Hi,

I am registered for the Oct 14th LSAT.

My plan is to apply with the Oct 14th score. (My current score range is mid to high 160s).

However, if I don't hit my target score(170+) I want to apply with the Oct 14th score and retake in January.

The exam date in January is Jan 27th. Expecting results in mid February(Feb 15) according to the LSAC website.

I want to know if 1.) I can ask schools to consider the Jan score if it is higher than my Oct score. 2.) ask them to hold off until they get Feb score? 3.) Will it be too late for any scholarship/merit-aid opportunities.

I'd preferably not want to sit a whole cycle out due to this.

These are the only test dates available to me.

My law school goal is to get into something within the t14 or t20 possibly with some scholarship.

I am an international student, so I don't think GPA is a hard constraint here.

Greetings 7sagers!

I am trying to figure out how LSAC's Credential Assembly Service (CAS) works. I know the gist of it is to make creating your law school admissions packages smoother, but I have questions about the logistics if I am applying to multiple schools.

For example, if I want a letter of recommendation from someone, what is that process. Does the recommender have to create an LSAC account? Does that letter go to all the schools that I am applying to?

I looking for some #help !!!

Thanks in advance for your responses!

-David

So... I think I have my resume cut down to short and sweet and applicable to law school. I have a few odd jobs going back to high school, and I don't think it's helpful to list everything I've ever done. So, I just listed things I have done in recent years that did seem positive. I know some schools will ask for it all, and I would provide if they asked for it.

Anyway... I wanted some input on a few issues, if you good folks will oblige :)

I snuck a little humor in there. At the end, I have a "Talents" section. Some have "hobbies" or "interests" or whatever. I am open to changing this, too. But anyway... I listed some talents that I have that are also interests for me, and "ruining murder mysteries for my family." It's funny, but true. Do these people have any sense of humor? I always hear that we should show our personalities -- glimpses of ourselves-- through our applications in some way. Inappropriate?

I have some stuff that is under some iron clad NDAs. I can't say specifics, or even the companies it was for (the ones who hired me/any that the work was for). I condensed it all into one job listing instead of separate projects, and gave a really broad overview of what it entailed. It's frustrating, because it entails a lot of things over a number of years. Would this raise massive red flags? How would I even prove any of it, due to the heavy handed non-disclosure agreements? I really want to leave it in, because it covers a lot of time I spent at home raising my child, and it shows I was doing something. Thoughts?

I am currently applying for Law School and notice some schools have slightly different requirements. Harvard allows for two pages resumes- Yale doesn't. Columbia and Duke want specific things in your Personal Statement, others don't. Chicago wants hours worked on your resume, Penn makes no such requirement. Obviously you should do what they say, but how drastically are you guys noticing your materials change from school to school? Should I alter slightly for each school or change drastically? Just interested in opinions.

https://media1.giphy.com/media/3zjQXYf55Ih31V2J5k/giphy.gif

Would it be best practice to submit documents (resume, PS, why X, etc) as PDFs instead of word documents? In my overly obsessive little law school applicant mind, I'm imaging all sorts of unintentional formatting / processing errors occurring at some point after I hit submit to the point where the document appears before a decision maker. Is this just a symptom of too-much time thinking about this or would it help to submit documents as PDFs?

Anyone ever heard of Kibin? Just randomly came across it a few minutes ago. Not sure if it's any good (please comment if you know), but thought I'd point it out for those of us who can't afford $1500+ for help on essays. Says in their FAQ that the average essay assistance costs about $30. Not sure if we're allowed to post links; try Googling "Kibin personal statements"

....the dumbest thing I will read all day:

https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2018/09/duke-law-applicant-sues-after-his-application-is-dismissed-because-he-did-not-take-the-lsat

I mean.. we all joke about doing that.. Some, I'm sure, have been angry enough to say it out loud. But no one has been dumb enough to try it. Until now.

Hello everyone. Really need someone to provide some blunt and honest comments regarding a very short DS here. Somehow I feel like there is something missing but couldn't tell exactly what. I am willing to do the same for anyone in the same situation. PM/comment/email (Admin note: Don't to post your email publicly!), thanks!

