URM 2015-2016 Cycle Results Forum

[gamerish]

I think we're far enough into the cycle that the yearly thread is due. Borrowing the format from last year with some slight changes. Feel free to post your current status, even if you've not made a final decision, and update it when you've made your mind up.

Congrats everyone for making it through all this bs!

Format:

Type of URM:

Attending:

GPA:

LSAT:

Softs:

Advice:

Approx. Time of Application:

Other acceptances:

Rejections:

Waitlists:

And some words of wisdom from a previous OP:

And when you get to your top law school, don't for one second believe that what might be lower test scores or GPA in anyway delegitimizes your right to be there. I wasted the first two years of undergrad feeling really inadequate and that I was just an affirmative action hire and all that BS, and it really affected my self-confidence and thus my GPA. But once I got over it, my GPA increased exponentially, and things I had only dreamed of before (graduating with honors, getting straights As in a semester) became a reality.

Don't sweat about how or why you got there and just ignore the haters (because I am sure there will be many). We have all been given an immense opportunity, and we should be spending our time in law school thinking how to use that opportunity for good rather than defending why we got it.

[gamerish]

Type of URM: PR

Attending: Harvard ($$$)

GPA: 3.8

LSAT: 175

Softs: Honestly, lol

Advice: Apply everywhere you can afford to; don't use the boost as a crutch during LSAT prep, give it everything you've got and don't be afraid to retake; apply to SEO; don't be too discouraged if your cycle starts off on a bad note or if you run into some bumps on the way, you really may have some incredible options coming your way

Approx Time of Application: Nov - Dec

Other acceptances:
Columbia ($$$)
Chicago ($$$)
NYU ($$)
Berkeley ($$)
Northwestern ($$$$)
Cornell ($$$$)
Georgetown

Rejections:

Waitlists:
Yale
Stanford
Penn
UVA
Duke
Michigan

[ih8makingscreennames]

I think we're far enough into the cycle that the yearly thread is due. Borrowing the format from last year with some slight changes. Feel free to post your current status, even if you've not made a final decision, and update it when you've made your mind up.

Congrats everyone for making it through all this bs!

Format:

Type of URM:

Attending:

GPA:

LSAT:

Softs:

Advice:

Other acceptances:

Rejections:

Waitlists:

And some words of wisdom from a previous OP:

And when you get to your top law school, don't for one second believe that what might be lower test scores or GPA in anyway delegitimizes your right to be there. I wasted the first two years of undergrad feeling really inadequate and that I was just an affirmative action hire and all that BS, and it really affected my self-confidence and thus my GPA. But once I got over it, my GPA increased exponentially, and things I had only dreamed of before (graduating with honors, getting straights As in a semester) became a reality.

Don't sweat about how or why you got there and just ignore the haters (because I am sure there will be many). We have all been given an immense opportunity, and we should be spending our time in law school thinking how to use that opportunity for good rather than defending why we got it.

Thanks for doing this.... would it be wise to include $$ as well? I shall return tomorrow with my decision.

[Budfox55]

I honestly found last year's thread to be one of the most helpful on TLS so with my cycle essentially over, I'll gladly go next. I hope everyone who's received help from this forum will contribute.

Type of URM: Afro-Latino

Attending: Northwestern ($$$)

GPA: 3.4-3.5

LSAT: 167-168

Softs: Ivy undergrad, quantitative major (most major classes were curved to a 2.67 and this was mentioned in a LOR. Not sure if this helps at all), leadership positions in college, 1 yr of investment banking at a BB, 1 year of working at a "unicorn" start-up (spotify, uber, etc).

However - I have C&F issues that probably straddle the line between "minor" and "major".

Advice: BLANKET THE ENTIRE T-14!!! In fact, I'll repeat that again...BLANKET THE ENTIRE T-14!!! I initially was going to apply to the t-14 minus Yale, Cornell, and Northwestern. That would have left me with NYU at almost sticker as my only option. Luckily a friend convinced me to apply to Cornell and Northwestern and i had application waivers for both so i decided to just apply. This cycle seemed to have been very unpredictable concerning waitlists and especially wrt URMs. Please hedge your risk. Worst comes to worst, you can leverage competing scholarship offers against each other. You will most likely end up net positive.

Also going to add what everyone else will undoubtedly add. Apply as early as possible (I wish i applied earlier). Write a Why "X" from the t-7 down (I personally wish i spent more time on this). Do yourself a favor and don't get caught up with Completed, Under Review, etc dates. It'll make you neurotic.

