Hi everyone, so I'm about to send in my first application today (gulp), and I was wondering how people have formatted their short answer responses? This school has multiple possible prompts, so should I copy paste the question I'm answering at the top of my word doc/PDF, or should I just assume it'll be obvious which prompt I'm writing about and just upload the clean text? The short answer questions are fairly distinct.

GO OVER YOUR APPLICATION WITH A FINE TOOTH COMB MULTIPLE TIMES!!!

Sorry to yell but I just learned a valuable lesson. I thought I was ready to submit my application to a few schools. Something didn't feel right though. I kept looking over the applications over and over again and then I found it. I thought I was going to go to law school last year. I submitted my transcript from my college before I finished my last semester. I then went back to focusing on the LSAT, thinking the transcript part of my application was complete.

When I checked it today I noticed my units seemed low. I compared my transcript from the LSAC to my current one and realized I never updated it. I am missing 19 units of straight A's from my LSAC transcript. As a splitter this is SUPER important to me.

1.) it'll make a super small boost to my cumulative gpa

2.) I can claim straight A's for 63 units instead of 44

Lesson? Make sure you check, double check, triple check, everything before you submit it. Have your Bf/Gf/Mom/Dad/Dog/Aunt/Uncle look things over with a fresh set of eyes. These applications are the only impression law schools get of you when making a decision. Don't let a stupid mistake like mine ruin your chances!

That is all...

I am having a really hard time figuring out how my time in the military falls into my law school application process. I'm not sure if I should focus on it in my personal statement, or to write a diversity statement for it, or maybe both. I'm not sure if being in the military makes me "diverse" in the sense the schools want. Obviously the military makes me different than a lot of other applicants, but I'm just not sure how.

I also don't want to use the veteran card to heavily. I do want schools to consider me on my merits, and for whatever reason, saying I'm a vet feels like I'm using the "easy way out". I'm not sure if I can explain this better. I'm sure my fellow vets will get it.

So is a diversity statement a proper place to address my military experience?

I applied to Duke towards the end of October. File complete on 10/30. Just went under review today. I'm not on the priority track. Does anyone know how long non-PT applicants generally have to wait before hearing back?

Hello all!

I have another addendum question. I know this may have been answered in previous discussions, but I wanted to get a clarification just in case. I received my CAS academic summary report and my GPA has fallen by .1. LSAC doesn't count grades received from studying at a foreign institution and my grades during my semester abroad, which were pretty strong, have been discarded. Would it be beneficial to write an addendum? I know that the admission committees receive copies of our official transcripts, but I'm not sure how much attention they really give them.

Thanks in advance for any help!

Does anyone know for sure? I wanted to take the March test so I would have more time to prepare without having overlapping time demands for Dec 2017 finals. I am a Junior, and if you are allowed three test takes that means I must take the Feb 2018 test, and have backups as June 2018 and Fall 2018 to send out law school applications in fall 2018.

Working on some apps last night, and realized that lsac shows my application fees for numerous schools (Columbia, NYU, Penn too name a few) as waived, even though I haven't received paper or electronic mail notification!? Curious if this is common and legit, or an lsac glitch. If its real, dope, i just saved 400 bucks as i plan to blanket the top 14 with applocations!

How are you handling the FAFSA and application timing?

My situation is a little unique; I have to write waivers for parental information for schools that require it of older students (it's a long story, we're not in touch, but I was never formally an emancipated minor.) Every school is a little different on what it wants and what kind of info, et cetera. It's a lot of additional work (they need letters from other people, et cetera) and I am unsure if I need to be working on that while I am also pulling everything else together for my main application. I am applying to schools that do seem to take need into account (Georgetown and Cornell as well as stretching to HY) and financial aid will be a huge part of my decision.

Anybody? Any ideas?

Hi everyone,

I have been teetering back and forth on whether to write an addendum explaining why I have multiple transcripts. I haven't been able to find much advice on this, so I am hoping that someone on here might be able to help! I have a lot of transcripts on LSAC right now... as in 6.

