[Webinar] Live Lightning Consultations—Mon @ 9:45 pm EST

David BusisDavid Busis Member Moderator
edited August 2016 in Webinars 7262 karma
Update: Event delayed by 45 mins. New start time 9:45pm EST.

7Sagers,

This Monday, August 29, at 9:45 pm EST, I’ll do another round of live lightning consultations.

What’s a lightning consultation? Basically, I’ll try to be as helpful as I can in five minutes. We might brainstorm personal statement topics, strategize about addenda, or discuss LORs.

If you want a free five-minute consultation about your law school application, I’ll need you to post a few things in the comments section:

  1. Your three-sentence biography.
  2. Your biggest worry about your application.
  3. Two ideas for your personal statement.
  4. Did you attend last time? Did I get to you?

I’ll get through as many people as I can in one hour, working in a mostly random order. Please don’t post to this thread if you can’t show up for the consultation. If you do show up, test your microphone beforehand. Make sure you have a strong connection to the internet, and that you can speak and be heard on GoToMeeting. If your microphone isn’t working, I’ll have to skip you.

To join, just follow this link: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/935486253

  1. Dial +1 (646) 749-3131
  2. Use the access code 935-486-253.
  3. Use the audio PIN shown after joining the meeting.

We’ll use Citrix GoToMeeting. The meeting ID is 935-486-253


Comments

  • partyondudespartyondudes Alum Member
    424 karma
    People that have already had a consultation will probably get the lowest priority or not get called on at all, right?
  • Slim_JimSlim_Jim Alum Member
    105 karma
    My three-sentence biography:
    I am 32 years old, married, and have two children. I graduated three years ago with a BS in Business Management and I have been working as a project manager for a telecommunications company. In a combined total of ten years of work experience, seven of which are in Residential Financing.

    Your biggest worry about your application.
    I am concerned about my LSAT score, I obviously want it to be a good reflection on my application, but I also want my application as a whole to be appealing and somehow set me apart from the other applicants. I also am uncertain if I should include an addendum to my application explaining the dip in my GPA when my father passed away (3.7 to a 3.5).

    Two ideas for your personal statement.
    1) Following high school, I served a Christian mission for my church, and when I returned my father offered me a position in his office as a residential loan officer. With no prior knowledge, I studied all aspects of residential lending and how to excel in a 100% commission position. I worked alongside my father for seven years and not only did I learn a great deal about the finance industry, but I grew and learned more about myself. When the economy crashed in 2008, I was forced to reconsider my career choice, which led me to earning my degree. My personal statement will be a write up of how this was a defining time in my life and how this shaped me into who I am today.

    2) Halfway through my freshman year of college, I received a phone call from my parents with the news that my father was diagnosed with leukemia. I needed to decide if I should drop out of school and return home and focus my time and energy on my dad, but my dad refused that option. He didn’t want to be the reason why I didn’t finish school. For 18 months he fought the cancer and I continued my schooling while visiting home frequently. My personal statement will be a write up of this time and how my father impacted my life as a father, a friend, and a mentor and how I hope to continue with my children.


    Did you attend last time? Did he get to you?
    I did not attend last time.
  • danielznelsondanielznelson Alum Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐
    4181 karma
    1) I'm Daniel, a twenty-four-year-old Midwesterner who has in almost every way lived the prototypical American life. A post-graduate for about two years now, I have since worked as an applied behavioral analyst for children with autism, a position I still hold today. Quite literally, my lifelong dream has been to become an attorney, though the reasons for this particular aspiration have predictably become more substantive over time.

    2) At this point, my diversity statement and whether I even have a topic for one.

    3) What I did/have done in my current job, how it has helped others (specifically my clients), and how those I've helped have in many ways helped me, even to the point where I much of who I am today is because of the very clients and their respective caretakers whom I've served.

