<p>Yes, when you consider each school individually, there are not enough seats; however, combine the seats of all schools, and you will see that there is room for all of them. Of course, there will be cross-admits, but it is highly likely that the student will be admitted at one of those schools.</p>
<p>Re my situation:
I do not intend to apply outside of the top 6 simply because I would not attend any other school. It’s not that I don’t want to attend them; it is just that, given what I would like to do with my J.D., going outside of the top 6 (and even the top 3) is not the best idea. So even if I were to apply to, say, Duke, and get in, I would not go. I might as well leave open another spot for someone else.
I’ve consulted with several pre-law advisors and law school counselors and, given my projected LSAT score (the finalized version of which could, admittedly, be much lower), they’ve all advised me to apply only to the top 6. I was quite nonplussed: “Shouldn’t I have some safeties?” The response? “You don’t need any.”</p>
<p>Of all the 3.7+/170+ students this year that I’ve seen on LSN, Chiashu, and among my group of friends, the only who weren’t able to get in a top 6 were students from no-name schools. Every single one of my other friends with the above stats made it into a top 6 school, if not a top 3. I previously thought that law school admissions couldn’t be so formulaic, but that is very much the case at every school with the exception of Stanford and Yale.</p>
<p>If your numbers fall in the top quartile of admitted students at a given school, the admissions committee at that school will be looking for a reason to reject you, rather than to accept you. That situation is far more preferable to being in the middle two quartiles and in the lower quartile, where admissions committees look for a reason to accept you. This is straight from Anna Ivey’s text.</p>
<p>i just can’t help wondering – does this mean that what you want to do with your jd is in fact something that doesn’t require a jd? because otherwise it seems to mean that you are deciding that if you can’t get into a top 6 you are willing to give up on your goal.</p>
<p>there are certainly legal careers that become more easy to obtain with a degree from one of the very top law schools – but i can’t think of any in which a degree from the top 3 or top 6 is so necessary as to require someone who only gets in to school #7 or #8, for example, to give up on the idea of going to law school.</p>
<p>I intend to go into legal academia, with a focus in philosophy and law.</p>
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<p>I am really not interested in practicing law; I am just interested in teaching and research. Whlie it is certainly possible for law students to go into teaching from a 14-7 law school, it is significantly easier for students from the top 6, and significantly easier for students from the top 3.</p>
<p>There are a number of possible ways my situation can pan out: if I don’t get into my first-choice(s) for law school, and if I get into one of my first-choice(s) for grad school, I’ll go to grad school first, and apply to law school after the first year of grad school (to combine for a joint program) or after I earn my Ph.D. If I get into neither of my first-choice programs during the first round of admission, I will apply again during the next applciation season, and go to the highest-ranked school that accepts me.</p>
<p>ah yes – but isn’t it easer from a 14-7 law school than from no law school? :)</p>
<p>in order to get into a 1-6 law school you obviously have to have worked hard and be willing to work hard. to succeed at your intended career goal from a t7-14 school may also require hard work – why let that scare you off if its really what you want? i can’t believe you’d think being rejected by t1-6 would mean you weren’t really good enough to do what it is you hope to do. </p>
<p>this really isn’t aimed at you so much nspeds – if you are confident about the decisions you’ve made, i’m in no position to try to change your mind. and i hope you get to choose which of the top 3 you get to attend.</p>
<p>i’m really just more concerned in general when i see obviously bright students on this forum who seem so willing to give up on their life dream if the first step isn’t as successful as they’d like – or when posters try to tell others that they are doomed if they don’t get into their top schools – i just think its sad for students to conclude that an admission decision has such a profound effect on their future life. i’m not talking about encouraging someone who can’t get into anything above t50 to take on all that debt in the hopes of making it on wall street – i’m talking about situations where the difference in a few numbers on the rankings is deemed to be so determinative of one’s life.</p>
<p>I agree completely. As I said in my previous post, though, I am willing to attend a 7-14 law school if I do not get in anywhere else for my JD/Ph.D during the second round of admissions.</p>
<p>I’m also thinking of applying to the entire top 14 during the first round, and deferring at the best school I get into if I don’t get into the top 3, so I can try again for those three during the next round. Of course, I haven’t researched this option enough, and I doubt it is allowed; at this point, I can only really speculate. I haven’t taken the LSAT, and until I have a score in print, I cannot really know what I’m doing to do, if that makes sense. If I don’t score above a 173, I will try for the entire top 14. If I score a 174 or above, I’ll keep it in the top 6, since my GPA and LSAT will be in the top quartile for CLS, NYLS, and ChLS.</p>
<p>At least undergrad, medical school, and graduate school (PhD) would not permit you to do this, i.e. deferrals cannot be used to apply elsewhere. Don’t know about law schools.</p>
<p>Lets say nsped gets accepted to Penn and wants to defer. Penn specifically states:</p>
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<p>If you are admitted and wish to defer your admission, you must submit a written request to the Dean of the Admissions stating your reasons for wanting the deferral. One-year deferrals are typically granted for reasons such as work, finances, completion of a graduate program, or extenuating circumstances, such as illness or injury. Two-year deferrals are granted only if you are enrolled in a two-year program such as Teach for America, Peace Corps, or a military commitment.</p>
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<p>If your deferral is granted, you must submit a nonrefundable seat deposit in the amount of $500, and you must complete and sign our Deferral Agreement. The Agreement states that you will not hold deferred status at another law school nor will you apply to another law school.</p>
<p>I don’t think there is a standard practice when it comes to deferring. Some schools, like Michigan, will claim that it’s harder to defer than it is to get in in the first place. Other schools, like UVa, will let you defer for almost any reason at all. </p>
<p>In any event, to reiterate my original point, I still don’t see any reason to limit yourself by not applying to a school you’d be willing to attend.</p>
<p>This is one where I think law school may well be different. I can tell you that medical schools and undergraduate schools would be extremely reluctant to admit you if you had turned them down once in favor of applying elsewhere a second time.</p>
<p>But law school, with its legendary focus on metrics, may well care less.</p>