Hi all,

I am currently struggling with whether or not to submit an addendum with my LS application materials explaining 2 low LSAT scores. For background, I scored a 162 in May and a 153 in August. I have been averaging low to mid 170s on practice tests the past several months, and I think the November test went really well. I am anticipating I scored around a 170 (or maybe slightly over). As a result, I will have something like a 162-153-170ish score spread (yikes!)

For the 162, I took the May LSAT-flex after studying for just 2 months because I anticipated entering the fall 2020 class late in the game. However, when I realized it was smarter to wait until 2021, I signed up for the August LSAT-flex. I have struggled with Generalized Anxiety Disorder for years, which often manifests itself in panic attacks. For the August test, I had a 10-minute long panic attack that resulted in me bombing the logic games section (and my score of 153). The panic attack itself was related to a lot of technological failures (my computer not connecting to the internet, the campus-wide internet going down several times that week) and the fact that I couldn't get to my testing location until 10 minutes before my test (I was testing on a university campus and the COVID screening process didn't open until right before my test time). As a result, my anxiety was at an all-time high by the time I actually got into the test.

For the November LSAT-flex, I talked with my doctor and was prescribed medication that decreased my situational anxiety going into the test so that I could avoid a panic attack altogether. I also wired into the internet with an ethernet cable to avoid anxiety related to technological failures. Overall, I feel that I was able to overcome the previous hurdles I experienced on the August flex.

I am leaning towards writing a no-BS addendum briefly explaining that I have an anxiety disorder that manifests itself in panic attacks. However, I have heard advice from different admissions officers that you should never use "nervousness" as an excuse on your addendum. I am also worried that sharing info about a psychological disorder is a bit of an "overshare" on an LS app. I am also curious if I should even include info about the technological failures/screening process because I don't want the addendum to seem like a laundry list of excuses. I want to be straight to the point, conveying only the facts. Any advice? Of course this will all bank on my November score coming back higher, as I've predicted.

Thank you 7sage-rs!!!

Does it take a while after a recommender uploads a letter for it to show up as received on LSAC? I'm getting worried because my recommenders said they would upload them weeks ago but it still says "requested but not acknowledged by recommender" and 0 letters received

What does YIELD mean in the Law School Predictor?

2 years ago, I applied to a T14 school and was rejected. At the time, my GPA was at their median, and my LSAT was below their 25th percentile. Now, I have improved my LSAT score to exactly the median score. My personal statement, résumé, and letters of recommendation are very strong. Since my waitlist two years ago, I have made very solid advances in my career.

Do I have to re-work my entire application? Submit an entirely new personal statement? Write an addendum? Can I submit the same application with an updated résumé? Any advice is appreciated.

My downstair apartment was always vacant, the university reserved it as a temporary quarantine housing for students. Unfortunately, right after my LSAT started this afternoon, I heard loud TV noise downstairs, cheering and laughing. (I guess it might be the media coverage for Biden victory.)

That was really distracting as I couldn't concentrate on the test. I can read but cannot understand stimuli. I flagged 10 questions on LR (usually 2-3 flagged questions during PTs), and had no clues for the RC section.

I have to say the timing was "perfect", no noise during my test check-in, and just right after my first session began, the TV was turned on. (I can no longer leave the room at that time) If I had known someone moved in and the insulation was that bad, I would have politely asked my neighbor to lower the volume.

My decision is to cancel the score (I have my August score on hand). In my situation, is this a reasonable reason for cancellation? Do I need to provide an addendum for this? As I once read on the forum, that admission officers would not flag a single cancellation, they would just assume something bad happened.

my test was LR-RC-LG, LG was quite normal, sorry I cannot assess the difficulties for LR and RC, as I was not at the test during these two sections. LOL

GOOD LUCK on your FLEX exam and remember to check with neighbors if necessary.

Hey everyone,

Duke Law's personal statement prompt says to mention your "personal and career ambitions," but in my "Why Law, Why Duke" optional essay, I go into detail about my career ambitions. I don't want to repeat myself (Duke specifically says not to do this), but I also don't want it to seem like I'm not following their directions... Does anyone else who has applied to Duke/gotten accepted have any insight on this? Thanks in advance!!

Has anyone recently dealt with a foreign institution (Europe) sending transcripts to LSAC? My university Can create all records necessary and translate them. What they categorically refuse to do us mail them to LSAC.

Anyone mailed the seal envelope themselves?

Hi everyone,

We’ve collected the new application requirements of T50 law schools here:

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

These come straight from LSAC. We’ve added notes about how to interpret the essays. You’ll also find information about the schools’ medians and deadlines. Finally, we've added links to the full application instructions.