Other acceptances:
NYU ($)
Cornell ($$$)

Rejections:
Harvard
UVA
Berkely
Stanford

Waitlists: LOL...
Columbia
Chicago
Penn
Duke
Michigan
Georgetown
UT

*Riding out waitlists at Chicago and Columbia.

Edit: Added $$$

[Another1]

I'll add my results later, but I think you should add the date an applicant sent their applications out as one of the criteria of the format

[GreekOmega12]

Type of URM: AA

Attending: UVA

GPA: 3.3ish

LSAT: 16x

Softs: K-JD but believe I have solid sorts. Nothing spectacular but definitely above average. Student Body President, U.S Senate campaigns, Political Party internships, and etc.

Advice: Don't limit yourself! If you have a goal to reach a certain school do everything you can to do that and don't be inimidated by LSAT and GPA medians. I definitely outpreformed my numbers, so you can too! Take the Lsat more than once if you have to and also apply early! I applied in January and feel as though some of my many waitlists would've been acceptances if i applied in October.

Other acceptances:
Chicago
Northwestern $$
WashU $$$$
Vanderbilt $$$$
Notre Dame $$$$
University of Florida $$$$

Rejections:
Harvard
Duke

Waitlists: lol didn't do any LOCI, didn't try to get off of any
Penn
Michigan
Cornell
Georgetown
Emory
UCLA
USC
Illinois

[jnwa]

x

[PrezRand]

Congrats on everyone's acceptances!

Type of URM: AA

Attending: UVA

GPA: 3.3ish

LSAT: 163ish

Softs: K-JD but believe I have solid sorts. Nothing spectacular but definitely above average. Student Body President, U.S Senate campaigns, Political Party internships, and etc.

Advice: Don't limit yourself! If you have a goal to reach a certain school do everything you can to do that and don't be inimidated by LSAT and GPA medians. I definitely outpreformed my numbers, so you can too! Take the Lsat more than once if you have to and also apply early! I applied in January and feel as though some of my many waitlists would've been acceptances of i applied in October.

Other acceptances:
Chicago
Northwestern $$
WashU $$$$
Vanderbilt $$$$
Notre Dame $$$$
University of Florida $$$$

Rejections:
Harvard
Duke

Waitlists: lol didn't do any LOCI, didn't try to get off of any
Penn
Michigan
Cornell
Georgetown
Emory
UCLA
USC
Illinois

Looks like you got a lot of money from some T-20s. UVA is my second choice for school after Stanford. I must ask, how much money did they give you ?

[legallybrown312]

I can't even quantify how much the URM forum has helped me. Wishing anyone reading this the best of luck with your cycle!

Type of URM: AA Female

Attending: UVA ($$)

GPA: 3.3ish (stark upward trend)

LSAT: 167

Softs: Above average but probably not anything atypical amongst T14 applicants. Tons of extracurricular and leadership involvement in organizations focused on educational inequity, diversity and inclusion and community service. Also spent time after college teaching and turoring in low income communities.

Advice: Lol I have a lot of it. I applied early January and it definitely impacted my cycle. Literally by the grace of God, I still got into my top 3 choices with good money and received those decisions very quickly but it could've definitely gone another way. Maximize your chances and get applications in by Thanksgiving.

Also, I underestimated the amount of time it would take to write my PS and DS. Writing is my strength and it still took me like 20 drafts to write a PS that I loved. Make sure you work on it as early as possible because I really feel like the narrative that I created about myself with my PS and DS helped me a lot. Several of my admissions letters specifically pointed out my PS or DS so they really do care about what you write lol. Present yourself in the best light by telling a story that highlights your most positive characteristics (or at least that's what I did).

Finally, I decided to apply this cycle at the beginning of last summer (so pretty last minute) and really only spent like 2.5 months grinding out the LSAT. DON'T do this. 1. I know I could have broken 170 if I studied even just one more month. 2. I almost burned out 2 weeks before the test and had to cut my studying short and just not look at LSAT stuff for 2 weeks. It was really scary. It worked out for me mostly because the LSAT came pretty naturally but that's luck and grace. Study long and hard. You should not be going hard the last few weeks---just PTs and getting your mind right. Exercise. Meditate. Pray. Do whatever you do to clear your mind and stay as stress free as possible. The day of the test I woke up completely relaxed because I'm really big on exercise and meditation and I really believe that allowed me to score at the top of my PT average the first time around. If you underperform, don't be afraid to retake or sit out. Though I'm more than satisfied with my results, I still think about how much better off I would've been with that 170 lol. This is especially true if you have a high GPA. Don't waste it! Be confident in yourself and what can you bring to a school. If you do all that you can and have confidence in your application, it will translate! Good luck!

