Illinois Class of 2014 (With Dean Pless) Forum

[JakeL]

After applying, is there anything applicants can/should do to increase their chances of admittance? How about once being waitlisted?

[Pless]

After applying, is there anything applicants can/should do to increase their chances of admittance? How about once being waitlisted?

There isn't much to do once you apply. If you do end up on the wait list a letter of continued interest is always a good idea, some schools require it. Also, a visit is a great way to show that you are really interested in attending. That isn't always possible, I understand.

[sknowl01]

What role (if any) does the admissions index play in the admission process at Illinois?

[Pless]

What role (if any) does the admissions index play in the admission process at Illinois?

The only time we use the index is for sectioning the class before Orientation. It is not used in the admissions process.

[kk19131]

I really want to go to the College of Law.

Oh how I miss Illinois.

I guess I have to wait 'til January to know my fate.

[Pless]

I will be at the LSAC New York Forum this Friday and Saturday. I hope to see some of you there. More information on the forum can be found here: http://www.lsac.org/jd/choose/law-schoo ... sp#NewYork

[ohio818]

Hello, Dean Pless!

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions. I plan on applying this fall for the Class of 2014 but would like your advice based on the following background information:

I started my undergrad with a full-tuition, merit-based scholarship in 2006. For my first 4 semesters, I received grades of B to C average. I left school for about a year and a half to pursue real estate investing and picked up a high number of skills in the process; I now own several rental properties. More importantly, my experiences while I was out of school motivated me more than anything else to pursue law school. I am extremely capable--I just did not work to the best of my abilities in my first 2 years of college because of financial and personal issues. I returned to school one year ago, the point after which I earned all A grades except for the B+ grades I earned in about 1 out of 5 classes. Clearly, I can demonstrate an upward trend here and have some excellent "real-world" experience.

My question for you is this: I have been back in school now (after leaving for that period of time) for two semesters and have earned excellent grades. But should I wait to apply until after the current semester so that I can show THREE semesters of excellent grades? My main goal is to demonstrate to you that my study habits, while not great years back, are now excellent, and that I'm extremely motivated to do well.

I appreciate your advice in advance.

On a side note, I'm taking the LSAT on October 9th. I have been scoring about 163-165 on my timed practice exams. Current cumulative GPA of 3.07. And if it makes any difference, I am 22 years old now.

Thanks again!

[sknowl01]

I will be at the LSAC New York Forum this Friday and Saturday. I hope to see some of you there. More information on the forum can be found here: http://www.lsac.org/jd/choose/law-schoo ... sp#NewYork

If you make it to the one in Atlanta, I will be there.

[kk19131]

Do many law students live in university housing?

[2014]

Dean Pless,

This isn't Illinois specific obviously, but a question I'm curious about. Do you ever figure out that one of your applicants is a given person either here on TLS, or perhaps figure out which is their profile on LSN? If that is the case, and say you saw from their profile that Illinois was not a school they were likely to end up at, could that effect their admission chances?

I know that has little to do with Illinois, but as the one admissions dean to have outed themselves here, I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask you.

[blurbz]

Do many law students live in university housing?

Nope, most of us live in apartments around Champaign-Urbana. There are plenty of nice places close enough to the law school that you don't need to worry about staying in on-campus housing.

[deadpoetnsp]

Dean Pless, thank you for answering questions. I have the following questions for you

1) How does Illinois evaluate the undergraduate performance of international students who do not have a GPA? If the CAS has determined an international applicant's undergraduate performance to be 'superior' do you consider it to be equal to an A/A+ or lower than that?

2) Do international applicants have any chance at all of getting a full scholarship?

3) The FAFSA and other need-based applications seem to need citizenship or US residency. I do have an SSN because I'm in a graduate program in the US. Can I use my SSN to fill the FAFSA?

[Pless]

Hello, Dean Pless!
Thanks for taking the time to answer questions. I plan on applying this fall for the Class of 2014 but would like your advice based on the following background information:
I started my undergrad with a full-tuition, merit-based scholarship in 2006. For my first 4 semesters, I received grades of B to C average. I left school for about a year and a half to pursue real estate investing and picked up a high number of skills in the process; I now own several rental properties. More importantly, my experiences while I was out of school motivated me more than anything else to pursue law school. I am extremely capable--I just did not work to the best of my abilities in my first 2 years of college because of financial and personal issues. I returned to school one year ago, the point after which I earned all A grades except for the B+ grades I earned in about 1 out of 5 classes. Clearly, I can demonstrate an upward trend here and have some excellent "real-world" experience.
My question for you is this: I have been back in school now (after leaving for that period of time) for two semesters and have earned excellent grades. But should I wait to apply until after the current semester so that I can show THREE semesters of excellent grades? My main goal is to demonstrate to you that my study habits, while not great years back, are now excellent, and that I'm extremely motivated to do well.
I appreciate your advice in advance.

On a side note, I'm taking the LSAT on October 9th. I have been scoring about 163-165 on my timed practice exams. Current cumulative GPA of 3.07. And if it makes any difference, I am 22 years old now.

Thanks again!

