Best Chance at Scholarships?

[PianolessPianist]

Hi there!

I'm hoping for some recommendations for good schools that I can reasonably expect to get substantial scholarships from.

Brief overview of my application:
173 LSAT
3.7 GPA
Undergrad from Overseas (in Criminology), worked through university
Some volunteer work teaching English to prisoners in Israel
Listed as a founding member of Israel's first LGBTQ political party (which isn't currently in Parliament)
Fluent in two languages, can get by in another
Lived abroad for 9 years
Ex-infantry soldier (in a foreign military)
Previous experience in legal translation (Hebrew to English)
28 years old
Gay
And very poor XD

Assuming I provide a very solid personal statement, what would be some good schools to apply to that are likely to provide me with scholarships of >50% tuition?

Thanks!!

[George George]

@PianolessPianist

You've got a great Q about gaming scholarships. While I can't tell you what factors in terms of your personal background might help you locate money targeted for, say, LGBTQ* scholarships, I can tell you that most law school scholarship money comes directly from the law school itself. And there is a way to find out how generous a law school is! Every law school has to report several statistics to the ABA, including the percentage of current law students receiving scholarship money in various amounts. This information is easily searchable if you Google "[Law School] ABA Standard 509 Report." Many T-50 schools are not that generous, but some are extremely generous. For example, Alabama Law (currently ranked 25 by USNews) gave out more than a full ride to 16% of their students, and a full ride to another 3%, meaning almost 1 in 5 students at Alabama is getting a free legal education! See: https://www.law.ua.edu/wp-content/uploa ... t-2018.pdf. My own preliminary research has revealed a few other generous law schools in the T-50, including Arizona, Arizona State, Minnesota, Ohio, Iowa, George Mason, and Wisconsin-Madison.

With your unique background and exceptional stats, you shouldn't hesitate from applying to T-14 schools. You can also look for outside diversity initiatives sponsored by Big Law firms. Many of them are for 2Ls, but some are for 1Ls. Berkeley keeps a nice webpage on these, which you can find here: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/admissions ... -students/