Hi all!

I have a silly question that I couldn't answer on my own, and I feel it's worth the risk of looking foolish on here just to ensure I end up submitting this application correctly. I'm applying to Colorado Law and they have a somewhat specific prompt with a part 1 and an optional part 2. Here are the instructions from their website:

The personal statement requirement provides you an opportunity to present yourself to the Admissions Committee. It is to be submitted with your electronic LSAC application. The personal statement for fall 2018 is below. Your essay must be in your own words, double-spaced, and should not exceed 1,000 words. Supported file formats include: doc, htm, html, txt, PDF, wp, wpd, rtf, wps, wpt and docx.

Personal Statement Prompt for 2018

At Colorado Law, we seek students who advance our core values of character, diversity, leadership, and commitment to service.

Part 1: Explain how you can contribute to these goals. You may also discuss any other factors that you think may assist the Admission Committee's evaluation of your application, such as: background information; experiences, talents or special interests; adversities you have overcome; and your reasons for applying to law school.

Part 2: (Optional): In considering applicants for scholarship awards, Colorado Law considers not only academic merit, but also economic need and obstacles, personal background, and a wide variety of individual qualities, so you may submit a statement of up to 500 words on any one or more of the following: (a) aspects of your upbringing, life experiences, work or service experiences, or education that you believe set you apart from most law school applicants; (b) economic disadvantage or other obstacles you have overcome in pursuing your education or career thus far and in applying to law school; (c) how you think you will contribute to society with your law degree; and/or (d) your financial need for increased money to fund your legal education.

So, it seems that one could interpret this in one of two ways:

Additionally, if I decided to forego the optional part 2 portion, that would mean I could use the 1,000 words all on part 1.... right?

What are your thoughts? The main reason I'm putting so much weight on this being correct is because of this Q&A with Colorado admissions and USN which just got me all worked up:

The most common mistake applicants made is failing to follow instructions, which differ from school to school. Some applicants ignore deadlines and fail to pay attention to details, such as addressing our specific essay topics in their personal statements or not submitting our two required recommendation letters.

So yes, any words of wisdom you guys have on the matter would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance :)

Hi Fellow Sagers!

I'm enrolled in the Admissions Course and I didn't see a section about law school in-person interviews - unless I'm missing something?

Have one coming up soon..does anyone have intel on what materials is appropriate to bring to one besides resume? Does bringing a copy of my personal statement make sense? Any tips if you've been on one?

Appreciate any insight! :)

Did anyone who took the Sept 2017 LSAT with accommodations take the same test as the normal one, even after the normal test date?

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Im trying to find out how hard Section 1 of PT 58 was. For me it wasn't really hard, but I missed a couple more than I would like.

During my final year of high school I volunteered every Saturday morning for a local charity until I left for college. I know the advice is to leave high school off your resume, but this seems like worthwhile experience to list. Should I list it in my Activities section?

I want to know the pro's/ con's about transferring law schools after the 1st year. Is it a common practice? Is it difficult to do so? Any input would be appreciated!

So I haven't gotten my score, but I'm quite confident that I didn't do as well as I had hoped. I've registered for the Dec test already and I guess I'm currently taking the week off (3 days left) before I get back into it.

I had a solid routine for 4 months. Wake up at 5:45am and study for an hour on the train to work. Once at work around 7:30 I would study until around 9:00am, then I would work until around 12:30 and take an hour lunch on which I would study for about an hour. I then would finish my day at work and study for an hour on my way home. That means I was putting about 4.5 hours of studying into the LSAT Monday - Friday. Saturday mornings of course were PT's which took me about 3.5 hours or so. So on average I studied about 26 hours a week. That's 104 hours a month, or 416 hours of studying total for those 4 months.

Then on Saturday that all stopped and I don't know what to do with myself....like seriously there is a huge void in my life now...I almost want to keep studying. I am a man who likes his routines and now....what do I even do...

