RoisterousMarsupial '24–'25 app cycle Class of 2028 class year

This is extremely doxable and long for the benefit of anyone interested.

Academic: PhD (expected) + MA in social sciences discipline with emphasis in law & society from T20 university in my field (3.99 GPA), undergrad at Ivy with humanities major (top 30% of graduating class), 1 year medical leave in undergrad

Softs: NSF-GRFP and other awards during grad school, published several first-author articles in peer-reviewed journals, 10+ conference presentations (including at the UN), adjunct at colleges/universities, founded and run LGBTQ-related nonprofit, president of grad student government, did anti-sexual violence activism during undergrad, was in professional steel drum band, LGBTQ, survivor, disabled

Other info: C&F from undergrad (peaceful sit-in for non-controversial issue for which I got conditional probation from my school that was expunged; Duke, Penn, WashU, USC, and UVA also got info about a verbal warning I got for disrupting an administrator’s class to read a 1-minute speech about Title IX), sued my undergraduate institution (schools that knew this: NYU, Duke, Berkeley, UCLA, Columbia, BU, WashU), CA resident, parent attended Michigan Law; 174 was second LSAT score (had 171 on LSAT Flex a couple years prior)

LORs: dissertation advisor, law professor, Associate Dean (all from grad school)

Essays: personal statement about rethinking how I approach anti-sexual violence advocacy after doing my research, diversity statement about experience as an LGBTQ person with a disability, did optional essays/interviews when offered (but only did 1/2 short prompts for Stanford, didn’t do videos for Georgetown or Vandy, and submitted Why UVA after I got stuck on UR1); applied to RTK and Furman Academic Scholars at NYU, Academic Scholars at Columbia, PI scholarships at Berkeley and BU, Epstein PILP at UCLA, Olin at WashU

Other decision notes: Waitlisted at UCLA in December but taken off WL when I got into Epstein PILP in January (no LOCI). Originally waitlisted for PI scholarships at BU (did not pursue) and UC Berkeley (pursued heavily: LOCI, 2 meetings - 1 in person - with person overseeing program, monthly emails reiterating interest); told verbally I was “pre-finalist” for Furman Academic Scholars at NYU, whatever that means. Hold at Columbia before WL (submitted LOCI).

Also, I used Spivey for 5 schools (no scholarship essays) and found them very helpful! They helped with Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, Michigan, and Georgetown.