Other acceptances: Duke ($$+)
Cornell ($$)
GTown ($$$)
Texas (OOS-$$$)
Vandy ($$$)
Emory ($$$$)
William and Mary ($$$)
Fordham ($$$)
WUSTL ($$$$)
NYU
Michigan

Rejections:

Harvard

Waitlists:
Columbia
UCLA (Withdrew)

[Budfox55]

Wow, almost forgot. To continue on advice:

Tell your recommenders that you need your LORs by August. I told one that I needed it by October, got it in December -___- . It put me in this really uncomfortable position where I had to contact him every week telling him how much I needed it and it pushed back my apps by a month and a half. It was so frustrating because it's something that is completely out of your control.

Also, I'll reiterate what the person above me said about underestimating how long it will take to write your essays. I wrote my first drafts early in the summer and figured that i would be able to quickly revise them until I got final drafts. Nope. All of those edits take so long. Also what you don't realize at first is that you need a few days in between drafts to get a fresh perspective. Also if you have other people edit it, it may take them a few days to finish as well. These things add up and next thing you know its taken you a month longer to finish than what you planned.

Oh and the last thing, apply to Duke PT. I didn't know about it (sad thing is that I got emailed about it, skimmed it, and assumed it was essentially a fee waiver) until literally like a week after i applied regularly. Smh.

[ih8makingscreennames]

Type of URM: AA

Attending: NYU (Vandy)

GPA: 3.5

LSAT: 172

Softs: Generally awesomesauce + PhD

Advice: Apply early. Request fee waivers if not given to you. Have many people from other areas read your materials.

Approx Time of Application: Mid to late Jan

Other acceptances:
Columbia (Butler, maybe more but I already decided)
Penn ($$$)
Northwestern (?)
Georgetown (worst experience ever)
Texas ($$$)
WashU (Full +15K/year)
Emory ($$$)

Rejections:

Waitlists:
Harvard
Duke
Michigan

[MixtapeFellThrough]

This forum has been incredibly helpful, especially previous threads like these. It's awesome to see how well everyone's cycles have gone.

Type of URM: AA

Attending: Harvard

GPA: 3.6ish

LSAT: 167

Softs: Decent, but nothing remarkable; couple years WE

Advice: Make sure you take care of everything that's under your control. Apply as early as you can. Ask for your recommendations as soon as feasibly possible, and I'll echo the advice of the above poster -- say that they're needed in August. I ended up getting my apps in early January and it was a huge regret. Whether I missed out on some options or $$$ because of it is uncertain, but it's never good to put yourself at a disadvantage. Make sure that you give yourself plenty of time to write your PS/DS. You do not want to be the person doing multi-hour shifts in cafes just to churn something out like I was. Lastly, don't underestimate the degree to which a good interview can help you. I obviously can't be sure of this, but I would be very surprised if I didn't get more money from Chicago and Duke than I would've otherwise without the interviews going as well as they did. You can find the questions typically asked elsewhere in these fora, so take advantage.

Approx. Time of Application: Early January (see above re: regret)

Other acceptances:
Stanford
Chicago ($$$$$)
Columbia
Duke ($$$)
Georgetown

Rejections:

Waitlists:
Yale
Penn
Michigan

[Budfox55]

This forum has been incredibly helpful, especially previous threads like these. It's awesome to see how well everyone's cycles have gone.

Type of URM: AA

Attending: Harvard

GPA: 3.6ish

LSAT: 167

Softs: Decent, but nothing remarkable; couple years WE

Advice: Make sure you take care of everything that's under your control. Apply as early as you can. Ask for your recommendations as soon as feasibly possible, and I'll echo the advice of the above poster -- say that they're needed in August. I ended up getting my apps in early January and it was a huge regret. Whether I missed out on some options or $$$ because of it is uncertain, but it's never good to put yourself at a disadvantage. Make sure that you give yourself plenty of time to write your PS/DS. You do not want to be the person doing multi-hour shifts in cafes just to churn something out like I was. Lastly, don't underestimate the degree to which a good interview can help you. I obviously can't be sure of this, but I would be very surprised if I didn't get more money from Chicago and Duke than I would've otherwise without the interviews going as well as they did. You can find the questions typically asked elsewhere in these fora, so take advantage.

