Hi all -

Having graduated with an Undergraduate degree (B.M.) in music performance in 2010, I am now set on applying to Law School for the 2018/19 admissions term. I obtained a Master of Music (M.M.) in 2012.

My question relates to the fact that what I feel was my success in these degrees is most evidently shown by my applied work with my instrument. For Example, my GPA was sufficient as an undergrad (though not terribly fabulous), yet I won multiple awards for performance on my instrument, including winning a state wide competition, winning a school wide concerto competition, and receiving an award only given to 1 student per year at my school for excellence in music performance. Due to my focus on my instrument, my GPA does not reflect this success. My GPA was much higher as a Master's Degree student, however.

So, I am wondering if anyone has any advice on translating these achievements to my application for law school. My goal is to show that for a music student, these achievements were as or even more important than my GPA. Not sure if that is even remotely possible, but I suppose I have to try!

Thanks very much.

Interviews can be a kind of harrowing experience for some people so I wanted to give a kind of play-by-play for folks who may be interviewing at Texas Law. It was a fairly straightforward interview.

Kira Talent (the company that many law schools outsource their interviews to) interviews go as follows: There is no interviewer. You can take the interview at any time within two weeks of registering. You can practice on the questions as many times as you'd like (the practice questions are the same for every school), but you only get one shot during the actual interview (which are different for each school). I would recommend repeating the practice questions until you get three questions in a row that you feel like you answered well. They asked three verbal questions, each of which allocated sixty seconds of prep time and ninety seconds of response time. They also asked one written question, which provided fifteen minutes of writing time within a 300 word limit.

I believe that the questions are likely switched out, but also likely recycled. Here are the questions they asked so that you can prepare:

VERBAL (paraphrased)

WRITTEN (paraphrased)

If anyone else has taken this interview and wants to contribute their questions, that would be extremely helpful!

Overall, for any interview, I would recommend coming up with thoughtful answers to the following questions:

If you're looking for more interview tips and stuff, I'd recommend this guide here, which has been super helpful for preparing me all of these interviews: https://www.collegeessayguy.com/blog/preparing-for-a-college-interview-tips-and-strategies

Hi all, I just submitted my FAFSA but didn’t see a place to include 2017 tax return/income info. How can I include this information?

Also, I am struggling to understand how the FAFSA works generally. I only found some of my schools when I searched to add them. How do I get Federal aid for the others?

Wrote about this on Reddit but curious as to what 7sagers have to say about parental information on law school apps as well. Why do they need to know their occupation for example. What is this even used for? Also, in the education level section I had input high school as the highest level of education because I was unsure of what to put for a parent that went to college but didn't complete (no checkboxes or options just a space to write/ felt like putting college would be dishonest and inaccurate since they did not receive a degree) I'm assuming that I did the right thing however, I'm curious as to how to address this in future apps/ how do other people approach this. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I know better than to be doing things to impress this or that school, but these are all pre-existing interests of mine and I would like to know whether it's realistic to expect to get in with this particular mix of activities.

Aside from a 3.88 (that I plan to push up to a 3.9 by the end of Spring with a 4) GPA, and a 172 LSAT (hopefully- it's what I'm going for! My diagnostic is 157 and I have 7 months.......),

What kind of extracurriculars will help me as an undergrad (junior)? I'm currently pres of a UN-affiliated club and looking into starting (and by default becoming president of) a literary club, a finance club, and (subject to approvals) a harvard-affiliated student chapter (the affiliation exists, but the club doesn't. Go figure), a global professional association club, and (subject to interest and numbers) a track club (without a coach, so not a team). I've also recently joined MUN and hope to chair a conference.

I'd been considering running for student body leadership, but I think it's a massive time commitment and a ton of administrative work (great- but way too much of a commitment).

What kind of internships will help? I'm studying econ and politics and haven't done any yet, aside from the odd work with, and not for, this or that company through my UN club. I'm looking at getting in 3-4 before July, after which I'll take 2 months almost completely off to focus on the LSAT before taking it in mid-September. I know I'd like one to be at a law firm just to get a real feel of it (probably taking this one first), but I also know that law schools adore other work experience. I really want to head off straight after graduating though, so I have to be really picky about my internships!

Thanks for toiling through and for your helpful comments!

This may seem like a silly question but for the lsat section on some applications where you have type all your lsats in what do you write if you canceled? It will only let me put in a numerical amount or leave it blank. Should I just not list that lsat because I canceled? One more thing, I was thinking about writing an addendum but I'm not sure if its worth it. My freshman year of college was really bad but after that my grades picked up beside my junior year 2nd semester. I studied abroad in the fall so my grades are not counted on lsac and then when I returned my spring semester of grades were terrible. I got sick multiple times that semester and had to miss a lot of school. On top of that, I missed a week of school because of a conference I was attending for the school that got snowed in and I was stuck there. After, that semester my grades go back up in my senior year. Is it worth writing an addendum if I just say I was incredibly sick that semester? Will law admissions think that's a credible excuse?

