Notes from David's Webinars

Admins please delete if I am crossing any lines.

These are MY notes from the free webinars put on David Busis and figured that I should host them somewhere for everyone to view/use. This is just scratching the surface for the breadth of information that David provides in the admissions courses, https://7sage.com/enroll-admissions/.

Admission Webinar Notes

Look at the applications for schools you want to get into now, a lot of them share similar topics.

Timeline
-Should start in June, but July is sufficient
-Focus on research and building resume first
-Develop personal statement draft by end of July
-Line up recommenders, give time to reconnect (have conversation, grab coffee, email correspondence, etc)
-Come august you should begin edit the essays, let them evolve
-By September you should be proof reading the essays for easy errors (review it 4, 5, or even 6 times)
-If applications are ready in October, then apply, if not then wait until you have all ducks in a row and papers as best as you possibly can
-If you apply by thanksgiving you're still great and early, February to march is late and should consider waiting until next year.

Before you start you want to sanitize your Social Media, adjust privacy settings, delete embarrassing/not professional photos

Open prompts truly can be about anything
Don't necessarily write about why you're going to law school, if your resume shows real commitment to social justice, have wanted to be forever, then write about it
if your T-14 schools don't really care, write about something not focused on this

Personal Statement (600 - 850 words, if overwrite that ok, it easier to overwrite and cut then underwrite and add)
(There is more on PS below in this post)
-Make them remember who you are, do not brag about what you've done as that what your resume is for
-Diversity Statement, only write if you can write a really really good one, should generally be shorter than personal statement, if it wants to be longer than personal statement than maybe use that as personal statement
-Wont make up for low LSAT scores or low GPA, but could help put your application into the "Yes" pile
-Stories stick in peoples heads more than facts, remember you as the guy who "Locked keys in car, broke into own car, got arrested for breaking into own car"
-If you have a really good reason to be a lawyer, then write about it, otherwise DONT

Diversity Statement (little bit shorter than personal statement)
-A essay about how you would make the campus more diverse, not tied to ethnicity, religion, etc
-Only write diversity statement if you can talk about how your background shaped you
-A good one wont hurt you, but a bad one WILL

Resume (not the same as a job)
-List interests and activities (these two come up in interviews)
-Shows that you're an human being, humanize yourself
-Only include highlights, show off skills or highlights talents
-Keep to one page, admissions will scan for about 30 seconds, so make it scannable with plenty of white space and easy to read formatting
-Only include highlights
-Have quantifiable accomplishments
-Keep it to one page

Letters of Recommendation (need two or three)
-Around 3 LoR is best, no more than 5
-Academics weigh much more heavily
-Those who know you well are much more helpful
-Those who can tell stories about you, help illustrate your personality
-Can give them information about yourself, might include keys for what you want to be highlighted or how you've changed recently
-Reconnect and help them remember who you are or fill them in on what you've done since last seeing them

Character and Fitness Addendum
-Assume admissions can find out anything available via google, social media, etc.
-Disciplinary action at school or ever arrested, assume that everything you don't disclose will go back to bite you
-Figure out what you should call the incident, Class B or Class C misdemeanor
-Show them what you learned and explain to them why its not going to happen again

Weakness Addendum (Extenuating circumstances)
What happened, How are you trying to fix it, What isn't it going to happen again
-Is this a legitimate problem?
-Did i try to fix this problem?
-Is this going to occur in the future?
-Don't write about a weakness you don't want them to know
-Substantiate the lower GPA in mechanical engineering department with a pass rate for EIT /
-Spin this with being military minded, straight line thinking person for the past X years of life

Why school X essay (optional but NOT OPTIONAL, 1 page or less)
-Although these are stated to be optional they are not!
-This is an INTEREST TEST, if you don't write one or write about a generic reason this shows a LACK OF INTEREST
-Must write it if you have the option, this is a interest test
-Have to do research on the school, talk with students, admissions, graduates
-Cite unique reasons, classes, clinics, professors you want to work with
-Don't make it a generalized statement ("Great professors")
-Should be one page or less

Other Essays (Idiosynchratic)
-Compliment or emphasize other parts of your admission packet
-Use this to expound on your "marketing of yourself"
-Georgetown has 5 additional essays
-Use this emphasize one part of your essay, or if you didn't write about why you want to be Lawyer then write that

Brainstorming
-What 5 seconds changed your life, boil it down to a key moment
-When did you change your mind about something
-What is the hardest thing you've ever done


Personal Statement Webinar Notes

A good personal statement topic finds a good center between What Matters to You and What is an Interesting Story (where there exists the most overlap is what you should write about)
-In additional, a good personal statement where there exists an intersection between what Matters to you and What is an Interesting Story AND doest make you look like a douche
-A really good writer can make almost anything an interesting story (I am not a good writer thought....)
-Tells your life story, or a thin slice of your life's story