    This is a topic I've been mulling over for my diversity statement more so than for a personal statement, though I'm really on the fence about using this topic at all: Despite both my parents' having triumphantly overcome poor life circumstances, I had never viewed myself as anyone even remotely unique. Given their respective pasts, both of my parents instilled a sort of inevitability for my road to being a first-gen college graduate, yet I saw no support for seeing myself as someone who could distinguish himself and truly achieve during and after college. While my father started a small business on his own and has since grown it into a firmly successful one, I knew I certainly was not my father. Both of my parents have probably achieved more than I ever will, and I don't think their personal triumphs bespeak anything of excellence that could be attributable to me. So, while I was truly blessed with a solid upbringing for which I will always be thankful, I had nothing but my parents' successes and my standard childhood to craft a perception of myself for myself. It was not before my senior year of college that I began to have the nerve to strive beyond what was "preset" for someone completely standard, and I will never look back in my earnest ambition to achieve the most I can, whatever that may be, for myself and for others.

    4) The first but not the previous one, though I did not submit anything the time I did attend. I figured out my trackpad issue, and I can't wait for this one.
  • edited August 2016 524 karma
    1.Your three-sentence biography.
    I was born in Bethesda, MD to two parents who were in the Marine Band (the President's Own, oorah), and, after getting out of the Marines, my parents moved to Seattle, WA when I was about 6 months old. I graduated from the University of Washington, Seattle with a BA double major in Political Science and Law, Societies, and Justice where I also took advantage of the opportunity to study human rights abroad at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Currently, I am newly married to a Marine, I am a Victim Advocate with the biggest county's prosecutor's office in WA, I volunteer a lot, and I live a pretty quintessential PNW life (hiking, sailing, and I finally summited Mt. Rainier about a month ago, woot woot).

    2.Your biggest worry about your application.
    My LSAT score, but I won't take the LSAT until I can score around 170.

    3.Two ideas for your personal statement.

    A. Participating as the victim's representative in a pilot case for a Robb 1 where we are combining a Native American peacemaking process with the traditional criminal justice process. This pilot case hopes to accomplish what the criminal justice has failed to do in most cases-- prevent the respondent from committing future crimes, give the victim a voice, allow the community to be involved, and allow everyone to heal from this crime. This can be a year-long process or more. The last few steps of this new partnership is to have several community members, the respondent, his or her family, the judge, the prosecutor, the defense attorney, myself or the victim, and many others to gather together to talk about what the respondent has learned, how he or she has grown since the incident, and what everyone thinks is a fair sentence for the respondent outside of a court setting (although still being mindful of the current laws). I want to talk about how this process drastically changed my outlook on what I want to do with my law career because of how conflicted I now feel with the current system - I want to use the law creatively in order to have better outcomes for everyone involved. In general, I want to tell the admissions committees that I will bring this kind of think-outside-of-the-box mentality to my time in law school and as a thoughtful lawyer.

    B. Option A is my preference, but I could talk about how climbing Mt. Rainier (the most glaciated peak in the contiguous US standing at 14,410') is representative of how I approach all difficulty in life - the kind of preparation, mentality, and perseverance (even while quietly pooping myself) that it takes to literally conquer a mountain. I had to focus on each step and every breath while ignoring the possibility of a long fall into a crevasse, but a positive attitude and all the preparation I had done (with a bit of good luck) got me to the top. This is the kind of determination and mentality (paired with the right school) that will make me a great lawyer.

    4.Did you attend last time? Did I get to you?

    I haven't been able to attend either so far due to work, so I'm excited to be able to attend this one!
  • diefor170diefor170 Member
    129 karma
    1. Your three-sentence biography:
    My name is Anna, I have an undergraduate degree in Biomedical engineering from an international institution, mechanical and electrical engineering master's degree from US universities and I am an ESL student. I worked as a technical advisor (patent agent) after graduating with my 2nd MS degree in a boutique IP law firm for about 2 years and stopped working due to medical issue since 2015. I have 2 children (2 years old and 2 months old) and my husband is an officer, I am now taking care of them while studying for the LSAT.

