Things I’m happy I did Applied early to most*******- schools (before Thanksgiving) Ask for LORs by end of July so I wasn’t worrying about it during the cycle Give my letter writers extremely specific instructions about what I wanted them to write about Vary my LORs because I’m paranoid and not sure how good some- of…
Applicant wisdom
Advice applicants left on their LSD.Law profiles, searchable by topic, school, and stats.
6,731 entries
Cycle Recap Yale (rejected 3/7/23) - BIG reach- Columbia (reserve on 4/18/23 and broke my heart, withdrew 4/24) - UG alum. Wrote Why Columbia and optional essay on Equitable and Inclusive Environment. Sent LOCI/job update on 3/20/23. Inquired about admissions timeline due to upcoming deposit deadlines on 4/10/23 and…
It’s taken some time for me to figure out what I want to leave behind here on LSD as I end my cycle. I spent hours upon hours on this site for 8 months from the moment I decided I wanted to attend law school and stumbled on this site from r/lawschooladmissions until the day I got my admission to UCLA. I agonized…
Apply Early!!! I don’t mean that the timeline is more important than the quality of your application but BY ALL MEANS plan ahead!!! I brainstormed my PS and DS over the span of 6 months and went through about 7 different drafts before finalizing. Overall, I think my strong narrative is what allowed me to have a…
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…
I’m several years out of undergrad and went into this process knowing next to nothing. I hope some of this can be of use to someone. My softs don’t lend themselves to a very cohesive “why law,” and I think if I’d addressed that more convincingly in my personal statement I might have performed better. I could’ve used…
This is a lonnnng process, but don’t give up. I am the first person in my family to go to law school, so I had absolutely 0 experience before applying. Here are some things I wish I knew before I started: -No essay is optional. Write a “why x” for every school & make sure it’s well researched. -Find someone to help…
CONCLUDED 4/27/2023. BEST WISHES TO ALL WHO COME AFTER. Gonna do this by first giving some opening info, then making a list by date of admissions decision, and finish by giving a summary and final remarks. Read it all, skip to the end for my folk wisdom, or just look at my app chart; it’s all up to you. Intro I…
Intro: This page/section is currently undergoing some major edits as of 05/29/2023. Certain information might be outdated, inaccurate, or even unfinished. To help with readability, I’ve used ChatGPT. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/user/Terrible-Swordfish-9).…
Be kind to yourself and others:) We will all end up where we are meant to be! ASU: In state, wrote Why ASU, heard back via email 5 days later with scholly coming later in the day BU: 2 date changes followed by a 3rd with a status: complete, complete and substatus: complete, received call the next day Georgetown:…
I began studying for the LSAT in April 2021. I took it three times, and I improved my score by 10 pts in August 2022. Immediately after seeing my best score, I applied as soon as the cycle started to my top schools. I am looking to study part-time in the NYC area for as little money as possible. I threw in a few…
Reapplicant from last cycle. No A’s. Same stats (just not a KJD anymore). Redid all application materials and included more supplemental essays and addenda for multiple LSAT retakes. Applied a month earlier this time. (stats and dates adjusted slightly for anonymity) UPenn Sent 9/27, Complete 10/11, UR1 10/28, UR2…
Very non-traditional student. I joined the military straight out of high school and completed all my college throughout my 20-year active duty military career. I attended five different universities, all part-time and primarily online, and earned four different degrees, up to an MBA. It was difficult to assess…
Hey future applicants! First things first, I want to thank all those who have supported me in this journey (mentors and friends, including those in online LSA circles that became my friends over the course of the cycle); I quite literally could not have accomplished this without a solid community around me. Pick…
Do everything early. Start studying early, take your LSAT at an earlier administration than you need to, start writing early, submit your applications early. Don’t feel like you have to do law-related work to seem qualified. My work was only tangentially law-related, but was pretty unique and related clearly to a…
As a December applicant, while I don’t think applying earlier would have changed my outcomes for most schools, I do think it would have saved me the stress of having to commit to a school prior to hearing back from all the others! I would recommend applying in October if you can, but if you can’t it’ll be okay! I…
Applying for law school after graduating a year early in 2021 with a degree in political science. I took my first LSAT in August 2022, retook it in October and scored 165. Was debating on taking the LSAT once more in January but ultimately decided against it because I wanted to finish applying to schools before the…
Applied to WashU w/ redacted GPA Submitted LSAT (for double-digit point increase) and GPA addenda to all schools Submitted diversity statements to all schools No legal experience, member of AmeriCorps after college Unsolicited fee waivers: UChicago (Didn’t apply)- Penn (Didn’t apply) Cornell (Didn’t apply) Duke…
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