Michigan optional essays Forum

[313D313]

One of the optional essays for Michigan is:

"If you do not think that your academic record or standardized test scores accurately reflect your ability to succeed in law school, please tell us why."

Would it be a good idea to discuss lack of focus or immaturity during college?
Or the fact that working full time and family responsibilities made hard to fully focus on school?

I feel like both sound like excuses...any thoughts?

[Hedwig]

Immaturity, yes, lack of focus, no.

[gambelda]

I completely disagree. Anything in your control that you use as an excuse will make you look bad. Saying you were immature hurts you. ow can you prove you are not immature now or won't regress? The answer is DON'T INCLUDE IT. Include things that were outside of yor control that limited your attention. i.e. a family member had a serious illness, etc.

[Hedwig]

I completely disagree. Anything in your control that you use as an excuse will make you look bad. Saying you were immature hurts you. ow can you prove you are not immature now or won't regress? The answer is DON'T INCLUDE IT. Include things that were outside of yor control that limited your attention. i.e. a family member had a serious illness, etc.

This is good advice. At first I thought no to immaturity as well, but then I was like, well, if you can show how you've grown out of that.

Did you have an upward trend? You could MAYBE throw immaturity in IF you only talk about it a little and you talk about something outside your control that got you motivated and going.

But I don't really think immaturity is a good excuse either.

[gambelda]

Yesssssssssssssss! eit, who is substantially more intelligent than I, agrees with me! Please let some of that intelligence rub off onto my Dec LSAT score! Need that 170!

[AreJay711]

Working full time and having family issues is beyond your control so that might work. What you need to do is spin it into a positive by including how you know what it is like to manage multiple competing obligations and because of everything you have learned from your experiences you know you will be able to succeed in the demanding world of law school and the legal profession (provided your issue is gpa and that you didn't completely bomb ug or at least had a strong upward trend).

[313D313]

Working full time and having family issues is beyond your control so that might work. What you need to do is spin it into a positive by including how you know what it is like to manage multiple competing obligations and because of everything you have learned from your experiences you know you will be able to succeed in the demanding world of law school and the legal profession (provided your issue is gpa and that you didn't completely bomb ug or at least had a strong upward trend).

This is basically what PS is about. I feel like addressing it again will be a bit redundant. But i also feel this a chance to explain my low GPA without using an addendum. So i am not sure what to do...

[AreJay711]

Working full time and having family issues is beyond your control so that might work. What you need to do is spin it into a positive by including how you know what it is like to manage multiple competing obligations and because of everything you have learned from your experiences you know you will be able to succeed in the demanding world of law school and the legal profession (provided your issue is gpa and that you didn't completely bomb ug or at least had a strong upward trend).

This is basically what PS is about. I feel like addressing it again will be a bit redundant. But i also feel this a chance to explain my low GPA without using an addendum. So i am not sure what to do...

There are 7 optional essays I'm sure there is another you can write about. If you want to talk about being immature before but having since grown up -- which I don't think you should do -- definitely keep it as short and sweet as possible.

Edit: Or even if you want to make it painfully obvious that your workload harmed your gpa (might be ok, idk), still keep it short and sweet if you discussed the circumstances in your PS

[313D313]

Working full time and having family issues is beyond your control so that might work. What you need to do is spin it into a positive by including how you know what it is like to manage multiple competing obligations and because of everything you have learned from your experiences you know you will be able to succeed in the demanding world of law school and the legal profession (provided your issue is gpa and that you didn't completely bomb ug or at least had a strong upward trend).

This is basically what PS is about. I feel like addressing it again will be a bit redundant. But i also feel this a chance to explain my low GPA without using an addendum. So i am not sure what to do...

There are 7 optional essays I'm sure there is another you can write about. If you want to talk about being immature before but having since grown up -- which I don't think you should do -- definitely keep it as short and sweet as possible.

Yea i think that would be best.

[Hedwig]

Yesssssssssssssss! eit, who is substantially more intelligent than I, agrees with me! Please let some of that intelligence rub off onto my Dec LSAT score! Need that 170!

LOL good luck on your LSAT.

I agree with the idea of spinning it and if you mention it already then keep your addendum short and sweet.