    2. Your biggest worry about your application.
    I don't have an undergraduate GPA since I obtained my undergraduate degree from out side of US. LSAC rated my UGPA as Above Average. As English is not my first language, I am mostly worried about my writing especially Personal Statement.

    3. Two ideas for your personal statement.
    a) Maybe talk about my journey of coming to the US alone to study 5000 miles away from home. The struggle both culturally and academically, the loneliness, and the burden of surviving financially. Academically, I need to adjust myself to the new school, new environment, and new ways of studying and doing researches. As a Teaching assistant, I need to hold lab sessions 3 times a week, which basically is a public speech one hour each time. For a non-native speaker, it was a nightmare in the beginning but in the end I received excellent teaching award from school. I even worked as an adjunct instructor at a private university for a semester. I also have research duties which was interesting and hard but I managed to publish a few papers on peer reviewed journals. I was also doing multiple internships to earn extra money and gain more experiences while taking the maximum credits I could each semester to save the tuition. However the most difficult part is the loneliness, coming from an Asian culture, it is difficult to be alone without families and friends around. I enjoy being tired and fill my schedule full with loads of work because I feel lonely and even cries sometime when I am by myself. I overcome these in the end.

    b) Perhaps, I should talk about more recent experience about being a military spouse, support my husband emotionally, adjust myself to the military life and survive severe medical complications myself without anyone around to help. My strong technical background in biomedical, mechanical, and electrical engineering will make me a good fit for IP law and I have experiences working with patents already. But I feel like talking about how much I love patent law is really plain and not interesting. Maybe I should combine the 2 topics together?

    4.Did you attend last time? Did I get to you?
    No and no. Hopefully I get to attend this time!
  • mk940808mk940808 Alum Member
    209 karma
    Hey David! I'd love to take part in this. Here are my answers:

    Your three-sentence biography.

    I'm a graduate student in Anthropology, and have always wanted to get a PhD in Anthro but alas life circumstances have led me to law. I am Australian but live on the East Coast. I am married (did so really young -- I know what I want when I see it ;) ), and have a cat.

    Your biggest worry about your application.

    LSAC rated my undergrad GPA as "above average" even though WES has my GPA at 3.88 -.- Aside from that, I worry that I will not be able to reach my intended LSAT score (175) in time for applications.

    Two ideas for your personal statement.

    How my background and ethnicity as a minority in a Middle Eastern country has shaped my desire to attend law school, OR how I have seen law used as a weapon against my people by "democratic" governments has me utterly and completely jaded to whether law is a good thing.

    Did you attend last time? Did I get to you?
    Nope!
  • shahla.s-1shahla.s-1 Alum Member
    104 karma
    1) I graduated from University of Texas, double majored in Philosophy and Islamic Studies. I am originally Pakistani but grew up in Bahrain and moved to the states in 2010 for college. I came to the states with $400 dollars in my pocket but with a dream to complete my higher education and worked my way to be the first female in my family to get a bachelors degree.

    2) LSAT and PS

    3a) My experience growing up in Bahrain as an immigrant and the discrimination I faced being a non-Arab, what I learnt from it..compared to what I faced being a Muslim in Texas.

    3b) The cultural limitation and barriers I faced as a Muslim/Pakistani female in pursuit of education.

    4) No.
  • luke111234luke111234 Free Trial Member
    edited August 2016 8 karma
    1) I am a Minnesota native that attended a private college in Michigan before transferring to the U of Minnesota to take advantage of an ABA direct admissions program at Minnesota Law School that has since been eliminated. I am an Honors student, Eagle Scout, majoring in Economics, with a 3.96 GPA. I have good relationships with my pre-law professor, top econ professor, and local city councilor who I did policy research for (thinking I should get LOR from all three?)

