Veterans Thread Forum

[FairchildFLT]

Is it a bad thing to be too young? I've read a bit about the K-JD stigma and I'm not sure if that will be applied to me. I started college when I was 16, I was in a recruiters office the day I turned 17. I came into the Air Force with 22 college credits. With the addition of credits earned for BMT, two tech schools, 2 CLEPS I've been able to stay ahead of the traditional 18-22 year old college student. I'm currently 20 years old and at 95/122 credits satisfied with a 3.5 GPA. Most likely, I will graduate first half of 2015 while I'm 21. Is this something I should call attention to in my PS? Or more something I should ignore to avoid any possible K-JD stigma?

[Metanoia]

Is it a bad thing to be too young? I've read a bit about the K-JD stigma and I'm not sure if that will be applied to me. I started college when I was 16, I was in a recruiters office the day I turned 17. I came into the Air Force with 22 college credits. With the addition of credits earned for BMT, two tech schools, 2 CLEPS I've been able to stay ahead of the traditional 18-22 year old college student. I'm currently 20 years old and at 95/122 credits satisfied with a 3.5 GPA. Most likely, I will graduate first half of 2015 while I'm 21. Is this something I should call attention to in my PS? Or more something I should ignore to avoid any possible K-JD stigma?

I wouldn't worry at all, you're not a K-JD, you have real-world work experience.

[senafront]

Is it a bad thing to be too young? I've read a bit about the K-JD stigma and I'm not sure if that will be applied to me. I started college when I was 16, I was in a recruiters office the day I turned 17. I came into the Air Force with 22 college credits. With the addition of credits earned for BMT, two tech schools, 2 CLEPS I've been able to stay ahead of the traditional 18-22 year old college student. I'm currently 20 years old and at 95/122 credits satisfied with a 3.5 GPA. Most likely, I will graduate first half of 2015 while I'm 21. Is this something I should call attention to in my PS? Or more something I should ignore to avoid any possible K-JD stigma?

I would echo metanoia's statement.

There are two reason's law schools aren't crazy about young applicants. People straight out of school don't have a lot of experience (except that summer they spent teaching disadvantaged kids to garden which takes up 3/4 of their PS). Most schools find that applicants with a few years between bachelors and JD tend to outperform their peers who didn't have a break.

I think for every admissions committee who doesn't like your age because of the statistics, there are going to be ten who are very impressed and understand your scenario is unique.

[FairchildFLT]

Thank you both for the advice. I want to make sure I'm not hurting myself by saying "I'm young and I've done blah blah blah..."

[TripTrip]

Is it a bad thing to be too young? I've read a bit about the K-JD stigma and I'm not sure if that will be applied to me. I started college when I was 16, I was in a recruiters office the day I turned 17. I came into the Air Force with 22 college credits. With the addition of credits earned for BMT, two tech schools, 2 CLEPS I've been able to stay ahead of the traditional 18-22 year old college student. I'm currently 20 years old and at 95/122 credits satisfied with a 3.5 GPA. Most likely, I will graduate first half of 2015 while I'm 21. Is this something I should call attention to in my PS? Or more something I should ignore to avoid any possible K-JD stigma?

YES - EXPLAIN IT. If you apply the same year that you get your UG degree, with that academic record you DEFINITELY need to explain how it all worked and why you did it. If you don't, even if you have work experience your cycle will look like this: http://lawschoolnumbers.com/TripTrip and every adcomm's first question will be about your education background.

I'm sorry to bust in on the posters above me, but you need to be out front on this one. Trust me on this, I (and others) have spent a lot of time analyzing my cycle. Military experience is NOT a freebie get-out-of-KJD-free-card if you don't back it up.

[TheSpanishMain]

YES - EXPLAIN IT. If you apply the same year that you get your UG degree, with that academic record you DEFINITELY need to explain how it all worked and why you did it. If you don't, even if you have work experience your cycle will look like this: http://lawschoolnumbers.com/TripTrip and every adcomm's first question will be about your education background.

That's still a pretty damn good cycle, but yeah, you definitely underperformed your awesome numbers. What did you end up doing?

