I'm going to join those who are urging caution. It's a great quote and I definitely understand how you're planning to tie it in to your experiences. My concern is that the committee is interested in seeing how well you, and not Stephen King, can write. The quote does demonstrate without a doubt that words have power... unfortunately they're not your words.

It also doesn't tell us anything about you, in and of itself. You can go on to tie it back to yourself, but the quote itself doesn't tell us anything about you or your life experiences. It can't until you give us greater context (which I know you will, but read on).

I've generally seen schools discouraging the use of quotes. I don't consider anything to be an absolute rule and I do believe that there are ways in which a quote can be used well. I'd rather you not use one at all, but will concede that it can, potentially be a part of a well written PS.

What I will try to convince you, however, is that you should not open up with this, or any, quote. I think it's a real missed opportunity to open with words that aren't your own and that do not tell us anything about @ .

I'd strongly urge you to open with something that is your unique experience. Open with a story or moment that tells us about your unique experience. What's something that you, yourself, experienced in this household. Tell us where you started (stressful environment) and where you finished (your current life).

If you're really tied to the quote, use it after you've introduced us to your life.

I had an issue where I'd get a flow going and forget to bubble. I now place the bubble sheet behind the set of pages I'm working on... So if I'm working on pages five and six, the sheet is slid in between seven and eight. That way, when I flip the page I can't forget to bubble. The only exception is that I don't do so on the last page for fear of appearing to look at the next section.

My actual bubbling I do as follows:

-I circle the number of any skipped question on the bubble sheet. They helps me see clearly which ones I need to return to and also helps with the flow of bubbling in groups (it gives my hand/pencil something to do with the skipped line preventing me from mistakenly placing the next answer in what should be the skipped line)

-LR: bubble in the answers in groups, usually one page at a time. (in the above example I'd bubble the answers from page 5 as a group, then look at page six and bubble them as a group.

-LG: by the game, by page

RC- By passage, by page.

Again, for each of these I slide the answer sheet behind the pages I'm working on so that I don't forget to bubble (until the last page, because I don't want to be accused of looking at the next section.

I also get confused when they use words other than "before" and "after" in what are essentially sequencing games. I essentially find myself converting the words they use into "before" and "after". At best it takes a few extra seconds. At worst, I do it wrong.

What I've started doing is writing a small key for myself on my master game board. In the above example I'd write "l" to the left of the first slot and "h" to the right of the last slot. Most people are a lot smarter than me and so they probably don't need to do that. I'd just rather not have to remember that or do the conversion in my head.

I, too, have written all of the optionals. My take is that I would like every app to be successful. A school isn't a very good backup if I get rejected. My goal is to make each application as good as possible. Period.

I think it has potential, but make sure that you stay away from the generic ideas such as "it really made me appreciate every day" or "suddenly I understood that any day could be my last".

Make sure you're able to set up the you "before" and contrast it with the you "after", otherwise there's no story arc. I'd also make sure that your aspiration to be a prosecutor is about more than the fact that you're angry. Did you have interactions with the prosecutors? Did those interactions have a particular impact on you? Did they ask you something or speak to you in a manner that made you feel much better or much worse about the situation?

In short, make sure that it's more than "I was in this nasty situation and now I want to throw suckers behind bars."

I don't see any downside to applying this year. If you don't like your offers you can still apply again next cycle.

It would be very helpful if we knew what you'd done so far? How have you prepared? No way to tell you how to get to your destination if we don't know where you're starting.

I had the same scenario. I didn't write an addendum because a) same score, so what? and b) what would the explanation be? "I thought I might score higher. I did not." Not one school expressed any interest in the topic whatsoever and I spoke with no fewer than a dozen admissions deans. No worries.

Almost 40, one kid here. This post really spoke to me. My wife is making a huge sacrifice to support my goal of becoming an attorney. The one price I wouldn't be willing to pay for law school would be my family's well being. I've talked to a few student/parents and several of them echoed the advice about treating it as a job. They really tried to maximize their day on campus. I think one advantage we have going as older students is that in most cases, we're accustomed to a full work day. My plan is to drop of my kid at daycare, spend my day "at the office" and pick up my kid from daycare. My commute is likely to be on the bus and I'm actually looking forward to spending that time with my kid. As a side note, one of the reasons my front running schools is my top choice is that they actually lump the parents into one section and try to schedule that sections classes during daycare hours.

Davis or retake. I know that wasn't the question, but that's the answer. Visit Davis, schmooze, LOCI, do it all.

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@ @ also because their own deadlines are coming up

True

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We're bound to get a lot of decisions back this week.

What makes you say that?

Likely because law schools are aware of other schools' deadlines coming up.

This assumes they care about the other schools' deadlines, which I'm not sure is a supported assumption. Were that the case they'd have some sort of coordinated application and response schedule.

I don't want anyone to get their hopes up. I'd like to get back decisions this week, but it's very possible that we won't. You need to assume that you won't and start making contingency plans. I'm generally opposed to taking on credit card debt, but this is a case where an exception may be warranted. strategically depositing at key peer schools could give you leverage to negotiate scholarships down the road which could be worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Talk to family about the possible need to borrow money to double deposit (if that's an option), consider whether you have credit available to make the deposits if not.

I'm waiting for NYU and CLS (actually waiting) and SLS and YLS (not really waiting) not to mention money from a number of schools, so I feel your pain. As this is my second cycle (salty vet, right) I'm skeptical. I'd put the odds of hearing from all four at less than 50%. I'd be thrilled to hear from two.

Hope for the best (decisions this week), plan for the worst (decisions remain outstanding).