    2) Diversity statement/PS (same thing??) and why X law school essay. (LSAT should be fine, PT average is 170)

    3a) I know most people say that law school is their dream, and I want to state that in my opening but then argue that I haven't just dreamed, I have actively pursed that dream (i.e. shadowed an attorney back in high school, did mock trial, started thinking about the LSAT freshman year (scored a 151 my first PT), transferred to a new school for the sole purpose of qualifying for a law school direct admissions program, worked via connections to get a shadow day at a BigLaw firm to see if I really wanted to do it).

    3b) talk about the transfer process, how it was a hard adjustment ("I study first, study second, sleep third, and party fourth") but I was elected to Student Association, became an Econ Club officer (and increased membership from 5 to over 100), was accepted into Honors, and selected for my school's Dean's student advisory board

    4) I did not attend
  • stephen63stephen63 Member
    edited September 2016 34 karma
    blank
  • diegoperea45diegoperea45 Alum Member
    4 karma
    Three Sentence Biography:

    I graduated from University of Texas at Dallas in 2015, with a major in Actuarial Science. I currently work as an Actuary in a major insurance company but have always had a desire to go to law school and I want to give it a shot.

    Biggest worry
    LSAT of course, but a sub par GPA (3.5) (Albeit in a STEM major).

    Personal Statement Ideas
    1. Story of emigrating from Mexico to have a better life.
    2. How mock trial program in undergrad helped shape who I am.

    I did not attend last time.
  • AirForcetoLAWAirForcetoLAW Free Trial Member
    edited August 2016 3 karma
    Canceled
  • TheBatmanTheBatman Alum Member
    edited August 2016 255 karma
    Your three-sentence biography.
    Born in Egypt, and immigrated to Canada when I was 3 years of age. Worked in sales for 10 years while and after doing undergrad. I did a Sociology major, and am 30 years old.

    Your biggest worry about your application.
    Applying too late, because I am applying after the Dec LSAT, and not getting into my top choice school (I'm applying to schools with rolling admission). Should I wait until Sept 2018 admission to increase my chances of getting into a top tier school?

    I don't know how heavy the empty semester gaps between my courses in my undergraduate degree will hurt me. I did not know that taking full time course loads was important to law schools. There were semesters where I took part time, full time, and no courses.

    Two ideas for your personal statement.
    1.) How I cofounded an NGO, and travelled to a rural impoverished community across the world, and am in the process of doing something with the fundraised money ($10,000, if that helps the PS).
    2.) Overcoming my fear of public speaking by taking many public speaking courses, and preforming a stand up comedy routine as a final project for one course, in front of an audience.

    Did you attend last time? Did I get to you?
    YES, and YES, but I have new questions.
  • subi ramisubi rami Alum Member
    33 karma
    Dear David:

    My 3 sentence biography:

    I am a West Indian and 56 years old. I have been been a surgeon for the past 20 years. I graduated from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. I have 3 beautiful children and continues to have an active full-time practice. I have always harbored a passion for the law, but it's really my life experiences as a surgeon which has awakened this passion to be a lawyer.

    My biggest worry about my application:

    I actually took the LSAT 2 years ago and did very poorly. The reasons I attribute it to that were primarily my underestimation of this exam combined with a beyond full-time work schedule.
    I am seriously studying and scheduled to retake the exam in December. I am happy the way my preparation is going this time combined with my healthy dose of respect for this exam. I am planning on applying for the September 2017 admission. My biggest worry is what impact my poor score may have on my application to a Premier law school assuming I score greater than 165 in December as my pre-tests scores have been acceptable in the 168-172 range. Secondly, does taking the LSAT in December precludes me from the top law loss schools because of a late application process and if so, would you advise me apply for the September 2018 admission instead. Obviously, given my age I would prefer to apply for next September admission but being in a top law school is very important to me.

    Two ideas for my personal statement:

    Two ideas which would be part of my personal statement includes my upbringing in a third world country amongst abject poverty and how that has shaped my formidable years of life. Certainly my life and experiences as a surgeon will also be discussed and how I intend to amalgamate law and medicine for the betterment our lives. I would also discuss what I have seen as the increasing importance of law in medicine to the point of significant cohesion of the two for the improvement of our everyday lives. There needs to be a significant body of work dedicated to the exposure and resolution of the utter corruption of physicians to the point that it directly affects the lives of our patients.

