Hey y'all. I'm curious to see what others would do in my predicament. I suffered direct trauma to my right eye in August; now I have a big black "floater" that follows my vision as I read. This is distracting and it impacts my speed, especially during LR and RC. So, I'm wearing an eye patch for the December test (lol).

Problem is, the patch is over my dominant eye, and it makes a difference to how fast and efficient I am taking in information as I read (try reading passages with just your non-dominant eye, which is likely your left eye, and you'll see what I mean). The seconds can add up to make a significant point difference on test day due to the general setback of performing under timed conditions without ocular dominance (even bubbling answers feels less intuitive).

Would you personally bring this up when applying to schools? Some schools in Ontario, Canada, provide optional sections for applicants to fill out for this type of thing. An example:

"Describe any personal facts or issues, relating to your application, that you would like the Admission Committee to be aware of that were not covered in your other responses. Provide docume­ntation (e.g., attending physician letter) to evidence and support any such personal issues or facts."

On average my spring GPA was .4 lower than my average fall GPA. I have severe allergies that made things more difficult in the springtime. I always thought it was seasonal allergies, but when I moved back home after graduation I found out I am really allergic to the specific type of grass covering my college campus. Should I write an addendum or suck it up?

In high school, a community college came to my German class and said if we take a free test in the computer lab after school we could earn college credit. There was no grade on the test, but it would eventually cut you off depending on how you performed. I took it and got credit for eight hours of German. It transferred to my undergraduate university so I never saw a grade, but I just had the transcript processed by LSAC and it's showing that I got eight credit hours of a 2.0 GPA. That tanked my GPA and I'm wondering if there is any way to fix this or if anyone has had a similar problem.

Should I just keep calling the school? Is there anything they can do?

So my letters of rec are from January of 2014. I am applying most likely for this cycle or maybe the next. Is it ok to apply with these letters?

I have been out of school and not in the work force for the last 2.5 years while staying home with my son, so I have absolutely no one to get new letters of rec from.

So my dilemma is ~ should I apply with these letters or reach out to my recommenders for a new letter of rec with an updated year? I am almost positive they would remember me as i was very close with all of my professors and in a small college.

I know this probably seems like a silly question, and the only reason I'm putting it out there is because my wonderful albeit helicopter-y mother has not stopped badgering me about it.

In high school, I took a number of AP courses which I obtained college credit for at UConn. I did not end up going to UConn, so the credits never counted toward my undergraduate GPA, but nevertheless I do have 28 college credits there. Is this something I can submit a transcript for? And if I can, should I? I'm not sure how an admissions council would perceive a transcript with grades from high school

EDIT: In case it wasn't clear from my title, this is about personal statements.

In my personal statement right now, I'm trying to indicate that reading Supreme Court cases for an undergraduate law class grabbed me in a way that no other course material did. There is one particular case that jumped out at me, and I can write about it honestly without BSing. Reading this case was an especially important experience for me because it solidified law as a future for me when I was depressed and saw no direction in my life.

I see a few issues with this though:

It's pretty shallow. The impact from reading a case won't compare to the other candidates who undoubtedly have some experience in an actual law firm or other "legal position."

Georgetown advises, "... Stay away from legal concepts and jargon. You run the risk of misusing them, and even if you use them properly, legal language may make you appear pompous." I'm not sure if this applies to the arguments and reasoning found in the Court's opinion, but it feels better to play it safe. Also, is "commerce clause" a legal term?

It may indicate that I expect to deal with large, Constitutional issues in my legal career. And as that surreal short film about law school points out, "there are only three lawyers who deal with Constitutional issues. Each of them graduated in Harvard in the 1970s. Can you graduate from Harvard in the 1970s?" (Here's the film, by the way:

So what do y'all think? Is it a good or bad idea to write about a case that stuck out to me in an undergraduate class?

So I finished my first rough draft, and one of the ways I introduced the theme of my essay is through a time I went through unemployment, and how that built character for me.

Character was the main theme of my essay, and I attempted to tie it in through my work as a bilingual teacher, personal experience with one of my students' families immigration attorney and how that changed my students' character similarly to how it changed my character through my experience with my family.

One of my friends however, suggested that me writing about unemployment as adversity was a bad idea.. What do you guys think? I obviously did not proudly write about my unemployment, and I was not laid off for a bad reason or anything like that, and my focus was not on being unemployed.

