7Sagers,
On Monday, September 19, at 9 pm EST, I’ll do another round of live lightning consultations.
What’s a lightning consultation? Basically, I’ll try to be as helpful as I can in five minutes. We might brainstorm personal statement topics, strategize about addenda, or discuss LORs.
If you want a free five-minute consultation about your law school application, I’ll need you to post a few things in the comments section:
- Your three-sentence biography.Your biggest worry about your application.Two ideas for your personal statement.Did you attend last time? Did I get to you?
I’ll get through as many people as I can in one hour, working in a mostly random order. Please don’t post to this thread if you can’t show up for the consultation. If you do show up, test your microphone beforehand. Make sure you have a strong connection to the internet, and that you can speak and be heard on GoToMeeting. If your microphone isn’t working, I’ll have to skip you.
To join, just follow this link: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/590465709
You can also dial in using your phone: United States +1 (408) 650-3123
Meeting ID: 590-465-709
33 comments
1. After years of working my way through community college as a server, I finally graduated last spring from the University of Arkansas with a 4.0 GPA and several awards for my conference participation and research in political communication. I'm a queer woman with a commitment to social justice and helping marginalized groups, and I'm currently interviewing for an internship with a nonprofit working against housing discrimination. I'm living in the Northeast with my partner, who has a tenure track job at a nearby university, so I'm gunning for either an admission to Yale or a huge scholarship to UConn.
2. I got a 164 on my last LSAT before taking a class, so I'm thinking this round will go much better. Assuming that is true, my biggest issue on my application will be crafting a cohesive narrative about myself, my past, and my goals. I had some trouble after I graduated high school, so I spent a few years messing around and screwing up before I finally got my act together. I didn't get into Yale last year, and I wonder if that is because of my narrative.
3. Last year, I wrote about how I excelled at roller derby and presenting my research at academic conferences because I am able to recognize conventions, adapt, and think on my feet. Obviously, that approach didn't work. I'm thinking about writing about my experience moving to MA and falling prey to a housing scam, and not having the resources or the training to seek a legal remedy (the idea being that I am committed to helping people without those resources). My other possible topic would be writing about my experience working my way through community college. I've been told to emphasize the regional diversity I can bring to a school in the Northeast, because I grew up down South.
4. I have not attended before.
1. I graduated from Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada with a degree in Management with my GPA in my last two years of 3.6. I was working in the insurance industry with a decent job before I wanted to become a lawyer. I started volunteering for a legal non profit organization where we help low income people a half hour meeting with a lawyers to help them with their respective situations and they offered me a job after volunteering for a year. Also, my family immigrated here from Nicaragua when I was a child.
2. My biggest worry with my application is my application is not worded as strongly as it could be and I also worry about my overall GPA, which is not remotely close to my GPA
3. The two ideas I have for my statement is about my race and how hard it was immigrating to Canada with a single mother. We were not financially stable and I have been working helping out the family since I was 14. The other idea I want to emphasize is about how much I love my job at my non profit. Love the idea of helping low income people, which is one of the reasons I want to attend law school.
4. I did attend last time and you were just getting to me but before you could help someone from a prior workshop entered and you had promised to help them out.
Hi David,
1. Your three-sentence biography.
28/Male, born in Russia, formative years in Montreal, Canada followed by 5 years in a BSc. in Enology in Argentina with 3 more years working in the field before coming back to the wine regions of Canada - currently working in the wine industry in Nova Scotia, Canada. I finished with a 7.62/10 - a grading scale used country-wide - with the conversion to a GPA scale being around 3.65. I am fluent in Russian, French, English and Spanish and I volunteered during 4 years with the Junior Chamber International.
2. Your biggest worry about your application.
Applying in Quebec, Universities do not take the LSAT result into consideration (from what I hear), but as I am coming from an education abroad, I wanted all the possible chances to get in. The worry is primarily being good enough to be admitted, more in detail would be how to best approach the application process, the structure of the Letter of Intent and explaining my foreign studies.
3. Two ideas for your personal statement.
(i) Adaptation to any challenge, from a young age I have moved around and integrated my new place of residence - the language mastery is a clear result - as well as the completion of a university 100% in Spanish, with very little language knowledge at the time of the move to Argentina. Once I set my mind on a goal, I will follow through until the end. (ii) During the 8 years in Argentina, I helped re-launch and run a family business - a winery - which meant that I was to shadow my step-father during all the business interactions, interpreting all of the meetings he had (Spanish-English), dealing with lawyers, notaries, accountants and consultants. From the age of 19 I have been in that boardroom environment, laying a foundation for a return to university in Law, while getting the practical life experience.
