Got a $90k scholarship from Brooklyn law, and $75k from Seton Hall Law. Seton hall has a better ranking, but from what I’ve heard, Brooklyn law is better suited for the NYC market. Any views? TIA

The personal statement draft I've been working on focuses on my advocacy work experience and the ups and downs I've faced during them. I was wondering if this is too close to becoming a "resume rundown" essay – if I go into more detail on my personal feelings and what I learned through these experiences, would this still be an OK essay?

Hi all,

I know there is some data out there for this on LSN , but I was just wondering if anyone had some insight on what type of numbers people need compared to a school’s median in order to be competitive for a large or close to full scholarship. For example, say someone is 4-5 points over the LSAT median, .1over the GPA, and is an otherwise decent applicant, should that person be expecting close to a full ride? I know there are no exact numbers for this and every school is ultimately different, but still thought some people might have a little info.

Hi, I am trying to figure out two questions.

I was at a 4-year university back in 2012 but I only attended for one semester. Am I supposed to submit that transcript to the LSAC as well? I was on the website and it said "please wait until you have completed at least six semesters of undergraduate work before requesting transcripts" but I ended up leaving and starting another school (Tech) 2015 before transferring to the university I'm at now.

Does my technical college transcript need to be sent to LSAC as well? I wasn't sure if that counted as a community college.

Hello, I'm seeing posts on here stating that GPA's like a 3.5, 3.7, 3.67, etc. aren't high enough for law schools to be impressed and I'm genuinely shocked by that and confused as to why. There's no way that everyone in law school got out of undergrad with a 4.0 so how are GPA's in the higher 3's not considered good? It's a little intimidating and disheartening finding out you can try your best in undergrad but if you don't make it out with that 4.0 your chances of admittance are reduced. I thought the 3's would at least be somewhat of a happy medium.

Hi guys!

So I was considering writing an addendum for my low LSAT scores. I ask if I should or not because I do not have a valid reason (for example a family loss or major negative life event) only that I am a horrible standardized test taker. Is it worth it to show that even my high school SAT scores were average to low and that I excelled immensely in college graduating with a 3.67 GPA and that I will equally do just as well in law school?

I am going to be taking the LSAT again (after deadlines) but I am trying to see if I can apply to this one school that has a late application deadline of June 15th that will allow me to start this September instead of waiting another year.

thanks!!!

Hello,

I will be applying for law school in September for early admissions at a few schools.

During my undergrad I lost my mother unexpectedly and was hospitalized for suicidal intent more than a year later. This and the severe depression that followed had obvious negative effects on my performance. I have been told that I should list these occurrences on my addendum and address them in my essays. I am curious if these events in my life will even be beneficial to my application or instead will just make admissions think I'm just trying to give them a sob story. Do circumstances like this even carry a lot of weight during the admissions process?

The objective: work in Seattle after law school

The problem:

Does it matter which school I choose if I'm trying to break into the WA legal community?

Hi everyone! My name is Hamaseh and I was a 7sage student and also purchased the Comprehensive Consulting admissions package. I am here to give you an honest review of my experience.

First off, I am heading to UC Irvine in the fall (cries from excitement). UC Irvine was a target-reach school. I was accepted to all my target-reach schools with super generous scholarships (expect Irvine). Irvine was the only school that did not offer me a hefty scholarship. After multiple asks, and David and Margaret's guidance, I successfully matched my scholarship. I was denied from one reach school and I am waitlisted to the other. I found a lot of success in my admissions. I was a splitter (low GPA, fine LSAT), I sincerely attribute my success to my essays. I had no interest in attending based on ranking and did not apply for any of the T10s. My goal from the outset was to get a great scholarship from a great school. I was able to reach this goal because I purchased this package. Here is why:

My 7sage advisors were Margaret and David.

Admissions - I worked mostly with Margaret during this phase. We had a Skype brainstorming session for each essay. She held the space for me while I idea dumped, both on paper and on Skype. We talked about our favorite ideas and once the subject matter for the essay was chosen, she gave me prompts and through many drafts, we finally created a stellar essay. This part of the package was worth every penny for me. I know this is the reason I was admitted to most of the schools because my essays were fantastic. None of it was made up and the writing was captivating. I still always re-read them. The creation of these essays was the most valuable part of the package for me.

If you are not a great writer (like me), hesitate finding value in your ideas, or have no idea where to start, this package is worth it. Margaret does a lot of prompting and grammatical/structural edits. If you are looking for someone to write your essays, definitely look elsewhere.