Approx. Time of Application: Early January (see above re: regret)

Other acceptances:
Stanford
Chicago ($$)
Columbia
Duke ($$$)
Georgetown

Rejections:
Probably Yale, but I've heard nothing from them. If I have to edit this later I'll be happy to do so.

Waitlists:
Penn
Michigan

Just curious, but why Harvard over Stanford?

[HYSplease]

Type of URM: AA

Attending: NYU (Vandy)

GPA: 3.5

LSAT: 172

Softs: Generally awesomesauce + PhD

Advice: Apply early. Request fee waivers if not given to you. Have many people from other areas read your materials.

Approx Time of Application: Mid to late Jan

Other acceptances:
Columbia (Butler, maybe more but I already decided)
Penn ($$$)
Northwestern (?)
Georgetown (worst experience ever)
Texas ($$$)
WashU (Full +15K/year)
Emory ($$$)

Rejections:

Waitlists:
Harvard
Duke
Michigan

The schools that waitlisted you kind of confuse me. I would have guessed acceptances with your numbers and awesomesauce softs. Is this most likely due to the later application submission?

[MixtapeFellThrough]

Just curious, but why Harvard over Stanford?

It definitely wasn't an easy choice, and I reallllllly liked my visit to Stanford, but Harvard makes more sense based on connections I have to the East Coast, and it keeps a few more doors open to me than Stanford would for a couple of personal reasons as well. My main concerns with H were the size and types of people there, but meeting with a bunch of students at their ASW was helpful for assuaging those. I also like that H's BLSA felt stronger and more connected to each other and to an alum base.

With that said, I probably won't send my deposit in until a week from now just to be all the way sure.

[beckett]

Really exciting to see where everyone is ending up! I owe a lot to this thread, and while my cycle wasn't necessarily amazing, I do see myself as outperforming my numbers. I also got into my first choice with more $$$ than I had any right to expect which would have never happened if I hadn't spent so much time reading all the great advice people were posting.

Type of URM: PR

Attending: NYU

GPA: 3.5

LSAT: 166

Softs: Decent but not great. 3 years w/e.

Advice: I'm not going to be posting anything new, but man, request those letters of rec as early as possible. I maintained relationships with a few of my old professors but had a hard time getting LORs from them in a timely manner (I asked to have them in by October, which was my mistake). I wasn't able to apply until early January because of that and it was incredibly frustrating. That said, if you've been out of school for a few years, it's worth the time to stay in touch with old professors - I ended up with a really strong letter in the end that was highly personalized. Also, blanket the T14, especially if you're like me and have relatively lower numbers - URM cycles can be really unpredictable and for me it was worth the extra money. My last piece of advice someone already said, but I think what also ended up helping me was the idea of creating a narrative, or a thread that runs continuously throughout your application. Everything in my app was tied together - this included my extracurriculars, my PS and my LORs. I made a cohesive narrative that showed where I was from and what I would bring to the school.

Approx. Time of Application: All early January.

Other acceptances:
Duke
UT
USC

Rejections:
Harvard
Penn
UVA

Waitlists:
Columbia
Chicago
Michigan
Northwestern
Cornell
Georgetown

[Budfox55]

Just curious, but why Harvard over Stanford?

It definitely wasn't an easy choice, and I reallllllly liked my visit to Stanford, but Harvard makes more sense based on connections I have to the East Coast, and it keeps a few more doors open to me than Stanford would for a couple of personal reasons as well. My main concerns with H were the size and types of people there, but meeting with a bunch of students at their ASW was helpful for assuaging those. I also like that H's BLSA felt stronger and more connected to each other and to an alum base.

With that said, I probably won't send my deposit in until a week from now just to be all the way sure.

Got it. I'm from the Northeast, but it would have been so easy for me lol. Stanford's the dream. Ugh, california <3

[ih8makingscreennames]

Type of URM: AA

Attending: NYU (Vandy)

GPA: 3.5

LSAT: 172

Softs: Generally awesomesauce + PhD

Advice: Apply early. Request fee waivers if not given to you. Have many people from other areas read your materials.

Approx Time of Application: Mid to late Jan

Other acceptances:
Columbia (Butler, maybe more but I already decided)
Penn ($$$)
Northwestern (?)
Georgetown (worst experience ever)
Texas ($$$)
WashU (Full +15K/year)
Emory ($$$)

Rejections:

Waitlists:
Harvard
Duke
Michigan

The schools that waitlisted you kind of confuse me. I would have guessed acceptances with your numbers and awesomesauce softs. Is this most likely due to the later application submission?

