LDS Applicants and Students Forum

[AP-375]

I thought it might be useful to create a thread where we can ask questions about and discuss the unique circumstances that LDS applicants often share: mission, spouse (working or non-working), kid(s), above average age, BYU, LDS networking, being Mormon, etc.
It's always helpful to receive insights from people with similar perspectives.
BYU is one of the top few law school feeders, so there are certainly plenty of LDS kids out there.
Thanks for contributing!

[AP-375]

I'll throw a couple of items out for discussion:
1) A student at a top 30 school mentioned that most of the 10 or so LDS kids at his school were in the top 25% of his class. Random occurence or have you seen similar? If it is a pattern, do you think it's because of mission-discipline and buttoned-down family life?
2) I've got a kid and my wife's income won't be full-time or consistent, so my loans will be covering family living expenses, which really adds up. I'm looking at a a pretty decent scholarhip, but add a family in the mix, and the loan reaches the extremely intimidating level. Any advice?

[Moral_Midgetry]

.

[zonto]

All I know is that mission discipline coupled with finding a major that didn't make me want to shoot myself has resulted in a 4.0 for the last 3.5 years. I think the reason it's not as big of a factor at BYU is because a lot of people there have that same discipline.

[YaSvoboden]

Any idea on how good of a soft a mission actually is? For utah/byu I imagine it does pretty much nothing, but of the extra curricular activities someone can do, taking two years and doing goal oriented service in a foreign land while learning a new language seems like it should give at least a minor boost.

[ineptimusprime]

I resent being called the male reproductive organ of law school.

I fit every category but the BYU and kids categories. Go Aggies!

[ineptimusprime]

Any idea on how good of a soft a mission actually is? For utah/byu I imagine it does pretty much nothing, but of the extra curricular activities someone can do, taking two years and doing goal oriented service in a foreign land while learning a new language seems like it should give at least a minor boost.

I don't think religious service --by that I mean heckling/manipulating (obviously joking, but it does happen) someone into converting to a new religion-- is as much of a positive as say Peace Corps service or the like. If a mission were more service based then maybe.

It might help you at schools that have very low populations of LDS students (from a diversity perspective maybe), but it's probably a neutral component of your app. I think the ability to speak a foreign language fluently is actually the better soft of the two, but not all mission-takers serve in a foreign country (I was lucky enough to go foreign; I probably would have resubmitted under another name had I stayed stateside cause that's just the type of jackmormon I am:).

Maybe I'm wrong though. It definitely wouldn't be the first or last time.

[ineptimusprime]

I'll throw a couple of items out for discussion:
1) A student at a top 30 school mentioned that most of the 10 or so LDS kids at his school were in the top 25% of his class. Random occurence or have you seen similar?

Probably just random, but if it is occuring...

I think it has a lot more to do with the added pressure of being a husband/father. Most of the LDS guys have a wife (and frequently kids too) that they feel the burden to provide for. If you slack off in LS your family goes down with you. It's not just about you, so the pressure creates incentive to work harder. That's my theory.

Too many RMs are not "disciplined" at all, so I think this is the better explanation.

2) I've got a kid and my wife's income won't be full-time or consistent, so my loans will be covering family living expenses, which really adds up. I'm looking at a a pretty decent scholarhip, but add a family in the mix, and the loan reaches the extremely intimidating level. Any advice?

Have you tried explaining the situation to the school and negotiating for more scholarship money?

[bergg007]

I know when I visited Alabama and Wake Forest they singled me out to talk to BYU Alumni who work there. There is a strong LDS community vibe in the law Schools i've looked at. Some Law schools seem to target BYU students for recruiting because of our different perspective and I think they like the quality a BYU of education. Both Wake and Bama specifically told me that they like to recruit BYU students.

As for LDS students performing well, I think it has to do with the average LDS personal life, I.E. no hangovers. It's a lot easier to be focused in school if you lead a non-turbulent lifestyle.

[IndyHCKM]

Zonto: I had to laugh, because I always tell people that I chose my major because I thought I could do it without shooting myself.

As for law school in general, I'm at University of Chicago's admitted students weekend right now, and I know that when I introduce myself as a BYU grad, almost every student here says "we have lots of BYU grads/Mormons here, have you met _____?" There are about 15 LDS students here and with a school of a little under 200 per class, that's fairly significant.

A Columbia Law Alum that I spoke with recently said the top two students of his class were BYU Philosophy majors. When I was at Columbia all the professors said "you know we have a pretty strong J. Reuben Clark Society right?"

All anecdotal, so take what you will.

As for the mission, I don't know what it is about my application, but I feel I am seeing a lot more success than I deserve. People I know with my similar numbers haven't done nearly as well. I only really have a mission and a research position at BYU. BYU Law told me I had very strong letters, so maybe that's it, but I feel my mission probably has something to do with it. I served in Kentucky, English speaking.

As for what to do with kids, I know if I could, I would come to University of Chicago. They have a very tight knit community of married students here. Out of the 15 law students, I think 13 of them are married and 1 of them is engaged. The majority of them live in the same complex (Regents Park), and they socialize a lot together (tonight they had a game night). I think you would be hard pressed to find a closer community of married Latter-day Saints.

[zonto]

Maybe the actual day-to-day "grind" of the mission isn't what sets it apart as a huge soft factor, but I have received multiple compliments and notes from admissions directors on my statement which centered on my experience in South Africa and how that led me down the path to study law. Maybe it was unique simply because of the legal history of the country and the aftereffects of apartheid, but still.

[apl6783]

I'll throw a couple of items out for discussion:
1) A student at a top 30 school mentioned that most of the 10 or so LDS kids at his school were in the top 25% of his class. Random occurence or have you seen similar? If it is a pattern, do you think it's because of mission-discipline and buttoned-down family life?
2) I've got a kid and my wife's income won't be full-time or consistent, so my loans will be covering family living expenses, which really adds up. I'm looking at a a pretty decent scholarhip, but add a family in the mix, and the loan reaches the extremely intimidating level. Any advice?

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=153061

This has information you should definitely read before taking out student loans.

Any debt over $10,000 is dangerous. A debt over $100,000 is astronomical. People just don't realize this because so many people are taking out loans of this size. Some attorneys at the firm I work for are still paying down loan debt from their UG's 20 years later, and their principle was way lower than yours will be. WAY lower.