I went to a big research university and all of my lectures were 200+ people. I didn't get to know my professors really well but did get to know two professors at the university with whom I did research with (not as a job but just because I was interested in their fields). But since they didn't actually teach me directly (as in a class), is it still ok to count their letters as "academic"?

My plan is to blanket the T14 schools with no expectations of acceptance. As far as I can tell, my best shot is University of Austin Texas (or #14). According to the LSAC GPA/LSAT browser, applicants with my GPA and LSAT had between a 54% and 64% chance of getting accepted into Austin in 2016. The same people only had between 27% and 40% chance of getting into Cornell, which #13.

If I get accepted into any one of them, I'll go. If not, I'll take the LSAT again in June 2018 and hopefully beef up my resume along the way.

My personal issue is that I don't actually know the national reach of a lower T14 school; this is especially a concern for Austin. I don't know where I want to practice, and I haven't evaluated any job markets yet.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,

How does one's political views affect one's chances at admission, especially to elite schools which tend to lean left? I wouldn't say I'm a liberal, by today's standards of what constitutes left at least; if one defines "liberal" as "one who values liberty", then yes I am a liberal. However, I try to understand both sides of the political spectrum without being wedded to any particular ideology. By no means am I what many have called the "alt-right", however, there are some views that they hold that I am sympathetic towards; in particular, I believe that it is necessity to guard the freedom of speech. There are, of course, reasons for me to be sympathetic towards this idea: language evolves. To legislate on what constitutes "appropriate" speech is to attempt to directly and consciously control the evolution of language. If I were to reject this notion, I would have to reject the liberal value of liberty, which is distinct from license. Thus, to remain a liberal, it seems that I must defend, what is now considered to be, a conservative ideal.

In short, I am a centrist. But it seems that being a centrist, especially in this politically charged climate, would hurt my chances. Am I correct in being concerned?

Background: 163 on LSAT first try, 166 second try, and a 3.78 LSAC GPA.

While I realize I'm not in absolutely the best position to get into either of those schools, their admission stats give me the impression that it's a coin flip (mylsn and other law school number sites admittedly paint a more pessimistic picture). My 166 is exactly the median for Berkeley, and my GPA is 0.01 below their median. For Cornell, I'm one point below their LSAT median and 0.05 above their GPA median.

So I decided I wanted to strengthen my chances by doing early decision. However, I'm not sure which early decision is more practical. I'm also not sure what kind of law I want to practice. Another factor to consider is that I don't really have any experience that is amazing on its face.

Also: Will the specialties and programs of even top 14 schools lock me into a certain career path? What other factors should I consider?

My priority school is UW.

My GPA is quite mediocre (3.57cumul/3.7 degree)

I’m aiming for 165-167. Am I not doing myself any favors with that expectation for that school?

I've been trying for a month to get an LOR submitted. The professor is saying that they keep following the link and submitting it but it doesn't even show that it's acknowledged on LSAC. Has anyone had this problem before?

Grey day has come and gone taking my dreams of a 175 with it ? Yesterday I was distraught, today I am resolved. I'm planning to retake in December and finally get a score that matches my PTs!

I have all but finished several applications, just need to sign and finalize my essays. My question is how the process of updating an app goes. Is there an advantage to applying now with my sept. score, and then updating when hit a 178 (lol, as if) in december? Or should I wait to apply until January?

Financial aid is a big concern for me, so I badly wanted to apply early, but I realize that a 2 point bump would help more than a 3 month wait. Advice? Thoughts? Comfort food suggestions? Haha

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to let you know that 7Sage editor @"maura.roosevelt" compiled the 2017 application requirements for T-15 law schools. You can find it here:

https://classic.7sage.com/admissions/lesson/application-requirements-for-top-schools/

We're working on even more free resources for you.

I took the LSAT for the first time in June 2017 while I was abroad. I don't even want to mention what my score was (157), but I think there were a lot of contributing factors to that, as I consistently tested in the 165-170 range on practices. I really want to go to NYU for a variety of reasons. While I am not technically a URM, I am a former ward of the state/ foster child and I have a powerful backstory and personal statement as well as an interest in practicing public interest law. I have a 3.7 GPA, and I think that if I can score on the actual test within the range I mentioned earlier, I should have a real shot at NYU. Thoughts?

So I posted a couple days ago about LSAC miscalculating my GPA on the Academic Summary Report; they treated eight hours of high school test credit as a C. They fixed it today, but I'm posting this to remind people to verify their grades. I know LSAC has their own way of calculating GPA, but this was pretty blatant and took my overall GPA down by 0.10

Good luck all!

Anyone applying to H/Y/ and/or S who wants to do a personal statement swap? Mine is (broadly) related to wanting to do social movement lawyering.

