UNLV 2011 Forum

[brandonNV]

This was my experience from last year, before I continue I would like to strongly point out that EVERY year is unique for admissions so don't read too much into this, but....

Last year my LSAT score was a 155, my GPA from UNLV a 3.6 and my LSDAS GPA was 3.1. In the third week of April I received an email that stated I was put on the waitlist. I emailed the admissions office with a letter of continued interest and was finally contacted in late may that they would not be able to admit me. Obviously I was devistated, but Boyd has ALWAYS been my top choice so I took the year off, got a job in sales (again) and waited to year out, retook the LSAT, met with Nathan Neeley to learn how to better my application (That was priceless information! I really appreciated how he pulled no punches in telling me where my application was weak, it helped a lot).

I heard through the grape vine (a reliable one) that waitlisted students usually total around 200 or so. Of those students there is an average of 8 seats that open up. When those seats do open they review each application and then pick someone to fill, so it's not like you are given a number once placed on the waitlist. This means you have a 4% chance of making it in from the waitlist (if these numbers are accurate), but it is still a chance.

From what I have been told, there is almost no seats that open for the part time program as those students tend to have strong reasons for wanting to go part time (i.e. staying in town, good job already, family support, etc.,) and therefore you have less of a chance of making it in off the waitlist.

Now I realize that this sounds very doom and gloomy, but you should know where you stand by now, or in the coming weeks, and you can use it to help you make any decisions. My strongest recommendation is that if you are serious about becoming a lawyer, and you do not already have a firm, or uncle, or sibling, or someone that owes you some kind of life-debt willing to hire you right outta law school, then do NOT settle for going to whomever accepts you, but wait it out and go to a school that is nationally recognized. UNLV has a legal writing program that is ranked 3rd in the nation! This is huge for anyone wanting to become a clerk for a judge, or work in any legislature, but it also will be extremely helpful in everyday practice. There moot court has also become well known in such a short time. In my opinion it is worth fighting for, so write those letters of continued interest, meet with whomever you need to and get in at the best schools.

[BoydorBust]

This was my experience from last year, before I continue I would like to strongly point out that EVERY year is unique for admissions so don't read too much into this, but....

Thanks for sharing this info. I am really kicking myself for not having found a way to retake the LSAT in Feb. I think I was a little too confident in all of the other elements of my application. As a result, I am now sweating it. I guess a strong soft factor is still just a soft factor.

[brandonNV]

Thanks for sharing this info. I am really kicking myself for not having found a way to retake the LSAT in Feb. I think I was a little too confident in all of the other elements of my application. As a result, I am now sweating it. I guess a strong soft factor is still just a soft factor.[/quote]

It aint over yet, so don't lose all hope.

I felt the same way last year about my application. I thought that a 155 was still an alright score, and I figured being a LV resident would help (seeing how 80% of the admitted students come from NV), but I did manage to strongly overlook the quality of my application. I had a sup-par resume and my personal statement was really poorly crafted. Of coarse when I submitted them I had no idea that they were bad, but I also did next to nothing to have others proof read what I had. I also submitted my PS with the auto-correction turned on. Small details add up!.

Good luck though and don't give up!

[jpjpporter]

I hate to do it, but it looks like I will be putting down a seat deposit somewhere else unless something changes by early tomorrow.

[callen7828]

I hate to do it, but it looks like I will be putting down a seat deposit somewhere else unless something changes by early tomorrow.

I hear they put out their decisions on Friday so if you can wait till maybe lunch on Friday then possibly pay by credit card you may save yourself some wasted deposit money. Many will take the deposit over the phone or via faxed or emailed documents. I also found out my 2nd choice is closed on the 15th so they told me to send it in by the 18th which gives me 3 extra days.

[lawforme22]

I'm going to wait as well. I noticed some people applied later than I did and they already received acceptances. Is this a bad sign for me

[CmonSD]

Has anyone received info regarding financial aid?

[brandonNV]

Has anyone received info regarding financial aid?

I did ask about that.

In your packet you should have received a flyer talking about going to FAFSA and filling out your financial aid form. If not then go to law.unlv.edu and click on "Perspective Students" go down to financial aid and it will give you the school code.

Other than that, we should be receiving a login and password to MyUNLV at the end of April or beginning of May. This should allow us to view how much we have been awarded for Stafford as well as Grad Plus (Because both loans go through the school and amounts are chosen based on what the school deems to be appropriate.)

[BoydorBust]

... I thought that a 155 was still an alright score

What did you do differently when you prepped for your LSAT retake to increase your score?

[brandonNV]

What did you do differently when you prepped for your LSAT retake to increase your score?[/quote]

A lot! But most of it came from the basics.

Did you take any prep coarse? or purchase any prep materials? If not then that's my biggest recommendation is to do that. Worth the money.

If you HAVE done that, then to be honest what you have to do is slow down, follow the basics, do it every time, and it'll come to you. I know that this is a "tooting my own horn" moment but my final LSAT score was still a big dissapointment to me. I was scoring roughly 166 on all of the last 3 years LSATS, and a little higher on older LSATS. (They do change the way they ask questions, types of reading comp passages, and games over the years, so how you preform on a 1994 LSAT may not be a good indicator on how you will preform on a 2012 LSAT.)