I wouldn't hold off on sending out your application until you get the Fall grades. Submit your application after you take the LSAT, (before you get your score is fine) to get in the queue. You can always send an updated transcript to LSAC when your Fall grades come out and it will automatically get updated at the schools you have applied to. I think the benefit in being early in the process will outweigh any benefit from one more semester of grades. At Illinois, we are going to be more interested in your recent grades and I think that other schools will be as well.

Paul

[Pless]

Dean Pless,

This isn't Illinois specific obviously, but a question I'm curious about. Do you ever figure out that one of your applicants is a given person either here on TLS, or perhaps figure out which is their profile on LSN? If that is the case, and say you saw from their profile that Illinois was not a school they were likely to end up at, could that effect their admission chances?

I know that has little to do with Illinois, but as the one admissions dean to have outed themselves here, I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask you.

We really don't have that kind of time. Sometimes people make it very obvious who they are and I will match the person up in my head, but I think that may have happened 3 times last year. One person was already admitted and it didn't change my opinion of them, one person was already denied but it confirmed to me that I had made the right decision, and the third person wasn't in the application cycle last year but met with me and came right out and said "I am XXX on TLS."

In general I think that nothing is truly anonymous and you should still be mindful of what you say and how you present yourself. If everyone did that I think you would get a lot more useful information out of this board. Sometimes though the freedom of anonymity is too much for some people and they just behave poorly. Usually I don't think that means they are a bad person, maybe just a bit immature. Hope that helps some, happy to talk more about this topic.

[Pless]

Dean Pless, thank you for answering questions. I have the following questions for you

1) How does Illinois evaluate the undergraduate performance of international students who do not have a GPA? If the CAS has determined an international applicant's undergraduate performance to be 'superior' do you consider it to be equal to an A/A+ or lower than that?

2) Do international applicants have any chance at all of getting a full scholarship?

3) The FAFSA and other need-based applications seem to need citizenship or US residency. I do have an SSN because I'm in a graduate program in the US. Can I use my SSN to fill the FAFSA?

1) It really depends on the quality of the school they went to and our experience with other applicants from that school. In general, I consider 'Superior' to be an A.
2) Yes.
3) You could, but at Illinois the FAFSA is only used to determine federal loan eligibility, and as an international student you aren't eligible for federal loans. Having an SSN will make some of our internal loans easier to access though.

[Godfather2010]

How long of a turnaround time is it for getting a status checker?

I've submitted about 3 weeks ago and wanted to make sure I was in the queue.

[Pless]

How long of a turnaround time is it for getting a status checker?

I've submitted about 3 weeks ago and wanted to make sure I was in the queue.

You should get your login to the online status checker within a few days of submitting your application, is that what you mean? If you haven't received yours yet, please email me (pless@law.illinois.edu) or the office (admissions@law.illinois.edu) and we can track it down for you.

[Godfather2010]

How long of a turnaround time is it for getting a status checker?

I've submitted about 3 weeks ago and wanted to make sure I was in the queue.

You should get your login to the online status checker within a few days of submitting your application, is that what you mean? If you haven't received yours yet, please email me (pless@law.illinois.edu) or the office (admissions@law.illinois.edu) and we can track it down for you.

Yes, that is what I meant. I will email now then.

Thanks for taking time to answer questions on here!

[Cmoss]

Thanks for doing this, and thanks for waiving application fees for everyone.

+1 as trivial as it seems this created a sense for me as an applicant that you're looking out for me. i can only imagine how well you treat students.

FWIW

[andyj11419]

Hi Dean Pless,

Thanks for taking questions. In your opinion, how competitive is someone who is around the school's median GPA yet with an LSAT score below the 25%?

[Pless]

Hi Dean Pless,

Thanks for taking questions. In your opinion, how competitive is someone who is around the school's median GPA yet with an LSAT score below the 25%?

Kind of depends on the LSAT score. If the score is good, just not at our 25th and the GPA is from a quality school in a good program, I would say you are competitive. The first question we ask is if the applicant could be successful in our program. If you pass that threshold, then we start looking for the other things that are important, leadership, writing ability, the perspective you will bring to the classroom, etc. Every year I have been here, someone (or two, three, four) in the top 10% of the class has had an LSAT in the 150's.

[Kchuck]

Dean Pless,

I want to start by saying that I find it incredible that you're opening yourself up to prospective students of the University of Illinois law school. I am working on my application and I have genuine interest in your law school. What particularly do you all look for in the Why Illinois statement?

[Pless]

Dean Pless,

I want to start by saying that I find it incredible that you're opening yourself up to prospective students of the University of Illinois law school. I am working on my application and I have genuine interest in your law school. What particularly do you all look for in the Why Illinois statement?

We hope you show us knowledge of the school and a reason why our strengths are the right fit for you. It is also another chance to assess your writing ability. A carefully constructed, thoughtful and persuasive 200 word essay can really highlight your genuine interest in Illinois and your ability to write effectively.

[kk19131]

Are applications reviewed by committees or by individuals?

[Pless]

Are applications reviewed by committees or by individuals?

By individuals. I will read the application of anyone before they are admitted.