    I have never attended your consultation. I thank you in advance.
  • 1.) I'm a typical All-American boy from Tacoma, WA raised by a single mom in the rougher parts of town in the Hilltop neighborhood. I went to Washington State University (Go Cougs) to obtain a degree in political science (which I did - in addition to history) - originally so I could immediately run for public office and become a career politician. Then I realized that in today's day and age you need a lot more capital than what a 22 year old can use for campaigning and I refocused my passions in the pursuit of law.

    2.) My biggest concerns are finding a way to describe myself in a personal statement so admissions committees can see the type of applicant they'll be getting and how I will impact their law school's community, as well as my LSAT score (yikes).

    3.) Idea a) Talking about my drive and motivation being a constant throughout my life from wanting to be a professional baseball player to having a handwritten note of the oath to become President of the United States hanging on my wall at 14 years old.
    Idea b) The work I did with my mentor at WSU working on teaching English skills to folks in the regional prisons and my concomitant experience in becoming more racially-conscious.

    4.) I attended the first one but not the latest one and have not been reached.
  • hannah526hannah526 Member
    89 karma
    1. My name is Hannah. I was raised in a great family, with supportive parents and siblings. My main challenges and successes have come through my experience as a pastor’s kid. Since then, I received a degree in ancient languages and biblical literature and have worked for a non-profit organization.

    2. My biggest concern is that I will be able to express myself fully in a short and strategic way on my Personal Statement and Application.

    3. Statement ideas: 1. About 20 years ago, my father reconnected with our Jewish family in Israel, after being estranged for years. Since his grandmother converted to Christianity, all ties were severed. My childhood dream was to find them and mend the relationship as well. I studied Hebrew for four years and prepared for the trip. Then when I was 20, I spent a month in Israel and met my cousins and aunts. I learned about the power of love that speaks universally across different cultures and belief systems.

    2. It can be tough working hard for your own dreams, let alone working for dreams that are not your own. I have learned that serving the dream of my parents, at their church, has actually brought me more satisfaction and growth than I could ever imagine. Although I did not see it initially, I learned the lessons of hard work, selflessness, and the importance of relationships. In the end, working with my parents gave me invaluable lessons for my future.

    4. Yes, I attended the webinar, but was not reached.
  • aimhigheraimhigher Alum Member
    edited August 2016 100 karma
    1 I’m from New York, currently a rising senior undergraduate studying Psychology and double minor in Web Design and Mandarin. I got pretty involved in some of the student organizations at my school; I was on the executive board of a international co-ed fraternity that specialized in community service, and also on the executive board of a cultural club. A lot of my past internships were relevant to law or government, and I kind of just got more and more into it so I think this is the next right step for me.

    2 My personal statement and LSAT score. I have no idea what to write and my dad doesn’t want me to take a gap year so I’m signed up for the September LSAT but I’m not scoring where I want to be.

    3 My internship at a intellectual property law firm last summer and this summer. One of my recommendation letters will be from this law firm and I did various things as an intern so I’m not sure which aspect to focus on. One of the big things I did was a presentation and a paper on genetically modified foods and organisms, where I discussed the impacts of genetic modification on the foods that we eat, any potential risks and harms, the goods and the bads, etc. - but I feel like this is not enough to talk about in my personal statement, since the only things I think I can highlight is that I had to practice and learn to get over my fear of public speaking, and learn how to parse reliable information and sources from biased ones. I guess I could also talk about the other paper I did about the DTSA, or the legal research I did for one of the attorneys but there’s not too much depth I can get into.

    3.5 I think this topic might be better in an addendum than an actual topic. My grandma, who brought me up, was diagnosed with some destructive diseases during my sophomore year. Since I live with her, my academic life was thrown into a bit of chaos and I didn’t know how to cope for a while, resulting in a W on my transcript and a slight dip in my GPA.

