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…
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54 entries matching "softs"
Admitted to New York University…Mike Kim’s LSAT Trainer helped me a lot as well. On softs/your narrative as an applicant: I think a better question than asking what tier softs someone has is what tier narrative they have. Someone can have a bunch of softs that are impressive individually (elite internships, unique upbringing, published work, etc),…
…My LSAT score carried me for sure, but with stronger softs and essays I think I would have had very different outcomes (proof: stats twin this cycle got a Ruby at Chicago). Not R&Ring as my statistical profile can only depreciate and my softs are bad, so there’s no guarantee I have a better cycle next year. Chose NU…
I’m a late-cycle applicant, and I applied to UChicago last (besides WashU). Shoot for the stars and focus on your softs! I almost didn’t apply to Chicago because I didn’t think that I would get in without insane stats (read: 175 or higher). Clearly my softs made a hell of a difference and ended up getting me into my…
Stream of consciousness advice in no particular order: Don’t coast on any component of your application! Keep addenda short and sweet, when possible. Even T4 softs can tell a story about you - don’t collect “softs” as gold stars, do what makes you fulfilled and use that as the starting point of your “narrative”…
…the final paragraph to the school I was applying to. Softs include: master’s degree with thesis on legal issues + fairly competitive research scholarship supporting it, various leadership positions/volunteer projects, former varsity athlete. My softs don’t really have a coherent narrative, because I contain…
I’m doing well this challenging 2020-2021 COVID cycle, and I think my softs really helped me out. In March 2021, I will receive my PhD from a top-20 philosophy program, and my work has received recognition in print and via external grants. I received a full scholarship for my undergrad education at a top-40 national…
…members because I was so borderline, but my essays and softs made up massively for my questionable GPA. Softs: Teach for America, promoted to a HS department chair role my second year. Liberal arts double major from a top 10 private. Three recs: two from professors that gave me As, one from the director of my TFA…
…obvi ended up a waitlist). Other details about stats/softs. I took the LSAT 3 times: 169, 173 (Flex), 178 (flex). I listed my softs as T3 because I played D1 baseball (non-HYP Ivy) and made the Academic All-America team one season. My job out of undergrad was very unique (STEM field in what’s considered a “cool,”…
…number of high-quality applicants increases each cycle, softs become extremely valuable and are your opportunity to stand out. I have no doubt that my life story, upward trajectory, essays, and LORs played a major role in my admission to HLS, and in being waitlisted at almost every other T14 school. Work your ass…
…for the prison volunteering that I did through undergrad. Softs details: I did two legal internships (one at a “Big Law” firm, one at a prominent plaintiff law firm), during undergrad I worked as an RA, TA, and Notetaker, I did volunteer work at a prison (and talked about it in 1 of my essays), was active in a bunch…
I had a pretty tight resume with plenty of softs related to mentorship, athletics, and research, as well as demonstrated success in a field (IP/tech) where there are very few URMs.
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…
Ivy+ undergraduate degree, one year Master’s degree (’23-’24 year) from prestigious school in legal-adjacent field. On the strong side of T4 in terms of softs. Reapplicant to 7/14 schools. Took LSAT 4 times, scoring well below PT numbers until the 4th attempt. Applied with public interest as the goal and many of my…
Softs and a cohesive matter so much more than you think.
Very proud of all my statements. Wrote all optionals. Several T3 and T4 softs. FGLI. 1 year of relevant WE (I think not having more hurt me for YLS). Did everything I could to make my GPA the weakest part of my application. Applied late oct-early nov. Would recommend waiting until jan/feb to apply for YLS if you…
…education after undergrad. Those schools who value those “softs” may admit me in spite of my sub 25 percentile GPA. Those who do not either simply don’t have enough spots or value numbers in a way that probably would not work well with the kind of producer I am.
My law school app is pretty unique which both helped and hurt me (t1 soft which helped, and convicted felon which hurt. Also I’ve always publicly maintained my innocence which in a lot of cases can hurt). LSAT 171 Diagnostic->178 after a month or so of studying. Was pting 180 pretty regularly but during the actual…
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