I thought adversity in these essays was entirely subjective, without the obvious exception of writing about something illegal, etc.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Disclaimer: I do have one personal experience that may be worth writing about. I had something of a nervous breakdown on campus, and it served a catalyst for beginning treatment of my depression. I'm "back to normal," now, but all the online advice I've read recommends against writing about depression. I believe I can write a compelling personal statement about my recovery from depression. But I think the risks are too high. For example, law school is going to be a challenging time in my life, and the admissions people won't know for sure I won't slip backwards. Ideally, I wouldn't write about depression.

That being said, I truly have nothing else going for me. Every personal statement sample I've seen from T14 schools is at least supplemented by noteworthy experiences, such as demanding work, internships, or hobbies. I don't have any of that. My most complicated job was working as a teacher's assistant for one semester about a subject I had no passion for, and my only extracurriculars are some very basic volunteering. I volunteered for a gubernatorial campaign and with Syrian refugees. But I was mostly posting signs for the campaign, and I was simply correcting the pronunciation of Syrian refugees who read aloud to me.

Perhaps one event that could inspire a personal statement was when I stayed over-time as a teacher's assistant to help a student who suffered a brain injury. But I can't imagine writing a long or even compelling statement based on that alone.

Thanks for reading. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/wp-content/uploads/Law-School-Predictor-Full-Time-Programs.htm

What are the chances JY and the gang @"Dillon A. Wright" can secure the rights to this nice little tool right here. Given that it hasn't been updated since 2013, I'm sure that the creators wouldn't mind if 7sage buys the rights and updates this and incorporates it into their site. Would be pretty badass if you ask me, and it's a shame to see something so sophisticated sitting off in the corner gathering dust like this, could be tremendously useful to most folks I would think.

Hiya!

Newbie 7sager (?) and first-time poster here. My question is regarding GPA addenda. The general advice, I see, is to write one to explain an upward or downward trend in one's GPA. What happens if one's GPA was all over the place? I was an Econ and Math major. I ended up hating Economics, and my grades in my Econ courses reflect that. I loved Math, and those courses, for the most past, saved my GPA (3.42). How do you recommend I go about explaining this in my addendum? Should I even bother with an addendum at all?

Hi all,

I already all my transcripts in, including local community college courses I took for dual HS/college credit in high school. my main concern is--I don't really want admissions people to think I went to community college (because then it looks like it took me 6 years to graduate), but that's kind of what it looks like on my academic summary report (I think). Will they definitely know those were high school classes? I can't imagine it's worth writing in an addendum, but I do hope it's somehow clear.

Curious if anyone else has been in this same boat. Thank you!

I got credit from a local college in high school and it's been a hassle getting them to send the transcript and LSAC form (they don't do it electronically). They said they sent it on September 29th and I'm wondering how long it typically takes for LSAC to process transcripts during this time of year.

Currently, I am taking graduate level courses as a non-degree seeking student. Should I add this school to my list on the LSAC website? Also, should I include the school on my resume? I feel like it could help with my application, any advice is much appreciated!

Hi everyone, have any of you subscribed to Law School Transparency Pro (LST Pro)? Is it worth $75?

https://www.lstreports.com/pro/

Hello all. Perhaps this was a question that was touched upon in the recent resume webinar, which I wasn't able to attend (it didn't begin until 1 am here in Iceland) BUT I thought maybe y'all could give me some guidance. I am wondering how/if it's appropriate or normal to include information about past research projects you've done on a resume (or somewhere else in the application process). While the work I did in undergrad was not law related at all, it was published in an undergraduate research journal. And I am currently working on an international law-related thesis-type paper for my grad program. I genuinely want to share with admissions committees what I've been working on because it's really interesting to me, not just because I'm looking for another way of padding my application. This is more true for my grad level writing than undergrad however. So I was just wondering if the best place to do this would be incorporating it into my personal statement? Or am I missing something?

Does anyone know if the people that write our letters of recommendation will be notified by LSAC when the letters are used/sent out? I am getting a few letters written for me and I want to decide which one to use for my application package - but it will be awkward if the recommender is told by LSAC that his/her letter was never used. Hope this makes sense. Thanks in advance.

