TheBookThief '21–'22 app cycle Class of 2025 class year

I wanted to highlight that I am a COMMUNITY COLLEGE GRADUATE who went to a tiny, unheard of, completely unprestigious state school. When I started my cycle I found it nearly impossible to find examples of people in my situations (fantastic stats, non-prestigious background compared to other applicants) and it made me VERY unsure of my outcomes, hence applying to 17 schools. Originally I was going to do 21 and I decided to cut out some safeties, with the plan to apply to more in January if I didn’t like how my cycle was going. I am EXTREMELY happy that my background didn’t hold me back, but I do think I have some odd results that can be explained either by my non-prestigious background or by my risky personal statement topic choice! Finally, I took the LSAT 3 times. 168 and 169 in back to back tests, then I took a 10 month break (6 month break and 4 months of studying) and then got my 174. 

I just wanted to start off by highlighting that and saying PLEASE study for the LSAT as much as you have time and resources to do so, and shoot your shot!!! My #1 takeaway from my cycle is that even with stats above almost every median, the top 14 are just really, really, picky and random, and just looking for different things in applicants.

I wrote optionals for Stanford, NYU (RTK), Penn, Berkeley, Michigan, Georgetown, UCLA, BU, and UC Davis. Most of them didn’t work obviously. One note: I am a dual citizen and have a significant history in a country abroad that has a somewhat controversial situation going on. I wrote my PS about it and my experiences growing up there, and also wrote a DS about my family background and strange life growing up. I think both were fascinating, but my PS was definitely a risk.

Goals going into the cycle: 100% Public interest focused. I am interested in many different career paths and prioritizing getting a federal clerkship (or several) out of law school, and then hopefully into public interest litigation. So, unicorn PI dreams. However, I also have a list of other PI Careers (working for the state, with unions, etc) that I would have been interested in had I not had the opportunity to go to a school that can get me unicorn PI, or go to a school where I need perfect grades to do it. My intent was always to try my best for my dreams, but have happy places to land in plans B, C, and D just in case I didn’t make it.

School Goals & LRAPs: That being said, my top schools I had most wanted (that I thought was most reasonable) were Michigan, Berkeley, and Georgetown (hopefully with a lot of $$), followed closely by UChicago, Penn, UVA, UCLA. I was not very interested in the NYC schools for personal reasons, but applied anyway to see - I would have gone anywhere for a full ride. Obviously, I was interested in the Top 3 but because of my strange life and non-prestigious background, I never thought I had a shot at them. It may seem incongruous for my goals that I would take on lots of debt (I did come into this process debt-averse, and it was why I studied so hard for a high LSAT score), but the difference is LRAP. Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Columbia has LRAPs (loan repayment programs) that are NOT tied to the federal government’s PSLF. As most people know PSLF is sort of a “dicey” program because it had a lot of problems at implementation that caused many people participating in it to not qualify for the loan forgiveness, bein left with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt not forgiven that they expected to get forgiven. Those problems HAVE been fixed and PSLF should be a functioning program, but it is still a scary prospect to let 200-400k in debt balloon over 10 years of working as a public interest lawyer while paying minimum payments (that’s how PSLF works). As noted, HYS and Columbia have programs that are NOT tied to PSLF. They put your loans in a standard 10 full repayment schedule, and then pay a % of your monthly payment based on your income, regardless of loan amount. That means, with $200k debt at Harvard, Harvard will pay approximately 2/3 of my loan repayment and it is guaranteed to be GONE and fully paid in 10 years from graduating. HYS cover every inch of legal employment, as well, I just have to make in a certain income threshold (and at the point where they don’t help anymore, around $130,000 annual salary, you should make enough to be able to handle even a $3k/month loan repayment).  Please. If you want to go into PI. Look into LRAP programs!!! Schools love to talk about them. Biglaw is not the only option :)

About my outcomes: Obviously sad about Mich WL and Berkeley ghosting (I got the A so late and as of writing no aid award so it’s hard to consider them especially after being courted by H). But I am overall overjoyed with my results, especially Harvard! Also, I think my safety results (Northwestern and down) shows that there’s definitely NOTHING wrong with my application. My #1 takeaway from my cycle is that even with stats above almost every median, the top 14 are just really, really, picky and random, and just looking for different things in applicants.

Advice for future applicants:
Put your ALL into the LSAT. Energy, time, resources. You can have the most impressive background ever, but you need the highest stats you can get to put your foot in the door, especially with the T14. WRITE WHAT YOU WANT TO WRITE ABOUT. Don’t listen to consultants and don’t write what you think adcomms want to read. Read the prompts, self explore, brainstorm, and write about something you’re passionate about, and highlight the positive. Don’t compare yourself to others. It feels nearly impossible. I drove myself crazy with jealousy this cycle until my Harvard decision. Try to submit your apps and go back to living your life. Talking with others for solidarity may help, but following the cycle closely, and other people’s cycles, can be very mentally unhealthy. The process sucks you in and it is NOT healthy to think only about law schools for 6 months straight when you’re not even in law school yet. I wanted to add a subnote here. If you are like me, and you did not go to an outrageously expensive and fancy and well-known undergraduate university, you may REALLY feel the need to compare yourself or feel inferior to other people. Please don’t do this. Remember this is a subjective and truly random process, and there’s a glut of applicants that went to top 10 undergrads and work at fancy firms, companies, federal government agencies, legislatures, etc etc etc. You have to make the best of who you are, and not compare yourself to these people or you will only hurt yourself!Don’t go in with high expectations - look at people’s results in your exact stat range (.1 GPA above and below you, 1 LSAT point above and below you is my usual search range), and expect your results to be somewhere below the average trend of them. This will set you up to be okay if you don’t do as well as others, and very excited if you do as well or better. But this process can be so random, setting hard expectations will hurt you deeply. For example, 90% or more of people in my stat range get into NYU, and I haven’t. Early in the cycle, I let this (and other failed expectations) get to me and I thought my cycle was going to begin and end with Georgetown. Don’t do this to yourself!!If you are a KJD: seriously, seriously consider a gap year or more, or some work experience. It doesn’t have to be prestigious, and it doesn’t have to be consistent. Every KJD I’ve known except one has massively underperformed their numbers, and it seems to only get worse as the cycles get more competitive. Finally, and this goes with the last point: do career research!! I highly recommend the Law School Transparency “Iamthelaw” podcast where they interview attorneys in different fields, and the book 24 lawyers in 24 hours where 24 lawyers describe a day in their life. Also, linkedin stalk, indeed search, government and PI website searches, read job descriptions, reach out to / cold email attorneys who have jobs you’re interested in… do everything you can to learn about the field you’re entering and the kind of jobs you would be interested in. Law is an incredibly diverse and exciting field in terms of opportunities available, and IMO Biglaw is the absolute worst one you could choose!