My resume had no demonstrated interested in law school. I had no internships, no law-related research/classes, but what I did have was a cohesive narrative and personal mission that all of my extracurriculars/research spoke to. I was easily able to maneuver that mission for why I should go to law school. To…
Applicant wisdom
Advice applicants left on their LSD.Law profiles, searchable by topic, school, and stats.
128 entries
Admitted to Stanford UniversityI will share my experience as I progress in this cycle. Should have waited a bit longer for more merit-based fee waivers. I rushed to submit everything at the beginning of September, so I ended up spending more than I should on App fees. (9/19/2023) Got Yale Fee Wavier (9/20/23) Duke Acceptance (4:00 PM EST on…
Softs: 4+ years of work experience in progressive advocacy, 2+ of which have been at a legal org that has worked on multiple Supreme Court cases Letters of Rec: 2 from professors (one of whom was my thesis advisor) and one from my direct supervisor. ASK EARLY. I gave my professors a heads up in April, sent the…
LSAT: Took it twice (both Flex): 171 (August) -> 180 (November). Used a combination of PowerScore Bible trilogy and 7Sage for PTing/blind reviewing/videos. I think that overstudying and burnout is definitely a thing – I took 6-7 weeks off and barely studied between my first and second take, and I think that actually…
Essays+Additional Info Below Yale - Wrote 250 on Qur’an translation. Stanford - Wrote the optional 250 on teaching a class. Harvard - Nothing extra. Columbia - Nothing extra. UChicago - Nothing extra. NYU - Applied to Furman Public Policy Scholars (was rejected for Furman and RTK, despite not applying for RTK…oof).…
Start this process early. If you plan to be applying in the fall, take the LSAT in the spring to leave yourself time to retake if necessary. Start working on your personal statement. Get as many eyes as possible on your essays. In undergrad, try to take multiple classes with professors if you think you can do well…
Service Academy graduate and military officer. Beneficiary of the GI Bill & Yellow Ribbon Program.
I have 3+ years/4 seasons of experience in the front office of an NBA team in basketball analytics. Through my PS and DS, I tried as hard as I could to boil down the question of my admission to: “Do we want the basketball (analytics) guy?” My humble guess is that doing well in this regard is probably the main reason…
(in the order that they notified me) Harvard - A Penn - A - just updated my diversity statement to mention Penn by name; didn’t write any specific why Penn essay. Yale - A - 250 was on a time when I changed my mind in academics, but nothing to do with the law. Also, I believe them when they say that there’s no…
Optional essays: Yale - diversity addendum, no “why x”, LOCI Stanford - 1 optional, if you could talk to anyone from history and ask one question, no “why x” or DA U Chicago - included “why x” in my PS, no DA Columbia - included “why x” in my PS, no DA Harvard - no “why x” or DA UPenn - DA, no “why x”, invited to…
write all optional essays spend time cultivating a strong narrative connect with current law students at the law school you’re applying to if you use reddit, use it with discretion attend info sessions for the schools you’re applying to write your essays the summer before so you have time to edit them and get them…
Shoot your shot. One T3 (maybe T2) soft, everything else solidly T4. Two years work experience as a Legal Assistant. I wrote all optional statements for SLS, Berkeley, and GULC, as well as one for Michigan and UCLA. I only applied to schools I would have considered attending, but there’s some wisdom to applying to…
Shoot your shot, you never know which law school will value your background, and likewise which law school will be the best home for you to thrive intellectually. I say this as someone whose undergrad GPA falls well below the median of most of the T14. However I have cultivated a career for myself and additional…
The only advice I have to remain strong. Even without the anxiety and unpredictability of the law school admissions cycle, this has been an incredibly rough year. At the end of 2020 and the start of 2021, with its prolonged periods of silence from admissions, I was wracked by insecurities and self-doubt. However,…
Wrote Why Washu, GULC Top 10, Northwestern Goals, Why Cornell, Why Duke, Michigan Optional (NOT Why Mich), UPenn Core Values, Why UChicago, two Stanford Optionals, Yale 250 Did not write: Why Mich, Why UVA, Why CLS, Why NYU, or Penn Collaboration essays Full cycle recap here:…
All apps sent in either the last week of September or early to mid October, except for YLS (right before Thanksgiving). Wrote supplementals for Stanford (time travel, 3 songs), Penn (core values), UMich (why Mich), Duke (why Duke), UCB (why Berkeley), Georgetown (top 10) and UCLA (programmatic contribution). To all…
A few bits of advice: Apply earlier than I did if you can, you’ll probably cut back on the stress a bit, but they’re right when they say you should submit when you’re ready. Really think about whether you’d actually attend a school before you apply, maybe save yourself the money. I sent in far too many applications…
Speak from the heart in your essays and don’t let the LSAT rule your life but try your best! Apply to those reach schools but try to be happy with the idea of attending your target/safety schools. By early April, I was really excited about attending one of my target schools and then was shocked when I got an A from…
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