quarantort28 '20–'21 app cycle Class of 2024 class year

I wholeheartedly believe that my work experience in public service organizations and the strong narrative within my application helped me earn acceptances (and at least no automatic rejections) from T20 / T14 schools. The award offers I received seem to prove that further. I’m a big proponent of working full time before applying to law school. There’s a misconception that going to law school sooner is better when, in fact, schools are looking for professional and personal growth in their applicants. Through my work experience, I did some of what current law students are doing in clinics and externships, and I think that helped me stand out. I worried I was putting off my law school plans for too long. With my stats being on the lower end, postponing law school actually helped.

I wonder how different outcomes would have been if this cycle hadn’t been abnormal. I was waitlisted at schools I expected to get into and received full-tuition scholarship offers from a couple of reach, even super reach, schools. Considering how discouraging this application cycle was for many people, I feel incredibly lucky (that’s an understatement). My advice for URM applicants, especially those interested in PI, is to apply to the T14s AND target / safety schools. I sometimes see people applying only to the T14s or only applying to target/safety schools, but URM admissions are different. The adcoms certainly look into how much harder you’ve had to work to get to where you are. You never know if someone reading your application will advocate for you to become part of their law school community, and there’s nothing to lose by finding out (other than the application fees, of course).