Maybe for H. Duke/Mich I chalk up to YP. I didn't write a Why X for any school. I wasn't here for the extra work.

[jnwa]

Type of URM: AA

Attending: NYU (Vandy)

GPA: 3.5

LSAT: 172

Softs: Generally awesomesauce + PhD

Advice: Apply early. Request fee waivers if not given to you. Have many people from other areas read your materials.

Approx Time of Application: Mid to late Jan

Other acceptances:
Columbia (Butler, maybe more but I already decided)
Penn ($$$)
Northwestern (?)
Georgetown (worst experience ever)
Texas ($$$)
WashU (Full +15K/year)
Emory ($$$)

Rejections:

Waitlists:
Harvard
Duke
Michigan

The schools that waitlisted you kind of confuse me. I would have guessed acceptances with your numbers and awesomesauce softs. Is this most likely due to the later application submission?

Maybe for H. Duke/Mich I chalk up to YP. I didn't write a Why X for any school. I wasn't here for the extra work.

LOL Mich waitlisted everyone on this thread(including people with better numbers than me) except me. I like the school, their admissions decisions are confusing.

[Budfox55]

LOL Mich waitlisted everyone on this thread(including people with better numbers than me) except me. I like the school, their admissions decisions are confusing.

Lol. I applied to Mich with the sole purpose of using it as a bargaining chip (unless of course it ended up being by far my best offer). Wrote a God awful why Mich. I think they just saw right through my shit.

[gamerish]

LOL Mich waitlisted everyone on this thread(including people with better numbers than me) except me. I like the school, their admissions decisions are confusing.

Lol. I applied to Mich with the sole purpose of using it as a bargaining chip (unless of course it ended up being by far my best offer). Wrote a God awful why Mich. I think they just saw right through my shit.

Exactly this

[jnwa]

LOL Mich waitlisted everyone on this thread(including people with better numbers than me) except me. I like the school, their admissions decisions are confusing.

Lol. I applied to Mich with the sole purpose of using it as a bargaining chip (unless of course it ended up being by far my best offer). Wrote a God awful why Mich. I think they just saw right through my shit.

Exactly this

I wrote essentially the same why X for every school from 7-14

[gamerish]

LOL Mich waitlisted everyone on this thread(including people with better numbers than me) except me. I like the school, their admissions decisions are confusing.

Lol. I applied to Mich with the sole purpose of using it as a bargaining chip (unless of course it ended up being by far my best offer). Wrote a God awful why Mich. I think they just saw right through my shit.

Exactly this

I wrote essentially the same why X for every school from 7-14

The only schools I got waitlisted at were the schools I wrote why Xs for (they were pretty much carbon copies tbf)

[Budfox55]

LOL Mich waitlisted everyone on this thread(including people with better numbers than me) except me. I like the school, their admissions decisions are confusing.

Lol. I applied to Mich with the sole purpose of using it as a bargaining chip (unless of course it ended up being by far my best offer). Wrote a God awful why Mich. I think they just saw right through my shit.

Exactly this

I wrote essentially the same why X for every school from 7-14

The only schools I got waitlisted at were the schools I wrote why Xs for (they were pretty much carbon copies tbf)

LOL. Literally same for me for the t7-t14 except UVA (didn't write one). Didn't write ones for Cornell and Northwestern and got in lol. Did you guys just replace clinic names, school, city, change small intimate feel for wealth of opportunities or vice-versa, etc?

[condensation]

Type of URM: AA

Attending: NYU (full)

GPA: 3.93

LSAT: 163

Softs: Strong - academic honors and community work

Advice: Like everyone said - apply to all the T14 - from Yale down. Take time putting together your application materials. Get strong letters of recommendation. If you know someone who can write you a Stanford-specific LOR: get that. Have smart people look over your essays and resume before you submit.

Be confident and friendly during any admission interviews.

Once accepted, visit as many campuses as you can for their ASWs and talk with the current students that blow up your phone and inbox.

Approx. Time of Application: Early Oct.

Other acceptances:
Harvard
Stanford
Chicago $$$$ full
Columbia $
NYU $$$$ full
Berkeley
Georgetown
UCLA

Rejections: n/a

Waitlists: n/a

--------
I hope SLS makes room for some of y'all still waiting/on the waitlist since I know several URMs decided elsewhere for various reasons.