Do we need to start looking for apartments now if we are going to live off campus? I was also curious what kind of meals you plan to cook for yourself during law schools . Trying get some ideas on cheap and healthy meals since I want to cut expenses as much as possible.

Now that the Georgetown deadline has passed, what did you guys do for the Top 10, if you chose that optional?

I did my top 10 favorite words and I wrote a little paragraph before explaining my history of loving different words lol I'm not entirely sure if I was supposed to do that, but they did say we could write up to 250 words...

I submitted Jan 27th and have started getting back some answers. Stats are UGPA: 3.0 LSAT: 165. I've also been out of school for six years and working for what it's worth.

I received a rejection from NYU a week ago but today I received an acceptance email from GWU with a scholarship offer for $105K. According to the LSAC calculator I should have had a less than 25% chance of even getting in. Do you think that a scholarship offer might indicate that they believe higher ranked schools may accept me as well? I might just be hoping here but I'm curious!

Dead.

I got into a school whose median LSAT and GPA are higher than mine, but got rejected from a school whose median LSAT was the same as mine? Acceptance rate was higher at the school that rejected me. It was also out of state, if that makes any difference at all. Super excited that I GOT INTO FUCKING LAW SCHOOL!!!!!!!! But what gives?

Besides a school's ranking and whether a particular school will improve your odds of landing a job, what are you looking for in a law school? Are there other things that make a school attractive or not? I am taking my first law school tour tomorrow and just curious about others thoughts and possible factors that may not be on my radar. Thanks!

First congrats to everybody who got into their dream school, received the massive LSAT score you all deserve, or just survived another week at the job you can't wait to leave behind!

I'm curious about whether it would be wise to submit a late addenda to the effect of a Why School X essay. I applied to Virginia at the end of November, have been UR1 since mid December with no word since then. Virginia is one of my top 3-4 choices and I'm a splitter, so I could reasonably fall into the admit, yield protect, or ding categories, especially in this volatile cycle. I've heard advice saying a late Why School X essay can help convince a school that you're serious about them, but also caution against. The reason against being that if I were wait listed next week, I wouldn't have much material to write about. I'm also curious if such a late addenda would delay a decision?

I guess any advice, hearsay or personal experience would be greatly appreciated!

I'm still a little confused on how the process works with showing financial need when you are working full time. My FAFSA shows that I have a decent salary, but I'm single and so that obviously will go away once I start school - my salary will be $0 haha. Do schools automatically account for that? Do I need to contact admissions/financial aid to clarify it?

https://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-rankings-blog/articles/2018-02-27/2019-best-graduate-schools-rankings-coming-march-20

We should be seeing new law school rankings by March 20th! Hopefully the ABA releases employment data by that time as well!

Hey everyone I just heard back from my dream school and i was wait-listed unfortunately. I'm new to this game so I have no idea on what I need to do to increase my chances of being admitted. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Many thanks and good luck to all.

I've been wait-listed at the highest rank school in my state and I intend to write a LOCI. How do I phrase "Look, I've received a $40,000/year scholarship offer from a lower-rank (not lower quality) school and to be honest if you would offer anywhere close to that amount I would attend your school, hands down. But frankly, at 38 years old, foregoing $120,000 in debt is at the top of my priority list." more eloquently?

Hey all!

So I got my scholarship offer from UCLA, but feel that I can't begin negotiating with them until I have my (hopefully) acceptance + scholarship from USC, since that is a closely ranked school + in the same area.

I have generous offers from WUSTL and Loyola (and ASU and GW), though I'm not sure UCLA would be interested in competing with either of those schools due to lesser rank (Loyola) and different location (WUSTL).

I have 2 questions - first, how long is too long to wait to respond to UCLA's offer and begin negotiating? Should I just jump in with the offers from other schools and see if they bite? If they don't care to compete with what I currently have, can I open the conversation up again as soon as I get my USC info?

Second - I'm fairly certain I have the numbers and credentials to get into USC and get some money. Is it okay to write a LOCI for a school where your application is still pending? Or is that just reserved for waitlist decisions?

Thanks!!

Hello everyone. :)

What are some jobs that a JD could do for a bank or for a financial regulatory organization/firm/body/entity? Entry level with an eye towards working your way up over time. I am most specifically interested in compliance with the goal of going into BigLaw or BigFed after years of experience for white collar/economic crimes.

Also, does clerking assist with these types of jobs?

Thanks all!

Hi everyone :)

I was wondering how important you guys think it is, to have either interned or worked at a legal firm or other legal institution before applying to law school?