4. Did you attend last time? Did I get to you?
No, I did not attend last time.
Thank you.
Alex
Your three-sentence biography.
Born in Egypt, and immigrated to Canada when I was 3 years of age. Worked in sales for 10 years while and after doing undergrad. I did a Sociology major, and am 30 years old.
Your biggest worry about your application.
Applying too late, because I am applying after the Dec LSAT, and decreasing my chances of getting into a top law school (I'm applying to schools with rolling admission). Should I wait until Sept 2018 admission to increase my chances of getting into a top tier school?
I don't know how heavy the empty semester gaps between my courses in my undergraduate degree will hurt me. I did not know that taking full time course loads was important to law schools. There were semesters where I took part time, full time, and no courses.
Two ideas for your personal statement.
1.) How I cofounded an NGO, and travelled to a rural impoverished community across the world, and am in the process of doing something with the fundraised money ($10,000, if that helps the PS).
2.) Overcoming my fear of public speaking by taking many public speaking courses, and preforming a stand up comedy routine as a final project for one course, in front of an audience.
Did you attend last time? Did I get to you?
YES, and YES, but I have new questions.
1. I Graduated from St.FX with first class honours in anthropology and a subsidiary in sociology while captaining (2014 and 2015) the two time national championship winning women's rugby team. My honours thesis was on the Crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and that is a theme of research and a passion of mine that I hope to continue to pursue through law at University of Victoria or UBC. Combined, these experiences allowed me to refine my leadership skills at many different letters, which is something I hope will pull me through on my application.
2. That my LSAT score is going to be average, along with my GPA, so I need to really work on my personal statement. However, my interests do align with the university's mission, I am just worried about articulating that correctly. Often my writing can fall into a trap of emotion instead of academic writing.
3. (1) Focusing on my leadership positions in athletics as well as within academia, more specifically my interests in Aboriginal rights and empowerment, grassroots initiatives and community-based programs. (2) Crafting a not-boring personal statement about a challenge I have overcome but all the while strongly articulating my skills and ambitions.
4. No, no
1. 26/F, Graduated from Ohio University Magna Cum Laude, 3.78 GPA, with a B.S. in Journalism (3.9 major GPA) in 2012. During undergrad I held executive positions in several clubs/organizations and belonged to multiple honor societies. Post-grad worked at two different branding/advertising agencies successively for three years (promoted several times) and now own my own branding service.
2. Being a non-traditional applicant, it's hard to find good advice for LORs. I have two underway—(1) a practicing attorney and recent law-school grad who I have a close relationship with and who can vouch for my skills and (2) a former professor who can do the same. Should a third be a former manager? Or one of my employees perhaps?
I also attended the PCR hearing for Adnan Syed (subject of the Serial podcast) back in February of this year. Would that be beneficial to include and where would it make sense for that to go?
3. (1) I have a history of accomplishing what I set out to do—When I was young, I wanted a horse, so I bought and cared for one (with my own money) when I was 13; I wanted to graduate university with honors, so I did; I wanted to be on my sorority's executive board, so I earned a spot; I wanted to be the first person in the 25-year history of my company (of former employ) to be promoted in under a year, and I was; I wanted to start and own my own small business, and I do. Now I want to become a lawyer.
(2) My personal history with becoming interested in studying law. And how I've made many decisions (big and small) viewing life through a legal lens—whether I realized it or not. It finally clicked within the past year that I had a passion for law. (This seems like the weaker of the two ideas, but you tell me).
4. No, no.
Hi David.
1. I'm a 38 year old restaurant owner in Toronto. After completing my undergrad in Philosophy at UofT I travelled, and, with very little money opened a successful upscale bistro and ran it for 8 years. I've decided to leave the business to help people, primarily low income Canadians, and so I want to go to law school to gain the tools I'll need.
2. My biggest worry is my undergrad marks 2.95cgpa, 3.25 in the last 8 courses (on a 4.0 scale). Plus my LSAT, scored 155 on my first real LSAT, but am now testing between 160-166.
3. a) Play up my restaurant ownership and the fact that I ran a very successful business for 8 years as a way to show that I'm capable of hard work and success and b) Talk about the fact that I want to go to law school for more than just personal gain, but to benefit the community and people around me.
4. Didn't Attend last time.
Thanks for your time!
Casey
What a cool thread! Can 7sage bring this back? But where we send you the answers to the questions privately versus publicly? Thank you for considering!!
1) I'm a 25 year old white male from North Carolina who graduated (with honors) with a BA in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. My GPA is 3.55 and my highest LSAT is 172 (I took it three times and the scores were 166, 169, 172). Since graduating, I've worked in publishing and for nonprofits, mainly doing communications work, and now serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA for a homeless shelter for families.