I don't want to be a jerk, but I am going to challenge your framing. You have set up two rules which may well be incompatible. 1) You MUST go this year and 2) You MUST attend a T14. Based on the rules that you have chosen to set, the total number of choices available to you may be "0". This is like a LR question which uses conflicting premises You've got to start by accepting that you may have to let go of one of these rules (and you can almost certainly let go of one or both).

There seems to be some softness in the Must Be T14 rules since your application list included some schools outside the T14. Perhaps, though, your goals have changed since you applied and you wouldn't attend those schools even if you got in.

I'm going to push back on the "must attend this year" rule that you've set. It's almost never true that you can't wait a cycle. The only real reason I've come up with is that you've been diagnosed with an incurable cancer and have a prognosis of 3 years at best. I'm going to assume that's not the case. Short of that you actually do have the choice to wait a year. It may be difficult, it may make you unpopular with your family, it may force you to move out or get a job, but it's almost always the case that you can chose to wait a year.

Food for thought... what happens if you don't get any waitlist offers this year? Are you honestly going to give up on law school? 'Cause if your "I can't wait" rule is true, that's the only available conclusion. If you don't get in, you're going to move on to a different career path. If that's not true, then your "must attend this year" is a want and not a need.

I'm not trying to be a jerk and I probably understand you pain better than many. I sat on 8 T14 waitlists last year, did visits and LOCI and didn't get an offer from a single one. One thing I learned from that experience is that being honest with myself about what "must" happen and what I "wanted" to happen made things much easier. When I stopped trying to push an unmovable boulder, I was much less stressed and was able to see my options more clearly.

There is a happy ending to the story. This year several schools that waitlisted me last year offered me spots this year. My options are already much better and I'm still waiting to hear back from some T6 schools (not terribly optimistic, but already have options that I love).

I got into Berkeley with a 3.3. You're not sunk. You are in need of a solid LSAT score and kick ass app materials.

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Two years of study, four takes of the LSAT and finally...170!!! That was my goal and I'm over the moon. Off to send unnecessary updates to the schools where I've applied!

Just curious - are you emailing them to let them know your score is in? I have several apps on hold and I didn't want to be a nuisance, but am curious if others are emailing schools where they know their app is on hold awaiting the score? If you don't mind sharing, what are going to say in your email?

I am absolutely emailing them. Every. Single. One. Actually, that's not entirely true as I'll be calling some of the schools to pester them instead of emailing them.

As I've been a professional sub-par applicant for the last couple of years I've made some acquaintance of adcoms at a number of the schools. In those cases I'll be calling those folks directly.

These calls/emails may not be entirely necessary but I'm not going to risk it. My case may also be a little different because I had specifically asked schools not to hold on to my applications for my Feb. score.

Two years of study, four takes of the LSAT and finally...170!!! That was my goal and I'm over the moon. Off to send unnecessary updates to the schools where I've applied!

We don't know anything about this person's story. It seems like someone at the school saw something in them that wasn't reflected in the quantifiable portions of their app. I'm sure that someone at a great school will feel the same about you.

UR1, UR2, UR3 are unofficial ways in which people refer to date changes in the section titled Current Status Date. When the status checker first says "Application under review" folks describe themselves as being UR1. Periodically the Current Status Date will change, which we assume means that your application has moved to a different stage of the review process. None of us know what it actually means, whether it indicates something about your chances or whether it suggests anything about how long you'll wait for a decision. There are a lot of theories out there but they're just that.

The email mentioned above is not a UR change. It's what you'll see people referring to as the "Hold Tight Email". There are lots of theories about this as well, but not real facts. In past years it seemed to be a precursor to being waitlisted, but this year it's clearly not. A bunch of folks have been admitted after receiving the email. As crazy as it may seem, the Hold Tight Email may simply mean that they're reviewing your application and want to communicate to you that they need you to hold tight while they consider your candidacy.

What's the goal of a practice test? To figure out what you know, what you don't know, and how effective your test strategies are. Of the three elements, I'd say that understanding what you don't know is the most important.

In the end, as long as you're clearly marking what you don't know and can identify that during blind review you should be fine.

I, personally, didn't guess during practice tests. I wanted to find out exactly what I knew and what I didn't. By leaving skipped questions blank I knew, without a doubt, that the question had bested me and that it deserved extra time and attention.

I also looked at it as a form of resistance training... sort of like LSAT weight lifting. If I could get to my target scores without guessing, then I'd be able to surpass those scores on test day. It sort of made the guess questions a bonus. On test day I'd have an advantage.

I don't think there's a correct answer, as long as you're clearly marking them for blind review.

December LSAT.

Ditto on the LG experience. I was thrilled after taking the first LG, thinking I had just bested my nemesis. The second LG section destroyed me. Guessed on probably half of them.

I had been feeling that way that because I slew one LG and BOMBED the other. I no longer feel that way. Turns out that I did well at the one that didn't matter and bombed the one that did. 170 is off the table.

There's an obvious selection bias in that you're asking folks who have invested in, or at least believe the community around, a prep course. I found 7sage to be worth every penny.

I'm more concerned, however, about your pre-law advisor's advice. It's objectively bad advice. She clearly does not have a good understanding of law school admissions. You should look skeptically on any advice she gives. Spend some time here and on Law School Life. A lot of time. Read threads for the next few weeks then start asking questions. Don't spend too much time with this advisor.

I did a light hearted version of the three songs essay. Anyone who wants profundity in 250 words but doesn't give the option of a haiku is a fool and you should dismiss their school immediately. The pretentiousness of the Yale application was a serious turn off. I also think that the word limit encourages contractions and other informalities in the writing, which I took as a nod to be less formal in content as well. I'm nowhere near Stanford numbers so I wasn't running much risk as I'm pretty close to an auto-reject. They're unlikely to reject me twice in the same cycle.

It's definitely going to be in the next twelve hours, or not. It's what we in medicine call a "definite maybe."