Law School Discussion

Thanks for the replies.  They have mostly been onfirming what I thought.  I'm on the waiting list at Madison and deferred at the U of M, so I don't know if I'm in at either.  I just was hoping for some info in case I was lucky enough to have a choice.  I have been leaning toward Madison because my SO will be in Milwaukee, but because I don't know where I want to live after law school, I also don't want to hinder my options.  I guess I've mainly been wondering if I passed up the U of M for Madison, if I would be making a bad decision, and it kind of sounds like I might be.  Anyone know if either places better in Chicago?

Is there much of a difference between going to the University of Minnesota and University of Wisconsin Madison?  I know the U of M is ranked higher, but is there really much of a difference between #20 and #31?  Where does each school place well?  Is either very national?  Is either going to provide better summer positions or networking options?

I am interested in patent law, but I don't want to limit my options until I see everything law has to offer.  Does either have a better program for that, or place better>

I had thought about law while doing my undergrad, but I changed my mind and decided to get a Master's instead.  I also decided against that and started looking into law again last fall.  I really decided I wanted to go to law school at the end of October, so I got my books and studied for the December LSAT.  After a month of studying (while working full time and taking night class) I received a 157. 

Basically my plan had been to do the best I could on my LSAT and applications and apply this year, see what happened, and retake the LSAT and try again next year if I did really badly.  I've already been out of college for 2 years, and I would like to get my real career started.  So, since I have good soft factors and a decent GPA (3.64), I decided to apply to schools that were kind of out of my league LSAT wise and hope for the best.  As of now, I have been accepted to Santa Clara, and am on the waiting list at UC Davis, UW Madison, and DePaul, and deferred at U of MN.  I'm waiting on more schools as well (but I'm guessing this late in the game the best I can hope for is more waiting lists).

Now that I see I've made it onto waiting lists at rather highly ranked schools with my low LSAT and the fact that I applied right at the deadline, I'm wondering if it would be worth it to retake the LSAT and try again next year.  I'd really like to be in one of the top 20 law schools since I'm not quite sure what I want to do, and I don't want to rule out any options.

Does anyone have any experience with this situation?  Would it really be worth waiting another year at the shot of a better ranking and possibly scholarships?  Any advice would be really appreciated!