Sometime in the past couple days Columbia decided that if you graduated less than two years ago, you are required to submit two academic letters of recommendation. I graduated in 2018.

Unfortunately, I took a break from school for five years and when I returned as a part time student I took one professor several times for my major and then I took a handful of other professors just once. None of them would have much to say about me assuming they remember me at all, nor would the ones I took in 2009-2012 at this point. Getting another academic LOR is just not an option for me. Do I give up on Columbia or stubbornly submit anyway?

I'm filling out Harvard's application and it has a section in which you have to describe a "significant piece of writing under the direct supervision of a faculty member or employer". I'm a PhD student, so I have a ton of these, but I'm only allowed 300 characters. Is it appropriate to attach an addendum, or do I just say "see résumé"?

I wonder if I am being overparanoid about this, and from what I've read across many law-related forums may sense is that these are irrelevant issues, but to set my mind at ease, I've decided to post this question. I want an honest opinion from everyone here as to whether I should write addendi for either or both of these items:

I have a couple incidences from my teenage years that I am uncertain whether I should disclose on C & F, as they neither involve any contact with the law or with any post-secondary educational institution:

A. One is that I was suspended a few times in middle school for either fighting other students (I was bullied a lot) or on one occasion because I had apparently made comments threatening violence to the school (this one I remember essentially nothing about, other than I got suspended for this reason, I don't even recall the action itself)

B. The second is that the first time I took the SAT, my score got cancelled for an irregularity. During one section, the proctor called out for everyone to stop, I kept working for a few seconds after like a nervous idiot, the proctor spotted me, and my score was later cancelled for this.

I am having trouble brainstorming for writing a diversity statement. I have definitely had experiences that have given me a unique lens, as well as equip me to view issues differently than others. The main 2 that come to mind are my summers volunteering at a camp for children with autism, and overcoming a serious eating disorder. Both give me a lot to write about, but I am unsure if understanding others who have mental disabilities or speaking about my own mental "illness" struggle would be wise.

Are these topics that do not warrant a diversity statement, or that are not along the lines of what diversity means to most law programs?

Hi everyone — I started my undergrad at Florida International University in Miami,Florida. unfortunately due to tuition and family circumstances I had to return to northern Virginia. My gpa leaving FIU was a 2.5, then I took courses at a community college and transferred to George Mason University where I graduated with a 3.39. I am very nervous as to what my GPA will end up in LSAC as I just requested my transcripts. Has anyone been in a similar situation and can offer insight? Thank you in advance.

My LSAT increased 7 points the second time I took the exam and 6 points the third time I took the test -- in terms of an addendum, if I were to write one, would I treat the increase as a 13 point increase, or would I write about them individually?

Thank you!

Hi there,

I have written my personal statement. The topic isn't about why I want to go to law school, but rather a life experience. I have gone on a few law school websites seeing they have wrote to write the personal statement about why you want to go to law school. I am wondering if I have to write another personal statement that addresses this topic for these schools, or if I can keep my personal statement as it is.

Hello!

During my freshman year I received a noise complaint. I was written up and received a formal warning that exists on my academic record.

Of course, for schools with C + F questions that specifically ask if you have received any warnings from a college, I plan to disclose this and submit an addendum. My plan was to just err on the side of disclosure and do the same for all schools, but I am wondering what others think.

A number of schools ask specifically "“Have you ever been subject to any disciplinary action" but do not mention warnings explicitly. Because this exists on my academic record, I was going to answer "yes" in these scenarios too, just to be safe, though I am not sure warnings are considered being subject to disciplinary action and if doing so would be unnecessary.

Would love to hear the thoughts of others.

Thanks!

Looking for one or two people who want to swap resumes and personal statements through email and give some good feedback. Thanks!

Hi! I’m trying to decide which law school(s) in Illinois to apply to, but am not familiar with any. I was thinking of schools such as Northwestern, U of Chicago, Illinois State, DePaul, and Kent. I know they are all different schools and ranked differently, etc., but if anyone has experience with any of those schools could you please provide any input to help me decide where to apply? I’m also interested in scholarship opportunities from law schools so availability of aid would be a factor as well. Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

Would anyone be interested in swapping drafts of their personal statement for peer review?