If you’re interested in other schools, we’ve compiled almost all requirements in a Coda doc:

https://coda.io/d/The-7Sage-Law-School-Info-Doc_daa7untIi1o/App-Requirements_sumP8#_luA_v

Good luck!

Hello all,

I have taken the LSAT 4 times (158 160 163 (flex) 167(flex) upward trend) would an addendum be necessary? I do not have much to say about the score increase, other than I studied and improved my nerves and comfort with the exam.

Additionally, do I need a GPA addendum? I only have a 3.19 which is below the 25th for most of the schools I will be applying to.

Appreciate any insight.

My undergrad institution and LSAC have the exact same grading scale. When manually going through how they got to the numbers on the report, it fits perfectly with the following:

I determined that LSAC considered four "U" grades, or unsatisfactory grades, to equal 8 total "semester hours" with a 0.00 grade. My undergraduate school does says these count for "0 attempted credits" and do NOT contribute to my GPA. It seems arbitrary that LSAC calculated these to be 8 course hours when my school counts them as none.

***This isn't a legitimate course. It's a ten-minute online training about taking books out from the library that is mandatory before graduation but kind of expected to be completed as a first year. Did not know it would be on my transcript. Instead of a 3.69 overall GPA, LSAC computed a 3.22 which decimates my overall GPA (I transferred with a 3.91 with equal course hours). I know I was lazy but wow, this seems extreme. Can I appeal this to LSAC?

Hi everyone! I'm just looking for some advice/feedback.

I started my law school journey a little later than most of you, and wrote my first LSAT this past August with hopes of attending law school in the fall of 2021. I originally planned on only applying to Canadian schools, as I am a Canadian citizen, but I've extended my interests and plan to apply to some T14 schools. Harvard, Columbia, NYU, UC-Berkeley, Cornell, and Duke are some I've been exploring but have yet to apply to. I scored a 167 on my first LSAT but I expected to break into the 170s, so I registered for the November LSAT. However, I then had to switch to January's exam due to personal reasons.

So, my dilemma is: should I apply to these top schools now (even though my LSAT score is below medians for most) or should I wait until receiving my January LSAT score and apply in February? February is cutting it close, and my chances of admission may decrease, but I believe I can score well into the 170s. I have a pretty high GPA (a 4.25) and know that my personal statements/optional essays will give me a boost as well.

Any guidance and/or personal experience would be highly appreciated! :)

does anyone know what the LSAT scores for Cambridge and Oxford are like? I can't seem to find data anywhere

Just going out on a limb here... I presume that "strongly suggested" in the context of the application instructions means that you definitely should do it. The ask is to explain test history if submitting more than one LSAT administration (I have 3 - 166, 166, 171).

No marching bands (or anything of the sort) were practicing outside while I was taking the test. Nerves definitely played a factor though. Is this something that I should still write given that I don't have a ton to say? Or do I just write what I can about nerves being a factor?

Hi everyone! I'm in the process of finalizing my personal statement and was wondering if anyone on here would be down to give me their opinions on it. Any help is appreciated :)

i read a lot of posts lately about the unusually high number of apps this year (followed by tons of other discussions explaining why). although there may be a lot of different reasons for this, there seems to be a theory that the apps are up high because of covid-19 and that more people are looking at graduate school, law school not being an exception.

what does this mean for us? well, the first thought i had of was, of course, the more competitive application pool, which kinda gives a gloomy sentiment. but 2020 is already bad as is, so i wanted to bring up a crazy prediction: the application pool may in fact turn out to be "less competitive" than before! here are two reasons why:

it takes a long time to score high on the lsat for most people.

most people who are suddenly into law school because of covid-19 will not be adequately prepared for the lsat, compared to people who had been considering law school even before covid and had been preparing for this exam for a long time. as a result, there would be more numbers of lower lsat scores (which doesn't contradict the statistic that there are way more +165 scorers applying this year)

acceptance rate is one of the indicators that determines law school rankings, along with median lsat and gpa.

if there are way more applicants, there will be way more rejections. law schools would have an extra cushion to fall back on, and so they might be a bit more liberal in admitting people with lower stats than they were in the previous cycles.

obviously, i'm not accounting for countless other facts or factors that play a role. well, i'm no fortune-teller and this post was not meant to start a debate. just wanted to diversify the predictions for fun.

good luck everyone whether you are studying for the lsat or are in the waiting game after submitting apps!

covid sucked and still does, but the sun always shines after a storm!

