I have a "messy" resume. Forum

[roranoa]

Any advice would be great.

[guano]

That's not shady

[roranoa]

That's not shady

Won't it seem like I don't have a sense of direction with my life?

[zozin]

That's not shady

Won't it seem like I don't have a sense of direction with my life?

Isn't that assumed by just applying to law school?

[UMich11]

That's not shady

Won't it seem like I don't have a sense of direction with my life?

welcome to life.

[cinephile]

That's not shady

Won't it seem like I don't have a sense of direction with my life?

Isn't that assumed by just applying to law school?

Also, seriously OP. I thought you were a drug dealer or a prostitute or something with the way you were talking about your shady resume. And then I thought, why would you put sex work on your resume? Law schools don't care so long as you weren't doing anything illegal during that time that'll keep you from passing the bar.

[rinkrat19]

"shady" is working in "collections" for a waste management company in New Jersey, not being a bit immature and unfocused. Your resume isn't going to help you the way that a decade-long professional career with published works will (and even that only helps so much), but it's not going to kill you, especially at places where your numbers are competitive.

[hephaestus]

Also, seriously OP. I thought you were a drug dealer or a prostitute or something with the way you were talking about your shady resume. And then I thought, why would you put sex work on your resume? Law schools don't care so long as you weren't doing anything illegal during that time that'll keep you from passing the bar.

Yeah I was expecting OP to say he has a lot of "sales" experience but its in drug dealing or something. This is not shady.

[roranoa]

Also, seriously OP. I thought you were a drug dealer or a prostitute or something with the way you were talking about your shady resume. And then I thought, why would you put sex work on your resume? Law schools don't care so long as you weren't doing anything illegal during that time that'll keep you from passing the bar.

Yeah I was expecting OP to say he has a lot of "sales" experience but its in drug dealing or something. This is not shady.

I guess I miss used the word.

Sorry.

But still, what do you guys think about my situation?

Should I write an addendum about it or something?

[guano]

No one cares

[North]

No one cares

This.

Make sure you go to LS on a full ride somewhere, though. Doesn't seem like your jobs/pursuits have long shelf lives. You don't want to go $250k in debt only to find out you like being a lawyer less than you did working retail.

[NYC2012]

.

[roranoa]

No one cares

I really appreciate the input but is there a basis for this?

[guano]

No one cares

I really appreciate the input but is there a basis for this?

90% your application is LSAT, GPA, URM
The remaining 10% is army, or other spectacular extra.

If you're a borderline candidate, it'll make a difference, but, you can make sure you're not a borderline candidate by retaking your LSAT

[roranoa]

No one cares

This.

Make sure you go to LS on a full ride somewhere, though. Doesn't seem like your jobs/pursuits have long shelf lives. You don't want to go $250k in debt only to find out you like being a lawyer less than you did working retail.

This is exactly what I'm afraid the admission committee might think. (Which would hurt my chances severely) How do you think I should address this?

[guano]

No one cares

This.

Make sure you go to LS on a full ride somewhere, though. Doesn't seem like your jobs/pursuits have long shelf lives. You don't want to go $250k in debt only to find out you like being a lawyer less than you did working retail.

This is exactly what I'm afraid the admission committee might think. (Which would hurt my chances severely) How do you think I should address this?

The adcomms won't care.
It'll matter more come OCI, but that's a different story

[North]

This is exactly what I'm afraid the admission committee might think. (Which would hurt my chances severely) How do you think I should address this?

That's just it, though. It won't hurt your chances severely. Retake the LSAT until you have a 170+, that's pretty much all that matters. See Guano.

Scooped.

ETA: lol, always shitty to out

[jbagelboy]

Having gaps in your resume is a minor negative soft. It wont damage you if your LSAT is where it needs to be. Explain what you were doing during that period artfully in your PS.. Dont just let it sit there, but dont worry too much.

Resume gaps might hurt more at OCI; someone can speak to that

[roranoa]

This is exactly what I'm afraid the admission committee might think. (Which would hurt my chances severely) How do you think I should address this?

That's just it, though. It won't hurt your chances severely. Retake the LSAT until you have a 170+, that's pretty much all that matters. See Dingbat.

Scooped.

What do you mean see dingbat? Search dingbat?

[roranoa]

Having gaps in your resume is a minor negative soft. It wont damage you if your LSAT is where it needs to be. Explain what you were doing during that period artfully in your PS.. Dont just let it sit there, but dont worry too much.

Resume gaps might hurt more at OCI; someone can speak to that

That's just great.

[North]

This is exactly what I'm afraid the admission committee might think. (Which would hurt my chances severely) How do you think I should address this?

That's just it, though. It won't hurt your chances severely. Retake the LSAT until you have a 170+, that's pretty much all that matters. See Dingbat.

Scooped.

What do you mean see dingbat? Search dingbat?

I meant guano. My bad.

[cinephile]

Trust me, they will not care a single bit. They just want to enroll you. As long as you have the numbers that will help them maintain or improve their rank, schools will accept you.

Whomever mentioned that this might be a problem at OCI may have a point. But on the other hand, there are plenty of well-off students who've taken a gap year to travel and they had zero problems with employers. Just put something on your resume for that time period saying something like gap year - hiked my way through Appalachia while exploring my ancestry and connecting with local communities etc. Or whatever you did besides grad school. The grad program you dropped out of should definitely stay off the OCI resume. The sales job sounds just fine and in this economy, it's not that weird to have only stayed 6 months.

[roranoa]

This is exactly what I'm afraid the admission committee might think. (Which would hurt my chances severely) How do you think I should address this?

That's just it, though. It won't hurt your chances severely. Retake the LSAT until you have a 170+, that's pretty much all that matters. See Dingbat.

Scooped.

What do you mean see dingbat? Search dingbat?

I meant guano. My bad.

Right. Got it.

[roranoa]

Trust me, they will not care a single bit. They just want to enroll you. As long as you have the numbers that will help them maintain or improve their rank, schools will accept you.

This is very encouraging and I wish this were true but then why do you think some schools reject applicants with the right numbers.(I'm speaking only of the T14 in this context)

[banjo]

I think "messy" resumes underperform a little, and dropping out of graduate school will hurt at the topmost schools.