Lately, I have been considering writing an addendum showing an explicit history of standardized test results accompanying a strong academic performance but I need help in deciding if this applies to me.

I grew up in Nicaragua and thus, I was not exposed to standardized testing until I was 11 years old. It's not part of my education foundation. In High School, I took the SAT a total of three times.

The maximum score for each section is 800 points:

Using the 2011 scale, I first scored 500 writing, 610 math, 560 critical reading meaning I scored in the 55th, 78th and 71st percentile respectively.

Next, I scored 530 writing, 550 math, 610 critical reading meaning I scored in the 64th, 62nd and 83rd percentiles respectively.

Lastly, I scored 490 writing, 550 math, 610 critical reading meaning I scored in the 51st, 62nd and 82nd percentile respectively.

The total score for each test put me around the 70th percentile. Meanwhile, I was performing very well academically. I never failed any of the 10 AP exams I took, which to me felt different from tests like the SAT because they were graded on what we directly learned in the classroom. I scored a 5 on the AP Calculus exam and yet I could not score anything higher than a 610 on the math section of the SAT. I received a 4 in AP English Language and Comp but could not score higher than a 530 on the SAT writing section. I had As in almost all of my classes.

When I got to college my SAT scores did not accurately predict my success. I graduated in 4 years with 2 different bachelor's degree. 150 credit hours instead of the normal 120. I had two majors and two minors. My final GPA was 3.967 on a 4.0 scale. I also conducted independent research, which I presented at a research conference at Harvard. BUT, I scored a 160 on the LSAT. I took it once because the other two times I had planned to take it, I had to cancel my registration ahead of time because of the Hurricane in Florida and for being sick.

Thus, I am asking for help in deciding if I should write an Addendum. I really do not want to make an excuse for my LSAT score so I only want to write it if doing so is acceptable for my situation.

Hi there!

I recently attended the group interview for Georgetown in Miami and wanted to share my experience to help others know what to expect.

It was not a conventional group interview with the usual questions, and there is little you can do to prepare. The format take an hour and is like this: you will be split up into groups of three or four and you will role play as an admissions committee for GULC. He will give you a handout with descriptions of different application scenarios (all of which have ambiguous and difficult to resolve conflicts) and he will ask you to either talk as a group or will ask direct questions about a certain interpretation of the facts, and then he gives his actual interpretation and how he decided on the application.

I would recommend that during the group conversation portions that you be more vocal and make sure that you make your voice heard, but not annoying, because it is easy to be lost in the conversation.

There were four scenarios but we only got to three: one was about a student who got put on academic probation for plagarism but slightly misrepresented the situation (he considered this a huge character issue), someone else who didn't fully disclose information after being accused of plagiarism and withdrawing from a graduate program (also a huge issue), and someone who made typos and mention to another school in their personal statement (also huge issue).

The purpose of the interview is to see how well you can articulate your position and support it with evidence. Apparently Dean Cornblatt favors applicants who can get to the point of their argument quickly.

Make sure to prepare one fun fact about yourself, as he'll ask everyone in the room to share something at the beginning.

Best of luck!

For all of you mortified at the thought of delaying a cycle because you're nearing your social security collection, go out and ask a friend what the business school average age is. You're welcome.

Hey gang.

I'm trying to set a baseline for myself and there seems to be A LOT of knowledge here so I feel like I can get some good feedback.

I'm attempting the LSAT for the third time at 29 (the last two times I took it was straight out of undergrad at 22 and then again 2 years ago). Both times, I went in completely unprepared and paid the price for it, scoring the in the mid to high 140's both times. As has been the case since I was young, I'm an excellent student and average standardized test taker. I know I'll have to put in a lot of hard work but I feel confident I can get into the 160's.

My undergrad GPA was a 3.76, which seems fairly competitive for some of the schools stats I've looked at. My main question...what is a realistic score to start seeing scholarship money. I have literally no interest in going to law school by taking out more loans. I went to a private undergrad in Nashville that I'm still paying for. I expect I will have to take out loans to live off of, but I would absolutely base my decision of where to go based on how much scholarship money I'm offered.

