Applicant FAQ Forum

(Applications Advice, Letters of Recommendation . . . )
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TheSpanishMain

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by TheSpanishMain » Mon Jul 15, 2013 9:32 am

Is there a place on the LSAC site where you can see which schools have given you fee waivers?

I feel like an idiot, and I see the "Fee Waiver" tab, but that just takes me to the page where you can apply for an LSAC fee waiver. I'm talking about schools waiving application fees.

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jselson

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by jselson » Mon Jul 15, 2013 3:03 pm

TheSpanishMain wrote:Is there a place on the LSAC site where you can see which schools have given you fee waivers?

I feel like an idiot, and I see the "Fee Waiver" tab, but that just takes me to the page where you can apply for an LSAC fee waiver. I'm talking about schools waiving application fees.
It'll tell you if you've received one from a particular school when you go to pay that application.

essyct

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by essyct » Mon Aug 05, 2013 10:52 pm

I have a question about one of my recommenders.

So far I plan on asking one of my econ professors. In addition, I would like to ask a staff member who knows me well and who I have worked closely with for the past two years and who I believe could accurately comment on my academic ability. He is the director of international student services at the school I attend and where I work, but he is not a professor. However, he has already mentioned to me that when I graduate he would really like to write my LOR and I know he would write a good one. Do you think this would be ok or should I try and find a professor, even though their recommendation would not be as personal/good?

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jselson

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by jselson » Tue Aug 06, 2013 1:05 am

essyct wrote:I have a question about one of my recommenders.

So far I plan on asking one of my econ professors. In addition, I would like to ask a staff member who knows me well and who I have worked closely with for the past two years and who I believe could accurately comment on my academic ability. He is the director of international student services at the school I attend and where I work, but he is not a professor. However, he has already mentioned to me that when I graduate he would really like to write my LOR and I know he would write a good one. Do you think this would be ok or should I try and find a professor, even though their recommendation would not be as personal/good?
Always have at least two LORs from professors, especially if you're not significantly older. And only use a third one if 1) the application asks for it, or 2) it provides a unique perspective into your work/life, is unique among the applicant pool, and is guaranteed to be superlative. This person may fall under that second rule, so including him as a third recommender may be a good idea, but I don't think he should replace a LOR by a professor.

GuyLafleur

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by GuyLafleur » Wed Aug 21, 2013 8:05 pm

I've sent my LOR requests to my recommenders by e-mail.

Will the form they need to send along with the LOR be included in the e-mail that was sent to them? Or will I need to print out the form myself, and mail or scan + e-mail it to them?

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JWP1022

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by JWP1022 » Fri Oct 04, 2013 3:08 pm

I accidentally listed one of my Professors' titles as "Professor" instead of "Dr." Unfortunately, I can't correct it because I already emailed the link to him. Should I re-add him, call LSAC, or what? I'd like to ahve the appropriate title on the form.

Thanks

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loomstate

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by loomstate » Wed Oct 16, 2013 9:49 am

What happened to the site with all the schools' personal statement length requirements? Thanks!

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Nonconsecutive

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by Nonconsecutive » Sat Oct 19, 2013 7:34 pm

JWP1022 wrote:I accidentally listed one of my Professors' titles as "Professor" instead of "Dr." Unfortunately, I can't correct it because I already emailed the link to him. Should I re-add him, call LSAC, or what? I'd like to ahve the appropriate title on the form.

Thanks
He can actually change his title. I did this, and emailed the Professor about it. She was able to change her title to Dr. on her end.

SplitMyPants

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by SplitMyPants » Mon Nov 18, 2013 10:38 pm

What exactly does the school mean when it asks on the app if you are applying for financial aid? I plan to fill out FAFSA so I can work out whatever I need through subsidized Stafford and/or GradPLUS loans. However, are they specifically referring to need-based aid?

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dcoppo01

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by dcoppo01 » Sun Nov 24, 2013 8:20 pm

If I submit an application now will school still consider future LSAT scores? I took the October test and am re-taking in December. My Penn State application is nearly finished but I did not find anything concerning future LSAT scores.