If I have to retake in Dec I'll pick right back up where I've left off...but if not...now what! O_O

(btw this test became an obsession if you can't tell)

Curious on what people think.

My opinion is no since the average age is somewhere like 24-25 (or so I read somewhere) - however for those going at 26 you presumably won't graduate until 29-30 - could those "big law" jobs potentially go to younger candidates with the same qualifications?

I am sure we all have spent a little too much time poring over the median admission stats for our top choices and studying the spreadsheets of the info of all admitted students...and then comparing our own data and trying to figure out what it takes to get a little (or a lot) $$.

SO I thought it would be fun for us to share stories of people we know who have worked hard, gotten into their dream schools, and bonus points if they got a scholarship. I'll start!

I know a guy who went to a little-known undergrad school and applied to law school in two cycles. First year he got a full ride with a high 160s LSAT score to the University of Washington but wasn't feeling Seattle...he retook the LSAT the following September, got a low 170s and applied that cycle to most of the T14...and then retook the LSAT again in December, got a high 170s score and Harvard and Stanford admitted him almost immediately, which could have been coincidental timing buuut I doubt it. He went with Harvard. I wish I knew the exact stats, but to ask always feels just a little too nosey.

So moral of the story...don't be afraid to keep working for that high score because it will pay off!

Hey guys,

I was wondering what PTs people used to master the logic games using the fool proof method? I would like to be time efficient and if there are certain tests that will help me master them at the beginning, I would love to start with those. Nonetheless, I will eventually do 2-3 logic games or a LG section per day leading up the test.

I know there's a LG bundle, however I plan to write in December and would like to use the next two weeks to get close to my target score for that section (-2/-1). So basically, I'd like to know if there are certain preptests (ie.18-35) that may assist me in this. I struggle with timing for the most part with LG right now, and also have trouble with the games that have FL/conditional reasoning.

Any suggestions? Let me know what you guys have tried and what has worked for you.

Okay I need an honest opinion from you all. My freshman year, literally my first weekend, I received a citation for drinking on campus, police were not involved, it was only campus RAs. Super dumb, I kick myself for it all the time.

I ended up working in the Dean of Students office during my undergraduate studies. So I asked the Dean if I should disclose that incident when applying to law school and he advised me not to if it's not listed on my official transcript. I ordered an official, sealed transcript and $15 later I realized that nowhere on my transcript does it mark any disciplinary action and lists me to be in good standing after every single semester.

I got CAS about a week before taking the Sept. LSAT and I requested my undergrad school transcript through it. It still says my transcript is pending. I haven't started apps on LSAC yet...could this be why?

Now that I've completed the LSAT... what do I do?

I get that I should start working on my applications and PS/LORs. I'm just completely unmotivated in all honesty. Even though I really want a good portion to be done before the score comes out incase I need to retake. Has anyone else had the post LSAT slump to try to shuffle through? Particularly with the needing to get on top of your applications?

I'm just curious if these emails from different law schools mean they are actually interested in you, or are they just trying to pad their wallets and stats. My GPA is decent and I hope I did well on the September lsat, but the only other thing they know about me is I am old as hell. The NYU email made me decide to post this, but for all I know everyone in the lsac system received the same one. Any insight or experiences would be appreciated.

Does anyone have any insight as to whether it is easier to get into law school part time? I have not been able to find any data.

Spoiler alert: Doesn't break the bank.

I had a bad habit of using my eraser on LG so I........dramatically took the eraser off my pencil. Took a couple times of me still flipping the pencil over but now I'm crossing out instead of erasing (and actually making less mistakes).

Namaste.

Hey Everyone,

Apologizes if this has already been discussed somewhere but I had a quick question regarding sending transcripts into LSAC. I was wondering when I should send my transcripts to LSAC. If I send them now, will they not factor in the fall semester grades? Is it recommended that I wait until I have those grades in?