So what scores does that start happening at? I know T-14 are different, and that's another thing I'm confused on. How big of a difference is it to go to a T-14 vs. a lesser ranked school. I'm from the southeast (Currently in Nashville) and I would actually like to stay in the area but I guess I don't even know where and what programs I should be looking into.

Basically, I'm just trying to find a target to aim for.

I'm also not on a time crunch. Maybe at my age I SHOULD be, but right now my goal is to take the June test. If I'm not PT'ing high enough consistently, I will wait until October since I've missed this cycle anyway.

Anything you guys have or know would be much appreciated!

So I'm pretty confused on this. I had to check the "yes" for academic probation because when I attended community college in 2008 I was put on probation for bad grades. Some schools seem to require Dean cert letters, but I'm not sure which do? I know Cornell and Duke do, Stanford was mentioned as needing one, but I can't find that anywhere.

I'm now really worried. I also called my community college and they said I wont need one. I applied to like 15 schools so now it is a huge mess. Does anyone have any clarity on this?

So this is the list I have so far;

Columbia: Yes

Stanford: No

USC: No

Duke: Yes

UVA: No

Cornell: Yes

I've just been asked to do the Kira interview for Cornell. I was wondering if anyone here has done that interview and can give me some guidance as to how to prepare.

Also, are all applicants asked to do this? is it a good or bad sign?

Hey folks... I keep thinking and re-thinking my decision here. My original goal was to take the December LSAT, get my apps in by mid-December so they could be reviewed ASAP in the new year. Well, life happened and here I am, January 11 and still working on finishing my PS.

I did better on the LSAT than I thought I would so that made me think I definitely should apply this year. But now that we're getting to be relatively late in the cycle, I'm thinking I'd be better positioned if I delay. I could of course still get apps out for this cycle and cross my fingers. I'm going to be very dependent on scholarship money though so I'm worried that it won't be enough to make this year work. The more I think about it, the more I'm leaning toward delaying, whether or not I apply this cycle. I ended up with a really good LSAT (168), but I think if I kept studying and took it again like in September, I could likely break 170. Is that worth pushing school back a year? Also I'm non-trad, 33 years old. So while I'm already wayyyy past the usual age of law school students, I'm hesitant to push it back another year. But I guess whether you're 37 or 38 at graduation is tomato-tomahto. Yeah?

Does anyone have experience in re-applying? Do many schools look down on applying twice in a row? If I turn down an acceptance for this year and re-apply, will I be any more likely to get dinged or WL'd?

Poll attached with the options I'm considering.

The topic is roughly: how I've spent half of my life in the US and half in Asia. I had different "personas" in each place, and I made some choices that I regret that were made based off of those personas. The essay ends with me talking about how I can now be me regardless of context.

I've written a couple rough drafts, and I'm fairly pleased with the essay.

I'm not completely sure if it addresses diversity though.

What does you guys think?

Thanks in advance

Is it just me, or is the LSAC webpage a pain to navigate? I can't for the life of me find how to get LOR's submitted. I read somewhere on here that you can email a link to the person you want to write it. I have had no luck finding said link...

Did anyone else get an invitation to a YLS video webinar? Unfortunately I did not see the email invite until after the fact because it went to my spam folder (whyy would that happen?! It’s YLS!!)

But anyways, I’m curious as to what I missed out on.

Best!

:)

Hoping to swap D.S.'s or get some feedback

Message me if you can

Thanks

Just got an email from WUSTL requesting a Skype interview. Any advice? My interview is this Friday the 12th.

I have read in a reddit post that law schools know how often you have checked the status checker, as the poster claimed he or she received an email tell them not to worry so much about the status and that they will be emailed a response with due time. Is this common? Also, for some schools I only found out today that I became under review, with no email notification. I sent those applications only a week before. Is this common and when should I expect to hear a decision.

Does someone mind reading my quick blurb for Columbia's "fun facts" optional section? It's only ~1,000 characters but I'm shooting for a relatively more relaxed vibe & want to know if it's coming across effectively.