Post-Admissions (communication with advisors, scholarship renegotiation, LOCIs) - I worked with David a lot after I had been admitted. We talked in depth a couple times about strategy regarding scholarship negotiations and LOCIs. I had a lot of anxiety around the subject of scholarship negotiations. David set my expectations straight but also gave me a lot of encouragement to get on the phone or send an email regarding the same. He oversaw my LOCIs and emails requesting scholarships and also helped me figure out my strategy for negotiations. I think the work I did with David was very specific to my situation (and will be specific for each person), so what I really want to say is that I think David is amazing in acting as a mentor and overseeing the process and strategy pre and post admissions.

I loved that David gave input about my communication and presentation regarding each email I sent to an admissions officer. He will not communicate with admissions officers or ask for more money for you, or prompt you to go after something out of the blue. You need to take initiative and David will help you figure out how to get to what you want. That is exactly what I was looking for.

My experience with Comprehensive Consulting was amazing. Yes, the price tag stings at first but in my opinion, it was totally worth it! I got into an amazing school and I saved tens of thousands in tuition. Highly recommend!

Best,

Ham

PS. LMK if any of you are going to Irvine and see you thereeeeeeeee!!!!

PPS. If we were in the LSAT study group together pls message me and lmk what you are up to/how you are (3(/p)

So I was blessed to be accepted to all but one school to where I applied (*I did NOT apply to any T14 schools). I was also incredibly blessed to get scholarship at them all (ranging from $5,000 to $40,000 / year). I am a non-traditional student with kids, (and a full-time job that I'm taking a sabbatical from for 1L), who would either stay local and attend a school barely in the 100s, so my family is not uprooted -- or I can go to a higher ranked school (50-70 range) where I'd also be happy living...but would have to hope my spouse can find a job, the kids aren't waitlisted on daycare/preschool, that we can find a home and sell ours, etc. etc. etc.

I'm struggling with my decision. Do I stay local at the University of Buffalo and not change my life drastically? The local school probably would work out the best financially, not only because the spouse could keep their job, but we would already have living, etc., figured out -- so I'm JUST looking at tuition/fees/books in that case. Or do I go to either higher / lower ranked schools both in NYS or New England where I would love to live (e.g., I'm from CT and always imagined my children growing up there) where I may not have as much scholarship (e.g., UConn offered the least) or maybe more scholarship but cost of living is higher?

If I stay local, I can continue my job post-1L (I am a professor). However, almost all my instruction is online classes, so I could technically go anywhere; I just have to put in one more year at my professor gig after taking the sabbatical for 1L. On sabbatical, my salary is cut in half, but I'm still paid (so there's that). I could also just quit completely, but that's not ideal because I carry the healt benefits, and well, half salary is better than no salary. If we move, we'd be going back to where I have friends / family, but is very HCOL ("gold coast" / Connecticut; Massachusetts). If I choose one of the highest offers (Albany), if I decided to go a political route that might be smart because that is our state capital. In terms of goals, I'm not looking Big Law. I'm already a professor so I don't care so much about T14 / academia. I'm more interested in children, immigration.

I should also mention I placed first deposits at all 8 schools I got good awards from because I was hoping to use them all as leverage. I just withdrew from two, knowing I probably wouldn't realistically go to them. However, I'm really struggling with the others. Two emails just came in asking for a confirmed enrollment form to be completed. These emails strongly suggested I withdraw from the other institutions, which I get, and they do not have 2nd deposits. Everywhere else does.

I'm very torn. And can I also say how hard it was to withdraw?? I just withdrew from MSU and Syracuse. Considering withdrawing from Case Western because they offered the least in comparison to total cost of attendance.

Thanks for tips / commiseration.

Throughout my undergrad years, I started taking (non-transferable) community college courses through my local CC for purely recreational purposes. My UG didn’t offer much in the way of law-related or criminal justice-related courses, so it wasn’t hard to take two or three per semester through the CC. Now that I’m looking at applying to law schools, I’ve just found out that these courses will count towards my LSAC GPA. This is good, it seems, because they bring up my 3.7 UG GPA to about a 3.9. However, I’m also worried it may look like an attempt to game the LSAC GPA system. Should I write an addendum explaining that or will it not be a significant issue? My LSAT is a 176 so I’m hoping to apply to schools that I assume will look pretty carefully at my full transcript. Thanks so much!