Hi Everybody,

I have a pretty dumb question for all you 7Sagers out there....

So I know what a median is (I think) - half of the applicants accepted had stats above that number and and half had stats below that number. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

If you have the median LSAT and GPA for a particular school, should you feel pretty good about getting accepted to that school or should you feel more like you have a 50/50 shot? Now I know acceptance depends on other soft factors - work experience, personal statement, LORs, etc., but I am pretty average when it comes to those things. I have 3 years work experience as a paralegal, I am not a URM, my essays and LORs will be well written but won't have anything absolutely incredibly special to say.

My maternal grandparents are from Spain. I have always checked off the European caucasian box, however on the UPenn law application the hispanic box explicitly includes Spain. Do the "hispanic/latino" options for other law schools also include Spain or is this just unique to Upenn?

Thank you!

First of all, I am an LSAT 154 and GPA 2.64.

I definitely am not aiming for 1st tier law schools, I was wishing if I have a chance for 2nd tier.

With my terrible GPA, I start to worry even if any of the 2nd/3rd tier school would take me.

A little bit about myself, I am now 29, I moved out and became financially independent when I was 19, started my first law firm job when I was 20.

I have been working as a paralegal for 9 years, and my current position is in a fairly big firm, with my years of paralegal experience, my salary is now at 80k plus bonus and overtime.

However, when I worked and being financial stable for past years, I can only finish my Bachelor Degree with much longer time - 7 years. I was reckless to not care about my grades, I just wanted to finish the degree. I thought I will be fine being a paralegal for rest of my life.

But after 9 years of working, I now want to become a lawyer.

I am worried if I go to low ranked schools, I will get into attorney positions that offer lower salary than my current pay.

Some people advise me not to be a lawyer, because it may not be financially wise. I will have to stop working for 3 years plus law school loans, not to mention I still have a mortgage to pay.

But deep down I know I really want to be a lawyer.

What should I do? What do you guys think?

If I get rejected from my desired schools, should I go back to college and take more classes to bring up my GPA?

Another LSAT? Just go to low ranked school, my experience will help?

Or do you guys think I should just stay being a paralegal....:(

Hey guys,

I’ve been practicing in/out games for a while and although I understand most of it, there are a few things that still confuse me enough to throw me off. Hopefully someone can help clear that up :)

I normally get confused with conditionals. For example:

I understand /A—>B is an either or rule so at least 1 has to be in. I would put a place holder in the in group to visualize that.

B—>\C is a not both rule so at least 1 has to be out, so I would put a placeholder in the out group.

I seem to get confused when there is either a chain or a biconditional.

Ie: /A—>B—>C ( I would usually put 2 placeholders for /A—>B and /A—>C ) I get confused when A is in because then b and c become floaters and the 2nd placeholder doesn’t necessarily need to be there.

Or

If I’m given a couple of rules and they happen to link up as a biconditional. I.e -pt 83 game 3

We have

/N—>R

N—>L

R—>M

L—>/R

before I link them up I would place my placeholders. 1 in the in group (/N—>R) and one in the out group (L—>/R)

After you link them however, L, N and R become a biconditional so we know LN Always together and R is alway apart.

When I compare this to my original placeholders, I’m not sure what happened lol

Any advice would be appreciated. Please let me know if you guys would like me to clarify anything :)

Thanks!

I am planning on writing optional essay #1 for Duke as I feel my personal statement doesn't fully address why law school is the next step for me, but I was curious as to how long these essays typically are. Should it be 2 pages like a PS or less?

This may be a stupid question, but I can't find law school applications online for the two schools to which I most want to apply. 7sage recommends researching the applications to discover what questions I'll be asked and so I can prepare my essays - and I wholeheartedly agree - but I can't seem to find them anywhere. Can anyone help?