2) My biggest worry is that my GPA, while decent, is not high enough to get into T14 schools. I think it should be okay for the lower tier of T14, but I'm worried that it will set me back quite a bit from the top 10 schools.
3) One idea is to focus on how my writing has prepared me for law school. I've had fiction and non-fiction published and always wanted to write novels, and even went to school for it (studying English and Creative Writing). I'm interested in discussing how my identity has changed from someone wanting to be a writer to someone wanting to be a lawyer (using the specific moment of getting a story published as the moment this shift, strangely enough, began), how this process involved me working in social justice and seeing legal/policy work as a better way to help others, and comparing the process of figuring out a story to figuring out policy problems.
Another idea would be discussing my work in nonprofits and AmeriCorps and how that's informed my policy/legal interests, but this is admittedly still a vague idea that I'm sure other essays will also cover. I would also go into my interest in the law and how I see it as a social fabric that affects all aspects and avenues of life, and being able to affect that fabric gives me the chance to both try to change things in many areas, and also be a versatile public servant.
4) First time attending.
1. Your three-sentence biography.
I was raised in a single-parent family in Taiwan and due to our economic disadvantage I stayed in a children's home for 7 seven years for better education. As the first generation receiving a bachelor degree in international relations, I've been working in my government for 3 years after my military service. Meanwhile, I am awarded a government scholarship and also have prepared for the LSAT on-and-off in the past three years.
2. Your biggest worry about your application.
I don't know if the two ideas below are suitable since it's a controversial political issue and some of them are a reflection rather than first-hand, real involvement or personal participation. But it shows why I'm going to law school and what I believe.
3. Two ideas for your personal statement.
As majoring in international relations, I want to help overcome Taiwan's challenges for international participation, because the unequal status reminds me that my family situation in the past. 1. deepening the rule of law/democracy domestically (from my military service that a national protest broke out) and 2. establishing substantial international economic cooperation with other countries (from my work experience in government)
So, I hope to obtain these skills (the practice and implication of the rule of law and helping my government to negotiate international trade legal issues) via going to US law school.
4. Did you attend last time? Did I get to you?
No.
Thank you.
Jason
1. 24/F, graduated from a small liberal arts school in 2014 with my BA-economics. I took the LSAT in June and scored a 167, re-taking in September aiming for a 170+. During undergrad, I had mediocre grades (3.4), but had a lot of success with internships and extra-curricular activities, including winning the national college debate championship. Since, I've been working in data management and grant-writing for a reentry non-profit-- we work with incarcerated women and ex-offenders helping them transition out of prison (my goal is to become a public defender).
2. My grades. My transcripts have W's everywhere and I took a pretty small course-load because I was a) Lazy and b) Pre-occupied with extracurriculars and work. I'm afraid admissions officers will view me as someone who doesn't know how to do well in school.
3.
(1) Social justice focus. How working with incarcerated women and justice-involved folks has impacted me and led me to want to pursue a career in public defense. Specifically, a desire to work for one of the public defenders offices that are working in preentry/reentry, with a focus on not only the legal barriers for indigent clients, but associated and intertwined challenges like housing, employment, substance abuse, and mental health.
(2) More of a personal narrative re: my competitive nature and drive to succeed, incorporating my success in college debate, my passion for muay thai, and my grant-writing/fundraising work. I did some job shadows at my city's public defender's office and have some good quotes from them about how a competitive nature is key to success in what can be a frustrating and sometimes emotionally draining legal field.
4. No, N/A.
1. 21/F I am a current senior with a double major Political Science/International Relations and Economics. I have had many jobs in politics and have traveled in parts of Europe and North Africa, both independently and with school. I want to work in International Law and increase my knowledge of Arabic language.
2. I am worried that I will not stand out as a candidate or will be unable to let my true personality shine through my personal statement.
3. (1) I want to write about how I live my life by doing things that scare me. Traveling, participating in moot court, running cross country...all of these things have been some of the best experiences of my life and have helped me grow as a person even though I was scared to start them.
(2) My two favorite types of places are the country and the city...no suburbs. I was in 4-H but was also an intern on Capitol Hill. I know how to raise and breed rabbits and chickens but I also am well versed when arguing issues of Constitutional Law. There are two sides to me that surprise many people but they intertwine very well when it comes to my work ethic.
4. No/NA
1. Took the LSAT in December 2011 as a 20 year old senior and got a 166. Since graduating with a degree in Poli Sci and a minor in Chinese, I have been living and teaching English in Asia. I'm hoping to score in the 170s this September but I don't have great reasons for wanting to go to law school; I just want to make a lot of money and think I would be a good lawyer.