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rinkrat19

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by rinkrat19 » Sun Nov 24, 2013 8:23 pm

SplitMyPants wrote:What exactly does the school mean when it asks on the app if you are applying for financial aid? I plan to fill out FAFSA so I can work out whatever I need through subsidized Stafford and/or GradPLUS loans. However, are they specifically referring to need-based aid?
Are you/your parents writing a check for tuition from your considerable personal wealth, or financing with private loans entirely separate from the school and federal loans? If neither of those apply, check yes.

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grungy89

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by grungy89 » Fri Dec 06, 2013 8:28 pm

rinkrat19 wrote:
SplitMyPants wrote:What exactly does the school mean when it asks on the app if you are applying for financial aid? I plan to fill out FAFSA so I can work out whatever I need through subsidized Stafford and/or GradPLUS loans. However, are they specifically referring to need-based aid?
Are you/your parents writing a check for tuition from your considerable personal wealth, or financing with private loans entirely separate from the school and federal loans? If neither of those apply, check yes.
Yeah, I think checking this box may be what gets you into consideration for scholarships, unless the school considers all applicants. Plus, they may want the info just for statistical purposes.

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PowerHungry

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by PowerHungry » Tue Jul 08, 2014 6:28 pm

One of first few posts so I'm an almost complete noob, thus I hope this is the right place for a question like this.

I don't plan on applying til this fall/winter to attend for fall of 2015.

I received an email from Emory's Dean of Admission and Financial Aid in respond to my June 2014 LSAT score (167). He suggests that I apply for this fall and gave me a fee waiver. The e-mail seems personalized and not a mass or wave one (he makes a joke about how he still has a blackberry and he's the only one at Emory still without an iPhone).

My (first) question is this: How significant is a seemingly personal overture like this?

If this is a dumb question or is posted in the wrong place, sorry about that.

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oxie

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by oxie » Thu Jul 10, 2014 12:58 pm

PowerHungry wrote:One of first few posts so I'm an almost complete noob, thus I hope this is the right place for a question like this.

I don't plan on applying til this fall/winter to attend for fall of 2015.

I received an email from Emory's Dean of Admission and Financial Aid in respond to my June 2014 LSAT score (167). He suggests that I apply for this fall and gave me a fee waiver. The e-mail seems personalized and not a mass or wave one (he makes a joke about how he still has a blackberry and he's the only one at Emory still without an iPhone).

My (first) question is this: How significant is a seemingly personal overture like this?

If this is a dumb question or is posted in the wrong place, sorry about that.
It's not significant -- just because the email has a casual tone, doesn't mean it's a personalized. Schools send out lots of mass emails and fee waivers to increase their application numbers.

Good luck with your applications!

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appind

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by appind » Tue Sep 02, 2014 11:13 pm

These may sound obvious to experienced people here, but seemed confusing to me as I couldn't find them readily. thanks.

- does the order in which recommenders are added to the lsac account matter (L1, L2...)? I may hear from a non-primary recommender earlier than any other and the primary rec could show as L3.
- can it then be associated with the main rec when applying to a specific school without looking like a not-main rec (due to its L3 marking)?
- can the number of letters by the recommenders (school-specific vs generic) be modified later on the lsac account?
- L1 letter description on lsac account says that the description will be printed on LOR form. What are some appropriate letter descriptions?
- do recommenders also receive questions like "give an example of when the applicant did well" etc etc or some type of evaluation grid where they have to rank the applicant, or does the letter have to be a single narrative document without any breaks?

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A. Nony Mouse

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by A. Nony Mouse » Tue Sep 02, 2014 11:24 pm

I don't know answers to the other questions, but there isn't really such a thing as "primary" and "not-main" recs. Schools will look at all the recs you send and whatever order/label they have on LSAC won't make any difference.

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appind

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by appind » Wed Sep 03, 2014 2:12 am

Posting another question being new to this process. Thanks.

I have a graduate degree. Since the gpa isn't as good as undergraduate, is it required that I send its transcript?

I took a 6 week summer P/F course at another university's extension school after my graduate degree. I would like not having to explain this course in the application. Can I not send the transcript for this single short course?

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whitespider

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by whitespider » Wed Sep 03, 2014 2:14 am

Yeah, you still have to send it. Even if it's post-undergrad.

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appind

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by appind » Mon Sep 08, 2014 10:48 pm

Where does it say that all transcripts even for a standalone p/f course must be sent? thanks.

