Warning

Info

What are "softs" and how are they classified?

LSAT score and GPA are "hard" data. Softs refer to everything in your application that isn't "hard" data.

Softs are inherently unquantifiable. That's why they're called softs.

The tiers below are very rough guidelines for putting a number on something that really can't be quantified. Don't take the tiers too seriously when comparing yourself to other applicants on LSData. Holistically valuing softs is the admissions committee's job.

The soft tier system is copied from an old reddit post by /u/whistleridge.

@adcoms - is this information out of date? Email us at admissions@lsd.law and tell us how we can improve!

Soft tiers

Please do not consider under represented minority (URM) status when classifying your soft tier.

Tier 1 (extremely rare)

  • High decorations for valor (Congressional Medal of Honor, DSC/Navy Cross, Silver Star)
  • Rhodes Scholarship
  • Started multimillion-dollar company/innovative service that is household name
  • C-level executive in publicly traded/Fortune 500 company
  • Professional athlete/college athlete who was a lock for professional except for injury
  • Widely published author/heavily cited academic
  • Prior high expertise in field (surgeon who invented technique, etc.)

Tier 2 (rare)

  • Decorated military service (Purple Heart, Bronze Star)
  • Fulbright/other prestigious scholarship
  • NCAA athlete in standout position, e.g. household basketball name, led water polo team to 3 titles, etc.
  • Overcome extraordinary physical/mental handicap (ALS, blind & deaf, etc.)
  • High level (director, etc.) position in prior employment
  • Prior demonstrations of high expertise (patents, etc.)

Tier 3 (uncommon)

  • Commissioned military service
  • Prestigious undergraduate scholarships and/or research awards
  • NCAA athlete
  • Overcame extraordinary adversity (childhood poverty, physical/mental handicap, etc.)
  • Published academic
  • Peace Corps/Americorps/other public service
  • Prior employment in legal field or otherwise pertinent area (engineer for IP, etc.)
  • Disadvantaged status: LGBTQ+, first in family to attend college, single working parent, etc.

Tier 4 (common)

  • Any military service
  • Legal internships
  • Congressional internships
  • President/officer of clubs/frat/etc.
  • School newspaper/yearbook/etc.
  • Honors societies

General

General chat about the legal profession.
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KnowledgeableRitzyWasp
18:18
Calling someone a pedo is fucked tho
BasedBonobo
18:18
guys it’s a website of snan
shereallysaidmeganslaw
18:19
of course it is but put someone in a time out not a ban
BasedBonobo
18:19
anonymous animal user names. not that deep
manifestT14acceptances
18:19
between pug and split i see both sides on the one hand there's new people here all the time and they might have new questions so it makes sense that split would have to bring it up a lot but also i do bet it feels at least a little good when you do bring it up ;)
saintcamp
18:20
maybe the more limited in quantity the power the more thoroughly it corrupts
KnowledgeableRitzyWasp
18:20
Bro if I had a full ride to Harvard I’d never interact with someone on the internet again
SplitterNoQuitter
18:20
^thats exactly why I try to push it up for new applicants when I can
CallHerDaddy
18:20
Ararrarara ppl will say whatever they want out of their mouths regardless you cant control it baby
SplitterNoQuitter
18:20
Apologies if it’s obnoxious, but I want to be the resource I wish I had when I first was applying
manifestT14acceptances
18:20
also i3ybrtgi30utybg someone on reddit said they got off the mich waitlist ahhhhhhh ahhhh ah AH
KnowledgeableRitzyWasp
18:20
Free horsey
CallHerDaddy
18:21
You can’t put a boundary on a site
saintcamp
18:21
you are excited and making an effort to help, that is admirable
babybunny
18:21
@CallHerDaddy: sorry i’m short on messages but i promise infinite jest gets so good. there’s a bunch of diff stories but they’re all connected and i think it’s really well-done. also i’m sorry if the footnotes are annoying to you lol
manifestT14acceptances
18:21
i want my feeler call and i want right NEOW
NoModsNoMasters
18:21
Free hellwoods too
KnowledgeableRitzyWasp
18:21
I still need to pick his brain for all the knowledge to be had
KnowledgeableRitzyWasp
18:21
It’s like the equivalent of burning the library of alexandria
CallHerDaddy
18:22
If you feel offended you know what is in your control Ararara? You moving away from da site
manifestT14acceptances
18:22
drop your social so horsey can find you and you can pick his brain
CallHerDaddy
18:22
@babybunny: thank you lover
KnowledgeableRitzyWasp
18:22
Hellwoods is my gremlin brother
KnowledgeableRitzyWasp
18:23
We do a little mischief
babybunny
18:24
hellwoods is my baby daddy
[] ararara
18:24
Hellwoods we’re working on the problem we’re having with banning users so soon you won’t be able to do this anymore and will be able to make good use of your time
manifestT14acceptances
18:25
i like the gloating its something i would also do
saintcamp
18:26
unequivocal support for all chaos agents
shereallysaidmeganslaw
18:28
Would love some transparency on how the mods are chosen and what the banning decision process consists of
LinskysMom
18:29
release the documents
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