Accepted: U of Texas

[ElizaB]

Good for you!  That is an excellent GPA for an engineering major!  I would be willing to bet that between your major, GPA and LSAT you have a really good shot at UT and, well, almost anywhere else you want to go. Is UT your top choice?   

[midjeep]

Eliza,

I wouldn't worry about UT too much. I applied to UT on Nov. 1st too and UT requested my report on 11/18.....but I sent my application via LSACD (and I think I read somewhere that you sent yours via snail mail). Also, your stats are WAY higher than mine. Aren't you from a small town/county in Texas? If you dont know already, not only does Texas have instate preference of 70% it also factors in what county you are from as well. If you are from an under-represented county in Texas, you get an extra consideration from students from Austin or Dallas. I know that your stats are really strong and you will have a good shot regardless of where your from. My friend had a 166, was from Houston, went to Baylor, and got into UT with some scholarship money. He also applied early action and also received his Baylor decision first. Anyways dont stress about it! You've heard the idiom "they like to save the best for last," right?

[ElizaB]

Thanks for the encouragement.  It makes me feel better.  I did not realize that they gave "preference" to certain counties/small towns. If that is the case, I definately feel better because no one from my hometown does anything with their life besides work at the nearby nuclear plant, become a shrimper or pop out a bunch of babies.....not that there is anything wrong with any of these things, but I don't think too many of them are applying to law school. 

[midjeep]

Thanks for the encouragement.  It makes me feel better.  I did not realize that they gave "preference" to certain counties/small towns. If that is the case, I definately feel better because no one from my hometown does anything with their life besides work at the nearby nuclear plant, become a shrimper or pop out a bunch of babies.....not that there is anything wrong with any of these things, but I don't think too many of them are applying to law school. 

No Prob, I think it's UT's form of AA or backdoor AA as I like to call it. To me this makes more sense because it is addressing socioeconomic background and not just race. I know I might be opening up a Pandora's Box with this comment, but I think a poor white kid from the trailer parks of Mexia should have a leg up over the rich black girl from Highland Park (and the same holds true for the poor black guy from Laredo versus the rich white guy from Plano). 

[BigBadBo]

I know I might be opening up a Pandora's Box with this comment, but I think a poor white kid from the trailer parks of Mexia should have a leg up over the rich black girl from Highland Park (and the same holds true for the poor black guy from Laredo versus the rich white guy from Plano). 

I second this MidJeep. Today's barriers lie largely (although race is still a barrier in certain contexts) in financial resources.

It is time the court's accepted this as an appropriate form of AA.  All in all it would probably have the same effect on racial composition of law school classes as AA is now - but in a far more equitable manner.

(I say this as a well-off white male, so there is no bias on my part.)

[MindTheGap76]

Good for you!  That is an excellent GPA for an engineering major!  I would be willing to bet that between your major, GPA and LSAT you have a really good shot at UT and, well, almost anywhere else you want to go. Is UT your top choice?   

Actually, though I think UT is a great law school, its almost my dead last choice.  I've been here for 4 years as an undergrad, so I'd kind of like to get out and try something different.  My first choice schools are Harvard, NYU, and Columbia — not only because of their reputation but also because I think it would be amazing to spend 3 years living in Boston or New York.

[BigTex]

Mind - I hope you get into your top choices so I can take your UT slot! And on the topic of AA, please (i'm just askin', not saying i have any right to make it so, just askin') let's not polute this good ol' home-cooked UT acceptance thread w/ an AA argument. Regardless of which side you're on, let's have some place we can talk about all matters related to UT acceptances w/o the thread spiraling into the pros and cons of AA in general.

[LSATGuru]

Do you think I'd be wasting my money applying to UT-Austin (out of state) with a 3.98/163 and 2 years work experience at a fortune 100? 

Numbers-wise it looks like it might be a waste, but their 25th-75th is 160 - 166, so that means the median is probably right around a 163 or 164.  I don't want to waste $70 if I don't have to--anyone think it's worth it?   

[Mrs Malaprop]

Do you think I'd be wasting my money applying to UT-Austin (out of state) with a 3.98/163 and 2 years work experience at a fortune 100? 

Numbers-wise it looks like it might be a waste, but their 25th-75th is 160 - 166, so that means the median is probably right around a 163 or 164.  I don't want to waste $70 if I don't have to--anyone think it's worth it?   

I know nothing about the UT admissions process, so take this with an entire shaker of salt, but I think you absolutely should apply if UT-Austin is a school you'd love to attend. With your near-perfect UGPA, I think having an LSAT that's at their approximate median at least gets your app seriously considered (even if you're out-of-state). Better to spend $70 now than have to wonder the rest of your life if you could have gotten in. Pretty much my rationale for applying to Harvard/Yale.