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whitespider

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by whitespider » Mon Sep 08, 2014 10:52 pm

LSAC wrote:Law schools require you to send all transcripts from the following institutions you may have attended:
community colleges
undergraduate and graduate institutions
law/medical/professional institutions
institutions attended for summer or evening courses
institutions attended even though a degree was never received
http://lsac.org/jd/applying-to-law-scho ... ranscripts

2654815451

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by 2654815451 » Thu Sep 11, 2014 12:15 pm

Question about Evaluations!

I requested an evaluation from my employer. I waived my rights, but she showed me after she sent it anyways. I saw that she rated me no less than Good on everything. A couple of things she said she didn't have adequate information to measure. She thought (and maybe she is right) that she gave me an excellent evaluation, but she didn't want to mark all excellent or top 1-2% on everything, because she was afraid the schools would just think she marked those without being brutally honest. I'm worried they will see that as her honestly thinking I wasn't in the top percentage/excellent in all those things.


If anyone else has seen the evaluation and knows what ratings I'm talking about, tell me if I should send this one! Thanks :)

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SPerez

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by SPerez » Mon Sep 15, 2014 3:47 pm

jhd125 wrote:This may seem like an obvious question but I'm just wondering...if both your GPA and LSAT scores fall within the schools range of acceptance..are you pretty much guaranteed an acceptance? I mean all I hear is that numbers mean everything so is it a pretty black/white process?
Nothing is ever guaranteed, "pretty much" or otherwise. It's really all just odds. 85% chance of acceptance is very high, but not a lock, for example.

For others reading, I think it bears defining what "within range" means as that alone isn't usually enough to reach the highest probabilities. For example, you could have both a GPA and LSAT score just above a school's 25th percentiles - which would be within the general range of acceptance - but your odds of acceptance would be pretty low. Generally speaking, your odds get up into the "really good" range when BOTH your LSAT and GPA are above a school's median.

Dean Perez
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SPerez

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by SPerez » Tue Sep 16, 2014 12:30 pm

KAYCEE wrote:Question about Evaluations!

I requested an evaluation from my employer. I waived my rights, but she showed me after she sent it anyways. I saw that she rated me no less than Good on everything. A couple of things she said she didn't have adequate information to measure. She thought (and maybe she is right) that she gave me an excellent evaluation, but she didn't want to mark all excellent or top 1-2% on everything, because she was afraid the schools would just think she marked those without being brutally honest. I'm worried they will see that as her honestly thinking I wasn't in the top percentage/excellent in all those things.


If anyone else has seen the evaluation and knows what ratings I'm talking about, tell me if I should send this one! Thanks :)
This is one of the reasons I stopped accepting evaluations. The numerical rating system seems like it would systematize and create a consistent scale for comparing applicants, but it doesn't really. In practice, it's very prone to a sort of praise bias (there's a technical term for it that escapes me at the moment) where people tend to rate everyone at the max level. I found that way less helpful than a rec letter. That said, I think any school still using an evaluation sort of has noticed that this happens and takes it into account.

Did your recommender still fill out the spaces for narrative comments? I saw many that also cut/pasted their LOR into the final question, too. This could at least give some additional context to her ratings so that a school can see that she's rating you honestly (where "average" would be 50th%) and not downgrading from a presumed "default" of all "Top 5%".

Dean Perez
Texas Tech Law

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tonysoprano

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by tonysoprano » Wed Sep 17, 2014 2:10 pm

In the Education section on the LSAC application, it says to "List the academic honors and awards, or other recognitions you have received." Would I put things like Dean's list, honor rolls, honors program graduate, cum laude, etc. here, even though they're on my resume (honors program, cum laude) and transcript (dean's lists, honor rolls, etc.)?

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Dany

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Re: Applicant FAQ

Post by Dany » Wed Sep 17, 2014 2:34 pm

tonysoprano wrote:In the Education section on the LSAC application, it says to "List the academic honors and awards, or other recognitions you have received." Would I put things like Dean's list, honor rolls, honors program graduate, cum laude, etc. here, even though they're on my resume (honors program, cum laude) and transcript (dean's lists, honor rolls, etc.)?
Yep, fill it out, and don't just put "see resume" or "see transcript" - re-list the information there even if it's duplicated elsewhere.

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