Reapplicant with slightly improved GPA (see WhaleBarnacle from last cycle) Yale: 250 on disparities in education Stan: Wrote books essay; one of “up to 500” invited to do video statement for Knight Hennessy but not selected as finalist (such a tease) Harvard interview: The most one-sided of all my interviews. I…
Applicant wisdom
Advice applicants left on their LSD.Law profiles, searchable by topic, school, and stats.
297 entries
Admitted to University of ChicagoA few words of wisdom… Do not take advice from anyone on Reddit. No one on there knows what got them into a school or what got them rejected. The only people that know that are AdComms. Listen to “Navigating Law School Admissions with Miriam and Kristi.” Dean Ingber and Dean Jobson actually read applications and…
Didn’t write any optional essays in addition to my personal statement, unless you count the mandatory Yale 250-word supplement (in retrospect, this definitely hurt me at UVA, Penn, and Columbia, where I was above 75th for both stats and didn’t do a good job demonstrating interest) T4 softs, did some research at my…
You want to think about the value add of each item for your admissions package as a piece of the puzzle. The resume highlights your professional experience and skills, your transcripts highlight your academic interest from college and the academic rigor you’ve taken on, and the LSAT?GRE standardizes your academic…
LSAT notes: Take untimed sections until you nail your accuracy. Take as many practice tests and practice sections as you can and do dedicated blind review. Incorporate grounding and breathing exercises for test anxiety. I took the test once pre-Flex. School notes: YLS: Y250 made an argument about professional/legal…
Based on my experience, soft factors and essays are VERY important in law school admissions, especially at T-14 schools (I believe that the more you go up in the rankings, the more softs and essays matter). Strong numbers matter a lot too, but they’re usually not enough on their own to give applicants a strong shot…
Stealing this recap format from TroutLawyer, my fellow URM splitter! Going through this process as a STEM undergrad who never considered law school growing up, it always felt like I was drinking from a firehose. The lawschooladmissions subreddit and LSData are helpful for learning the ins and outs of the process,…
I 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…
Thoughts on the Bottom Acceptances Georgetown: Interview12/10. Did Top 10 and Why Georgetown UChicago: Interview 12/20. Super excited. I didn’t think that I would get in, but I gave them specific reasons as to why I would like to go to Chicago (the city and the school). I can tell my interviewer was impressed when I…
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…
Show adcomms that you are not a robot, and if you’re a robot, use AI and pretend to be a human. Also, be careful with the status checker button. You might become addicted to them and they can cause anxiety. I will show you what I mean. Here is a real dialogue from the movie Donnie Darko: Dr. Lillian Thurman: How are…
My Goal: NYC Biglaw with exit opportunities down the road Notes: I went to a non-prestigious flagship state school I had several legal and business internships, but nothing all that impressive I was involved in essentially no clubs in college, but I did work roughly 25 hours/week I wrote “why x” statements for every…
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…
CAS updated on 2/9 with new 3.95 GPA, all decisions made after this date had this new GPA on file. Only a .01 difference so probably didn’t make a difference. Lots of leadership positions on campus, research positions & published article, regular degular on-campus job Would definitely say that I had a consistent…
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).…
A few notes on what helped me the most when building my applications: Communicate with the pre-law advisors at your undergraduate institution, whether you are still in school or an alumni like myself. They are (at least in my case) incredible sources of knowledge and support. Invest in your future by purchasing LSAT…
Unless you have superior softs, a 174+ with a 4.0, it’s going to be a hard run. Start very very early. If you’re in the midst of studying like crazy and the LSAT you get will not get you into the tier you want or believe you can achieve then discard the score. I increased my LSAT from 158 to 166 to 171. I chose to…
Think more, write less
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