    4 I attended last webinar, but we ran out of time.
  • BreakthelsatBreakthelsat Member
    edited August 2016 82 karma
    Dear David:

    1. I moved to Canada once I finished grade 11 in Tehran. My English was not perfect so I decided to repeat grade 11 and carry on from there. Even though I was struggling with English I managed to get mostly As in my science courses and I didn't have to do TOEFL to get accepted to university as I scored high on both English 11 and 12. I got my bachelors degree in psychology last year.

    2. I did horribly in my first two years of undergrad. I have one fail, a few WD and ton of Cs. However, once I changed my degree from science to psychology things changed. I have mostly As and some high Bs on my record. Increased my CGPA from 2.9 (almost going on probation) to 3.2 and sitting at 3.6 on my last 60 credits.

    3.Explain why I did horrible on the first two years:

    a. Open up by mentioning how having to take care of my mentally unstable mother negatively effected my ability to deal with university pressure. I wanted to make sure my younger brother is not being affected by her, as a result, I was acting as a mother to my brother and mom. I realized I am ruining my future by putting all my energy on to her. I was also working 30 hours a week so that I don't pressure my father with the living expenses either. Once my brother got accepted to university, I started focusing on myself more and scored As on most of my 3rd and 4th year courses.

    b. I have always had a stronger bond with my father as my mother has always been mentally abusing. I signed up for a science degree because my dad wanted me to do so. He had always imagined her daughter as a doctor and I wanted to make him proud. It took me 2 years to realize that this comes with a high price, my lack of passion for science was negatively effecting my performance. I changed my degree without discussing it with him and everything changed.

    I am very new to 7sage. I didn't have the chance to attend last time.

    best,
    R
  • FLAguyNSeoulFLAguyNSeoul Alum Member
    141 karma
    Thank you David for doing this!! Thank you 7Sage for putting this together!!

    1. Your three-sentence biography. I’m Jamal; I’m a thirty-one year-old African-American male who came back to the States last year after working and living in South Korea for over 8 years upon completing a Fulbright grant. I am currently working as a pawn broker, jeweler, and personal trainer. I’ve always been passionate about setting BIG goals and reaching them; graduating from one of my dream schools is the next BIG goal I’m working to reach.

    2. Your biggest worry about your application. 1A) Letter of Recommendation (LOR)-the professor who wrote my LOR for the Fulbright is deceased 1B) Personal Statement-not being able to tell a cohesive story 1A +1B = TIME

    3. Two ideas for your personal statement.
    1) The first time I every spoke of going to law school was at my uncle and aunt’s house, sitting at their kitchen table, less than a mile away from my dad’s house. This is significant because for 15+ years I silenced that goal because my relationship with my father, who has done well for himself in the field of law, had deteriorated to the point I didn’t want anything to do with anything he was a part of including the law. As my time in S. Korea unfolded, and as I gained new experiences, relearned old life lessons, and shared stories with different people in Korea and in the other countries, I was fortunate to travel to my heart was softened towards my dad, my humanity was increased for others, and my curiosity for the law was reinvigorated.

    2) I believe in the promise of America, even though at times its promise has been fleeting to many groups of minorities/majorities throughout its young history. It’s my goal to use the law (and the spirit of the law) to find commonalities that bring more Americans together and get real things done, not just dreams, i.e. Hyperloop. I will work to implement best practices-not just words or stats, which are found outside of the Continental US into productive and effective strategies for the American ethos.

    4. Yes, I've made it to the last two. No, we ran out of time during the last call.
  • chitownboychitownboy Alum Member
    edited August 2016 12 karma
    Biography:
    I am an Engineering student attending the University of Waterloo in Canada. I wish to pursue corporate or patent law. Since Waterloo has the largest co-op program in the world, I have had 6 co-op job placements at 5 different companies during my time at University, including a patent law firm, financial companies, a manufacturing company, and an insurance company.

