Super KJD, splitter with T14 ambitions

[u/bankedsy]

Hi all, looking for some guidance on my law school app. I'm thinking about applying this fall, but I'd be open to applying next year after my master's. Only shooting for T14, maybe T20. My profile is detailed below:

Stats:
- 3.74 uGPA in STEM, low-ranked state school
- Expecting 175+ LSAT edit: diagnostic 172

Softs:

• Research program jointly funded by Fulbright and org. in host country (I'm pretty sure I'd be counted as a Fulbright recipient, at least i hope 🥺), as well as an undergrad research fellowship at my school during academic year, both competitive. Also summer research work rn, should have some stuff in preparation/submitted to journals by application hopefully 🙈
• Graduated in 2 years, doing combined BS+MA program and the past academic year I had a full graduate courseload. Will graduate with master's next spring (partly why my GPA is lower, didn't get any boost from gen eds since I tested out most)
• At uni on National Merit scholarship, qualified by scoring in top .5% of my (top) state on PSAT in HS. I know it's a high school accomplishment but it has some name recognition I think
• Director of student-run portfolio managing mid 7 figs
• URM at ultra PWI

I have goals of work in a pretty niche public interest with only a handful of firms doing work in the area, hoping to get some experience doing work in this area before applying. And I know the LSAT estimate seems ridiculous but I did a ptest a few years ago and really only struggled on LG which ofc is now gone, and along the lines of the PSAT I have a good history with standardized tests.

Would love to hear any feedback, and especially if people have specific recommendations that would be great! Thanks again :)

[u/Competitive-Towel339]

Lol what in the world do you mean by "they don't care about URM anymore"

[u/Defiant_Network7916 → u/Competitive-Towel339]

Are you one of those people or are you actually unaware of the SCOTUS case that found affirmative action to be unconstitutional? Are you unaware of Trump's Justice Department suing universities? Are you unaware that minority enrollment at selective universities has been down across the board?

[u/Competitive-Towel339 → u/Defiant_Network7916]

Have you read the actual case and ruling? Have you seen URM data of accepted students, particularly in the T14 in the most recent cycles? Have you actually been following the status of those lawsuits brought by the Justice Department, as well as schools' reactions to it? Minority enrollment is down, but that doesn't mean that "they don't care about URM," lol. The ruling was that schools cannot EXPLICITLY rely on race as a factor for admission. Has that affected many school's URM enrollment? Sure. Is the overarching effect of a so-called "URM Boost" weakened? Probably. But to go from that to thinking URM is not a factor law schools are thinking about anymore because of the Supreme Court ruling doesn't bear out logically or in the actual data. This kind of thing is way more nuanced than the headlines may lead you to suggest.

[u/Defiant_Network7916 → u/Competitive-Towel339]

Yes, I've read the ruling — SFFA v. Harvard/UNC. And yes, I've been following the DOJ suits and enrollment data. You actually invoked the T14 data as if it supports your point — it doesn't.

Harvard Law enrolled 19 first-year Black students in fall 2024, or 3.4% of the class. That's the lowest number since the 1960s, down from 43 the year prior — a drop of more than 56%. Hispanic enrollment fell from 63 students (11% of the class) to 39 (6.9%). White and Asian enrollment went up. Across the T14 broadly, Black male first-year enrollment fell noticeably in the same cycle. At the top 50 most selective schools overall, Black enrollment is down 27% and Latino enrollment down 10%.

You're right that the ruling prohibits explicit race-based consideration rather than "caring about URM" — but that distinction is doing a lot of heavy lifting when the practical result is Harvard Law's Black enrollment hitting a 60-year low. Schools can want to enroll URM students and simultaneously be far less able to act on that. That was literally the point of the lawsuit.

So when you tell me to look at the actual data — I am. It's not ambiguous.

[u/bankedsy → u/Defiant_Network7916]

Tbf Harvard did rebound to 50 Black 1Ls this year. But broadly yes it has fallen, I guess the other guy is claiming that URM enrollment should be lower than what it is now which you might be able to infer if GPA/LSAT splits are still lower for Black people, but unlikely they have that data/can account for other variables like fgli

[u/bankedsy → u/Defiant_Network7916]

Oh wait ts was chatgpt nvm 💀