[Lebrarian_Booker]

Is it a bad thing to be too young? I've read a bit about the K-JD stigma and I'm not sure if that will be applied to me. I started college when I was 16, I was in a recruiters office the day I turned 17. I came into the Air Force with 22 college credits. With the addition of credits earned for BMT, two tech schools, 2 CLEPS I've been able to stay ahead of the traditional 18-22 year old college student. I'm currently 20 years old and at 95/122 credits satisfied with a 3.5 GPA. Most likely, I will graduate first half of 2015 while I'm 21. Is this something I should call attention to in my PS? Or more something I should ignore to avoid any possible K-JD stigma?

YES - EXPLAIN IT. If you apply the same year that you get your UG degree, with that academic record you DEFINITELY need to explain how it all worked and why you did it. If you don't, even if you have work experience your cycle will look like this: http://lawschoolnumbers.com/TripTrip and every adcomm's first question will be about your education background.

I'm sorry to bust in on the posters above me, but you need to be out front on this one. Trust me on this, I (and others) have spent a lot of time analyzing my cycle. Military experience is NOT a freebie get-out-of-KJD-free-card if you don't back it up.

Uh...that person went to Harvard...

[MT Cicero]

Is it a bad thing to be too young? I've read a bit about the K-JD stigma and I'm not sure if that will be applied to me. I started college when I was 16, I was in a recruiters office the day I turned 17. I came into the Air Force with 22 college credits. With the addition of credits earned for BMT, two tech schools, 2 CLEPS I've been able to stay ahead of the traditional 18-22 year old college student. I'm currently 20 years old and at 95/122 credits satisfied with a 3.5 GPA. Most likely, I will graduate first half of 2015 while I'm 21. Is this something I should call attention to in my PS? Or more something I should ignore to avoid any possible K-JD stigma?

YES - EXPLAIN IT. If you apply the same year that you get your UG degree, with that academic record you DEFINITELY need to explain how it all worked and why you did it. If you don't, even if you have work experience your cycle will look like this: http://lawschoolnumbers.com/TripTrip and every adcomm's first question will be about your education background.

I'm sorry to bust in on the posters above me, but you need to be out front on this one. Trust me on this, I (and others) have spent a lot of time analyzing my cycle. Military experience is NOT a freebie get-out-of-KJD-free-card if you don't back it up.

Uh...that person went to Harvard...

The LSN person is the same as the TLS person who posted the advice, I believe (TripTrip). And yeah, he/she snagged Harvard off the waitlist with clear HYS numbers and was WL'd and eventually dinged at EVERY OTHER T6 and half of the rest of the T14...with a 4.0/175! Had he/she not come off H's waitlist, those numbers would've yielded a grand total of zero T6. Pretty scary.

[Metanoia]

Or more something I should ignore to avoid any possible K-JD stigma?

Sorry, I should've been more clear--it was in reference to this that I said I wouldn't worry about it; I meant that you shouldn't feel like you need to ignore or avoid talking about your academic history--it's impressive, definitely talk about it.

[USMarineLaw]

Does anyone have experience with Partial ROTC Scholarships and the GI Bill? I'll be getting out at 4 years over the summer.

I did a 2 year ROTC scholarship, vs the typical 4 year scholarship that negates the GI Bill eligibility during the first 4 years of service. There isn't a stipulation for this on the GI Bill website, and the VA Reps I've talked to said I should be eligible for at least partial post 9/11.

Any recommendations/advice are appreciated. I inputted my information on VONAPP but I don't want to submit without trying to find someone who may have personal experience with this.

Thanks!

[TheSpanishMain]

I think the right answer for you is going to be to just submit and see what comes spitting out the other side. The VA is so byzantine that it's really hard to get a definitive answer to individual questions.

[patogordo]

I went to West Point for two years and it just didn't count toward my eligibility days - otherwise there was no penalty. Not sure if ROTC is the same way. But yea, you really never know what VA is gonna do. My eligibility has changed like three times while I've been in school.

[TheSpanishMain]

My eligibility has changed like three times while I've been in school.

How/why?

[patogordo]

My eligibility has changed like three times while I've been in school.

How/why?

No idea. One year my eligibility letter was 10% higher.

[ScottRiqui]

I think the right answer for you is going to be to just submit and see what comes spitting out the other side. The VA is so byzantine that it's really hard to get a definitive answer to individual questions.

Pretty much this. Everything I could find that talked about ROTC scholarships and GI Bill eligibility just said that the first four years of active duty don't count toward GI Bill eligibility, but none of those sources differentiated between two-year and four-year ROTC scholarships, so who knows?

