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I picked my schools based on where I want to live and looked no where else outside of where I wanted to live. I also had targeted schools in each state with a safety. Tennessee is my target state for family and environment. I have a decent resume and believe with enough hard work you can get where ever you want in life, but law is an elitist field. So, take that as you will. Where you decide to attend is also where you decide to live for 3+ years and would really suck to live somewhere shitty where you can not do what you love for a slightly higher chance to get a fancy law job. 

With my essays I focused more on how I grew up homeless surrounded by addiction and being first in my family to graduate HS instead of the details of my military service. ETSing recently, I felt all the cool guy stuff on deployments or in trainings and schools I attended was normal, after talking to people and looking back I would of focused more on my time in PSYOP or on deployments to seem cool. I made sure to tie back how attending so and so  law school would help me reach my goals in life. The Personal Statement was a story of me in relation to law hinting at some stuff that my optional essays gave detail on. I wanted the reader to be engaged, wanting to learn more about me and be someone that they would want to be around not some guy bragging about stuff I did or someone trying to make the adcom cry.

Thankfully, I have my GI Bill to pay for school so scholarships aren’t a major concern. I would recommend applying to similar schools you may be willing to attend so you have comparable opportunities to aid in negotiating for scholarships. It may be extra work but it is also potentially extra money.

Tennessee
Vandy- LSD Chat said I should apply and I am aiming for TN so I said fuck it, did all the essays and video but expected an R. I was shocked when I got the soft WL/deferred decision from ED-RD. I took the hope given from that as an opportunity to write a Letter Of Continued Interest (LOCI) to which I submitted the morning after being deferred. This presented an amazing opportunity to correct the biggest mistake I made on my application and mentioned that I am URM to try and secure that A or at least keep their interest.

UTennessee - Target school and top choice but felt it was far out of my reach based off hard stats. Knoxville is perfect location for me based on environment and they offer course work in Privacy Law, have an Animal Law club and state school so low tuition for an amazing outcome. I did every single optional essay, contacted adcom with questions and did a meeting with a student ambassador. I put all my effort into this application.

12/04/2024 app updates "review is complete and decision is pending" then I went back under review so feeling pretty cooked on this one. 
12/18/2024 I went back to "review is complete and decision is pending". Got the Call for the A and beyond excited, they are/were updating and changing their systems so they were lagging behind with some stuff which explain my weird dates by YES cycle is over
2/4/2025 They released scholarship info, I got $0 and kind feel its cause I shot myself in the foot paying my seat deposit before they released it lowering their incentive to try and bribe me into going.

Belmont - Great school, great outcomes but pricy and high Cost of Living. Like UTK I did all optional essays and did a law preview and emailed questions to adcoms. No scholarship offer hurt when they offer it to majority of their applicants, made me feel unwanted. Biggest downside is the CoL in Nashville is crazy high for a family and houses with what I want/need cost ALOT.

LMU - Safety for Tennessee, good school just way too new

Texas

TAMU - I did all essays here. I got my graduate degrees from here as well. AMAZING SCHOOL if you are interested in Texas they should be your top choice. The staff and teachers are passionate and dedicated to your success. Also did optional video interview, spoke to dean of admission twice as well discussing the school and other things. STRONG reach for me based off hard stats but I LOVE the school and expect an R maybe a WL, they are very interested in climbing ranks and being the top Texas LS. They are Stat Queens (look at that right angel on the graph), the “cohort” they use to convince you to apply sooner is not true. In this cycle people who applied after my cohort got reviewed and accepted before I left initial review. Don’t fall for the apply by date trick to guarantee you will be reviewed first, build the strongest application.

2/4/2025 Date change and sub status blank after being "initial review" since December. Around noon central it updated to Final Review.
2/5/2025 Got the R, once I skipped the 2nd and 3rd review they do I know I would not be getting in. Trying to be a stat queen with non competitive outcomes will not do well for their yield. Pretty sure they didn't even open or review my application past my cover sheet from LSAC.

Baylor - Honestly half-assed/rushed my application because it was a last minute choice to apply. Small private school and not in a bad area with plenty to do and good job market. You would be surprised the amount of fed jobs in Waco. I feel if I would of better refined my essays I would not of gotten waitlisted but didn’t vibe with the school during previews and during research, just felt neutral. Expected the WL.

UNT - Safety for Texas

Arkansas - Safety State
Arkansas is beautiful and cheap law schools but limited placement outside of state.

UArkansas Fay - Schools vibe is off from my research and such but I would live in Arkansas and state school so cheap. Did required essays and only one optional.

UArkansas LR - Safety School for Safety state

I am iffy on how much soft status play into the process but they will set you apart and put you on a different playing field when competing against high stat KJD for acceptance but maybe not with scholarships. Pay for LSAT tutoring it is an investment in your future like a 401k. If you can’t afford it crowd source studying and find a mentor for some help. If you can take time to R&R for a better score and you believe you can get that high score do it. Don’t settle for less. You can always do better by planning better.

MENTION YOU ARE URM THEY DO NOT SEE IT, DO NOT BE LIKE ME AND THINK THEY MAGICALLY KNOW BY YOUR DEMO INFO IN THE APP