Do people know if we need to apply for FAFSA before the priority deadline to get loans? I know that the deadlines for some schools are relatively early? If it is done before summer, will that be ok too?

Is it seen as unprofessional to use an email address with a number in it? I made it [first name][last name]2122@gmail.com. I wanted a Gmail and it's impossible to make it just my name.

Hey all I've been thinking of my application process and I wanted to make a post about what I believe is one of the most important factors concerning the acceptance to my top choice!

I sent out my applications on January 2nd. I send an email to my top choice the next day requesting an interview. I did not hear back for over a week, but eventually the admissions office was happy to set up an interview for me that would take place later that week.

During the interview, I was asked a host of questions concerning why law school, what do I want to do in law school, various aspects of my employment, aspects of my essays, and other "standard" interview questions. I think the greatest thing I took from my interview and the biggest piece of advice I can give someone is that ALWAYS ask for an interview whenever possible, especially to your top choices. I was able to talk about myself other than what was on my application, which without an interview is the be all end all for the admissions committee. There was a confusing aspect on my employment history that was necessarily the easiest the explain on my resume and I was asked about it and I was able to give a coherent answer concerning it.

Another big takeaway from my interview is that I got to tell a specific story (I was asked a questions about leadership/working in a team) that I did not write about in any of my essays nor was readily apparent from the resume (nor could it have been since it was an isolated incident). My interviewer was thoroughly surprised a this answer and reacted very positively to it since she even told me she thought I was going to talk about something in one of my essays.

So always ask for an interview whenever possible! I was accepted one week after my interview took place!

Hi guys!

do you know if it's common for waitlisted(or sometimes I think they use the word "reserve" listed) candidates to be accepted after getting a higher score on their February LSAT? I already have an LSAT score but I got waitlisted at a school recently and I was hoping to gain admittance with a higher LSAT score. Not sure if that's a common thing that happens....or how they even decide which candidates to admit since the waiting lists are not ranked.

I was accepted to Harvard this morning!!!!! I couldn't have accomplished this without the awesome community at 7Sage and without JY's fantastic guidance. Thank you :)

Hi all,

In your experience, do all schools with a status checker switch your application status to 'under review' or something similar before sending you an admissions decision? Or do some simply mark your application complete and then eventually send you their decision?

Just trying to brace myself for who I might expect to hear back from soon.

Okay so I’m stuck on what to do here.

Situation: one of my transcripts is getting updated and removing credit hours (but leaving the grades) for 20+ units of failed, and dropped, classes.

I have already applied to 16 schools.

What do I do? Do I call all 16 schools? Will this change my gpa? What does this even mean?

Is it worth pushing or should I leave the cards on the table as they are?

Bleh I don’t even understand what is happening! And I don’t know what to do...

I've had to email admissions about a couple of things, and I'm not sure how to address the people who respond. When it's not a Dean (say, "admissions officer"), do you reply with first name? Ms/Mr? My job is so crazy casual that I think I've lost judgment on what's appropriate haha.

LSAC just sent me a letter in the mail saying they made a mistake on my academic record and my GPA should be lower... This is annoying but in theory fine, since my LSAC calculated GPA gave me quite a bump. Still, in the new letter they listed my undergraduate GPA as .01 lower than what it actually is, so I want to make sure they're not penalizing me unnecessarily. Just sent them an email and got an auto-response saying it will take days to respond because of high email volume--- anyone else have experience emailing/calling them to fix some sort of error? Should I have my college's registrar office reach out? They're going to email all my law schools an update so I want to fix it ASAP.

Hi everyone,

I just received notification from Emory stating that my application has been deferred for consideration through the regular decision process. The email was very concise and did not include information on how to update or add to my application. It's also too late for me to take the February LSAT. Any recommendations on how best to proceed?

Thank you!!!

After a long process, a school I attended in 1996 is removing 2 grades of "E" and making them a regular withdrawal. I am ready to send in all applications today but thinking that might be a bad decision since LSAC takes about 3 weeks to process transcripts. My question is (which LSAC hasn't answered) will the schools I have already applied to receive an updated transcript? Should I warn them via email that a new gpa is coming? It's a big difference (3.2 vs 3.48) so I am afraid of receiving a denial based on current gpa before the new one arrives but also considering it is so late in the cycle. Any advice out there?

Hi all, I applied to UVA Law via their binding decision as of a few days ago. I am also currently registered to sit for the February 2018 LSAT. Currently my numbers are 167/3.67 which I know is a stretch for UVA.

