Going into this process I told myself I would go to the highest ranked school I got into, so to see myself picking NYU over Stanford would be INSANE. I didn’t qualify for need-based aid at Stanford. I chose NYU for the half-tuition scholarship, because I was interested in public interest (the PI community at Stanford is smaller than NYU), NYU’s LRAP is marginally better, my support network is in NYC, and I ultimately want to practice in NYC. I think I made the right choice, but trust that I did agonize over it for weeks. While obviously blessed to have so many options, I didn’t realize how difficult that would make the last few weeks of the process. Something I had to really internalize is that prestige / rankings are a starting point, but your personal circumstances have to be the deciding factor.

I think the “smartest” choice would ultimately have been UVA for the sheer amount of money they gave me and the low cost of living in Charlottesville. But for a lot of reasons, I wouldn’t have been able to make living in VA for 3 years work. Considering that, I think NYU is a nice balance between $$ / reputation between UVA and Stanford.

EDIT: Columbia later got back to me and offered to match NYU’s money. After speaking to a couple of Columbia PI students, I felt comfortable taking up Columbia’s offer just for fit, neighborhood, and access to some specialized resources for the kind of PI I wanted to do.

Some reflections on the process:
I took the LSAT four times. 169 –> 171 –> cancel –> 173. I was devastated after the 3rd take, but I think LSAT scores are really that competitive now that I do think the two points made the difference (and thank God I plucked up the courage to take again). I think my multiple re-takes only really negatively impacted my chances at Harvard.
I think my essays and personal statements were strong, but schools could for sure tell how much or little I wanted to go there (sorry, Berk and Mich, and to an extent, Columbia). These were the schools where I didn’t write a “why x” essay and I have come to learn that those are actually really important for most schools (excepting HYS). Re-doing the process, if given the option, ALWAYS write the “why x”
I decided to blanket the T-14, but honestly, I think that and the number of safeties I selected was excessive. Doing this again I would do a far more tailored list of law schools. Berk and Mich could for sure tell I wasn’t excited to go, so I spent that $80 for nothing. Ditto for Temple and Fordham – once I got the first T14 that was curtains. I guess this is easy to say in retrospect with the cycle that I had. But, realistically, if Temple and Fordham were my only options, I would probably have R&R’d. But even as a PI person not interested in moving to Chicago, applying to Chicago was kinda an insane move. Then again, if I had gotten a Ruby, different story, so really all I’m saying is hindsight is 20/20.
Actually go to the essay writing seminars. My personal essay was AWFUL until I went to Yale’s personal statement seminar. I just did not understand that a law school PS is not the same as an undergraduate PS until it was broken down for me by admissions officers. If I hadn’t gone to that seminar, I think my cycle would have looked VERY different. The format they suggest is:
Maximum 1 paragraph anecdote that has a clear takeaway (make the takeaway the last sentence of the paragraph)
Describe your past (for me, undergrad) and how that led to your present (my current job position)
Describe your present (current job position) and why what you’re doing now motivates you to go to law school (your future) – make sure you have a sentence that explicitly says “I want to go to law school because x”
Summary / conclusion paragraph that calls back to the beginning
NOTE: you are not taylor swift. do not try to make admissions think you are or want to be the next taylor swift. you can be evocative in your writing but still write mostly like you’re writing a cover letter (the analogy for me was to write something that reads like an Antonin Scalia decision)