Games was by far my best area, I would miss 1 on a bad day. LR was my best best, missing between 8-13 total (for both sections combined), and then Reading Comp was my worst (ussually missing 6-8). Getting into the habbit of predicting is the BEST thing I could advise. What we would do is we would read a LR passage (before we read the question stem) and then ask ourselves and each other (I had a great study buddy, they are helpful!) what kind of question COULD they ask me based on this passage? For instance if the passage has a conclusion like "...therefore, Brandon went to the store for milk" then I know that I could be seeing a Strengthen, Weaken, Assumption, Flaw, or parallel (while there may be other question types, it is rare to see others involved), if there was no conclusion then I am probably looking at an Inference. This is an example and yes there are a ton of people that could flame the crap outta what I just wrote, but my point is get into the habbit of predicting what CAN come.

The same holds true for logic games. After you draw out your master draft, take a half of a second and step back and ask yourself "based on this sketch, what MUST be true and what MUST be false?" Some of those answers will be extremely obvious, like if A goes before B then what MUST be true? A>B, but what else is true? B cannot =1, A cannot be last. Easy enough but the more difficult ones like...
If A then C
If A then A...B
If C then not B

If those are your rules, then the obvious MUST'S are that A comes before B, C and B cannot be together, but what if you have A? Based on those rules alone (and there are large wholes in these rules, I know), but what else do you know? well... if A then no B. It doesn't matter that If A then you have it come before B. If B is never involved then A will always come before an entity that isn't in play right? right... long story short get to predicting.

In reading comp same thing. If the story keeps telling one persons POV, and the tells an argument that refutes theirs, you can predict that this patter will likely continue, so pay attention for who's POV the author sides with (if he does) and who he is referencing. RC is my worst so I won't pretend to be awesome at it, but I do at least understand it.


Good luck and if you have any other questions that I can muddle through just lemme know!

[BoydorBust]

TGIF! The day of anouncements... Good luck to all of you still waiting (unless that luck has a negative impact on my consideration ).

[lawforme22]

Thanks, good luck to you too!

[fireLaw]

Well there has been some accepts on law school numbers already today.... Anyone else get news today?

[jpjpporter]

still nothing here, I hope I am one of those that gets a decision today

[callen7828]

Still nothing for me either, I for sure thought I would hear! O'well I guess I will deposit today to the other school.

[lawforme22]

Still nothing for me either, I for sure thought I would hear! O'well I guess I will deposit today to the other school.

quote]

I haven't heard anything.

[BoydorBust]

Keep hope alive!

There are still a few hours left in the Las Vegas business day...

[callen7828]

Keep hope alive!

There are still a few hours left in the Las Vegas business day...

Well I would have to say that I would rather hear nothing than get a denial for sure, so no news is better than bad news! This waiting is killing me though!

[lawforme22]

Keep hope alive!

There are still a few hours left in the Las Vegas business day...

Well I would have to say that I would rather hear nothing than get a denial for sure, so no news is better than bad news! This waiting is killing me though!

I agree, but they have an info session going on at 4pm, so they'll probably spend the remainder of the day doing that.

[BoydorBust]

Well I would have to say that I would rather hear nothing than get a denial for sure, so no news is better than bad news! This waiting is killing me though!

Amen! No news is sort of good news, though I am on the verge of bursting from this suspense...

[BoydorBust]

I agree, but they have an info session going on at 4pm, so they'll probably spend the remainder of the day doing that.

That sucks! Tomorrow I leave for a week long vacation, and I was really hoping to leave with the good news. No news is going to be a real downer on this vacation--though not near as bad as a rejection.

Come ON UNLV! Call ME!!!

[callen7828]

I agree, but they have an info session going on at 4pm, so they'll probably spend the remainder of the day doing that.

That sucks! Tomorrow I leave for a week long vacation, and I was really hoping to leave with the good news. No news is going to be a real downer on this vacation--though not near as bad as a rejection.

Come ON UNLV! Call ME!!!

you a teacher also?

[lawforme22]

I agree, but they have an info session going on at 4pm, so they'll probably spend the remainder of the day doing that.

That sucks! Tomorrow I leave for a week long vacation, and I was really hoping to leave with the good news. No news is going to be a real downer on this vacation--though not near as bad as a rejection.

Come ON UNLV! Call ME!!!

LOL. Well, I'm going to stay positive and PRAY A LOT!
I have a volunteer gig at UNLV next week, maybe I'll stop by and ask them a few questions.

[BoydorBust]

you a teacher also?

No, I am not a teacher, but my daughters are on Spring Break so we are taking a 7 day cruise. The hope was that I would be able to justify the cruise as a celebratory law school acceptance gift. Instead, the cruise will have to serve as a stress reliever.

[BoydorBust]

LOL. Well, I'm going to stay positive and PRAY A LOT!
I have a volunteer gig at UNLV next week, maybe I'll stop by and ask them a few questions.

Put in a good word for me. Tell them that the guy whose application was strong in all areas but the LSAT saved an infant from a burning building 30 min before the LSAT start time, and didn't finish all of the sections because he had to keep leaving the testing center to call the Neo-Natal ICU to check on the status of the infant--who has since been named after him.

Unfortunately, I am such a selfless, humble guy that I chose not to write about that in my PS.