When I was a sophomore in college I decided to change my major. In order to graduate on time, I took summer courses in my hometown. Unfortunately, my college was strict about which courses from which universities were transferable, so now I have transcripts from three different universities for courses I took over the summer. I also have one transcript from a Spanish class I took at a community college during my senior year, my transcript from my graduating institution, and now I'm in grad school so one from there as well. I'm not sure if this will cause concern for admissions offices. I could have probably stayed at my school over the summer (although very few people do), but I had jobs/internships at home and none of these courses were offered online over the summers. I worry about coming off as someone who didn't put in the effort to fully complete their major at their graduating institution. For the record the courses were: an elective computer class, two spanish classes, and macro-econ course

I wrote one of my PS about an experience that really solidified my interest in becoming a lawyer; spending a summer doing an independent research project in Arizona on US-Mexico border policy. One particularly memorable event, which I write about at length, was in an Operation Streamline proceeding - to learn a bit more about the program you can read this NYT piece on it from a few years back, but it's a really dehumanizing proceeding with pretty appalling due process issues.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/us/split-second-justice-as-us-cracks-down-on-border-crossers.html

Anyway, while I go in depth about the proceeding in the PS, I decided to cut all the exposition explaining what exactly Operation Streamline's purpose and history is for length. Is it a crazy idea to hyperlink to that article on my first mention of Streamline, or should I just assume admissions readers will look it up if they're not already familiar with the program?

So...I'm pretty sure that the title explains itself. I am usually anal about my outgoing emails, especially when they are to law school admissions offices. I reread this specific email like 10 times and ended up having to change something, but didn't notice that I needed to change it in two spots. Basically, I had to change the quantity of something from 2 to 3, but only did it in one place.

"...I took 3 classes at [X Institution] in [X years] before I was enrolled full-time in any undergraduate institution. Those 2 classes show up on my transcript and contribute to my overall GPA..."

What are the chances this will hurt me? I sent it to a T14 school...do they consult previous emails from applicants when looking at their applications?

I AM SO MAD THAT I DID THIS!

Hi guys,

I've received offers from both these universities in Australia. UNSW has also offered me 36 credits for previous study (i.e. six subjects), while Melbourne hasn't. While I see that Melbourne is #1 in Australia, UNSW is not far behind (#3 or #4?)

Should I not worry about the time and money (since it won't be a lot in the long run) and go for Melbourne? Which university will have more value and better job prospects?

I had a question about my degree GPA verse my actual GPA. My actual GPA is 3.25 which is really low. However, my degree GPA is closer to 3.7. I know most law schools do not look at that, but I feel like it does say something about me as a student. Thanks!

I originally planned on taking the LSAT in December but since then have decided to push it back until June and upgraded to the ultimate package. I am hoping to get some advice on choosing the right schools to apply. I realize it is a bit early to ask this question but I already signed up for CAS on the LSAC website and my email has been blowing up from many different schools. I knew there were a ton of schools out there but woah the amount of emails I have received is a bit overwhelming. I have 2 main focuses in choosing a school. The first is a scholarship and the second is finding a school that has a program and/or clinic for child advocacy law or juvenile law. The first focus I understand will depend greatly on my LSAT score but also finding a decently generous school. The second focus is important to me because I would really like to find a school I can get involved in what I am interested in. I really want to help kids and plan to focus primarily on child advocacy, juvenile and adoption law. I have done a lot of research and have found a few schools that I have my eye on but I am curious if anyone knows of any schools with these programs. Or at least have any advice on how to narrow down schools. Is there a recommendation on the amount of law schools to apply to? I was granted a fee waiver and have already received application fee waivers from some schools so I wonder, if there is no fee then, would it hurt to apply to many different schools and see what kind of scholarships I receive? I have talked to some family and friends on the subject and I am curious what my fellow 7sagers think on the subject. Thanks so much :)

Am I just blind or is there no information on WUSTL's fee waiver policy on their website? I got an email with a "request a fee waiver" button but it just redirects to your email app. I can't find out whether I should bother requesting a merit based fee waiver or not.