2. My biggest worry is that I won't score high enough to get into my dream schools. Also, not having a compelling reason to be a lawyer.
3. a. How my experiences living in Asia over the last four years have shaped who I am. I don't think I can tie this into why I want to be a lawyer since I took the LSAT while I was still in college so the interest was there beforehand.
b. My twin was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer shortly after I arrived in Asia. Really makes you think about life and all the "why not me?" questions. Perhaps I could talk about the randomness of life and how you need to take advantage of opportunities as they come up. My twin is fine now by the way.
4. No and no.
Hi David! Thanks for taking the time to read this. I'm planning on taking the LSAT in December.
1. I'm a recent grad, one year out of an Ivy League college, who majored in sociology. I work for the local government of a major city now, and I really love my job; it's great to be able to be part of the political process. I'm Asian American and female.
2. My GPA is rather low (3.47) because I started out as a premed/science major due to parental pressure and then decided to switch into a major that I liked. I do have a strong upward trend in my grades, but I feel like law schools get a lot of former premeds who have the same story. I was told I can explain this on my app, but how can I do so without sounding like I'm making excuses for myself/like everyone else who has this problem?
3. Two ideas: A) being Asian American and being underrepresented in leadership positions in society, bamboo ceiling, etc. and how I hope to change that (I don't like to write about my ethnic identity as I find it extremely difficult, but was told by my advisor that I should in the supplemental essay(s)) B) how my work in the government has informed my interest in the law. I now see how nuances in the law can have significant impacts on peoples' lives--e.g. how something can go wrong when there is even the smallest loophole in a law, or how a seemingly insignificant change to a bill that ends up being passed can empower thousands of people (obviously will give specific examples). My job has given me a great overview of the legislative process, allowed me to educate the community about their rights, and learn about what they hope to see in our city. That is why I want to apply what I have learned to a career in the law at the federal level, to see how all of that works on a national scale.
4. No, I did not attend last time.
unable to attend, comment removed
No longer able to attend.
1) I will be graduating with honors from the University of Minnesota with a BA in Economics in the spring. I transferred to the U of M from a private college in Michigan to take advantage of an ABA exception to the LSAT, which was discontinued. Basically, I'm your typical white, smart, male college student.
2) Personal statement and why X law school essays
3) a) Elaborate on why I am interested in transactional law, plus talk about my transfer. b) just talk about my transfer, including more details about the ABA exception
4) I did attend, but you did not get to me
Hi David,
I did not attend last time so this would be an awesome opportunity!
I am a recent graduate from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia where I was raised. I will be taking a gap year before attending law school to teach English in West Africa on a Fulbright grant. Coming from undergrad, I was super involved in many of the arts and language based clubs. I also traveled abroad my sophomore and junior year in college to get some out-of-classroom experience for my International Studies major.
My biggest worry about my application is my LSAT score. I took the June 2016 administration (my first official LSAT examination) and scored a 141. Granted, I was coming to the test without much practice. I will be retaking the exam during the September 24th administration. My practice scores have been in the mid-to-upper 150s, but I am aiming to score in the 160s on the actual exam in order to be a competitive applicant. I really would like to attend a law school in NYC, so I'm trying to set a high standard for my score. This trend of low standardized test scores is not new for me because my applications to undergraduate programs from high school reflected the same thing (high GPA/varied extra-curriculars and low test scores).
My first idea for the personal statement is to write about my experience teaching English to a 5-year old Parisian boy while I studied abroad in France. To say the least, this opportunity taught me a lot about determination, cultural sensitivity and how to be creative with the rules I was given by the agency on teaching methods. It was also an experience likened to the practice of law of interpreting set rules for a specific situation because it was hard to reconcile this young boy's behavior with the English teaching standards I had to get across to him.
My second idea is to focus on my passion for the arts and fashion and how I can bring legally-minded ideas to those industry. In addition, I would focus on my goals of turning my career trajectory of intellectual property law into an international project.
1. A former teacher who was raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Northern Virginia around lots of fiddle tunes, pig jokes, and balls of yarn. I attended Smith College for a Bachelor's in English in 2005 and a Master's in Teaching in 2010. I've been away from work for the past year to care for my first-born, Benjamin and have absolutely loved sneaking in study sessions during nap time.
2. I worry that my uniqueness will not come across in my application and that a decent but not terrific LSAT score will keep me from getting much-needed scholarships.