Hi everyone,

I just put together an FAQ about LSAT related questions. Let me know if I left out any big ones!

Full lesson: https://classic.7sage.com/admissions/lesson/lsat-faq/

Contents:

I don't know where to start. Most of the schools I am applying to state that the PS is optional but I obviously plan to write one. That being said, these schools do not have topics or anything to write said statement on and I was wondering if anyone could give me a guideline for this?

Hi all! So I'm starting to organize all the paperwork I will need to ask professors for letters of rec from my undergrad. I graduated in December 2016... which was a while ago.

I want to ask three professors. One professor who I took two courses with in Fall of 2015, and two others, one in 2015 and one in 2016. How do I go about starting an e-mail to professors I haven't seen or spoken to in a while? All advice is appreciated! thank you so much!

Hi guys,

So this has been an ongoing conversation I've been having with family, mentors, professors, experts, etc. I just graduated from college and am starting work in a couple of months. After many discussions about whether to go straight to law school or take a gap year, I decided to take a gap year and work for a year before going to law school.

However, now I'm also thinking about whether 2 years is better than one. I've gone to many top law school visits at my college and spoken to the admissions deans and it seems that all of them encourage students to wait as long as they can before starting law school in order to gain work and life experience. I know this is a very subjective and personal decision, but I want to be as prepared for law school as possible and I'm not sure if taking one more year is worth it - will the benefits from the work and life experience I gain outweigh the costs of losing a whole year? I just don't know.

Would love to hear any thoughts on this! Happy to provide more specific information about my background or anything else, if needed. Thanks!

Help me decide which school to put a second deposit down to.

My background: I’m almost 15 years out of undergrad. Worked a little over half that time as an electrical engineer and international project manager for a global company on oil & gas projects. Travelled / ran a few businesses including a physical location business for the remainder. Now have a wife and almost 2-year-old toddler and live in Houston. Have a house with a mortgage here. Applied to 15 schools, didn’t get into the 3 ivys I applied to, but got in to remainder (including a couple of top 20s) and waitlisted at a couple of top 15s. Have narrowed it down to 4 options, mostly based on practical considerations. Most of my immediate family lives around Texas (Austin, Houston, and Dallas). Am contemplating IP law, but am not 100% sure if that’s what I’ll end up in. Wife is a school teacher.

In alphabetical order:

• Emory with $36k/yr scholly with ’19-20 tuition ~$59.5k/yr full-time. Requires relocation to Atlanta.

• Houston with $11.5k/yr scholly with ’19-20 tuition ~33.2k/yr full-time. I live about 15 minutes drive from the school.

• Seton Hall with full-tuition scholly for their weekend part-time program (requires 8 alternative weekends of classes and 1 weekend for finals per fall & spring semester over 4 years). Will have some travel costs associated with it such as flights and 2 nights of hotels 9 times per semester, but will allow me to make a living while I go to school. (Night part-time programs don’t work as well for me for other reasons, so I didn’t consider them).

• Texas …. Currently wait-listed with ’19-20 tuition ~$36.8k/yr full-time. I believe my chances of getting in are decent. For this exercise, give me an opinion assuming I did AND didn’t get in. I’m assuming that there would also be some minimal scholarship provided even if being accepted off of waitlists based on various online sources. I grew up in Austin and my parents and sister’s family still live there – so Austin is also another ‘home’ for me.

Struggling with this decision and could really use some opinions / insights. Thank you!

The T-14.

It seems like no one talks about anything else. But where did this term come from and what does it actually measure?

https://classic.7sage.com/about-those-rankings/

Hi everyone! I have consistently read that the recommenders should be academic but can be work related if you have been out of school for some time. I graduated undergrad in the year of 2015. Now that I have been out of school for 4 years, I have been working, starting as a barista and am now the General Manager to one of the top stores in the company. I am planning to have two of my previous professors write letters of recommendations, however some people have mentioned that I should have the CEO of my company write a letter, considering he hand picked me to run the store that I am currently working at. I am unsure if asking him is the right thing to do. I am not one to name drop (not that his name is huge) but that is how I feel it would be if I asked him for a LOR. I am convinced the two professors I have chosen will be able to write about my strong academia and talent that I presented through the classes I took. Any thoughts? Am I too far out from college to be focusing more on finding a work reference?

I think I am FINALY done with my essay! Its taken me so long to finish it. I've reworked it so many times and had so many things to write about but I think I'm finally done. So far I have a good friend and a lawyer friend reading it. I will also probably have someone from David Busis' team read it. Is that enough? Should I ask more people for more comments and critiques? What have you guys done? I just need it to be perfect. Thanks.

