How to judge the value of softs? Forum

[gambelda]

How do you determine what 'softs' are great to include into your resume and which will have minimal impact? Are there certain check boxes that law schools look for? I understand the resume has little impact to your overall application, but was wondering how you determine whether or not the softs you DO have are of high quality?

Some of mine:
1) 1+ year of work experience with a global consulting firm in the fortune 500.
2) 2 years of a student consulting organization that worked with non-profits in the state of Michigan
3) Study Abroad
4) Dean's list every semester and a few honors societies.

[whymeohgodno]

Yours are average

[Ginj]

Published novel, presidential nominee, Peace Corps volunteer, Olympic pole-vaulting champion -----> good softs

Successful graduate work, extensive/unusual/interesting work experience ----> decent softs

Academic honor societies, club memberships, fraternity president, internship experience -----> average softs

[St.Remy]

Yours are average

+1, you don't have any game changers there OP. Your resume won't count against you, but it won't help you much either.

[gambelda]

Published novel, presidential nominee, Peace Corps volunteer, Olympic pole-vaulting champion -----> good softs

Successful graduate work, extensive/unusual/interesting work experience ----> decent softs

Academic honor societies, club memberships, fraternity president, internship experience -----> average softs

So THATS why the had the sign "Pole-vault like a champion today" over our high school locker room....

On a more serious note, thanks for the help. It's nice to be able to gauge at what level softs will be considered. Also good to know mine aren't weak enough to hurt me at all.

[Cupidity]

Yeah, hate to say it, but these are pretty common. Nearly everyone in my section did Teach for America or Peace Corps or was in the Military or did foreign aid work in Africa for three years while managing a start up corporation and curing cancer.

[compromises]

Performed open heart surgery in a parking lot with nothing but a windshield wiper.. not sure how to include that in my PS.

[northwood]

but can you buy a used car without cars.com?

[whymeohgodno]

Yeah, hate to say it, but these are pretty common. Nearly everyone in my section did Teach for America or Peace Corps or was in the Military or did foreign aid work in Africa for three years while managing a start up corporation and curing cancer.

Did you have these softs as well?

[Fred_McGriff]

Mine: 490 Home Runs, multiple All Star games, long and storied career in the majors, stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

[hyper heart]

I won back-to-back-to-back AAU National Championships by throwing baseballs into a large container and breaking my swing and throwing motion down into five separate, mechanical steps.

[ahduth]

Mine: 490 Home Runs, multiple All Star games, long and storied career in the majors, stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

Admit at Stanford.

As their hitting coach.

[gz5hc9]

Division 1 sport - 4 year letter winner, 3 year starter, co-captain
3 years as youth basketball coach
summer internship at biglaw firm
2 years WE at another biglaw firm, with a great LOR from a chambers ranked partner

with a 3.3, 162, what are my chances at bc, bu, nd, W&M, unc?

[incompetentia]

Roughly this much

[Adjudicator]

For an example of real "good softs," see this guy:
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=136584

[northwood]

good softs: saving lives, serving the country with honor, writing a best seller alla harry potter series, creting a social network, curing a disease, running a succesful charity organization from start up ( starting the org in your basement, and now its one of the most esteemed charities in your city), winning the heisman, olympic gold, world series mvp, superbowl mvp, etc, discovering a planet, being the first person to travel to mars, ending the cold war, stopping terrorism, beat up chuck norris in a cagematch, or anything remotely similiar to things listed above.

everything else: marginal softs at best

[paratactical]

For an example of real "good softs," see this guy:
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=136584

Yeah, wow. Holy shit.

[plenipotentiary]

Yeah, hate to say it, but these are pretty common. Nearly everyone in my section did Teach for America or Peace Corps or was in the Military or did foreign aid work in Africa for three years while managing a start up corporation and curing cancer.

Doesn't that actually imply that softs are a little important? Maybe the people who didn't get in had similar numbers but didn't have TFA or foreign work or the cure for cancer. If softs really didn't matter, wouldn't law schools be filled with people who don't have any?

[rmansoor]

So fraternity volunteering/club stuff < other volunteering/club stuff?
How does admissions look at being heavily involved in your fraternity?

[merc280]

is being a volunteer firefighter worth anything? Now that I think about it, all those long nights helping people probably won't matter much to the adcoms.

[rmansoor]

merc280, are you kidding? That looks pretty legit. I think it would be a decent soft definitely!

[beachbum]

So fraternity volunteering/club stuff < other volunteering/club stuff?
How does admissions look at being heavily involved in your fraternity?

it's a solid "meh"

[merc280]

merc280, are you kidding? That looks pretty legit. I think it would be a decent soft definitely!

really? well then i guess all i have to do now is score decently on the dec lsat and try to get into university of Houston, or SMU. People always said firefighting was somewhat of an average soft. I've also worked with the Red Cross on their Disaster Action Team.

[rmansoor]

So fraternity volunteering/club stuff < other volunteering/club stuff?
How does admissions look at being heavily involved in your fraternity?

it's a solid "meh"

Hmm... how about working with Panhellenic? the so called UN of sororities?

[glitched]

what about directing AND starring in a porno?