Is it a particularly weighted factor in admissions or is it totally fine if you haven't had such an experience?

I have spent my undergrad years so far volunteering at various community impact organizations and working for a non-profit. I always thought I would just get to the legal interning and whatnot during law school and undergrad could be a time for me to get these different experiences.

I am asking this now because if it is truly an important factor for admissions I will try to get a legal internship over this summer, since I plan to apply to law school in October.

Thank you!

This is a random question... but can your designated pre law advisor at your undergraduate institution see or access your materials? Recommendations, test score, and things like that.

Hey guys, has anyone been successful in obtaining a deferral request and can share some advice about writing the request letter? I'm applying for personal reasons, not academic or professional ones, if that matters.

I'm wondering how other applicants who've been out of school for a while have addressed this section. The prompt is as follows:

"If it has been more than three months since you attended college, describe what you have been doing in the interval. You should include graduate or professional education, paid or unpaid employment, as well as any other activities that you consider relevant. Please answer this question separately from any information provided in a résumé."

The word "describe" suggests this can take a narrative form. Which is the approach I took, providing roughly half a page of single spaced paragraphs, describing my 6 years since graduation.

My concern is, there are portions where I describe why I changed jobs/roles/industries (instead of just saying "and then I started at...x"). For the most recent career move, I cite the reason being a desire to serve the public interest by practicing law, elaborating briefly on the process, saying that I took a few months to research career paths and meet with friends who work in prosecution, advocacy, and public policy before committing all my time and resources to LSAT and law school preparation

My concern is if that last bit would be out of place on this submission? Is it providing more that what is asked? Should it instead go into the personal statement?

It is technically describing how I spent my time, but it also elaborates on my thought process. I'm just hoping the latter isn't misplaced.

I've been offered one full ride from a school I'm less interested in and a couple of generous aid packages (appx $45k/year). But even with $45k per year, it is outrageously expensive. Another school is interviewing me for a full ride. I've informed the Admissions departments of the various offers already. Does anyone have specific advice on how to wring that last $13k or so per year out of them? Many thanks.

In my why school X essay, I have mentioned specific research topics for several professors because they are in a field that I am interested in pursuing. These are not topics that are mentioned in the school's website; I had to do some research to find them. I don't specifically mention their published papers in the essay, but I did get the information from reading their papers. Do I need to document those sources (the papers) in the essay? I searched the discussions but haven't seen anything on this. I don't want to look silly, but I certainly want to credit where I found the information to avoid any kind of plagiarism. Thoughts? Also, on another essay, I have stated specific statistics; do I need to document where I found those? If so, would a footnote work? Any help is much appreciated... Thanks!

Can someone post a link where I can get some info on these things beyond LSAT/GPA?

The admission curriculum has been super helpful to me and has undoubtedly increased my chances of admission to many schools this cycle. I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to perfect their applications. (A huge thank you to @"David.Busis" and his team). I have one suggestion that I think would make it even better-- a section on scholarship negotiations. What is the proper protocol regarding timing and how to frame your "argument" for more money? What are comparable schools that make it appropriate to use money from one school to ask for money from another? Who do we contact? What do we say (in other words, do we explain that we deserve the money or that we have gotten better offers elsewhere? At what point is reiterating your qualifications and contribution to the campus redundant from your application?) How much emphasis do we put on money being our decision making factor without sounding ungrateful for being admitted? I know technically the curriculum is focused on admissions, but I personally think scholarships play a huge part in the process.

Just a thought! On that note...does anyone have any input on this? Definitely planning to ask at least one of my schools for money within the near future, but I do sort of feel like I'm shooting in the dark regarding how to do this.

Hi everyone, I took the February 2018 LSAT. My applications are ready, the only element that is missing is the LSAT score. I am still confused as to whether it is beneficial for me to send my application before the score is released. I know that in this case, law school will put applications on hold until the score arrives. however, once the score is out, how long does it take for the universities to start reviewing the applications? Would this affect the admission process?

Hi all, hypothetical here. If you were planning to go into public interest, and you got a full ride to a T-6 (or Penn eg) vs HYS, would you take the full ride? How about if it were T-4 full ride vs HYS?

Thanks for your thoughts! :)

Just been rejected from BC.

Stats: 2.99, 167

I know my gpa is terrible and I've taken the lsat 4 times but really!

I submitted my application to Columbia on Jan. 5 and was waitlisted yesterday. When I was filling in the reserve form I discovered the form was titled "first reserve", does anyone know what it means? Thxxx!