[ElizaB]

I'm not trying to polute this thread with AA arguments.  I can honestly say that I see valid points on both sides of the issue.  However, I do have one questions for Sketchyphi...

If you support preference for URM's, then why are you opposed to preference for individual's from underepresented counties?  Is it, perhaps, because this form of AA does not benefit you? I certainly think you have a right to your opinion, but I don't follow your line of reasoning.  

A lot of underrepresented rural counties in TX are very, very poor, have extremely low levels of education....and a lot of them are composed of predominately minorities. Here are the 1999 stats from the US Census Bureau.  Personally, I think they speak for themselves.

My "hometown" - Matagorda County (where I went to Jr.High/HS):
percentage of population 25+ with Bachelor's degree - 12.5% (the state average is 23.2%)
household income - $32,174  
per capita income - $15,709
person's of Hispanic origin - 31.3%
person's of Black/African American - 12.7%
white persons - 52.4%
person's below poverty level - 18.5%

Where I went spent childhood/went to Elem School & where my brother's graduated from HS-Webb County:
Median Household Income - $28,100
per capita income - $10,759
Bachelor's degree or higher - 13.9%
person's below poverty - 31.2%
white - 4.9%
black - .4%
Hispanic - 94.3%

Harris County (Houston...but does not include many of the wealthy suburbs like The Woodlands (Montgomery Co.) or Sugarland/Richmond/Rosenburg (FT. Bend) because most of the burbs are in their own county):
percentage of poulation 25+ with Bachelor's degree - 26.9%
median household income - $42,598
percapita income - $21,435
white (not hispanic)persons - 42.1%
Black/Afr.Amer - 18.5%
Hispanics - 32.9%
person's below poverty level - 15%

To me, the statistic speak for themselves.  The poverty level of Webb County (31.2%) is more than twice that of Harris County's (15%).  The percentage of people with Bachelor's degrees living in Harris County (26.9%) is more than twice that of those living in my "hometown" county (12.5%). Even the median household income & per capita income of Harris county is twice that of Webb County!  And if I pulled up the Dallas stats or the stats from some of the burbs, I would be willing to bet that the statistics would be even more differentiated.

I'm just saying that the experience for people coming from small, uneducated rural communities just isn't the same as people coming from larger cities....

People in my hometown don't go to college!  They become farmers and work on the shrimp boats or work at the plant.  As a woman, I was supposed to find some nice farmer or some guy that makes a good livin' workin' at the plant (who probably actually makes only in the $20's or $30's) to marry. Then I am supposed to have babies and cook.  
 
I graduated from high school with approximately 100 people in my class.....at least a third of my class dropped out to farm or to sell drugs or were arrested before they finnished high school so they weren't even in my "graduating" class.  Less than two dozen of us even went to college.  Less than a dozen of us graduated from college.  I know of one other person besides myself who is pursueing graduate school. I have never known anyone from my hometown who went off to an ivy league or equivalent shool. A person was "big-time" if they went off to A&M! When I graduated from HS, my Mom literally told me, "You need to get a job at the plant. You can't afford to go to college!"  I made a 1310 on my SAT (without any studying) and had a 3.94 out of a 4.0 GPA...and this is what I was told....that I need to get a job for minimum wage at a plant! I'm not saying that my stats were remarkable by any means, but I think that they at least warranted encouragement to attend the local junior college!!!    

College was an endeavor that I took on completely by myself.  I researched college myself and found scholarships & loans to help pay for it.  Noone (not my parents or any teachers or counselors) helped me.  When I went off to college, I was blown away (and I even went to a very "middle-class" college...not a private school) by some of the advantages that some of the people that I went to school had.  I continue to be blown away by some of the people I meet at my boyfriend's (who also came from a small town) medical school...Ivy League educations, private tutors to help them out if they are doing poor in a class, expensive prep courses.  Even the "minorities" in his class are rich!  

My boyfriend and I still laugh about his first experience at Med. School..he came up to Med school for his interview and couldn't find a parking space because he was scared to park his early 90's Diesel truck in the sea of Mercedes and BMW's.  

Like I said, I can see both sides of the issue concerning AA.  This is why I don't get angry when I hear about some URM's getting into a better school or getting more money than me.  I figure that, even if they are from a better socio-economic background than me, I don't really know the struggles (and will never know) that being a minority has brought them and I don't have a right to judge. I'm a firm believer in not judging someone until you have walked a mile in their shoes.  

I guess the reason that I wrote all of this was just to try to show you some statistics and to explain to you that there are a lot of people out there who may not be classified as "minorities", but who have still faced many disadvantages that warrant consideration in the admission's process.

Sorry this response is so long!!!