PunyCarefulLadybird '20–'21 app cycle Class of 2024 class year

I have a pretty standard profile overall. Typical law-related T3 work experience. However through my work I was a part of the team that did a law-related thing that made it to the front page of all the major newspapers, and I of course made that experience the centerpiece of my application.

Some thoughts for my fellow T14-or-bust peeps:

• my softs were (ironically) solid enough to get me into my school in what was otherwise an extremely cycle. I relentlessly highlighted the most appealing parts of my softs in my application. Don’t ignore your softs in highly-competitive cycles where schools could pick and choose among high scoring candidates.
• if I applied earlier (in November, for example), I think I would have gotten into Duke and Northwestern. I also probably had a better than coinflip chance at getting off the NU waitlist had I stayed on and did the typical waitlist things (Kira interview, LOCIs, etc) - but Mich was my top choice anyway so I didn’t bother. Apply early if possible - I had the worst writer’s block while writing my essays though.
• do not apply to only a few schools, especially as a splitter. Apply to schools that you wouldn’t even think of attending, and use scholarship offers from those schools to progressively leverage your safeties, then your targets, and then (if you’ve gotten in) your reach schools to offer you more money. An app might cost $100 or so, but that’s chump change compared to the thousands, and possibly even tens of thousands of extra scholarship that could result from this strategy.