@Sagacious_Saxon0424 1000% agree with you!! I wanted to add my two cents lol
I have yet to apply so i can't speak from personal experience (application cycle wise) but i know of people who go to southwestern bcs they're alums from my uni and i'm from SoCal. Definitely think about it and do tons of research. Being in LA does have the advantage of having a shot at being employed pretty much anywhere. But if you're set on a career in big law or something, look at their employment stats and talk to their counselors to see if that's the best option for you.
Since Southwestern isn't as prestigious, it is overshadowed quite a bit by the other law schools in SoCal. Again, think about what field you want to go into because it will be challenging competing for a big law job when you're going up against students in T-30 schools. If you're looking into public interest, it won't matter so much.
However, I also look at the contract for your scholarship. I can be totally wrong on this but im pretty sure Southwestern has contingencies (so do Chapman & LMU but idk how strict they are compared to SW) on their scholarships where you have to be above 50% of the class regardless of what the GPA requirement says. It leads to the classes being sooo cut throat, competitive, and toxic bcs the school basically promises all this money if they keep up with the class. It's not a very nice environment to be around while you're already stressing about learning the material.
Look at it this way, you probably weren't rejected/ waitlisted because of your merits, you probably were waitlisted because there simply wasn't enough room to accept you. The schools probably did want you but couldn't offer you a space since they already offered acceptances to students who applied earlier.
You can ask Southwestern if it's possible to accept, keep the 200k offer, defer it AND be ALLOWED to apply this next cycle. Or ask around on reddit to see if anyone has any answers before you ask the school(maybe it's a no and they're super strict on it but it's worth a shot). That way you can keep the safety net while you apply this cycle.
If your LSAC gpa really is a 3.8 like you said, I would definitively reapply for the next cycle. Do the supplemental materials on schools you really want to go to so that you show strong interest. You have a really strong chance to get into T-14s as a splitter, (an alum from my socal uni got accepted into berkeley law with a 3.9 gpa but a 156 lsat score and is now working in big law. however, bcs of her low lsat score they didn't give her a lot of financial aid. kinda also why she chose big law) even if you choose to not retake the LSAT. But if you do and your increases even a little bit higher, it'll only help you (you should still try taking it again to shows schools you stayed dedicated & wanted to improve).
It's already August, the cycle starts up again in a few weeks and you can apply super early like the beginning of October. Remember, the earlier you apply, the more money that can be allocated to you and the more opportunities you have to negotiate. It doesn't really hurt to try again because with stats like that, chances are you'll get accepted into your safeties with a lot of money AND possibly better schools with better scholarship offers that can be both merit and need based.
Best of luck to you and I hope everything works out in your favor!! <3