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…
Applicant wisdom
Advice applicants left on their LSD.Law profiles, searchable by topic, school, and stats.
33 entries matching "softs"
Admitted to University of California—Berkeley…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…
…a full semester of pass/no pass grades thanks to COVID-19. SOFTS: one great internship, a couple meh internships, some retail/food service part-time work, and no full-time work experience. campus involvement throughout undergrad including some leadership. captain of university speech team and a few cool awards for…
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”…
…your answers concise as well since you are in a group. – Softs: 6’1, 405 deadlift, midwest charm. – Other notes: Stanford: These thoughts come attending from their admitted students day. They love students who have a prestigious undergrad background + are from a unique state. I met people from Kansas, Missouri,…
…to Yale Law School! BACKGROUND GPA: 3.99 / LSAT: 167 / Softs: T1.5ish Three years of work experience and am the recipient of two prestigious awards/fellowships for leadership & graduate study. As a future attorney, my main interests are law teaching/legal academia and litigation. Heading into the cycle, Yale was my…
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.
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…
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…
General vibe: Softs can get you onto waitlists and from there, your LOCIs and determination may get you off of one! Make sure you go to info sessions! easy way to get your foot in the door and put a face and personality to your applications! If you’re writing an addendum or thinking about it, don’t be afraid to go…
…at your essays for too long. My only super “unique” soft was an experience with a health emergency and subsequent disability in my senior yr of college, which I wrote about as a diversity/perspective statement. Otherwise, I was a fairly standard KJD-adjacent applicant (graduated May 2023), with lots of…
Shoot your shot. One T3 (maybe T2) soft, everything else solidly T4. Two years work experience as a Legal Assistant. I wrote all optional statements for SLS, Berkeley, and GULC, as well as one for Michigan and UCLA. I only applied to schools I would have considered attending, but there’s some wisdom to applying to…
…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 common sense to me but apparently some people don’t understand this. If you can neatly slip a variant of Why X into essays…
…many times as it takes to get a 170+, and lean into your softs. I don’t have any family members or friends in law, and had no idea what I was doing when I applied. I was just very candid and transparent in my application, and studied for the LSAT for over a year. Do some community service and show law schools that…
…wrote Why X for the schools I really cared about. My T3 soft is being published for clinical/biomolecular research in a reputable medical journal as second author. I also have a published abstract in the same journal as first author. Currently working as support staff in a PI law firm and waiting for decisions to be…
Make sure your narrative is cohesive (softs fit with your “why law,” i.e.).
…foreign language double major- What I would guess are T2.5 softs (3 years in top consulting firm; relevant/competitive internships every summer and semester of college; AmeriCorps service; US Senate work; federal agency work; selective fellowship; exceptional amount of in-depth campus leadership experience;…
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