I have heard and read conflicting things about SLS preferring a targeted LOR. Some people swear that if you don't have them, you're not going to get in, but others have reported not having them and still having been admitted.

I just checked Stanford's admissions website and they state, "Stanford requires that at least two and no more than four letters of recommendation be sent directly through the LSAC Letter of Recommendation Service. Letters sent directly to the Office of Admissions will not be accepted. Please be aware of the high value Stanford places on school-specific letters of recommendation. If you choose to provide us with a targeted letter, please be sure to assign the appropriate targeted letter to Stanford Law School. Recommenders should be instructors who have personal knowledge of your academic work, preferably those who have known you in a seminar, small class, tutorial program or the like. If you have been out of school for a significant period you may substitute one letter from an employer or business associate. Sometimes these applicants find it difficult to obtain even one academic recommendation; in that case, you may submit two nonacademic letters. Please advise recommenders that should you choose to apply for a joint degree and/or other programs at Stanford University, the letters of recommendation may be forwarded to that program for review."

I have not yet made requests to my recommenders to create targeted letters for Stanford, but I already have two recommendation letters on file. My concern is that if neither of my recommenders has a strong connection to SLS, then their targeted letters may sound insincere. However, I don't want to hurt my chances simply because I didn't request these professors make a targeted letter for Stanford. Making the additional requests to my recommenders would likely delay my SLS app by several weeks. One of my recommenders received her PhD from Stanford, but she has no ties to the law school.

Any input is welcome. I'm curious to hear how others are handling this, as Stanford seems to be the only top school that explicitly states a preference for targeted letters.

Also, for context, my GPA is between their 50th and 75th percentiles, and my LSAT is above their 75th percentile.

Yale has two unique sections on their application, titled 'College Activities' and 'Post-college Activities,' respectively. I'm not sure whether these should be answered in the form or a list or through a narrative/essay format, as the guidelines are fairly ambiguous.

Here are the prompts:

College Activities:

Please answer a, b, and c separately from any included résumé. Your application will not be considered complete unless a, b, and c are answered. Please list:

(a) Significant extracurricular activities and unpaid externships or internships in college, in order of their relative importance to you. Please estimate your time commitment for each activity.

(b) Paid employment while in college and during vacations.

(c) Other activities during college (in or out of school) that you consider relevant.

Post-college Activities:

If it has been more than three months since you attended college, describe what you have been doing in the interval. You should include graduate or professional education, paid or unpaid employment, as well as any other activities that you consider relevant. Please answer this question separately from any information provided in a résumé.

How are people handling these? If there are any 7Sagers on the board who have applied and been accepted to Yale—and who are still active on here—I'd love to hear what you did. I'm also curious how others who are in the midst of preparing their apps are going about answering these sections.

Of the top 10 schools, Columbia and Penn have personal statements that suggest putting in elements of a "Why School X" essay in them. How are my fellow applicants handling these personal statements?

For reference, here are Columbia and Penn's prompts:

Columbia:

Candidates to Columbia Law School are required to submit a personal statement supplementing required application materials. We are curious about your interests, goals, and aspirations and how the J.D. program at Columbia can help you achieve these. You are encouraged to think about the contributions you hope to make to both the Columbia community and the legal profession while considering your personal, intellectual, and professional background and any relevant information that you may not have otherwise conveyed through your other application materials. Please note that the personal statement should be double-spaced and approximately two pages in length. This statement should be attached electronically.

Penn:

The Admissions Committee requires that every applicant submit an original example of written expression. The purpose of this personal statement is to provide you with as flexible an opportunity as possible to submit information that you deem important to your candidacy. You may wish to describe aspects of your background and interests--intellectual, personal or professional--and how you will uniquely contribute to the Penn Law community and/or the legal profession. Please limit your statement to two pages, double spaced and label it as "Personal Statement" with your name and LSAC account number on each page.

How's everyone handling these? Are you guys explicitly addressing why you're interested in Columbia and Penn in your personal statements? If so, how much space in your two-page allotment are you dedicating to addressing that?

Does anyone have interest in reading and providing feedback on each other's Yale 250? I'm happy to trade readings with one or more people who are also writing this. PM me if you're interested.

Does anyone want to review the RC section from PT 84 tomorrow (Saturday, 7/21/18)? I'm looking for someone to review with, so if you're interested, send me a message so we can set up a time to chat about it.

RC is my weakest section. Which of the below options do you think is best for helping me to improve my RC? I want to improve as much as possible, but not at the expense of sacrificing top performance in the other sections.

If you have a suggested distribution other than the three mentioned in the poll, feel free to comment with input.

My plan is to go through at least one section per day using the BR method while completing the course curriculum, and I am starting with PT 1 to make sure that I save all newer tests for after I've completed J.Y.'s program. I just finished a BR of Section 3 (LR) of PT 1; however, in the 'LSAT Analytics' category, there are no explanations for any of the questions. Additionally, it looks like LR explanations aren't present until PT 17 and beyond.

Here are my questions:

Are there any plans to put video explanations for the LR sections from PTs 1-16 in the near future? (EDIT: I saw Dillon's comment, and it looks like there are no plans for explanations for these sections)

If not, does anyone know of resources/places to go where I could find video explanations to these questions?

Many thanks.