Dartmouth undergrad, 2 years working for a national public interest law firm, wrote essays about childhood bullying igniting my interest to support those marginalized. I was hoping to attend UVA because I’m only a few hours away from Charlottesville. I had tons of friends from high school matriculated into…
Applicant wisdom
Advice applicants left on their LSD.Law profiles, searchable by topic, school, and stats.
543 entries
Admitted to Washington University in St. LouisJust trying to shoot my shot and whatever sticks, sticks! (EDIT: DO IT SHOOT YOUR SHOT) seriously the only risk of betting on yourself is that silly application fee… if you are looking at this b/c you saw my little dot on the graphs and you also have a lower lsat like me then take this as ur sign to just put urself…
hello there, fellow traveler. I know it feels stupid and annoying to hear me say it now because you’re probably anxious and nervous I was for the past year of my life because of this godforsaken process, but it really will be okay. the universe provides — if you put good into it, good will come back to you. that…
take everything here and on reddit with a huge enormous grain of salt, and talk to real students/alums and admissions officers. literally no 0L knows what they’re talking about; this is all a chaotic mess of the blind leading the blind with that being said and with the huge disclaimer that i also do not know what…
I solicited need-based fee waivers from Yale and Harvard (denied by Stanford) and merit-based waivers from Georgetown and Berkeley. Berkeley was for Fulbright and Georgetown just the general merit-based waiver, although they reached out later and gave me a CRS waiver anyway. Everywhere else was unsolicited and these…
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…
Tips: Be willing to apply next cycle. For 99% of people, there is no rush, and losing one extra year of being a lawyer won’t ruin your life. I have encountered many students that I tutor who are rushing the entire process and are surprised at the underwhelming offers and results. Do an activity that you love, not…
General Thoughts: We’ll see how my cycle goes but my general strategy so far has been to apply broadly and take every chance to write an optional essay that I can. This was a lot and I started preparing my applications over the summer. Optional Essays Chicago: Why Chicago. Duke: Why Duke and Optional Essay 2. Penn:…
On application timing: many of the resources I found online either led me to believe that application submission timing made very little difference in outcomes (podcasts from Spivey Consulting, Navigating Law School Admissions, Dean Z) or that application timing is a major factor in likelihood of acceptance (this…
ALRIGHT, CYCLE COMPLETE! I cannot wait to start my legal education at YLS! This cycle went way better than I could have ever imagined (now wishing I didn’t waste so much money on application fees lol). I don’t know if my application advice will be helpful, because who knows what about my application worked well, but…
🥰 hi all! My biggest recommendation for everyone is to try to drown out the noise regarding personal statements, supplemental essays, etc. My personal statement did not speak to any schools in particular or even answer the “Why Law?” question, and I think that while that was potentially a risky choice it also…
*first cycle since the supreme court ruling of affirmative action ban — i know the process of getting into law school can be stressful at times. try to remind yourself that there is so much of this process that is completely out of your control. still make the time to take care of yourself and enjoy the present…
Super splitters, go take some risks in your career—go find a mission. Then come back to law school when you discover how to tell a story about how it’s essential to fulfilling that mission. Write that story — and then re-write it until you feel good about the placement of every piece of punctuation, every clause,…
Listen, O my children, and heed my advice: Remember, O my children, that pride goeth before the fall. Each of us is a unique mix of talents and weaknesses. Learn to distinguish one from the other, and your GPA will flourish. Remember, O my children, to prioritize mental wellbeing. A fool is the one who fails to…
Don’t compare yourself to others, especially strangers on the internet. Just because something is right for someone else doesn’t mean that it’s right for you. Don’t apply to 20+ schools just because someone else is. Don’t count yourself out from applying to top schools just because someone else said that your stats…
Going off private for my fellow splitters and my fellow splitters only <3
I was convinced going into the cycle that my KJD status would completely bar me from the t 3-5 schools, but I’m happy to have been wrong. Work experience is the right call for many people, but if you have high stats and have had exposure to legal work, I think you can have some confidence going in. A few random…
Applied mostly by the end of December and by the end of January Accepted into ASU, withdrew after poor scholarship Accepted into UIUC off the WL (sent 1 LOCI on 04/19/25), withdrew after being denied further scholarship consideration Accepted into WashU off the WL (sent 1 LOCI on 04/18/25), put down 2 seat deposits…
Your study break just got better: follow @lawschooldata on Follow @lawschooldata on TikTok & Instagram