3. First idea: Developing creative solutions and persistence while dealing with a boy I have since named "the cot runner" during my first job at a daycare. This boy would take every naptime as the opportunity to dash across the room and jump onto others. I had to stand near him and return him to the cot without commentary or emotion and eventually trained him to make the "best" choice for the time. He was a comical little man so lots of great dialogue and descriptions are possible in this story. The dramatic content but also lessons learned don't feel forced as I work on this one.
Second idea (which I have since abandoned): An exploration of my life-long concern with fairness and rules, beginning with a historic trip to the animal shelter at four years old in which I convinced my mother to get a kitten instead of a cat because "a kitten will last longer," and ending with a highlight of my favorite parts of teaching (but an overall dissatisfaction with the career path). I like that this one addresses my career change however, it feels more forced and less authentic.
4. I haven't been able to attend a session yet but look forward to this one!
deleted.
I am a full-time Economist with the government as well as a mother to 2 young children. I completed a Bcomm. and then went back for my MBA. My undergrad gpa is 3.1, scored much higher (3.8) in my MBA. I am in need of a career change and so am pursuing law school. I love helping people and find a need for such in my community. I have volunteered extensively over the past 10yrs., both in my home town and internationally, from teaching kindergarteners a heritage language, to helping in the resettlement efforts of Syrian refugees, to coaching small business owners.
I have not taken a full LSAT yet, but i appear to be scoring in the mid to high 150's. This worries me, as i will only be applying to one school (so as not to uproot my family). The school i'm applying to is quite competitive. However, i will be applying under the discretionary category (i'm 36 yrs.), which allocates more merit to life achievements.
My personal statement will focus on my achievements thus far, work, volunteering, family and how i am able to balance all that while studying.
I did not attend your previous session.
1. Born and raised in TX, earned a BA History/Politics. Two months after graduation I moved to Istanbul, Turkey where I worked in a university for several years. I left Turkey shortly after the recent coup attempt.
2. I have good, not fantastic, numbers. My LORs are also very good. I just need to nail my personal statement.
3. First: Write seeing the downward spiral in Turkey and the coup attempt and its effects on me. Second: Write about influx Syrian refugees in Istanbul and my volunteer work with them.
4. Didn't attend last time.
1. I'm on my last year for my bachelor's in philosophy at a UC. I'm passionate about surfing and water polo. Over the past few years I've moved my way up from unpaid intern to receptionist/assistant to legal assistant within a commercial litigation firm.
2. My worries are about my personal statement coming off either disingenuous or overly emotional. I don't want to just spit out my resume but I also don't want to focus on an emotional sob story that might make me sound emotionally unstable.
3. Topic 1: The (brief) intro is about how my mother left her home behind to come to the US at the cost of her emotional well being. She struggled to adjust to living here with her new husband. She would often stage suicide attempts, leaving empty pill bottles on the floor, and she would pack all of her suitcases and drive off. This happened a few times a month from ages 5-12. This will tie into the body paragraphs of how my past made me a stronger and more empathetic person. I'm able to work with anyone: even in the hectic environment of a small law firm, I can make clients feel at ease when they're in the middle of an emotionally taxing case. Dealing with instability in my childhood made me crave stability within my own life by dedicating myself to maintaining a high gpa and pursuing a legal career.
Topic 2: immigrating to the US made me more aware of cultural differences and thus more curious to learn new things and that's how I became interested in the legal system. It'll be hard to make this sound personal and unique.
4. I did not comment nor did I attend last time unfortunately.
Hi David,
a.) I'm 23 years old and graduated in 2015 from a private, liberal arts college and majored in History. I was a first generation college student, having grown up in a small, unincorporated town in West Virginia. Since graduation, I have been working in the child care field, transitioning from a lead teacher at a child care center to private care, working now as a nanny.
b.) My biggest worry is my low GPA score compared to the average law school applicant and other graduates from my college. I had a few hardships throughout my college career, including two close friends dying which had an effect on my mental health, but no vacation terms. I would be considered an extreme splitter, for I have a low GPA but have been practice scoring in the 170's.
c.) I'm pretty clueless on the personal statement. My main idea would be focusing on how my background (coming from WV, 50th in adults with post-secondary degrees, cultural environment that doesn't promote academic success) has shaped me, for better and for worse.
d.) I have no attended a lightning consultation lesson before.
Hi David,
I studied mechanical engineering at Colorado State University and I have been working as a field engineer for a couple of years. I lived overseas in many different countries growing up. I thoroughly enjoy learning.
My biggest worry regarding law school applications is having the time to deliver my best quality work. I would like to discuss addenda.
I have already written a few drafts of my personal statement.
I have not attended a session on 7Sage this in the past.