This question mainly stems from lack of proper information and not trusting TLS; plus I think this is a subject many people aren't sure on. What is considered having good ties to a city/region?

Is having lived in a city since early teens to graduating high school and doing 2 years of UG enough? I moved away to finish my UG but am thinking about coming back, but it has been almost 4 years.

Do I need a family connection? A decent amount of friends/people I know there?

What do y'all think? I feel this community is much more level headed and understands not everyone wants big law, so I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Hi everyone:

Hoping to get some advice on negotiating scholarship offer. Has anyone had success?

Even with money offered, these schools are crazy expensive!

Thanks.

Is it okay to name the school in a personal statement? I have a school that I really want to attend and in my final paragraph want to say something like;

or something like that. Is this okay to do or is it frowned against?

Hey everyone!

I will be taking the December LSAT. I'm guessing we will have the scores back by Christmas. Does applying late December (26-30) make a difference compared to early January?

I also had another question. I don't think I will be getting a high score on the LSAT. But the rest of my application is really strong. I will be aiming to the LSAT's 25th percentile in most T14. I've heard that the 25th percentile gets filled up really quick. Does that mean that by January those spots are almost all taken?

Any advise is appreciated!

Hi 7sage community!

It's the night before the Los Angeles LSAC Forum and I'm a bit nervous. Have any of you attended these forums before? I'm what I hope to be a splitter (low gpa, high lsat), so I assume the networking might come in handy.

I'm just not sure what to even ask them, though. When you approach the table, do you introduce yourself and briefly talk about yourself? Do you jump right into questions?

Do you have any ideas for questions, aside from ones geared toward the school's programs?

Let me know. Thanks, so much.

I just came across this bit from the Top Law Schools forum (http://www.top-law-schools.com/writing-effective-why-x-addendum.html):

"Second, if you're applying Early Decision, a Why X addendum is redundant. Applying ED tells them you are certain to go there if accepted, and with that already true, they probably do not care about your reason. In a sense, applying ED is the ultimate Why X essay, with an action that says more than a 500 word addendum ever could. If it's early enough, you're sure it's the school of your dreams, and your numbers aren't good enough to get scholarship money (early decision applicants rarely receive scholarships on admittance because they are bound to that specific school and don’t need extra incentives), you're better off applying ED than trying to write a Why X addendum."

I'm planning on submitting an application by November 10 for my early decision school, and was prepared to write a Why X essay. So I'm just wondering how true the above is. If it is true, I'd love to submit my app even earlier.

I know that I should already know this, but I unfortunately don't. Should my LSAC GPA be on my resume and the blank in the education section in my application? I originally put down the GPA that is on my school's transcript.

The difference is just 0.01 (so basically nothing), but I just wanted to make sure.

Any help would be really appreciated! :)

Two questions in this one:

I know that professional letters are acceptable as long as you've been out of school for some time. I graduated in 2015 and have been working at a large, well-known company since then. I think that my manager could provide a strong rec letter accounting for my time since graduation. I have one strong academic reference, but the other professors I plan on asking for rec letters don't know me as well as my manager does. Given my situation, what would carry more weight for a law school---a strong second letter from a manager or a second letter from a professor whose class I did well/participated in, but who doesn't know me as well?

I was a TA for a semester in college, but being a TA was technically counted as a class. I had to learn all of the material that I was teaching on top of participating in weekly meetings with the course professor and the other TA's. In these meetings, we learned how to teach classes made sure we understood the material for the week. We were also graded. If I ask this professor for a reference, would it count as academic?

So i am wondering exactly what softs i should put in my resume.

Example, i am a Caring Network volunteer, which entails that i run around and do favors for people who are having medical issues- its not an official position and i only do it when i am available. Should i put this down?

When you attach an addendum to an application, it asks you to describe it. Should you just write "Character and Fitness Addendum" for example or should you include your LSAC number? Similarly, when you save the file with the addendum what should you title it as?