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Applicant wisdom

Advice applicants left on their LSD.Law profiles, searchable by topic, school, and stats.

LSAT 176 GPA 3.94 2020–21 cycle

Admitted to Stanford University

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…

LSAT 180 GPA 4.00 2024–25 cycle

Attending Harvard 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),…

LSAT 171 GPA 3.90 2021–22 cycle

Attending University of Chicago

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…

LSAT 172 GPA 3.92 2020–21 cycle

Admitted to University of Chicago

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…

LSAT 180 GPA 4.00 2025–26 cycle

Attending University of Chicago

…I have minimal work experience and, quite frankly, garbage softs. I’m still at my current criminal defense firm job, and I’ve recently been promoted and given more responsibilities, so we’ll see how that plays into my next cycle’s applications (given that I’ll have almost two full years of legal work experience at…

LSAT 167 GPA 3.99 2025–26 cycle

Attending Yale University

…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…

LSAT 173 GPA 3.64 2020–21 cycle

Admitted to Stanford University

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 174 GPA 3.77 2023–24 cycle

Attending Yale University

…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.

LSAT 177 GPA 3.86 2023–24 cycle

Attending Harvard University

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…

LSAT 171 GPA 4.05 2023–24 cycle

Attending University of Michigan

…essays helped set me apart. And yes, I have some good softs, but my two cents is that it’s more about *how *you write about them and use them to tell your story more than what they actually are.

LSAT 176 GPA 3.70 2023–24 cycle

Attending Stanford University

…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…

LSAT 178 GPA 4.00 2022–23 cycle

Attending Yale University

…don’t have prestigious awards/internships or other T1/T2 softs (I didn’t), it just means you have to have a well-rounded application with a compelling personal statement and cohesive narrative for law school. Without giving away too much personal information, I had some fairly unique aspects of my childhood that…

LSAT 176 GPA 3.45 2021–22 cycle

Attending University of Michigan

…can please focus on your grades. Unexciting University Softs (president of fraternity, student-athlete in non-revenue sport, mild research opportunities, study-abroad, worked part-time all through undergrad) PS focused on an incident from my childhood -> experience I had somewhat related in uni -> neatly tied…

LSAT 176 GPA 3.56 2021–22 cycle

Admitted to University of Chicago

(∩`- ´ )⊃━━☆゚.*・。゚ background: master’s student, minor c&f issue (grades only), no special softs supplementals for: yale, stanford, chicago, penn, michigan, berkeley, cornell, georgetown bonus tea leaves: chicago: went UR2 through UR5 after interviewing, decision two days after UR5 michigan: date changed two thursdays…