For those that are currently applying to law schools, I was wondering how much you guys tweaked your PS for each application. My generic statement is two, double-spaced, pages, but some of the schools I'm applying to allows up to four double-spaced pages. Are you guys sticking to the generic PS, or are you guys adding additional stuff into your PS for schools that allow longer PS?

Anybody thinking of doing this? Would love to discuss with you if so - feel free to respond to this msg or DM me. Thanks!

My September score wasn't what I wanted but it's good enough for most of the schools I'm looking at. I'm retaking in December but should I go ahead and apply now? If I apply now, should I write an addendum about another score coming or will they see that I'm registered?

I just got back my third LSAT score and was crushed - a full 10 points lower than my practice tests where I was consistently getting around a 171, and 2 points lower than my last test (163). I've been studying for over a year at this point so I think its time to move on and just apply already.

My question is: is there any way to spin these scores as a positive in an addendum? I want to believe the admissions officers will see my three scores over a year and a half span and see perseverance. And if they were to look at my section scores, if you put all my best ones together I would have gotten around a 174. Would it come off badly to highlight these facts?

Thanks for the advice!!

I have 3 former professors who agreed to write LORs for me. Can I pick just 2 to send to law schools even after all 3 submit their letters to LSAC? I got the third letter just in case as a backup and don't want to send it if I don't have to..

ss

My September score is leaving me in purgatory.

I got a 170 and I have a 3.57 GPA. I want to apply ED to UChicago (I know, it's a reach) while applying to Michigan, Duke, Virginia, Penn, Northwestern, and Cornell.

Looking on Law School Numbers, even a 175 (my PT average) in December wouldn't do much for my application chances anywhere, and would marginally help with scholarship money. My thoughts are if Chicago were going to reject me, seeing that I'm taking in December would at least get me waitlisted.

I'm in the middle of a gap year and I burnt myself out going into the September test, and I don't want to go through it again.

What should I do?

Does anyone know what you need to get to get a CSP at Melbourne? I currently have an offer for them which was given with a 159 LSAT score and WAM (weird unimelb lingo) of 75%. My WAM is now 80% and my new LSAT score is 161. What's my chance of getting a CSP?

Hey all,

I'm concerned about something in my personal statement. So I'm basically writing about my family's refugee story and how that pushed me to go into law.

I was originally going to be a doctor (my mom wanted a doctor in the family to take care of her when she gets older), but through some experiences in college regarding racial discrimination and then the rhetoric of the 2016 election, I found myself called to pursue law - specifically immigrant law, public policy, etc. Appropriately, I took ~1 year off school to work on the presidential campaign - hence sparking my transition from pre-med to pre-law.

I am worried though about talking about the 2016 election, specifically about Trump's immigrant rhetoric. I'm worried about making any politically charged statements and any backlash I may face in the admissions boardrooms. What do you all think? I would be respectful of course, but I'm worried just mentioning it could be bad.

Hello, Im in the beginning stage of writing my personal statement, however i am having super writer's block and i'm stuck. I dont know what direction i should take my essay. Its so difficult because i am a career changer , from medical to law and all my experience are medical related. so if there is anyone who would like to review it and maybe throw some ideas in that would be helpful.

Two schools I'm applying to want two pages max. Three other schools want approximately two pages. And the other seven schools either don't have a page limit or it's max three. I'm at about two and three quarters pages right now, and am wondering what to do. I know the "two page max" schools are a hard line, and I plan to edit shorter for those, but what about the "approximately two pages" schools. How flexible are they when they say approximately?

Having a very hard time editing down while still telling the full story I want. Any advice or help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hey guys,

One of the schools that I am applying for is having an open house this weekend. This sounds like a silly question but would it look bad to bring my mom with me? I'm very close with my mom and she will be the one who's paying for my law eduction so it makes sense that she wants to see exactly where her money is going...but I read on some other forums that taking your parents with you looks immature and can send the wrong message.

Any thoughts?

I know, i'm dramatic.

But guys i'm freaking out.

So, i'm a senior in college and my school just finished my "grad check" so that i'm set to graduate in the spring. All of a sudden they started factoring in my dual enrollment classes from high school in to my GPA. While they are Bs, they brought my gpa down .08 points, which actually brought it down a .1. As we are all prospective law students, .1 is a big deal. (Example: 2.6 to 2.5, trust me, not my GPA but you get the idea). I have not yet submitted my transcript to lsac because I caught this. Will my dual enrollment classes factor in to my lsac gpa? Because my I would LOVE to apply with my actual college GPA.

Help :(

I'm applying after being out of undergrad for 2 years. I took time off work for a few months to study for the LSAT and move back to my home state to do more meaningful work. Does that need to be explained in an addendum? I was thinking of including it in part of my "Why X" narratives, but that may be out of place.

Thanks!