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Applicant wisdom

Advice applicants left on their LSD.Law profiles, searchable by topic, school, and stats.

LSAT 179 GPA 3.50 2021–22 cycle

Attending Georgetown University

…and was denied. NYU - Applied to RTK, but used my personal statement as my RTK essay. UPenn - Wrote Core Values Essay. Applied for Toll PI Scholarship and was denied. UVA - Nothing extra. Really considered writing a Why Virginia, but ultimately didn’t. Duke - Nothing extra. UMich - Wrote optional essay on meeting a…

LSAT 172 GPA 3.98 2025–26 cycle

Attending Northwestern University

…practice tests and blind reviewed every single question. Personal statement was formed over 5-6 months. I started over from scratch about 4 times until I landed on my final copy. Do all optionals, prepare for interview, DONT use AI, and be authentic in your writing. Best of luck to you. And remember: God will never…

LSAT 173 GPA 4.00 2025–26 cycle

Attending Georgetown University

Apply early! Don’t overthink your personal statement–have a good 2-3 people that you trust review it but no more than that. There shouldn’t be so many cooks in the kitchen that it drowns out your own voice. The T-14s have plenty of students applying with great stats–those are useful but your real power is in your…

LSAT 173 GPA 3.78 2023–24 cycle

Attending Georgetown University

…and then any other pertinent prompts. A WashU AO said my personal statement was one of the best she’d ever read during my interview with them, so I’d say my writing was likely pretty good. Sent periodic LOCIs until June or so to all WL schools except Vandy, UCLA and USC. It didn’t help at all - getting off the…

LSAT 173 GPA 3.74 2023–24 cycle

Attending Cornell University

…the essays. Try out first drafts of different potential personal statement topics before you lock in on one. You want to find the topic you can not only write about in a compelling way, but that will showcase what you have to offer. And if you think waiting another year to apply will make a material difference in…

LSAT 180 GPA 3.93 2023–24 cycle

Attending University of Pennsylvania

…Wrote Why Berkeley, Why Cornell Wrote Challenge/Adversity Statement at Penn, Columbia, Yale, Michigan Wrote library books essay at Stanford Only wrote one of the Duke prompts No optionals at Harvard, Chicago, NYU, UVA, UCLA, UGA, WashU, Bama I was invited to apply for the Dean’s Scholarship at Penn. I initially was…

LSAT 179 GPA 3.85 2023–24 cycle

Attending Northwestern University

…which probably hurt my scholarship offers. I think my personal statement was also not what most schools were looking for. Splitters can get good scholarships, but for the schools I admitted to, the $$$+ awards seem to go predominantly to URM or above-both-median candidates (which is fair). I truly thought being 5…

LSAT 172 GPA 4.09 2022–23 cycle

Attending Cornell University

…Overall, I should have spent way more time writing my Personal Statement and I should have opted to do every optional Essay that was possible. I also should have applied more broadly.

LSAT 177 GPA 3.84 2022–23 cycle

Admitted to University of Chicago

Personal statement was modeled off of the UChicago hobby examples on their website. I think it hurt my applications that didn’t expand on my professional goals in app questions/supplemental essays (CLS, HYS, GULC, Penn, UVA) vs. ones where I did (Berkeley, Cornell, NU, NYU, UC) & would’ve benefitted from a clearer…

LSAT 173 GPA 3.86 2022–23 cycle

Attending New York University

…else here who removed their Rs from their chart for personal happiness reasons and because they dislike the color red. I join that opinion on both grounds. My Rs are below. YLS | RD | no FW | sent 2/15 | rec. 2/16 | cpl. 2/20 | dec. 3/31 HLS | RD | no FW | sent 11/21 | cpl. 11/29 | dec. 1/11 Also, I was rejected…

LSAT 171 GPA 3.90 2021–22 cycle

Attending University of Chicago

…my Berkeley and Northwestern apps because I wrote on my personal statements that I would attend if admitted—I don’t recommend doing this.

LSAT 171 GPA 3.88 2021–22 cycle

Attending Georgetown University

…Also wish I would’ve discussed “Why Law” a bit more in my personal statement, it was well written but didn’t discuss law at all. Wasn’t really super interested in UMich, UCLA or UVA, so I didn’t write the additional essays, but I think those would’ve helped.

LSAT 174 GPA 3.90 2021–22 cycle

Attending Harvard University

…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…

LSAT 177 GPA 3.99 2020–21 cycle

Attending Stanford University

Worked hard in personal statement + supplements to create a strong why law/why now narrative. Wrote Why X’s (or each school’s equivalent) for every school outside the T6, plus optional essays for any schools that had prompts. Otherwise, very boring KJD who’s had a lot of luck this cycle :)

LSAT 171 GPA 3.88 2021–22 cycle

Attending Cornell University

…hard on your application material. Really shape a strong personal statement that explains why law school is going to assist you in reaching your career goals. Or one that demonstrates why, despite your lack of real-world experience, you will be a good fit and contribution to the law school. Your optional essays…

LSAT 179 GPA 3.88 2022–23 cycle

Attending Yale University

Wrote Why Michigan, Duke, WashU, Cornell, GULC. Wrote Penn Core Values, GULC Unpopular Opinion, Stanford Library Books. Updated personal statement for Columbia. work on your materials early and apply early!

LSAT 173 GPA 3.80 2023–24 cycle

Attending University of California—Los Angeles

…this cycle, it was waiting so long to get started on my statements. I didn’t realize how much work it was going to be… I kept hearing that it’s okay to apply in Dec/Jan (and it is), but for me- personally, I regret this decision. I managed to apply to most schools by Dec/Jan but my decisions came later than others.…