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…
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Advice applicants left on their LSD.Law profiles, searchable by topic, school, and stats.
545 entries
Admitted to New York UniversityDon’t deny yourself before the school can do it for you. You have to be willing to face failure to reap success. (GhoodGirl2Harvard on reddit to see any previous advice; likely not currently active on account for current questions)
“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…
as I’ve been saying to all my friends: IT’S NOT OVER TILL IT’S OVER!!!! You absolutely have a chance at that school up until getting an R—stay sane, and remember that sometimes the cycle is just slow!
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…
Genuinely shocked and so honored by the results I’ve received this cycle. Coming in, I could hope for but never imagine this outcome. The decision for me will ultimately come down to YLS vs. HLS, with the main factor being proximity to my SO at HLS versus my significant interest in clerking + prestige-advantaged…
**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…
My top 5 takeaways: Apply early You probably can’t game HYS Be explicit about what you want your LORs to talk about Sign up for webinars with your CAS email Free resources work 1. Apply early: I can’t identify why I was WLed at each school, but I expect timing had something to do with my Michigan and UCLA WL. I put…
If you are a splitter, the ball is in your court. It’s up to you to convince the adcomms that they should let you in over the competition. They know you will likely succeed (your gpa/lsat signals this) just as they that know the splitter you’re in competition with will likely succeed. You can seperate yourself by…
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…
Miscellaneous advice I gathered/learned this year that feels worth passing along: I highly suggest deep diving on here and reddit before your application season, it helped me set realistic expectations around A’s/$$/timelines. But then I stayed off of reddit once my apps were in and only rejoined once I had some…
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…
Write a first draft personal statement early (like spring/summer), then really consider why you are applying to each school (beyond the name/hypothetical career prospects). For schools that like a “why us” in the personal statement or written materials, doing your research ahead of time and linking to the “why law”…
refreshing this website cannot be your only hobby please go play some baseball or something. have everyone read your essays. make sure they aren’t nice about it. it’s like pulling teeth sometimes but you need them to tell you everything you can improve on. apply broadly and apply early. financial aid matters way…
Start writing personal statement/optional essays from last year’s cycle in May to be ready for September; It takes longer than you’d imagine. Also, treat the LSAT like it is a part of law school and attached to your career goal. Yes it is hard and time consuming, but post-grad it is your biggest lever to opportunity…
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)…
Definitely the right decision to take the money, hurt like hell turning down HLS/SLS though. But Philly is great, the people Penn are fantastic—they all keep pushing “collegiality” but it is a real thing here—and the job opportunities are pretty much the same either way. Advice: don’t neglect your recommendation…
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