SorePossum '22–'23 app cycle Class of 2026 class year

Things I’m happy I did
Applied early to most*- schools (before Thanksgiving)

• Ask for LORs by end of July so I wasn’t worrying about it during the cycle
• Give my letter writers extremely specific instructions about what I wanted them to write about
  Vary my LORs because I’m paranoid and not sure how good some- of them are
• Wrote optional essays: why Penn, Penn supps, Berkeley, Duke, Georgetown Top10, SLS supps (2)
• Did not write optional essays for schools I got the vibe did not care for it: NYU/CLS
• Only applied to schools I would realistically go to
• Personalized mostly all my resumes based on little things I know each school preferred (exp. I sent a long, comprehensive 3 page resume to Duke/UChicago/Penn, while keeping YLS 1 page)
  Applied to schools in waves from late September to mid October based on how much the school cared about app timing, allowed me to fix and modify things as I went, and I believe my October apps were actually the strongest AND- I ended up deciding against applying to two schools (Mich/UVA) because I had already gotten into NYU by Thanksgiving and it was higher on my list (so I saved money and didn’t waste time on schools I wasn’t super enthusiastic ab)
  *- Applied to Yale late. I think my app was much stronger and Yale doesn’t care about timing so I’m happy I did this although in hindsight, I probably would have applied in Jan rather than the night before the deadline (LOL)
• I think my essays did a good job of blending my academic/professional strengths and my personality. Try to describe the events from your frame of reference (how you felt, thought, deliberated, spoke up, etc).
• Interviews: Kept it personable, friendly, and tried to really connect with the interviewer. I tried to have fun!
• Applying earlier meant As earlier –> earlier finaid –> more time to negotiate! It feels like crunch time right now (late March) and I can only imagine how stressed later applicants feel.

Things I would have improved:
Could have written/finalized personal statement, diversity statement, supps over the summer. Not sure why I didn’t? I think I felt like I needed to have the apps open to start which is not necessary. To be fair, this is more to mitigate stress than improve outcomes. My SLS essay topics were more personal/creative writing-y and I regret that. I think I may have blurred my overall focus. I think SLS really cares about your whole app looking very cohesive and pointing towards a clear career path and while I tried- to do that, my supp essays were on fun, personal topics and I don’t think I should have done that.
For KJD+1s - I did medical scribing for my gap year and while I think it was good interview fodder, I actually wish I would have taken my job hunt more seriously senior year and gotten a super cool job that I was proud to incorporate into my resume/essays. I literally wrote like one resume bullet about the scribing, so my app as a whole screamed college, which feels old very quickly when you’re 5+ months out. HYS cares about work experience.- Keep your spring open for ASWs! And save money!!! This is very expensive.

• Could have taken the LSAT in August. Felt super pressured to take it in May and only got to study a few weeks for it. I didn’t get through the last game and wouldn’t be surprised if the questions I missed were all from the games section.