Wrote Why X Essays for every school except: Harvard- Penn (wrote Why X as LOCI upon waitlist) USC (wrote Rothman) Other Essay Topics: PS: Focused on interest in patent law- DS: Discussed experiences as a woman in STEM Softs: STEM degree (EE)- Work experience as a software engineer Accelerated MBA degree
Applicant wisdom
Advice applicants left on their LSD.Law profiles, searchable by topic, school, and stats.
311 entries
Admitted to University of Southern CaliforniaEnded up getting into a PhD program in a related field and opted for that. To be honest, I hated this application process and it was soul-sucking. I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. That PhD applications were multitudes less stressful and demoralizing than those for law schools speaks volumes.
Hispanic from southwestern state, extensive experience living/working/studying abroad, speak 3 languages, won a prestigious fellowship, currently working in a hot industry (and hope to focus on that during law school). Hope schools ignore my low GPA :) edit: they are not ignoring it
Approximate time to hear back from schools (Class of 2028, assuming you applied right when apps opened): September: Arizona State, Baylor U, WashU- October: UGA November: Florida (Levin), USC December: UCLA, UMN, Notre Dame, SMU, Texas A&M, UNC, Utah February: Duke March: UT
Wrote Penn Core Values and Why X School essays for Berkeley, Michigan, UCLA, USC, Cornell. Added a sentence in PS for Columbia. Sent Why NYU after NYU hold. LSAC GPA was slightly lower than uGPA. Retake the LSAT if you need to, apply early if you can. Good luck! You’ll do great!
2 years of part time public interest legal clerking. super kjd (3 years of undergrad/graduating at 20). lgbt. adverse childhood circumstances + clerking made up the bulk of my personal statement. happy with how my cycle turned out and grateful to be going to law school :-)
My wisdom is this: I have no wisdom. I am a Mexican-American URM with a unique soft. I’m writing this before I receive any decision, but a horrible cycle would probably be due to me applying at 19 years old. If I had a normal/good cycle, then I guess age doesn’t matter!
Wrote diversity statements, most optional essays. The softest of softs, 1 year of work experience with Americorps/public service and not many other work positions. Fiercely committed to PI work and nothing else. Literally did nothing during college years. T20~ undergrad.
do your best, stay delusional, stay off Reddit
Trust the process and shoot your shot, you never know who on the Ad Comm will read your application and really resonate with it. Write from the heart and never ever give up hope. Oh, and know when to log off of reddit and LSD, there comes a time when it will be toxic
LSAT 169 GPA 3.99 2023–24 cycle
Admitted to University of California—Los Angeles
always have faith in yourself!!! you can get into a T14 without a 170. write some killer essays and get your apps in as early as you can but also when you feel confident in them (it’s okay to not have them in as soon as apps open - you are not late and not behind).
Sometimes life don’t be like it be, but it do.
Before I got any results back, I made predictions on which schools I’d be Accepted/Rejected/Waitlisted at. I was only wrong about one– I figured USC would reject me, but that’s where I’m going now :) Don’t count yourself out!
Wrote optional school-specific essays for Yale, Stanford, Berkeley, Georgetown, and UCLA. I have very strong California ties, which may have hurt me at schools outside the state and helped me within the state. I wish I had applied earlier in the cycle.
Didn’t put my exact numbers to avoid doxxing, but very close
It only takes one
Go for the higher LSAT score and give yourself plenty of time to study for and take it! Write as many optionals as possible and make the case for how you are unique to a school given your experiences, interests, etc. ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ Give Wave
Don’t turn in your top schools apps first… Applying in September vs October doesn’t make any difference, and if you notice a typo or error in your apps, you don’t want to discover it on your top choices and fix it for your second choices
Your study break just got better: follow @lawschooldata on Follow @lawschooldata on TikTok & Instagram