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Hey there! So many questions now that I've started digging through apps...
Do people typically list hours/week on resumes?
When apps say "list all educational institutions attended," does that include high school?
Does a speeding ticket from 5 years ago count as a C&F issue? I know Emory says explicitly it does and should be disclosed. Should I be safe and disclose for other schools too?
Is there a good piece of advice anywhere on whether to do a GPA addendum? I'm leaning against doing so, because I don't have a great reason. (It'd be something like: I was very involved in a time-consuming extracurricular/didn't think I was going to school beyond undergrad/it's been 3 years since I've graduated and I've grown, yada yada...) AKA, I think it'd sound whiny and excuse-ridden.
And lastly, an unimportant technical question: on some schools' apps, LSAC auto-fills in a *****XXXX for my SSN. Should I re-type my SSN in full in the box below that?
THANK YOU
Comments
I have answers to a few of your questions below. Also, 7Sage has a fantastic "Admissions" section (run by @"David.Busis") that costs only $10. I highly recommend it! I'm currently poring over it as I write my various essays. Most of your questions are answered in the Admissions course.
1) I think hours/weeks are for volunteer work, not necessarily for full- or part-time jobs
2) Some schools specifically ask for high school and you'll see it as an option under the drop-down menu. Others only state "Undergrad, Grad, and Law" (no mention of HS) under the Education drop-down menu. So, this differs by school.
4) 7Sage Admissions course goes over this in detail
5) You should re-type your full SSN in the box
I am by no means an expert on this subject so others can chime in!
For question 1, the only application I have seen personally ask for it is Chicago. I also know people who got in without adding hours to their resume so... shrug?
I’ve been out of school for a few years and so my resume is broken down by: work experience, college employment, volunteer experience, awards,etc.
I included hours worked for my college employment and volunteer experience.
1) I think this is more important if you have only work experience during school, where it would be part time. I have been out of school quite a while, so didn't list hours because I only have my post-school full time positions on my resume. I did include one internship though, and I put hours per week in a bullet point underneath since it was during the school year.
2) Typically, yes. Each application is different. One of the apps I filled out had a separate section to list your high school, so I didn't add it under "list all educational institutions". For the ones that didn't have that prompt, I did include my high school. When in doubt, add in info. Better too much than too little.
3) This one is extremely dependent on the specific app. Read the prompt carefully. Here are a few samples from my apps last year:
Michigan:
Cornell:
UCLA:
So the answer to your question with the above prompts would be: No, yes, no. Read carefully, and when in doubt, disclose. They won't hold a speeding ticket against you. But they will hold lying about a speeding ticket against you.
4) If you haven't already, you should go through the 7sage Admissions course. It's included with Ultimate+! It's super helpful in answering questions like this. I would say probably not in this case. Addenda are for telling the committee something that they wouldn't know otherwise (a sick parent, went through a divorce... etc). And these are not super strong reasons.
5) If LSAC pre-fills it, you don't have to re-type it. But you can if you want to make sure it's in there correctly.
I can't wait to explain that I got a ticket for driving through a red light a second after it turned red. The officer who wrote me the ticket actually came to court to tell the judge not to give me any points for it.
Also, I got a $77 fine (no ticket) for being in a park after dusk. It has been 10 years since that happened. Hopefully, that won't have to be disclosed.
I think the only reason schools would want to know this stuff is because if I had this happen 10 times, it would speak to my character. But really... it's not even worth their time to read this stuff.
As for the GPA addendum, it really depends on your GPA and what schools you're applying for. If you're applying to a top 20 school with a GPA under 3.0, definitely write one. But you better have a good way to explain the situation so it doesn't sound like an excuse. I would not write that you didn't think your GPA would matter because you didn't think you'd go to a graduate program. Actually, it would probably be better to not write an addendum at all than to imply that you didn't take school seriously because you didn't think it mattered. I would suggest getting the admissions course that 7Sage offers. If you have further questions, purchase the "edit once" and get help from one of the pros.
Thanks, everyone! Still need to go through parts of the admission course. Sorry for the redundancy.