For those of you preparing to apply during the upcoming application cycle, you might be wondering about LSAC and the services they provide. This post will explain the difference between the LSAC Credential Assembly Service (CAS) and the LSAC Candidate Referral Service (CRS).

Information about the CAS can be found at https://www.lsac.org/applying-law-school/jd-application-process/credential-assembly-service-cas. The CAS Report is an electronic file with the candidate’s academic summary (GPAs, LSAT scores), LSAT essays, LORs, and any other application documents. Once you as the candidate provide one set of application documents to LSAC, they will assemble the information in the CAS Report and distribute them to your selected law schools. The CAS Report is sent electronically to the law schools you select and appears in their admissions database as a single PDF file. Candidates must purchase this service. You pay for each report that is sent to a law school.

The CRS is the way for law schools to find the prospective students they want: https://www.lsac.org/choosing-law-school/candidate-referral-service. The most common use of the CRS is for the school to get a list of registered candidates with attractive LSAT scores and send them fee waivers. Fee waivers waive the school’s application fee (the school’s administrative cost of processing an electronic application, often $50-100). This doesn’t however waive the cost of sending a CAS report to the law school. Schools may also do geographic searches to invite prospective candidates in the local area to prospective student open houses and programming events at the school. If a school wants to promote specific programming in, say, corporate law, they could do a search for candidates who indicate in the CRS that they are interested in corporate law. Candidates have a choice in opting in or out of this service. Opt in and you might get hit by waves of emails. This might be annoying. However, each point of outreach by a law school is a great opportunity for you the candidate to respond by connecting to someone in their admissions office (by email or phone or in person) and showing yourself to be a strong candidate: https://classic.7sage.com/admissions/lesson/what-questions-should-you-ask-a-law-school-admissions-officer/.

Just like title, I can't find a better way to word this. What I'm trying to ask is, how long would it take after I take the LSAT to get everything ready for admissions and application. Or, when is the average cut off for fall semester application for law schools.

Sorry if this is a common question I looked around a bit and can't find a satisfying answer.

so,

If I take the lsat on 3/30, 2020, would it be in time for the fall semester?

Thank yall in advance!

I have a question regarding transcripts that I am hoping to get some clarity on. I emailed LSAC about this but wanted to see if others have had a similar experience.

During one of my undergraduate semesters, I attended a study abroad program through the School for International Training (SIT). While I was abroad in South America for the semester, all components of the program were organized by SIT, a US based program with organized, semester long study abroad programs all over the world.

I received transfer credits for the 5 courses I took while studying abroad, and while the course titles and grades I received for the courses appear on my official undergraduate transcript (for the school from which I received my Bachelors degree), the grades were not included in my undergraduate GPA.

Does anyone know if it is necessary to request a formal transcript from SIT for this semester, or if the fact that these 5 courses do appear on my official undergraduate transcript would be sufficient?

Some of the information I read on the LSAC website led me to believe it was not necessary to ask SIT for a transcript, but I wanted to check as I did not read anything that described my exact study abroad situation. I also did not see a section for adding an institution such as SIT, as it does not seem to fall under any of the existing categories. I was also not entirely sure if you could request a transcript from an institution if the institution is not listed in CAS.

Thanks!

Quick resume question: I am 3 years out of college, so I currently have my Experience section listed first, but I also had multiple internships while I was in college. As a result, I was planning to organize my resume sections as follows : [Post-Graduate Experience, Education, Undergraduate Experience, Undergraduate Leadership and Activities, Awards, and Skills].

I am wondering what others think of this organization strategy, or if it would be better to condense my experience and undergraduate experience in to one section: [Experience, Education, Undergraduate Leadership and Activities, Awards, and Skills?]

The latter felt strange to me, to have all experience, including internships I held during college, listed prior to my education section (and as a result pushing my education section to the second page of my resume), but would love input.

Anyone meet their SO in law school? Looking for inspiration/law school romance stories.

To provide some context: I'll be applying for this upcoming cycle (October 2019). I am currently working full time (medical research) at a job that would allow me to work flexible hours and attend law school part time. For this reason, I'm interested in one school in particular in my city that has a part time, evening program. I would love to continue to work while attending law school, and would be interested in transferring into a legal position at my current company or a similar institution.

Would it be beneficial to indicate my preference for this particular program? The school does not have an additional, 'Why Us?' essay.

Hi all!

I am wondering when do you start sending transcript to LSAC and get to know your LSAC GPA?

Thank you!

.

I will be taking the November LSAT. Can I apply to schools before this once the applications are out? Or do I have to wait until I actually sit for the exam? Thanks!

I've always assumed that the actual application process itself isn't all that bad. But for time management purposes I need to know what I should expect. I already have LORs, my transcript, and my personal statement finished. How long does the rest of it all take? If you're blanketing the t-14 for example, wouldn't most of the applications be roughly the similar other than why X essays?

Hello, is there anyone here who is applying to University of Melbourne's JD program for the 2020 intake/ currently enrolled there ? I was wondering if I could hear about your experience!

Hey everyone! It’s getting to be deposit time for the class of 2022. Check in here and let us know where you’re headed!

Still doesn’t feel real but, I’m headed to Northwestern! 😱💜

I've been wait listed at two schools. One of them being a month now and the other two weeks now. I visited both schools and sent thank you letters shortly after. I also sent continued letter of interested to both schools. I am tired of waiting and feeling very anxious. What else can I do to speed this process up? :(

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?

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

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.

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/

Hello All,

I'd like to preface this by saying that I know very little about the admissions process ie. the similarity of applications across schools, submission procedures, school specific essays and the like.

Some context: I will be taking the LSAT in September. Unfortunately, I will not know my scores until October. My plan so far has been to prepare and complete applications for prospective schools prior to knowing my scores, and then sending them off as soon as my score come arrives in October. This way I would have the best shot at early scholarships and acceptances.

What I am concerned about is the possibility of making applications to several schools that end up being too highly ranked for my LSAT score. For example, my aspirations are for the T14 but if I score a 165 I needn't apply to any of them as statistically (3.69 GPA non URM) I have no chance of getting in.

TLDR; I don't want to spend all of my time making applications to schools that I potentially won't be able to get in to.

Should I go ahead and make applications to several schools even though my LSAT score might be too low? Should I wait to make applications until after I get my LSAT score even though it would set me back significantly by having to apply several months later?

I appreciate any advice that you all can give me.

Thanks :)

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)

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?

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 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?