Do you have an incredible story (something that could be made into a Lifetime movie?)
-If yes, then you want to use that
-If no then DON'T use that --> Brain storm, general rule is that 1 in 10 ideas are good ones

Personal statement should have an internal before and after, should be a lesson that reflects a small journey you made

Questions to ask yourself to find a good topic
1) When did you change your mind, your beliefs, or your goals? Anywhere in your life where you took a new direction, a big inflection point. Maybe it is smaller than significant change, such as a psychodrama.
2) What is the most challenging thing that you've done? What is your mountain? This might be a really good topic because it presents movement 1- the challenge and movement 2- the solution
3) What contributed to your identity? What shaped you or what made you, you? Might be about how you grew up, such as had to raise your siblings. Maybe you were a parking lot attendant and had a bunch of time to focus on something, like reading.
4) What is most surprising about you? It forces you to dig deep about something that will be memorable. Maybe its a hobby, a skill that most people don't have, or an interest most people don't have.
5) (Most powerful statement) What 5 seconds changed your life? Doesn't necessarily have to be actually 5 seconds. Might be easiest to write because you have an identifiable changing point and have a before and after.
6) What made you want to be a lawyer? This is a good topic for anyone who has a good and sincere interest in becoming a lawyer, not a boring reason such as a stable or respected profession. Don't pretend you want to be a lawyer for some abstract reason because your resume will flush out that your interest isn't actually sincere. If you have some use for your UG degree.

Topics can meld together, such as a 5 second change that drove you to want to be a lawyer.

Dudes favorite essays:
1) Tourettes essay - about a time someone who has tourettes his whole life, seemed ordinary from his POV, but from someone else POV its pretty interesting
2) Defending a Neo-Nazi - a African American who ends up defending a Nazi in court
3) Coffee Shop - A 5 second change in this girls life, who normally didn't stand up for herself, but was a pivotal movement for her
4) Paper Cranes - Korean student who moved to Japan who had an inherent distrust for Japanese culture, while making paper cranes in a park
5) Max's Death - An VETs story about an Iraqi Soldier who died while trying to get his Green Card, focus's more on his relationship between the two NOT ABOUT MAX
6) Tourne - Someone who could make a type of food, tourne, and his struggle
7) Women like you - About a woman who was harassed in a police station in South Korea, turns that moment about being harassed into what are her core beliefs

The best personal statements touch on the MOST IMPORTANT THING IN YOUR LIFE


Things to ask:
1) Do you play an active part in this story? If you're not active then the topic probably doesn't work
2) Can you illustrate the point with specific anecdotes and details? These are the "bricks" that build your essay. If you can't remember specific details about the event, it might be a shitty essay because it will be vague
3) Is the topic important to you? Can you write about it sincerely?
4) Is it "the time that"?

Things to NOT DO:
1) Don't say what you're not sincere about because you think its what they want to hear, the admissions will flush out your bullship

Bad Essays Example Topics:
1) The time I witnessed injustice essay, unless you were wronged or people you were connected to were wronged, then this is not going to seem sincere. Did you try to, or actually, do something about it? Did you actively act on that cause?
2) The Blah Business School Essay
-Did this experience working at the internship, or working at your job, matter to you? Did it change you? If not then it will feel like blah.
-Is your accomplishment something special, or was it just doing your job? Sometimes just doing your job can have a sense of nobility.
3) The essay about the obstacle that's not really an obstacle.
-Disappointments are not real obstacles
-Is this an actual obstacle or is this a disappointment?
4) The Two-Headed Essay
-Writer doesn't really know what he wants to write about and morphs into something weird
-Do I have more than one topic?
-Is every paragraph part of the same story?
5) The Headless Essay
-People writing about their resume or writing about
-Can you explain what this essay is about in one sentence or less? If you can't then you probably don't have a good essay


Notes from Admissions webinar on Personal Statement:
Personal Statement (600 - 850 words, easier to overwrite and cut)
-Make them remember who you are, do not brag about what you've done as that what your resume is for
-Diversity Statement only if you can write a really really good one, should generally be shorter than personal statement, if it wants to be longer than personal statement than maybe use that as personal statement
-Wont make up for low LSAT scores or low GPA, but could help put your application into the "Yes" pile
-Stories stick in peoples heads more than facts, remember you as the guy who "Locked keys in car, broke into own car, got arrested for breaking into own car"
-If you have a really good reason to be a lawyer, then write about it, otherwise DONT


Useful resource for examples of PS that worked
University of Chichago School of Law Admissions Letters: http://www.law.uchicago.edu/alumni/magazine/spring11/intheirownwords
http://www.law.uchicago.edu/node/1451