Also, on a related note, I was thinking about retaking a class in the winter in order to get a better grade. Just as some background, my high school offered duel enrollment classes and little did I know then that they would count towards my GPA in college. Long story short, I got a B+ in some mandatory health class and it's bringing my GPA down from a 4.0 to a 3.92. Do you think it's worth trying to retake over the winter term?

Thanks a ton!

Hey so I have this irrational fear of being overlooked in the admission process because I am a Chinese-American who's family is solid middle class (so can't make any great donations and I can't say I have some hero struggle back story either). #chineseadmissiondisadvantage

I have a friend (when applying for undergrad) who had outstanding achievements in high school (like A student, SAT 2400, and national champion in math or something) but really only got into one of her choice schools. She was wealthy too. This story just did not help with my irrational fear.

This irrational fear affects me as I complete my application and I don't know what can I do to cope with it.

I'm in South Florida and the Sept. 16 test was postponed due to the hurricane. I got an email today saying I could stand-by at an open center (over an hour away) this Saturday the 23rd or I can take it on Oct. 14th at my original center (10 mins away) where I'll definitely have a spot.

Which should I take???

My main concern regards applying asap. To what extent is it advantageous to complete/submit an application on Oct. 12ish vs early Nov. (when I think the Oct. 14th score will come out). I'm afraid my next score won't be high enough, so I want that advantage of applying early. I already have one LSAT score, so I'll at least be starting applications very soon, but can't complete them until I get that second score.

My other concern is the score. My June LSAT was good (162) but not good enough. Over the past 2 months, I've been getting 166-169 on the prep tests from 2011-14. But on the most recent prep tests, since 2015, I'm back down 163-164 average. Its weird because these are actually the ones I had taken most recently prior to the June test. I also noticed this trend when I was studying for the June test. I do feel that the more recent tests are more difficult; on these most recent tests I get way more wrong in LR than usual and for some reason I can't finish the whole RC section which is odd because I usually can.

Anybody else have this experience?

My goal is 164 minimum.

Hey all, I wanted to do this as a favor for people who have yet to take a real LSAT. Saturday was my 2nd real LSAT. I sat for the September 2016 and September 2017 tests. Obviously one of them is still EXTREMELY fresh in my mind while I've had a year to come to terms with the other. If you have questions on what I did for a the year in-between, how the test feels compared to practice, what the real test day entails, what the real test feels like, or anything else feel free to ask me!!!

I WILL NOT ANSWER SPECIFIC QUESTIONS ABOUT THE SEPTEMBER 2017 TEST*

Hey all,

I had a question about what someone applying straight out of undergrad should include in their resume. I've worn a lot of hats over my undergraduate career. I was originally Pre-Med, so I worked in two biomedical research labs during my freshman year. After realizing medicine was not for me, I spent a summer interning for an appellate court, and then my sophomore year working at a law school as an assistant event planner. Then my junior year I actually took 9 months off school to work on the presidential campaign.

My campaign work is definitely my biggest job, and the one I had the most "prestige" and "authority" in. It was also the largest commitment - while I worked only 15-25hrs/wk in previous jobs, I was working 80-100hr/wk on the campaign. Consequently, I want to devote more space in my resume to this campaign work.

That being said, what should an undergraduate include in their resume? I know the conventional wisdom is keep your resume to ONE page. Thus, space is a precious commodity. Should you include every job you held in undergraduate, or should you just pick the most important ones/relevant ones? I'm thinking of just removing the research labs from the resume, and only including work on the court onward.

Thanks all,

Paul

I know LSAC is giving cancelled Florida LSAT takers the chance to switch to December for free, but are they rescheduling the September one? It is not clear on the website. If they are, is anyone just going to wait until they know the reschedule date to decide whether to switch to December? This is so frustrating studying without knowing when the test is :/

Sorry if this has already been addressed. Does anyone know how much law school admissions weight an applicants undergrad prestige? I'm graduating from a state school thats ranked outside of the top 100. How much would that adversely affect my chances? My GPA is in the 75 percentile for all the schools I'm looking at, and I am waiting on my September LSAT.