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Early binding decision: Cornell, Berkeley or neither?

bobbutwith8charactersbobbutwith8characters Free Trial Member
in Law School Admissions 89 karma

Background: 163 on LSAT first try, 166 second try, and a 3.78 LSAC GPA.

While I realize I'm not in absolutely the best position to get into either of those schools, their admission stats give me the impression that it's a coin flip (mylsn and other law school number sites admittedly paint a more pessimistic picture). My 166 is exactly the median for Berkeley, and my GPA is 0.01 below their median. For Cornell, I'm one point below their LSAT median and 0.05 above their GPA median.

So I decided I wanted to strengthen my chances by doing early decision. However, I'm not sure which early decision is more practical. I'm also not sure what kind of law I want to practice. Another factor to consider is that I don't really have any experience that is amazing on its face.

Also: Will the specialties and programs of even top 14 schools lock me into a certain career path? What other factors should I consider?

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Comments

  • TheMikeyTheMikey Alum Member
    4196 karma

    Unless you're willing to pay sticker (which is the most likely outcome since they don't need to buy you with money), I say don't ED.

    Will the specialties and programs of even top 14 schools lock me into a certain career path? Not at all. Don't worry about specialities, just care about employment stats.

    What are your career goals?

  • bobbutwith8charactersbobbutwith8characters Free Trial Member
    89 karma

    @TheMikey I'm fortunate enough where I don't have to worry about the price.

    With a cursory reflection of my undergraduate years, I realized that I love school. I loved my writing assignments, I loved being a teacher's assistant, and I just enjoyed being a student. I also loved my position as a teacher's assistant. Thus, I think the absolute ideal career for me would be something in the academic field.

    But given the investment of law school, I'm not sure if that's actually a practical pursuit. According to Above the Law, the average faculty salary is ~$177,000. But professor positions are also extremely competitive from the little research I've done.

  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    23929 karma

    @imadl95 said:
    @TheMikey I'm fortunate enough where I don't have to worry about the price.

    With a cursory reflection of my undergraduate years, I realized that I love school. I loved my writing assignments, I loved being a teacher's assistant, and I just enjoyed being a student. I also loved my position as a teacher's assistant. Thus, I think the absolute ideal career for me would be something in the academic field.

    But given the investment of law school, I'm not sure if that's actually a practical pursuit. According to Above the Law, the average faculty salary is ~$177,000. But professor positions are also extremely competitive from the little research I've done.

    I think something like nearly 90% of law professors are Yale/Harvard/Stanford grads. So I think your chances of pursuing Academia from those schools you've listed are effectively zero.

    If you're looking for Big law in NYC, Cornell is one of the largest feeders into NYC big law. Mikey is also correct that speciality rankings are useless.

    What are your career goals beyond Academia?

  • bobbutwith8charactersbobbutwith8characters Free Trial Member
    edited October 2017 89 karma

    @"Alex Divine" Thanks for the advice. Glad I heard it before I could convince myself it was a good career goal.

    The truth is, I've resigned myself to waiting to decide what to do after my first year. My undergrad was Business Law, and I didn't enjoy most of my business classes (e.g., accounting, economics, finance, etc.) other than supply chain. I did enjoy my legal classes, but I also know that they were in no way informative of what an actual legal career would entail.

  • AlexAlex Alum Member ⭐
    23929 karma

    @imadl95 said:
    @"Alex Divine" Thanks for the advice. Glad I heard it before I could convince myself it was a good career goal.

    The truth is, I've resigned myself to waiting to decide what to do after my first year. My undergrad was Business Law, and I didn't enjoy most of my business classes (e.g., accounting, economics, finance, etc.) other than supply chain. I did enjoy my legal classes, but I also know that they were in no way informative of what an actual legal career would entail.

    I think going in with an open mind is a really brilliant idea. I plan to do the same in many ways!

    Good luck :)

  • TheMikeyTheMikey Alum Member
    4196 karma

    @imadl95 said:
    @TheMikey I'm fortunate enough where I don't have to worry about the price.

    With a cursory reflection of my undergraduate years, I realized that I love school. I loved my writing assignments, I loved being a teacher's assistant, and I just enjoyed being a student. I also loved my position as a teacher's assistant. Thus, I think the absolute ideal career for me would be something in the academic field.

    But given the investment of law school, I'm not sure if that's actually a practical pursuit. According to Above the Law, the average faculty salary is ~$177,000. But professor positions are also extremely competitive from the little research I've done.

    yeah, I mean if you have the luxury of not having to worry about prices, then that's great. It's still a lot of money though and I think no matter what, costs should be taken into consideration.. Unless you have the 300k+ like in an education trust fund or if your parents are rich af, etc, haha.

    And yeah, what alex said is spot on about going into academia with a law degree.. The majority of those in academia went to HYS, and even for them it's tough to get in. Berkeley and Cornell aren't likely to get you there. If you want something basic like biglaw, PI or some other usual route, then Berkeley and Cornell can both get you that, but academia is not very likely.

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