Help me decide which one to ED?

JCUI7455

Hey all,

While waiting for my Oct LSAT score, I am preparing to ED either NYU or Cornell because I want to work in NYC after law school. However, I am a bit uncertain as to how to choose my ED school wisely to maximize my chances.

Basic info:
International;
167 LSAT; waiting for Oct LSAT- felt good about it so probably would be higher than 167;
3.41 UGPA but has a valid reason for writing a good addendum, according to some responses I got here. ESL and last two years GPAs were 3.88 and 3.75. Political Science major;
Diversity- I identify as LGBTQ;
2 years out of undergrad- did a master of social work degree in another country;
Strong rec and extracurricular- I have a strong focus in social entrepreneurship and social work, and won a fellowship to deliver a social innovation project in a another country during my senior year in college. Will hope to do some sort of social entrepreneurship and law work after law school.

What do you all think? Where should I submit my ED to to boost my chances? I am open to suggestions other than NYU and Cornell as well.

Much appreciated,
TC

MissChanandler

If you're right about your October LSAT, you'll be a splitter for Cornell but likely still a high reach for NYU. I think that an ED to Cornell would give you a really good chance. But: you'll already have a chance at Cornell regardless of ED, whereas at NYU it's going to be unlikely. So would you rather have a good shot at Cornell and almost no shot at NYU or an okay shot at Cornell and a slight shot at NYU? I don't think there's a right or wrong answer, just your personal preference. I would play around with the admissions predictor and see how that goes. Have you thought about EDing at Northwestern because of the automatic scholarship? Their medians are pretty similar to Cornell's. I know it's not in New York, but I think that Northwestern provides a lot of mobility.

Leah M B

Honestly, unless you have some outside funding for your education, I almost never recommend anyone apply ED to a school that doesn't have an automatic and very generous scholarship. Northwestern's is great (although a bit less so this year, since they reduced the amount to $120k), and a handful of schools give full rides to ED folks (WUSTL, George Washington). But if there's not guaranteed scholarship with it, I don't think it's a wise choice generally. Since it commits you to attending, you'll have no leverage at all to negotiate your scholarship. Probably not all schools do this, but it leaves an opportunity for the school to really take advantage of you and give you little to no scholarship money. And I personally don't feel like you should ever pay full sticker at any law school, particularly if you are financing your education only with loans.

Rigid Designator

If you're set on those two schools, and we're ignoring the issue of scholarships, then I think @MissChanandler is spot-on with their analysis.

But @"Leah M B" raises a good point, there are other schools that you could attend which would allow you the mobility to work in NYC, and which might offer scholarship money that wouldn't be available by EDing at either Cornell or NYU.

tekken1225

@"Leah M B" said:
Honestly, unless you have some outside funding for your education, I almost never recommend anyone apply ED to a school that doesn't have an automatic and very generous scholarship. Northwestern's is great (although a bit less so this year, since they reduced the amount to $120k), and a handful of schools give full rides to ED folks (WUSTL, George Washington). But if there's not guaranteed scholarship with it, I don't think it's a wise choice generally. Since it commits you to attending, you'll have no leverage at all to negotiate your scholarship. Probably not all schools do this, but it leaves an opportunity for the school to really take advantage of you and give you little to no scholarship money. And I personally don't feel like you should ever pay full sticker at any law school, particularly if you are financing your education only with loans.

So this question pertains to someone like me (aka NOT a superstar in GPA or LSAT): Is it generally the case that whatever boost at admission granted by applying ED is much more outweighed by the fact that if accepted, you must go there and thus severely limits your chances for scholarship money?

I'm also trying to decide if applying ED to a school for that slight boost in admission chances is actually worth it, because if accepted it will commit me to going there. But I also feel like I need every little help I can get, IN ORDER to get accepted in the first place.

