ElkMilk '23–'24 app cycle Class of 2027 class year

General
Essays:- I wrote my personal statement about my goal of working in IP and the arts space rather than tech and focused on my personal experiences that led me to that goal. I had one person review my essays that I’m not too close to, which helped to give more objective advice.

• I wrote a diversity/supplemental essay for every school that I applied to. I did not write more than one if multiple prompts were given.
• Recs:
• I had 4 letters of recommendation that I chose from depending on the school.
• 2 recommendations were written in 2021 when I applied to junior deferral programs.
• One recommendation from my current employer (a partner at a boutique law firm)
• One recommendation from my favorite professor in college that I still keep up with. She wasn’t a prof for my major.
• Realistically, I would recommend getting one from within your major or a thesis adviser, but my thesis adviser was super unhelpful, and all of the other professors were ones that I didn’t spend time with.
• I did not write LOCI for any of the schools that waitlisted me because I was already comfortable with where I had gotten into and I honestly wasn’t going to wait until June-August to decide where I was going to live anyways. I did, however, send an updated resume as I got a part-time job on top of my full-time job that was related to my application to Columbia.

Yale [R]
I only applied because they sent out that stupid recruitment email even though both my GPA and LSAT were much below their medians. But I got a fee waiver, so I applied. I can honestly say that I am glad that I didn’t get in because who the hell is willingly living in New Haven? Essays:- Personal Statement, 250-word Essay, Optional Essay (adapted diversity essay to one page).
UPenn [WL]
Really wanted to go here, but knew it would be a shot in the dark if they accepted me. Happy to even get on the waitlist. Realistically, I am treating this as a rejection.- I have to say that I had over 5 date changes for Penn. I am not sure if that meant that they were looking at my app constantly or what, but it was super nerve-wracking.
Essays: - Personal Statement, Optional Statement (adapted diversity essay to under 500 words)
NYU [A]
DLS in 3/27/2024. I checked my application status around 11:30 and got the call at 1:08.- I got the February 6 email that a ton of people got essentially stating that they want to look at the rest of the application pool first

• I live in NYC so going here is at the top of my list, even though I know that this is such a reach.
  Essays:- Personal Statement, Additional Information Statement (diversity essay)
  Columbia [A, Attending!!]
  Finally heard back!! :)- Still waiting to hear back [3/4/2024] which is scary because I missed the first few WL/R waves as an October applicant but I know that both of my scores are below their medians.
• Apparently, they sent out a hold email today [2/17/2024] and I didn’t receive it. Not sure what that means…
• Essays: Personal Statement, Supplementary Statement Prompt 2 (adapted diversity essay to 450 words)
  UC Berkeley [A]
  Okay this one was a complete crap shoot. I got an email from them in November with a fee waiver so I said, f* it and applied. When I first decided that I wanted to go to law school, this was my dream school, but then I didn’t really want to be away from the East Coast. BUT I GOT IN!!!. I haven’t committed yet, but it is very likely I end up here [2/12/24]Essays:**- Personal Statement, Perspective & Experiences Essay (adapted diversity essay to 450 words)
• I did not do the Kira video/essay that they sent in, as I didn’t feel like I had anything else to add for “Why Berkeley” outside of what I had detailed in my other two essays and didn’t want to mess it up by making the committee watch something that added nothing to my application.
  Georgetown [WL]
  now this one hurt. But, as my undergrad institution, I was likely to get WL over a straight A. I could probably get off this WL, but I am not spending a lot of effort to beg Dean Andy to let me in. - I got invited to do a Group Interview around 2 days after I submitted my app and interviewed on Nov 6. I got the “exceptional group” speech during the group interview and in the email after.
• WL email was the “special group within our priority waitlist”. Idk what that means because they also said they don’t rank people on the waitlist and let people off from all groups.
  Essays- : Personal Statment, Optional Statement (diversity essay), Optional Response Prompt 5 (top 10 list)
  Boston University [A]
  Not much to say. Was on the east coast and close to home. This was my MA “target school”- Essays: Personal Statement, Diversity Statement
  Fordham [A]
  Staying in NYC, this was realistically my best “target school” so I applied to their early decision, which was non-binding. This was in hopes that I would hear back before submitting other apps, but they really held me on strings until a week before their own deadline.- Essays: Personal Statement, Optional Essay (diversity essay)
  George Washington [A]
  I went to undergrad in DC and really like the city, so I applied here as a “target school” in that area.- Essays: Personal Statement, Identity Statement (diversity essay)