Thank you!

I went to a top 30 liberal arts undergraduate college. Throughout college, I had an undiagnosed learning disability, so my GPA is a 3.42, which I wrote an addendum for. I was really, really hoping to do well on the LSAT to make up for it. Since August, I have been scoring consistently between 173-178 (w/out blind review). I took the June LSAT, cancelled. Took the September and December and just bombed on both days, getting a 167 and 169 respectively. I am also an URM. I applied to almost all my schools before Christmas, but during the holiday break, and have another three to submit. All of the schools I have applied to are in the top 30, the majority in the T14.

Should I wait to apply again next cycle? I was already planning on taking the June LSAT to see if I could negotiate scholarship money, but am wondering if I should just put it off another year. I am especially worried with the passing of the new PROSPER act in putting if off another year since I want to pursue public interest. Thank you in advance for any advice!

Based off the "declined from a safety" thread, I am actually curious what people think/how you are addressing this in your world.

This whole law school admissions process is so status-conscious. Scores and GPA dictate where you can go and what your career might look like in very real ways. Someone's safety is someone else's dream school. I got into a safety with a killer scholarship (killer enough it's making me reconsider it as an option tbh!) and it's a school a lot of people would be happy to go to but I am unsure that I would go. I also work in a law office right now and am having to be careful because that safety is some of my colleagues' actual law school. I'm a splitter so who knows how it'll turn out but I am hoping to be considering T-14-level offers.

How are you playing this with your friends, colleagues, families, people on messageboards, etc? Any thoughts on this?

So my applications are done, LOR's are in, LSAT is in the bag. How are you all passing the time waiting for responses?

So my first rejection was from a safety school. I am a little bit confused by the fact that I got rejected from Boston College Law. I mean, thank God I already got into 2 better ranked schools already (one being a top 14 school. Still waiting to hear back from 11 more schools). However, my stats are quite a bit above BC Law's median and my personal statement/resume are decently competitive. If they were trying to yield protect me, wouldn't they just waitlist me? Anyone else have any insight into this? I mean, I was never planning on attending BC Law but it is confusing...

Curious if there's any rhyme or reason to the length of time between an application becoming complete and getting a decision? I'm operating under the assumption that admits will hear back soonest, then maybe they wait a little longer to waitlist and even more reject based on more incoming apps. Is that accurate or Is it more mystical and shotgun??

My #1 school sent an email and said a final decision has not been made?

I understand that this seems to mean they aren't sure whether or not to let me in? Why not waitlist? What should I do?

So I have been getting loads of emails from schools offering me scholarships based on my merit. But my LSAT score was crap and my GPA was average, and I've never applied. Is this just come ons or some sort of game? Is this some diversity program? Not one of the schools I am interested in has sent me anything, just a lot of little known schools.

Should I submit my doctoral dissertation to my law school for them to review research capabilities?

Hey! It's me, again, for like the gazillionth time.

As I am organizing and submitting my applications I am reading more and more about different joint degree options. Some of them are right up my ally. I feel like I'm not qualified to apply for them though because I am a splitter (high LSAT, low cGPA). I feel like I'd just be lucky to get in under their JD program and that I should just ignore the dual degrees and be thankful for getting in as a JD only.

So I have some questions, and they might be better tailored for the schools, but I thought I'd ask my favorite people first.

1.) If I apply to a joint program, and get accepted for the JD but not the LLM, can I still attend the school for the JD only?

2.) If I choose a school on just their JD program, do any schools allow you to enroll in a joint program after you start your law degree. (say I finish 1L at a school, and then sign up for a joint degree the summer between 1 and 2L)

3.) Any other advice/recommendations about joint degrees in general?

Did anyone else feel sick doing it? Lol I felt like I was going to mess something up, or like I mixed up which documents went to which schools. What if I missed a small mistake?

I kinda wanna go back to my safe place of studying for the LSAT...

Do any T-14 schools ever offer a living stipend? How about T-50?