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Related Discussions
What does it mean by statements of strong interest? (Columbia)
time_to_go
Alum Member
From Columbia's website:
Can I submit an addendum or additional written materials along with my application?
Yes. The Admissions Committee believes that candidates should be able to expand upon aspects of their candidacy that are otherwise not represented in the required materials. Some examples include diversity statements, statements of strong interest in Columbia Law School, explanations of undergraduate and/or LSAT performance, etc. We strongly suggest that applicants use their best judgment, in terms of content and length, when considering the submission of supplemental materials.
So the question is do I treat it like a Why X essay? I'm not sure if writing one is a good idea...
Comments
The deadline is in four days so whatever you write would be pretty rushed at this point. From what I've read, the T6 schools tend to assume that you want to go there. You can do what you want, but personally I am saving all of that stuff for my LOCI if I get waitlisted.
Echoing what @joezim425 said. My (perhaps incomplete) understanding of Why X statements from other forums is that they're for avoiding yield protection, but since the T6 don't yield protect, the statements are unnecessary. Also doesn't Columbia have a part in their personal statement prompts asking for a "why Columbia" already anyway?
Can I ask what it means to "save all that stuff for LOCI"? Do you have a storage of things to say about a school for when you get waitlisted that is distinct from the things in the "why X" essays you wrote?
What is LOCI?
Letter of Continued Interest. Basically you write one if you are waitlisted to show that you really do want to go to their school
Personally, I think it would be a great idea to write something that you may not have talked about in your personal statement or if it's just briefly in your resume. It just adds a little more information about you. I know the time is a bit short, but if you are able to sit down and focus, it may truly just help. If I was in your position, I would write the draft, get it checked by others, rewrite, and repeat until I am confident in it. If you could add a diversity statement, I think it could be useful, but again only you can know what is best in your case!
Yes I do for the T6 schools I applied to, because I didn’t write a “Why X” essay for them. I want to be able to write a killer LOCI if I get waitlisted that doesn’t just recycle a “Why X” essay that would already be on my record. I’m not claiming that this will definitely work, it’s just my personal strategy. Another thing to keep in mind is that a bad “Why X” essay can hurt you, whereas a strong essay probably won’t move the needle very much in comparison to your LSAT, GPA, PS, or Resume. T6 schools don’t ask for them, so I didn’t think it was worth the risk. OP can do whatever works for them, though.
Interesting gamble. Let us know how it works out? Did you go with this plan because you were pretty confident that you wouldn't get rejected based on your GPA, and LSAT?
@Bamboosprout I actually think the gamble would be to actually write a "Why X" since they're usually not advised for T6.
Oh really? Why is that? I know that they don't ask for it, but I never knew that it was not advised.
@Bamboosprout sort of alluding to what @joezim425 said, you can save the material in the case of a LOCI after waitlist or if you write a bad "why X" it can only hurt you while a good "why X" won't really move the needle. This is partly because the purpose of the "Why X" is for schools to protect their yield, they want to admit people who will actually attend. Lower ranked T14 lose a lot of cross admits to T6 so they want to see it, especially from higher stat applicants to know that they're not a safety school. T6 schools don't have to really worry about losing cross-admits because they're T6 so it semi-defeats the purpose of a "why X."
See this older thread: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=198399
I think the advice there still applies.
Yeah @eRetaker pretty much nailed it on the head. Plus Columbia puts a lot of people on the waitlist, so it’s important to stand out.
Oh damn. I had no idea about all this inside baseball information. I just threw everything I had at the wall and hoped something stuck.
That’s not a terrible way to go, but I’ve avoided some common mistakes by doing more research. You can find a lot of great stuff on the forums of www.lawschool.life and the law school admissions subreddit.