I am currently stuck on what to do because UVA Adcomm wants me to make a decision on whether I want them to render a decision on my current application within 15 business days of when I submitted or wait until after I receive the Feb LSAT score. Based on the December 2017 LSAT score release starting the trend of beating the score release date I would imagine the Feb LSAT score would come out last week of February. Just to paint a more clear picture, I have been averaging around a 171 on my 30 most recent PTs but I have taken the LSAT twice now and have been unable to translate it on the test (scoring a 167 twice). So I think realistically I could improve my score to a 168/169 but not very confident to get any higher than that.

What would you guys do?

or

7 sagers or other experts...

Please help. I just received this email from one of the law schools I've applied to last month. I don't know what this means?

It's the first update I've heard back from a law school I've applied to.

The email said "this is a normal step" and "not a wait list" ?

What does this mean exactly? IF it's not a wait list, what is it exactly? Isn't being placed on "Hold" mean wait list? Why a second review? Please help!

"Your application for admission has been reviewed, however, a final decision cannot be made at this time. Your application has been placed on "Hold" pending a second review. This is a normal step in our process and not a Wait List.

Due to the number of worthy applications we receive each year, decisions do not always come easily. Your application will be re-evaluated at a later date for a decision. We will keep you posted on your status.

We appreciate your patience and the time you took to apply. You may continue to monitor the status of your application by logging on to our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our office."

Hi all, (if this has already been answered please point me in the right direction), how do the T-14 schools notify applicants of admission decisions? Anyone with specific knowledge chime in and I can get a list going!

Hi All!

Hope you're doing well. I'm planning on submitting Feb 1st, and have tried to scrounge together a decent personal statement by next week! Any chance that any of you will have some time to take a look at it? Would be happy to send over PM! Also happy to do a PS Swap!! Thank you.

I tried researching this online but couldn't really find any answers --- I recently discovered that my CMO went to my dream school for undergrad. When I begin applying after taking the LSAT, I was not planning on asking my current employer for recommendations since I didn't want to let them know I was leaving for Law School until I was certain I got into a school. My question is - does having a good LOR from someone that went to the school you're applying to really give you a strong leg up? If it does, I will consider asking him for one even though I hadn't planned on cluing my employer in that early. But I don't think I'd want to if it didn't help get me in.

Side notes:

Anyone up for a quick read of my personal statement? Also happy to swap if anyone else needs some comments!

Hi!

I'm new here and am considering purchasing a full course for 7sage. A few years back while in undergrad, I took PowerScore's in-person LSAT course. Admittedly, I was not sold on law school at that point in time and did not make the most of the in-class time. Apologies in advance, this is a mish-mash post of someone looking for some thoughts/advice.

Now, nearly two years out of undergrad, I'm looking at applying in the 2018-2019 admissions cycle for a Fall 2019 start date. I took my first timed LSAT in over two years and scored a 163 (December 2010, as I had taken the June 2007 LSAT previously; -5 rc, -4 lr, -7 lg, -9 lr). I felt generally good about the test, which I took at a noisy cafe/deal with distractions while timed. I hesitate in calling this a diagnostic score, as I recognize I did technically take a course. But, 2 years later, it feels like I'm restarting the process.

I'm looking at taking the June LSAT with the goal of around 169-172+ as a final score. Does that seem feasible? Thoughts on using 7Sage given my diagnostic score breakdown? I currently do advanced analytics for a large retail company through a global ad agency, so I suspect my reading comprehension is a bit off given how little reading I do on the day-to-day.

Undergrad was in International Affairs/Journalism and I received a BA w/ Honors (3.79 GPA) and led University government for a year. I took several graduate-level courses in undergrad and held internships/jobs throughout (legal internship under Federal Judge in NYC, paralegal intern at a class-action litigation non-profit, intern at US Mission to the United Nations, global strategy intern and part-time consultant at a global advocacy non-profit for young people). I also received some distinguished awards (student leader award out of all University students, inclusive of graduate students and humanitarian award upon graduation). I worked my first full-time job for 1.5 years at an LGBT non-profit developing health campaigns for NYSDOH and, as mentioned, now conduct advanced analytics for a leading advertising agency in NYC. I'm on a young professionals board for a legal non-profit outside of work and lead LGBT volunteer events at the agency I work for in the city.

I have quite a mixed background, all of which have been tests helping me decipher whether legal practice is where I feel I can contribute most to the world, and I'm now decided that it is. So, here I go.. Taking the LSAT for real.

Thoughts on my ability to get up to a 169-172 given my 'diagnostic'? Thoughts on my getting into a top law school (wanting to get into NYU or Columbia and dreaming of Harvard or Yale) given my background?

Thanks in advance for all of your help.

Hi everyone,

I sent in my applications a couple weeks ago but I have a question/concern that I am sort of freaking out about. I have gotten a few parking citations from the parking patrol at my university for parking without a pass. Was I supposed to include that in my applications? I did not because I assumed those questions were meant for more serious issues like academic suspension/probation etc. Let me know if any of you have any experience with this - I am stressing out!!!