    Biggest worry about my application:
    Whether the difficulty of my program will hurt me or benefit me when it comes to evaluating my GPA. In Canada, there is a percentage system and my average is around 84-85%, but I'm not sure how that translates to US Law Schools and whether the difficulty of my program will be considered when determining my GPA.

    Two ideas for personal statement:

    1. Engineering at the University of Waterloo has allowed me to develop my problem solving mind and analytical skills to an advanced level. However, I believe communication of ideas is the key to actually implementing ideas. I want to pursue law in order to arm me with the skills to convey and put together arguments with knowledge and problem solving mind Engineering has given me.

    2. Even though I've worked in various industries, I've seen one constant organizational concept. There is the technology side which are the coders/technicians/engineers and then there is the business side who do the financials/operations/processes/marketing. Often, there is a gap between them and the people who bridge this gap to me have the best job. The middle man. That is what I have learned Management Engineering is all about. At each one of the 5 different companies I've worked at, my role has been the middle man, the one who integrates the technology with the business to produce and implement innovative solutions that result in efficiency and financial improvements.

    Yes, I was here last time but I didn't get to speak.
  • ChiTownGuyChiTownGuy Alum Member
    edited September 2016 179 karma
    delete
  • R MirandaR Miranda Member
    41 karma
    Robert

    1. I graduated from an average public state university in California 7 years ago. I worked my way up from being a paid door knocker for a political candidate to campaign manager. For the last four years I have worked in the political department of a large labor union of healthcare workers in California.

    2) Standing out in a sea full of amazing applicants.

    3) Personal Statement A - Talking about a recent union contact campaign that I was involved in. I'm thinking of first starting off by talking about how I felt responsible for a union leader being fired. She was a proponent of a ballot initiative that I filed and ran which would limit hospital executives at her hospital from earning over $250k. She was fired out of retaliation.

    This made me question myself and if I was truly helping people or doing harm. In the end, I ran a political campaign for this initiative that resulted in the CEO being fired, we were able to settle on a great contract, we dropped the initiative, and I recruited several hospital candidates who are running this fall and are committed to working with us to reform the hospital's leadership.

    Personal Statement B - Talking about how college was at first tough for me. My parents lost their home due to my dad's alcoholism and I was nearly kicked out of college for poor grades.

    I was inspired by a professor during sophomore year and saw school as my way to figure out how this world works and how to fix it. My grades improved dramatically and I learned that I can't control my dad's actions, but I can control my own.

    Life still hasn't been easy, but my struggles helped me become a kick ass person. I've been a senior staffer on political campaigns that elected members to congress and the state legislature, and a campaign that recently increased California's minimum wage to $15 plus indexing.

    4. I didn't attend the last consultant. I did post all the above. Unfortunately, work got in the way of me attending but it will not this time!
  • zilla401zilla401 Free Trial Member
    15 karma
    1. Biography: I grew up in India and moved here before high school. Since the move, my family's been struggling financially so I can have an uninterrupted education. I am currently a Neurobiology major at Cornell (international student). I have a significant amount of experience (for a ugrad) in basic science and social sciences research and hope to bring more of that into legal practice.

    2. Biggest worry about application: LORs -didn't really get to know any of my professors that well since I was always taking classes in different departments. I have a couple options but I'm unsure how to get the best LOR that I can

    3. Ideas for personal statement:
    1. One of the graduation requirements at my college is a swim test. But when I was young, I had almost drowned, which left me with a negative view about swimming and large bodies of water. Just terrified of it. Regardless, I was forced to learn a couple years ago. Passed the swim test -didn't grow to love it or anything but learned that its not as terrifying as I made it to be. I like to plan, to know and to control and learning to swim needed me to let some of that go and just trust that I can float without doing much.
    2. Maybe about a research project abroad that had me interviewing people in a foreign language and listening to their personal stories, sometimes for hours. And how they would always start with caution and then eventually open up with these intense emotional stories -often even advising me as though they've known me for longer than that interview. I was thinking I could contrast that sense of deep connection with the sense of separation that sometimes I feel amongst my family/friends as I develop the anecdote about their interviews..maybe.

