Early Admission NYU

mantel123

Hey everybody! So here's my situation.

I have a 3.33 GPA (ugh) and I'm 3 years out of school. Applying for next fall so it'll be 4 years by then. Have a 165 on the LSAT but am retaking in a couple weeks and am confident that I'll do better - PTing in the low 170s, I feel there's a shot at a high score too.

Last cycle, I did ED to Emory but decided to back out. They offered me 80k in scholarships as well - a good deal but I didn't feel great about the whole thing, so I decided to wait another year, move to Nepal to do humanitarian stuff, and then attend next year.

I should also say, I have a pretty solid resume when it comes to volunteer experience/non-profit work - I want to do public interest law - and have been rebuilding homes in New Orleans post-Katrina for the past 3 years with a non-profit. I've also worked for several other non-profits, including the ACLU of Tennessee and the Family Equality Council.

Here is the thing though - I don't really want to be strapped to 200k+ in debt to have a public interest career. However, there is LRAP so I could have it all forgiven in 10 years, which is great. I would also like to attend school in the Northeast (girlfriend, family, etc.). The schools I'm thinking are NYU (top choice), Georgetown, and some others that are a bit of a reach, and also schools I'm fairly confident I'll get into w/ money - Emory, UGA, GW.

Should I do ED to NYU? Does it make a difference? If I were to get in, would that sacrifice any scholarship offer I'd get? Are my numbers so low that scholarships are impossible anyway? Say I get a 172 on the LSAT this time around. Would the advice be different?

Thanks, dudes.

Alejandro

I wouldn't ED if you are set on doing public interest law. That's just me

Cant Get Right

It's my understanding that scholarships tend to be reserved for trying to lure top applicants away from higher ranked schools. That said NYU has quite a few PI scholarships and it sounds like you've got the kind of background to potentially be competitive for one anyway. Their LRAP program is by far the best that I'm familiar with, so if you do get into NYU, you can probably count on qualifying. Even working in for-profit doesn't necessarily disqualify someone from their LRAP depending on the exact circumstances.

Also, I'm from South Mississippi, so thanks for the Katrina work (even if it is in LA, lol!). Lots of people have still not recovered and have largely been forgot about.