Interesting Life - Chance for NYU scholarship?

[PianolessPianist]

Hi there!

I’m planning on taking the LSAT in October. Assuming I get a 170 and I have a modest 3.7 GPA - do I have a shot at a good scholarship from NYU?

I’ve heard that having an intereting background story can help, so here sre some bullet points:
- I grew up as a right-wing Orthodox Jew in the US
- Moved to israel at 18 due to my then religious/political convictions
- Spent a few years studying Torah/Talmud literally all day and most of the night
- Served in the Israeli military
- Was one of the translators of a popular (in religious circles) translation of the Talmud (ancient as it may be, it’s still legal in nature)
- Eventually came to the conclusion that what I believed was false, and left my religion
- Came out of the closet after trying conversion therapy for a year and a half
- Got a BA in Criminology at an israeli university while working 40 hours a week, mostly nightshifts
- volunteered to teach English at an Israeli detention center

I speak two languages fluently, and can get by in 2 others.

From what I’m told, a 170+ coupled with the above should almost guarantee admission. Thing is, that won’t do me any good since there’s no way I can afford it. Can anyone weigh in on what I might be able to expect in terms of scholarships/funding?

Thanks!

[Dave Killoran]

Hi there!

I’m planning on taking the LSAT in October. Assuming I get a 170 and I have a modest 3.7 GPA - do I have a shot at a good scholarship from NYU?

I’ve heard that having an intereting background story can help, so here sre some bullet points:
- I grew up as a right-wing Orthodox Jew in the US
- Moved to israel at 18 due to my then religious/political convictions
- Spent a few years studying Torah/Talmud literally all day and most of the night
- Served in the Israeli military
- Was one of the translators of a popular (in religious circles) translation of the Talmud (ancient as it may be, it’s still legal in nature)
- Eventually came to the conclusion that what I believed was false, and left my religion
- Came out of the closet after trying conversion therapy for a year and a half
- Got a BA in Criminology at an israeli university while working 40 hours a week, mostly nightshifts
- volunteered to teach English at an Israeli detention center

I speak two languages fluently, and can get by in 2 others.

From what I’m told, a 170+ coupled with the above should almost guarantee admission. Thing is, that won’t do me any good since there’s no way I can afford it. Can anyone weigh in on what I might be able to expect in terms of scholarships/funding?

Thanks!

Hi Pianoless,

Thanks for the questions! First, just to be candid, there really is no such thing as a guaranteed chance at admission at any T6 school—they are just unpredictable at times. That said, at NYU, just based on numbers, you are looking at around a 2/3 chance. I think your personal story bumps that up solidly, although to be honest it all comes down to how well you express yourself and we can't see that here. I'll assume you do an excellent job of it, but that does place the burden on you (see some personal statement thoughts here on what they want). Assuming you get in, your chances at a scholarship are around 50%, and it's very hard to predict how much money that would come with. I wouldn't expect a full ride though; an offer of half would be pretty good, to be honest.

Keep in mind that you can always "afford" law school, but doing so requires you to do into debt to cover the difference. How advisable that is and whether you want to go down that path are different questions, but the opportunity to go to law school won't be denied you just because you don't have the full amount on hand!

This is probably going to come down to you having to apply and seeing how the results come out because there are too many variables here to have anyone give an accurate prediction of financial offers. In the meantime, focus on your personal statement and above all, your LSAT. Every point over 170 will have a big impact!

Good luck!

[PianolessPianist]

Thanks for the insights Dave!
I’m shooting for a 180, obviously, but i think i have a decent chance of scoring 170+.
Hopefully it’ll be enough

thanks again

[PianolessPianist]

Hi Dave!

First of all, I really need to thank you and the Powerscore team for consistently providing free and valuable insights - these forums have been a tremendous help to me over the past few months.

I was hoping for another evaluation of this question in light of the following developments:

1) I ended up getting a 173 on the LSAT
2) My GPA is actually 3.5, not 3.7 I'm hoping this will be mitigated by the fact that I worked night shifts to put me through undergrad.
3) Thanks to some exceptionally good luck, I've had the opportunity to get involved with Israel's first LGBT political party, in which I am listed as a founding member.

I know that no solid predictions can be made here, but given your extensive experience, I'm hoping maybe you could give me a general impression of my chances at admission and scholarships at NYU or Columbia?

Thanks so much once again
Tal

[Dave Killoran]

Hi Dave!

First of all, I really need to thank you and the Powerscore team for consistently providing free and valuable insights - these forums have been a tremendous help to me over the past few months.

I was hoping for another evaluation of this question in light of the following developments:

1) I ended up getting a 173 on the LSAT
2) My GPA is actually 3.5, not 3.7 I'm hoping this will be mitigated by the fact that I worked night shifts to put me through undergrad.
3) Thanks to some exceptionally good luck, I've had the opportunity to get involved with Israel's first LGBT political party, in which I am listed as a founding member.

I know that no solid predictions can be made here, but given your extensive experience, I'm hoping maybe you could give me a general impression of my chances at admission and scholarships at NYU or Columbia?

Thanks so much once again
Tal

Hi Tal,

Thanks for the info and glad we could help so far!

I'd say that overall your chances are decent at both schools Each school has taken multiple candidates in past year with your numbers, and generally your GPA/LSAT combo results in an acceptance or waitlist at worst. there's the occasional denial, but those are far outweighed by the admits/WLs.

As for scholarships, that's more variable. I'd say it's a 50-50 scenario there, but you have a compelling personal story and so we could probably bump those numbers up based on that. So hard to say since each year is different, and this year isn't far enough along yet to know!

I hope that helps. Thanks!