Wash U in St. Louis accepts GRE!

https://abovethelaw.com/2017/10/move-over-lsat-another-law-school-accepts-the-gre/

Thanks

Hello, everyone. As you craft your personal statement, I'd like to recommend an incredibly helpful book. Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style" is a classic, of course. But I think you'd be wise to supplement it with Clark's "Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer":

https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Tools-Essential-Strategies-Writer-ebook/dp/B000SEIW9E/ref=mt_kindle?_encoding=UTF8&me=

It's clear, pragmatic, and filled with tiny pearls of writerly wisdom. In addition to its short but lucid explanations, it offers excerpts from various authors. These serve as exemplars to vividly illustrate each point. And at the end of each chapter, there are specific "workshop" action steps to help apply these tips to your own writing.

Of course, even a great book is no substitute for an excellent editor. So, definitely consider getting help from @"David.Busis" , as well. I gained a tremendous amount from his P.S. curriculum on 7sage and from the edits he gave my personal statement.

Hi!

Is there a list as part of 7sage's resources or discussion board that shows the schools and whether they require school-specific essays for applications(or specific optional essays)? I thought I saw this floating around somewhere a long time ago and I'm having trouble finding it.

Thank you!

I have a quick question about how to handle the title for one of my LOR writers. This person was a professor of mine during undergrad, but she is not working as a professor at this time. She is currently a fellow and a scholar-in--residence at the New York Public Library.

On the LSAC Recommender form, I'm considering these options for the "Title" field:

a: leaving it blank, letting her name and the "Ph.D." suffix suffice

b: writing in her current title

c: writing in what her title was at the time when I was her student

What do you think will serve as the best and clearest option?

Thanks in advance for any input!

REMOVED

Hi All,

I'm putting together my resume for my law school applications and I've come across two issues that I'm not quite sure what to do with.

Back in sophomore year, I won an award for a research project (I was 1 out of 5 winners). There was a ceremony, where we all gave speeches. I ran a Google search for this award and my name. My project came up along with a statement I had written-- all fine with me. However, the video of the ceremony also came up (It's an hour long video and my speech is 3 minutes at the end...but I am also the video "screen shot", so whether or not you watch the video, someone clicking on the page would see an image of me giving my speech). I DO NOT WANT AOs WATCHING MY SPEECH. It is an incredibly immature speech...I joked about how I tend to skip class (which is just not true...I hardly ever skipped class. I said that out of pure nervousness), I was not grammatically correct in more places than one, I come across like an airhead at points...it's just not something I'm proud of. I can't seem to find the video if I just Google my name, but if I Google the name of the award, I can find mine by clicking on the year I received it. If I Google the name of the award and my name, I will find it no problem. If I Google my name and my alma mater, I will find it no problem. My question is-- how concerned should I be that an AO will dig deep enough to find this video? Should I just leave the award off my resume to decrease the chances they will find it? It's a pretty impressive award, so I think it will help my resume, but I'm also convinced that, if for whatever reason, the AO researches me enough, they will find this video. Granted, they would have to make the decision to watch the video or skip through to find my speech--but I am featured as the video image, so that increases the chances of that happening a bit.

I was the President of a club at my alma mater that apparently no longer exists? I guess when I left my school, no one resumed the role of the President and it sort of just ended. I can't find any record on the school website or anywhere else of the existence of this club, which is a real bummer because we used to have a website where I was featured as the President. I'm nervous to put this on my resume because I don't want an AO to try and verify this and not be able to find it. I mean, if they called my school and asked about it, I can only assume the school will be able to verify that this club existed in the past (we were an official club through the student government), but I'm not sure they will put that much effort in. My question is this--if an AO cannot find this club via Google, am I taking a risk that they will think I am being dishonest? Or am I being wayyyy too paranoid? Everything else on my resume is verifiable by a Google search, except for this.

Thanks in advance!

I wrote my personal statement, and I think I did a good job. However, I do not know if the content is what the admissions committee would like to see. Any advice? It would be great to be able to get feedback from people who actually served on an admissions committee.

I have a partially formed theory that word choice in personal statements and admissions essays in general, is important.

It seems to me that as a law student and then lawyer, it's crucial that you speak with clarity and specificity. So it seems like admissions would at least notice whether your writing achieves these goals.

Ie. The distinction between "Tennis fueled my competitive nature" and "Tennis awakened my competitive nature" is huge. 1 implies that the competitiveness existed and was increased, while 2 suggests that a dormant condition came to prominence.

@"David.Busis"

@"Cant Get Right"

Others?