[TheSpanishMain]

My eligibility has changed like three times while I've been in school.

How/why?

No idea. One year my eligibility letter was 10% higher.

Weird. I didn't even know you needed to renew it yearly. I thought once you got the certificate of eligibility you were good to go.

Btw, you said in another thread that you had 250k debt. How'd that happen, if you don't mind my asking, with GI Bill? Really high COL?

[USMarineLaw]

Thanks for the info. I think it's going to be pretty much up to the processor, but since the application specifically asks for the total number of years and compensation each year I may have a chance. 2 years of ROTC scholly is significantly less than the GI Bill, so it would seem odd to be locked out of it completely.

I'll let you guys know what they say.

[patogordo]

My eligibility has changed like three times while I've been in school.

How/why?

No idea. One year my eligibility letter was 10% higher.

Weird. I didn't even know you needed to renew it yearly. I thought once you got the certificate of eligibility you were good to go.

Btw, you said in another thread that you had 250k debt. How'd that happen, if you don't mind my asking, with GI Bill? Really high COL?

Undergrad + spouse

Also only 60% eligible + private schools.

[JazzieShizzle]

Hi everyone,

TLS is making me paranoid, so I'm hoping someone in here will have some insight. Apparently adcomms prefer applicants with 2-3 years post-UG WE. How does that pertain to us? I joined the reserves after my first year of college, completed my second year, then deployed to Iraq. I went back to school a few years later and just finished in Spring 2013. When I wasn't on active duty I had a full-time civilian job, most recently as a paralegal. So, I technically only have about a year's worth of post-UG WE, and it's the same WE I had while in UG. I would like to think the fact that I served in OIF would be helpful, but then military experience didn't seem to help TripTrip very much...

What do you guys think and what have been your experiences? Thanks!

[patogordo]

Hi everyone,

TLS is making me paranoid, so I'm hoping someone in here will have some insight. Apparently adcomms prefer applicants with 2-3 years post-UG WE. How does that pertain to us? I joined the reserves after my first year of college, completed my second year, then deployed to Iraq. I went back to school a few years later and just finished in Spring 2013. When I wasn't on active duty I had a full-time civilian job, most recently as a paralegal. So, I technically only have about a year's worth of post-UG WE, and it's the same WE I had while in UG. I would like to think the fact that I served in OIF would be helpful, but then military experience didn't seem to help TripTrip very much...

What do you guys think and what have been your experiences? Thanks!

work experience (including military) prior to UG graduation doesn't seem to "count" (or at least not as much). i was in a pretty similar situation to you -- 1 year of college, joined the army, worked full time for a year post-army, then back to college and straight to LS. i did fairly average / maybe slightly below average for my numbers, so it doesn't look like i got any sort of boost for military or WE.

[JazzieShizzle]

work experience (including military) prior to UG graduation doesn't seem to "count" (or at least not as much). i was in a pretty similar situation to you -- 1 year of college, joined the army, worked full time for a year post-army, then back to college and straight to LS. i did fairly average / maybe slightly below average for my numbers, so it doesn't look like i got any sort of boost for military or WE.

Well, this is discouraging.

[nontrad2014]

Has anyone seen/heard of a denied applicant sending a seat deposit as "consideration" in the form of a contract game with admissions?

I am contemplating having some fun with a school and "refusing to accept their rejection," and sending them a new offer with consideration (seat deposit check) that is deemed accepted when they cash the check.

Maybe the Dean of Admissions would get a chuckle?

[patogordo]

wut

[Magical Trevor]

Has anyone seen/heard of a denied applicant sending a seat deposit as "consideration" in the form of a contract game with admissions?

I am contemplating having some fun with a school and "refusing to accept their rejection," and sending them a new offer with consideration (seat deposit check) that is deemed accepted when they cash the check.

Maybe the Dean of Admissions would get a chuckle?

It might make the Dean chuckle and then sigh with relief because the school dodged a weirdo student bullet by rejecting you.

[TripTrip]

Has anyone seen/heard of a denied applicant sending a seat deposit as "consideration" in the form of a contract game with admissions?

I am contemplating having some fun with a school and "refusing to accept their rejection," and sending them a new offer with consideration (seat deposit check) that is deemed accepted when they cash the check.

Maybe the Dean of Admissions would get a chuckle?

I don't even know what to say.