I hope these comments do not express hubris—this is my best attempt at an objective assessment based upon what I consider to be a very strong application. I have multiple ~T2 softs and sharpened my essays for nearly a year. Strategy Lesson - write all optionals I wrote all the “optional” essays. This seems to be…
Applicant wisdom
Advice applicants left on their LSD.Law profiles, searchable by topic, school, and stats.
471 entries
Admitted to Duke UniversityI can say with certainty that I had the cycle of my wildest dreams. I almost can’t believe that it’s over. I put my head down for 4 years for a chance at having this moment arrive, and now it finally has. I’m going to Yale Law School! BACKGROUND GPA: 3.99 / LSAT: 167 / Softs: T1.5ish Three years of work experience…
“The only time a lawyer can cry is when it’s all over.” – Diego Armando I stressed myself out way too much over this process, agonizing over how many recommendations to send to each school, which optional essays to complete, etc. My advice is to not do that. If a school is willing to accept 3 or 4 recommendation…
Yes, you have to write all the optional essays. Schools that called: UVA (434), NYU (212), Northwestern (224, caller ID = “spam risk”), Harvard (617), Penn (215). During the process, a very compelling reason to stay on the east coast arose. If that were not the case, I would have maybe (?) picked Chicago. Looking at…
My two cents: When I applied for undergrad, and even master’s degree programs a decade ago, I always felt I was forcing my application essays. In the time since, I’ve been fortunate enough to do things that fit almost perfectly into each schools’ prompts. I’m not suggesting people need to work for 9 years before…
**some advice from my experience so far: ** do not submit your reach / first choice schools first. you will make a mistake somewhere in your first application (but also, if you make a mistake, don’t worry about it too much. I made minor mistakes in my applications to MSU, UT Austin, UVA, and Michigan and was…
Give yourself LOTS of time to study for the LSAT. I started studying a full year before I planned on submitting my applications, and it took me approx. 400 hours of studying spread out over 8 months for me to be happy with my score. Especially if your GPA is below the medians of the schools you’re applying to (like…
I entered into this cycle fully expecting to be humbled, that despite my stats I would be met with WL/Rs in the increasingly competitive admissions world. I spent A LOT of time on my materials and researching how different schools would work for my interests. Meaningfully researching every school I applied to and…
Shoot for the moon, don’t count yourself out. If you really can’t get your LSAT up (I took it 3x), make sure the other parts of your application (essays, LORs, etc.) are outstanding. I spent months on my personal statement, and I’m really glad I did. I wrote additional essays for Stanford, NYU, Georgetown, and Duke.…
This is a sign for you to close the tab. Avoid obsessing over LSD or r/lawschooladmissions. It’ll only get your stress up. You got this.
Hey visitor! Hopefully this documentation can help you along your own process as others’ words and advice helped me along mine :) Materials Submitted & Timeline: (in order of subission) University of Michigan (8/26) Optional on personal qualities- Why X Academic Addendum ACCEPTED 11/6 University of Virginia (9/1)…
LSAT: 167 -> 168 -> 174 I used LSAT Demon + The Loophole (highly recommend both) GPA: 4.0/4.0 (top 1% – humanities classes only) softs: average for a KJD who knew they wanted to go to law school early (summer legal internship, legal research assistant, a handful of undergrad awards, a couple leadership roles in…
My handle is the same on Reddit if you have any questions (or if you want to view my cycle recap which includes more about me), and do feel free to DM there (as I don’t check this often). Best of luck to you in your application cycle! I’m so grateful to have received the AnBryce scholarship, and I have a lot of…
It’s never too late to apply! If you think you have a shot (or even if you don’t) you should absolutely go for it. I applied to Stanford crazy late and the only way I can justify getting in is that these admissions cycles are total crapshoots. You and wonderful reddit have no clue what admissions are looking for and…
You are worth so much more than any application decision!! Determination, resilience, passion, kindness, integrity - all of these and many more matter more to the practice of law than your LSAT, or GPA. All it takes is one school! I believe in you. You should believe in you too!
“I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.”
For future lurkers, the below are just my musings, so take them with a grain of salt! Reasons I think this cycle went well: Strong narrative focused on PI (and specifically public defense), reinforced by relevant legal internships- Active in undergrad extracurriculars. Did not expect this to help much, but it kept…
LawyerInEmbryo says slip in a $20 with your application
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