Berkeley Law Student Members Admission Review Forum

[HopefulFish]

Good or bad idea?

[bk1]

Huh?

[bdubs]

I don't see why the students would care more about numbers than the usual admissions committee. If anything I would think that it is the opposite and students (maybe those who's numbers were low themselves) are more likely to look holistically at an application. If anything having an extra person who can advocate for you would seem to be a good thing.

[bdubs]

Huh?

Berkeley asks for your permission to have a student member of the admissions committee review your file.

[Big Dog]

Don't forget that a lot of Berkeley Law students would NOT be Berkeley Law Students if the school focused more on LSAT...

[bdubs]

I think it's worth asking which of your numbers is "low". As the above poster mentioned, Berkeley tends to be less LSAT focused, but they do seem to care quite a bit about your GPA.

A student who got into Berkeley with a 4.0 and 163 LSAT is probably going to look much differently at an application with a 3.3/175 than a 4.0/162 (just making stuff up here). I don't think that this will change my advice much, if at all.

[thechee]

I could be wrong, but vaguely I recall reading somewhere that the student reviewers see everything but your numbers.

[sarahh]

I went to an admissions event a few weeks ago with Dean Tom. IIRC, he said the he and his assistants read all of the files, and he admits around 550 or so, and the rest go on to the student/faculty committee (it is not just students - the file is read by two students and one professor), and they issue 275 acceptances. (I don't remember the exact numbers.) It is not the case where the file is read either by Dean Tom or student/faculty committee. So if you say no to the committee reading the file, if Dean Tom does not admit you, I guess that means you are done.

[worldtraveler]

The students on the admissions committee are looking for people they want at the school. As in, you are not a douchebag and it sounds like you could substantively contribute to the law school environment. If you have low numbers, faculty/student review is your way in and you WANT students to review your file.

At least, I think that's what the OP was talking about. That is one weirdly phrased question.

[uci2013]

I went to an admissions event a few weeks ago with Dean Tom. IIRC, he said the he and his assistants read all of the files, and he admits around 550 or so, and the rest go on to the student/faculty committee (it is not just students - the file is read by two students and one professor), and they issue 275 acceptances. (I don't remember the exact numbers.) It is not the case where the file is read either by Dean Tom or student/faculty committee. So if you say no to the committee reading the file, if Dean Tom does not admit you, I guess that means you are done.

Not true. I moved on to faculty review last after requesting students not read my application. I had an unusual application and did not feel comfortable with the idea of having peers review my application. It's just that once you are in faculty review there will only be a faculty opinion on your application without student input. The questions are do you feel comfortable with peers reading your application and do you think it will help you or hurt you if they do as opposed to just having a faculty member review an application.

[fatduck]

The students on the admissions committee are looking for people they want at the school. As in, you are not a douchebag and it sounds like you could substantively contribute to the law school environment. If you have low numbers, faculty/student review is your way in and you WANT students to review your file.

At least, I think that's what the OP was talking about. That is one weirdly phrased question.

I agree with this. The idea that student reviewers are thinking "well, I'm already a student here, so I want to admit the highest numbers possible to increase the medians" seems a little far-fetched to me.

[capitalacq]

The students on the admissions committee are looking for people they want at the school. As in, you are not a douchebag and it sounds like you could substantively contribute to the law school environment. If you have low numbers, faculty/student review is your way in and you WANT students to review your file.

At least, I think that's what the OP was talking about. That is one weirdly phrased question.

ughh its berkeley