What’s up 7sage community! I’m currently an undergraduate student in engineering at an Asian country who wants to go to an elite law school (Harvard, Columbia, etc.). In this stage of my life, I find myself struggling with the thought of applying to these law schools very soon as the months grow nearer, so I was wondering if anyone who came from an undergraduate degree that is completely unrelated to law got into any of the top schools, or if getting an LSAT in the 170s along with strong extracurriculars would suffice? Can anyone share some advice on how I would be able to achieve my goal of becoming a law student in a good school?

Anyone else trying to come to terms with how to stay calm and patient while we to see how all of the pieces of the puzzle will come together? Want to tell jokes and make each other feel good for coming this far? I'd be happy to start a small group of people who want to just compare notes and share a toast when anyone gets any good news. Anything to keep me from obsessively checking my statuses. I love this community. Let me know.

Does applying to scholarships attached to the school application impact your likelihood of getting in? I wonder if they can help or hurt your application. If you apply to many of them, does your application stand out more? NYU has many different scholarship essays and I'm worried I could be sacrificing the benefit of applying early by spending time writing these. Looking at the risk/benefits here haha

I was applying late (March 2019) last cycle and also got a huge promotion at work. Given my application was so late and the job was a great opportunity, I only applied to one reach school and didn’t get in. I’m applying now for my safe, reach, and dream schools and still have the two letters of recommendation I used in the past cycle. They are dated March 2019. Should I ask for new LOR or can I use the same LOR already on my LSAC file for my new applications?

Hi everyone, I recently graduated in May 2020 and have been unemployed till early Oct 2020. I was having trouble finding a job due to the pandemic. During this time, I mainly studied for the LSAT and took care of my 9 year brother since schools are closed now. How would I address this gap (May-Oct) on my resume? Should I have a footnote somewhere or it is not necessary to address? I assume most people would assume the gap is due to the pandemic anyway. Any advice is appreciated, thanks!

Having a bad day. Sorry if this post dredges up anxiety for anyone else.

I have finished all my application materials, but all 3 of my current LORs are still being worked on by my professors. I also really really want a letter from my last boss, but she hasn't been replying to my messages and I've been at it for days. At this rate, I easily might not be able to submit my apps until mid November.

My stats are 174/3.5, URM. My GPA was in the top 30ish % of my class. I'm worried that by applying late, even if I do get into some decent schools I will be doing myself a disservice by accepting. I'm sorry if this comes off as neurotic, but I'm desperate for some perspective. How deleterious is applying in November really?

Hi! I'm a undergrad senior that is currently enrolled in a 5 year B.S./M.A. program at my university. During my senior year I have taken undergrad and graduate level courses. I have no intention in completing the program if I get admitted to a Law School. Will law schools turn away my application, for the Fall 2021 cycle, when they see that I have an expected grad school graduation date for May 2022? Any suggestions for who I can reach out to for a concrete answer?

Does it matter if you answer questions on law school applications that are not required? For example, should you answer what other law schools you’re applying to if it’s not required, and other types of questions like that. And how many hours a week you worked at certain jobs, because that fluctuated for me so can I leave that blank since it will let me?

Hi 7Sagers,

I was born in China, adopted and raised by my uncle and aunt (one of my parents passed away when I was three), and immigrated to the US by the end of middle school. I was strongly influenced by Chinese culture: although relocating to the US tied me into many aspects of US customs, I kept a long-lasting interest in Chinese culture. With my CS background, I joined an oversea game production team in college and participated in an RPG production about Chinese martial arts for years. Combining with some other events which occurred during this process, this experience served as one motivation for me to switch from CS into patent law.

As what the title stated, my question is whether my experience above qualify as a decent diversity statement topic. I know that Asians, especially Chinese, are nowhere close to being minorities in law school, so I am really wondering if I should write a diversity statement based on these factors. None of the above was mentioned in my personal statement, and only the RPG production part is briefly mentioned in my resume. Any insight would be deeply appreciated!

Hey everyone,

While I was still in undergrad, I attended a 3-week legal program abroad. On my application to NYU, I was not sure how to classify the institution, so marked it as "graduate," since I received ECTS credits that can be transferred to American law schools and the program was technically for law students. However, now I am realizing that in the country where I took the course, law degrees are considered Bachelor's degrees, so I am not sure whether it was correct to classify it as a graduate institution.

I already applied to NYU, but should I send them a clarification email or addendum explaining more about the program and why I chose to classify it as a graduate institution? Any insight would be appreciated.