Let me know!

For universities that are christian schools but say that they prefer to have diverse bodies, including those with different sexual orientations and that they don't discriminate on orientation, is it okay to send in a personal statement that talks about your experience as part of the LGBTQ community? Or is this something you should error on the side of caution with and create a new personal statement just for those schools?

I've read that personal statements should be 11 or 12 pt font, double spaced. Does the same apply to diversity statement, GPA addendum, etc? Additionally, do these ever begin with a salutation like "Dear Admissions"?

I just finished undergrad and moved to a new city, so I'm trying to decide if I should solely focus on the LSAT or if it would look better on my app for me to have a job durning this time?? I'm planning on taking the LSAT in Feb and applying next cycle, so obviously I'll be getting a job, but I'm wondering if that's something I should be focused on now or if I'm okay simply focusing on the LSAT for the coming months until I take it. TIA!

Hey everyone,

Sort of an off-topic topic re. law school admissions, but if anyone has any useful advice for me who has been through the cycle or just has a lot of knowledge from others re. the admissions process, I would highly appreciate it.

So, I am currently a Junior in undergrad (so about a year from now I will be applying to law schools). I have a strong gpa so far and pretty good extra curricular activities on my resume. Recently, I have been introduced to a possible legal internship which would occupy me for the entire rest of the school year.

My main question is: Is it worth it to take it, or am I better off just sticking to my rigorous LSAT prep and keeping me GPA up? I know the LSAT is the determining factor, but would it largely benefit me to have a legal internship and the contact on my application? I'm really torn on what to do, and don't want to take away my focus from the LSAT (I am in the PT faze), but I also don't want to pass on something that may very well help me get into a good school.

Thank you for anyone who takes the time to read this and gives me advice.

I am a US citizen with family in Toronto and I am looking to apply to a couple schools in Toronto. I am wondering if it's even worth applying to the University of Toronto and/or what my chances would be since there is not much information online that I can find (like 7Sage's predictor). My stats are as follow:

LSAT: 162

GPA (3 best years): about 3.95 (calculated online, OLSAS is still receiving my transcripts)

Overall GPA: 3.89

I’ve had a couple of schools I’m applying to ask for my SAT & ACT scores.

I did not have these handy, thus it took a while to get this done.

Make sure you have these available as a just in case!

On the section where it asks you to list all your previous employment and the dates, if you are unsure of the exact month of when you started or ended is that penalized against you? For instance, I worked at Perkins for my first job when I was 15 and I am unsure of when the exact start and end dates were.

I'm interested in business leadership programs such as the Doctoroff Program at UChicago and Jacobson at NYU. As a K-JD, would applying for these programs put my overall application at a disadvantage? Is it possible to be accepted to the school without acceptance to the business leadership program?

Does anybody want to exchange and proofread each others resumes for grammar, style, spelling, etc. errors? If so comment and I'll message you!

Hey I noticed the post "what affects your chances of getting into law school" only uses October as the earliest application date. This is the same with the law school predictor. How about if i apply in september? Does that give an even earlier boost?

Hey guys! With applications opening today, I can say I am still lost with the process of using LSAC and CAS to apply to the schools I want. Now that applications are open there is a button that says "apply." Should I have all of my letters of recommendation and transcripts on LSAC before hitting apply or is this just where you can edit your application and save it as you go?

Hi everyone,

I was wondering if it's necessary to write an addendum for explaining why I worked at a job for less than 6 months. I was also wondering if it's okey to include such jobs on resume or it's best to leave them out.

I would greatly appreciate your response. Thanks!

So I worked as a substitute paraprofessional (aka a substitute teacher's assistant) at a bunch of elementary schools during my junior year of college. In the NYC public school system, the school year begins in September and ends in June. I did not get my first call on the job till October of 2016, and I continued to get called by a few schools until February 2017 when I decided to decline the calls to focus on my full-time school schedule.

Anyway, should I put on my resume that I worked for four months? Or for the entire school year (since my license was technically active for the whole school year) ?

Thanks a bunch!