    4. Yes, but I had microphone troubles so we didn't get to talk.
  • sewellsarahsewellsarah Free Trial Member
    46 karma
    Your three-sentence biography.

    1.) My name is Sarah, I'm 23, and I graduated in May 2015 with a degree in Political Science. Since graduation I've worked at an elementary school in New Orleans as a substitute teacher and a lead staff member in their after school program. I'm taking the LSAT in December and I'm interested in child advocacy/education law or civil rights law.

    2.) Kind of freaking out over the idea of a personal statement. I'm a strong writer but I'm struggling big time with potential topics.

    3a.) How I came to realize I wanted to be a lawyer after years of adamantly rejecting the idea.
    3b.) I'm hoping to start interning with a local non-profit law office soon. This office was a big part of my decision to apply to law school, so I'm thinking this could be formed into some kind of personal statement topic.

    4.) I did not attend last time, I'm new to 7Sage!
  • J.Y. PingJ.Y. Ping Administrator Instructor
    13940 karma
    Hey guys, sorry about the last minute change up, but the event tonight will be delayed by 45 mins. New start time is 9:45pm.
  • danallendanallen Alum Member
    6 karma
    1) I graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Economics 10 years ago. Since then, I worked as analyst for a foreign investment fund and an operations manager for an aerospace company. Since leaving the aerospace job, I've been pursing a couple entrepreneurial ideas.

    2) I was a terrible student in college. I withdrew 3 times and have several F's on my transcript. My GPA is about 2.9 by LSAC calculations, however my LSAT score is over 170. I've also taken a few post-baccalaureate/extension classes and have gotten all As.

    3a) How the experience of representing myself as the Plaintiff in a complex product liability case reinforced my decision to pursue a career in law.

    3b) How a documentary about a supreme court case inspired me to go to law school to study constitutional law with the dream of one day arguing before the supreme court for a cause I believe in.

    4) I attended last time, but did not post on the thread prior.
  • 7sager147sager14 Member
    edited August 2016 21 karma
    -
  • chupacabrachupacabra Member
    64 karma
    1. I graduated from Athabasca University in Alberta, Canada with a degree in Management with my GPA in my last two years of 3.6. I was working in the insurance industry with a decent job before I wanted to become a lawyer. I started volunteering for a legal non profit organization where we help low income people a half hour meeting with a lawyers to help them with their respective situations and they offered me a job after volunteering for a year. Also, my family immigrated here from Nicaragua when I was a child.

    2. My biggest worry with my application is my application is not worded as strongly as it could be and I also worry about my overall GPA, which is not remotely close to my GPA

    3. The two ideas I have for my statement is about my race and how hard it was immigrating to Canada with a single mother. We were not financially stable and I have been working helping out the family since I was 14. The other idea I want to emphasize is about how much I love my job at my non profit. Love the idea of helping low income people, which is one of the reasons I want to attend law school.

    4. I did not attend last time.
  • batniki1batniki1 Alum Member
    226 karma
    David, I am in Ottawa, Canada and I am not applying to any law schools in the States as of now. I would like to know if the admissions course that you offer would be helpful for law school applications in Canada? I was just listening/watching the webinar and you really got me interested in purchasing an admissions package but the personal statements/consideration essays requirements appear to be different from the ones that law schools in the States want. I believe that I have good writing skills but it is the organization of my story and which particulars I should focus on particularly that I am having trouble with. Do you think you would be of help for that or I should find someone in Canada? Thank you @david.busis
  • David BusisDavid Busis Member Moderator
    7262 karma
    @atanasdimitrov Yes, I've worked with—and am currently working with—a number of Canadian applicants. I can help!
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