New round starting 16 Sept. Based on feedback received from some fine members here, I've made substantial modifications to my PS. Anyone up for another round of edits and comments, this time PS only? Although I kept my original topic and narrative arc, I have made significant changes to the structure and details within my PS. Would love to trade PS's with someone, new eyes or previous viewers. Hit me up if interested.

https://media.makeameme.org/created/if-thats-what-2jdpp7.jpg

I have been a full time university student and worked full time as an office admin and sales rep so I have never had the time to participate in other EC's such as clubs or student councils. I have had extenuating family circumstances because i have an autistic brother whom I have had to dedicate a lot of time to and so that was another reason why i found little time to get involved in school with any other ec's. I am wondering will the lack of EC's have a negative effect on my applications (specifically Canadian law schools) or if working full time and having this family circumstance will make up for it? The reason I ask is if it is going to really have a bad look then I could possibly squeeze in some volunteering or join some clubs in the next month even though I really don't have much time left. If it is not going to be that big of a deal then I will just leave it. Thanks for the advice in advance guys!!!

I took the September 8th LSAT and doing my retakes in November, I am taking this week off from studying before I jump back into the LSAT Study grind so I figured I would use this time to not worry about the LSAT and focus on something more relaxing: my law school applications and would love to get some feedback on my personal statement. If you send me your personal statement I would be more than happy to read over it and give you some serious feedback, I love helping others make something they have written even better. I am currently working on my diversity statement and would love to get some one to read that as well, if you are interested message so we can exchange info. September test takers, hope you are enjoying your break!

side note: the fact that I find working on my law school applications almost soothing as compared to studying for the LSAT is very telling...

Hi everyone,

One of my letters of recommendation is coming from an elderly retired lawyer who was clerk of the circuit court for almost 30 years. The catch is that he is very nervous around technology. He's old school and even wrote out court dockets by hand. He's told me the idea of typing up the letter on his computer is making him anxious.

My question is - would it be an ethical violation if I typed it for him? I wouldn't change anything, I would have him approve the final product, and I would keep his handwritten letter in my files. Then I would submit it electronically.

But I do not want to do anything shady.

The other option is to have him mail in a handwritten letter. At first I dismissed this idea, thinking it would look unprofessional, but my mentor (not the same person) told me he actually thought it would stand out in a positive way. He said there aren't many handwritten LORs anymore and it could make a good impression.

I've looked for formal guidelines on LOR ethics and haven't found very much. Any advice is appreciated!

Was wondering what role if any the undergrad school you attended plays in the law admission process i.e. if a higher ranked school looks better, lower looks worse - increasing or decreasing chances respectively?

First things first, I understand that the LSAT score is definitely the most important piece of quantitative information on a law school application.

That being said, does anyone have an idea of exactly how much GPA matters? Is it given almost as much consideration as the LSAT, or is it much less significant when compared?

I think that my GPA will be above the median at more schools than my LSAT score, so any advice here is appreciated.

Thanks, and best of luck to everyone applying this cycle.

https://law.yale.edu/admissions/profiles-statistics/entering-class-profile

Not me... but I would love to meet this person: both because they must be exceptional to have a 154 and get into Yale, AND because they had the self-confidence to have a 154 and apply to Yale.

Anyone know other examples of super low LSAT scorers hitting above their weight in terms of admission?

Can anyone take a look at my diversity statement for critique and edit?

If you want, I can do the same in return.

.

8 long years ago I took two summer classes at two separate campuses of one institution (that has like 4-5 campuses). When I was putting in my "other institutions" all of the separate campuses showed up as an option. I normally would've just put the main campus for both of them (so for example, Farmville University vs Farmville University Fairview and Farmville University Midtown) but I compared that to another institution that has separate campuses and they only had the main campus listed as an option for that one, so like a total ding dong I took that as these separate campuses being discrete, separate places. I know, I should've done more due diligence then.

After sending both transcript request forms to the registrar (on the office of the main campus), they sent one transcript in. I contacted the registrar and they explained that because I was technically a declared student of "Fairview" the whole transcript (for both classes) was sent from there. So I contacted LSAC at LSACinfo@LSAC.org and explained my mistake and I am still waiting for a response or at least for them to take the other institution down. Has anyone dealt with this? Is it just a matter of they're slow and they'll get to me eventually or do I need to take further action?

tl;dr I made an honest (albeit slightly foolish) mistake reporting my other institutions, one of them just needs to be removed, I contacted LSAC via LSACinfo@LSAC.org and have not gotten any response.