Leah M B

@tekken1225 said:

@"Leah M B" said:
Honestly, unless you have some outside funding for your education, I almost never recommend anyone apply ED to a school that doesn't have an automatic and very generous scholarship. Northwestern's is great (although a bit less so this year, since they reduced the amount to $120k), and a handful of schools give full rides to ED folks (WUSTL, George Washington). But if there's not guaranteed scholarship with it, I don't think it's a wise choice generally. Since it commits you to attending, you'll have no leverage at all to negotiate your scholarship. Probably not all schools do this, but it leaves an opportunity for the school to really take advantage of you and give you little to no scholarship money. And I personally don't feel like you should ever pay full sticker at any law school, particularly if you are financing your education only with loans.

So this question pertains to someone like me (aka NOT a superstar in GPA or LSAT): Is it generally the case that whatever boost at admission granted by applying ED is much more outweighed by the fact that if accepted, you must go there and thus severely limits your chances for scholarship money?

I'm also trying to decide if applying ED to a school for that slight boost in admission chances is actually worth it, because if accepted it will commit me to going there. But I also feel like I need every little help I can get, IN ORDER to get accepted in the first place.

Obviously, it’s a personal choice. But I’d only do it if you’re ok with paying full sticker, because there’s no guarantee you’ll get any money. Might be even more true if your numbers aren’t strong and you think ED may be the only way you get in - they could use that to justify giving you little to no scholarship. For myself, I have a firm goal of taking out less than $100k in loans, including living expenses. Not everyone will feel that same way. But I generally don’t think it’s wise for anyone to take out $200k. A T14 at sticker with living expenses could be close to $250k. Even if you plan to go to BigLaw, that’s a massive amount of debt. BigLaw is never a guarantee, nor is being able to stay in BigLaw long enough to pay off that kind of debt. That’s a gamble I just would never recommend to someone. But, I’m more conservative than some on what I think is wise to spend.

I personally feel like unless you have outside funding (vet benefits, family willing to pay, lots of savings), you should only ED somewhere with a large guaranteed scholarship.

tekken1225

@"Leah M B" said:

@tekken1225 said:

@"Leah M B" said:

Obviously, it’s a personal choice. But I’d only do it if you’re ok with paying full sticker, because there’s no guarantee you’ll get any money. Might be even more true if your numbers aren’t strong and you think ED may be the only way you get in - they could use that to justify giving you little to no scholarship. For myself, I have a firm goal of taking out less than $100k in loans, including living expenses. Not everyone will feel that same way. But I generally don’t think it’s wise for anyone to take out $200k. A T14 at sticker with living expenses could be close to $250k. Even if you plan to go to BigLaw, that’s a massive amount of debt. BigLaw is never a guarantee, nor is being able to stay in BigLaw long enough to pay off that kind of debt. That’s a gamble I just would never recommend to someone. But, I’m more conservative than some on what I think is wise to spend.

I personally feel like unless you have outside funding (vet benefits, family willing to pay, lots of savings), you should only ED somewhere with a large guaranteed scholarship.

Yeah, you're right, I see. Unless you come from money, $200k in loans is never a good idea.

_oshun1_

@tekken1225 said:

@"Leah M B" said:

Yeah, you're right, I see. Unless you come from money, $200k in loans is never a good idea.

It's more like $300k for sticker. Most schools cost $60k+ a year. Living somewhere with cheap rent like Duke leaves COA at $88.6k/year. NYU's COA is $96.8k. And we can expect that to increase slightly for next year's cycle.

Leah M B

@oshun1 said:
@tekken1225 said:

@"Leah M B" said:

Yeah, you're right, I see. Unless you come from money, $200k in loans is never a good idea.

It's more like $300k for sticker. Most schools cost $60k+ a year. Living somewhere with cheap rent like Duke leaves COA at $88.6k/year. NYU's COA is $96.8k. And we can expect that to increase slightly for next year's cycle.

I was being conservative lol. But yeah, worst case scenario, it's closer to $300k. ::shudders::