I was put on the waitlist at colorado and they told me they would probably not give me feedback until july. I was told 2 weeks later that their class is full and I am not longer on waitlist. Do they put applicants on the waitlist before reviewing applications? also, does a rejection off the waitlist mean I could have a better chance of admission next year if I apply early? I applied april 20th. Will my chances be better or the same if I reapply early next cycle?

I am meeting with a professor on short notice who offered me a rec letter. He wants me to come in with 3-4 points I'd like him to touch on in the letter. Any ideas for what should be included?

I currently have a 3.9 GPA at FSU with hopes in getting into a T14 law school. My only concern in regards to my transcript is that I have a relatively light course load.

In my third year--I'm entering my fourth year in the fall--I experienced multiple and erratic seizures which forced me to be on medical watch and prevented me from driving or using electronics for some time. Later on in the year, my girlfriend became pregnant with my little baby daughter (:D) and I had to travel and stay in Colombia to accompany her since she lives alone. These impediments forced me to drop the majority of my classes which consequently led me to complete a mere total of 9 credit hours in my Junior year. I explained all of this to my university and they were lenient and cleared me from any heavy academic obligations.

In regards to my credits and graduation pace, I am not off-track since I have taken multiple Summer courses over the years. I am just a bit worried that my lackluster course load, specifically in my third year, may dissuade the T14 law schools from taking my application seriously.

Could my case deter T14 law schools from considering me? I know I should mention this through an addendum but to what extent would that help with their considerations?

Hello! I know there are a TON OF posts about this topic but I just wanted to see if anyone has any opinions/gotten into law school with the similar circumstances.

I have a dual degree in Cell biology and Women’s studies and ended up with a 2.8 cumulative gpa. If I removed all of my science classes, my gpa would be about aBout a 3.8 (not sure if this matters at all). Since graduating, I have been working for a large medical device company in quality on a large project. By the time I apply, I would have been in the industry for 2 years. I eventually want to get into patent/intellectual property law. I am retaking the lsat again this fall and am aiming for ~165 + .

Has anyone else gotten into a good school with a low gpa, a better than average lsat and work experience?

Are there certain schools that really value work experience?

All opinions are appreciated! Thank you!

I went on their website the other day and doesn't really tell you anything. Anyone know someone who has gotten in or anything? like what marks and scores they had?

Now that the first deposit date has passed, you may find yourself sitting on a waitlist. How long do you have to wait? How long does a school maintain its waitlist? This will depend on the school. Some schools will notify and release candidates from their waitlist after a certain point. This would provide some closure for you as an applicant. Other schools may maintain their waitlist up through orientation in case of any “melt” throughout the summer. If deposited candidates withdraw because they get admitted off waitlists elsewhere, the school will turn to their waitlist to maintain their class size or their medians. A school may turn to the waitlist all the way up through orientation in some cases.

So how long should you stay on a waitlist? This depends on how badly you want to attend the target school. Preparing to attend law school, perhaps in a new city or state, can be a complicated process. Students have ended up sleeping on a couch or living out of a hotel room for a few weeks having accepted a last minute offer of admission from a school. They might start the beginning of law school orientation at one school and finish orientation at another school. If it’s August 1st, you probably will have deposited elsewhere, and you may decide it is better just to prepare for school with the concrete offer you have. At that point, if you haven't been released from the waitlist yet, you may decide to withdraw from the waitlist. Or, you may decide that you are only as committed as your options. If so, you should be aware of and be ready to meet these potential challenges of relocating in a hurry.

If no obstacle is too great between you and your target school, then what should you do right now as you sit on the waitlist? Well, you shouldn’t just “wait” quietly. There is no way to know what a target school is going to do with their waitlist, how big or small it is, or if they will pull 5 or 50 people from it. Nevertheless, if a school turns to the waitlist, and your application meet their requirements, you want your file to be one of the notable ones with current activity. Keep your file up to date by letting the school know that you are ready, willing, and able to commit to the school immediately should you be selected. Connect with the admissions office periodically by phone or by email (once every 3 weeks or as directed by the admissions officer) and say, “I know I am on the waitlist but I wanted to let you know that School X is still my top choice and if admitted, I would definitely enroll.” Be aware of the tone of your conversations, be professional, and take direction from the admissions officer with whom you are communicating.