Applications, Personal Statement, Addendum, diversity statement

Sheri123

I am taking the December LSAT & because a couple of the schools I am applying to have a December deadline for the majority of their better scholarships I was planning on completing all the apps, statements etc in between the exam and the scholarship deadlines. Just curious for those of you who have already completed your apps and submitted your statements, addendum etc. how long did it take to get it all done? I have already gotten my letters of recommendation & transcripts. Just trying to make sure I am leaving myself enough time to do a good job on everything. Also does anyone have any recommendations for good resources to guide you with personal statement choices/process/things to avoid besides the 7Sage personal statement stuff? Thank you in advance.

Pacifico

I'm a pretty fast writer so I wrote all of my first drafts of everything besides my resume in under an hour a piece. But I also knew exactly what I was going for with each one so if you need to take a little more time to brainstorm then it can help in the long run. Most addenda were just one edit to finalize them while for my PS/DS/Resume it was more like 5-7 rounds.

You should be able to knock out a first draft of everything in a weekend depending on how many schools you are applying to and how many additional essays or requirements they might have. I would take the time this week to really dig into your apps and figure out everything that needs to be done as far as additional required essays or different prompts for a PS or DS.

In that same vein, you want to have a base copy of your resume, PS, DS, and addenda that you then can shape to fit needs of any given school whether you need to trim certain ones or combine others.

I know much of it has a bad rep as a wasteland but there is actually a lot of great advice on TLS if you can filter out the noise using common sense. Look for threads that apply to you personally (i.e.- non trad threads, parent threads, etc.) and hit those people up for advice.

Sheri123

Thanks so much Pacifico, I really appreciate it!

deleted account

Keep in mind that you can always update the adcom later with an addendum if you would like to write one about your LSAT. Personally I delayed sending in my apps until I had my LSAT score because I knew I would have to write an addendum (took test 3 times) but of course that was after October, not December. Working with a consultant it took me a couple weeks post-score to finish everything off -- I had already written my PS, DS, and a couple other things. Just submitted last two apps yesterday.

Sheri123

Thanks josephellengar, how was your experience working with a consultant, was it worth it? How did you find a good consultant? Do you mind me asking how expensive it is to hire a consultant? Thank you