Worst Cycle of the Year Forum

Share Your Experiences, Read About Other Experiences. Please keep posts organized by school and expected year of graduation.
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splitmuch

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by splitmuch » Thu Apr 07, 2011 4:48 pm

aliarrow wrote:
splitmuch wrote:
SrLaw wrote:
What happened to Pre-Med???? Did the 3.09 hold you back? I would try and kill the MCAT.

I actually got a 37 (98th percentile) on the MCAT. I know its a stupid financial decision but I would rather be a lawyer. I drudged through it in UG (hence the GPA) but I just don't like science.
What is the med school view towards splitters? I'm just curious because I started out pre-med (but with my gpa hovering around 3.3-3.5 I figured I wasn't competitive for med school).
3.3-3.5. would be fine with 32+ I'd think. Your Science GPA is more important than overall GPA. I would have had to retake some classes, which I was prepared and enrolled to do when I decided to pursue law.

The thing about med schools is, while they are ranked, residencies are based on to the same boards that are given to anyone so prestige isn't as important so decent splitters will be fine going to their state U.

Eponymous

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by Eponymous » Thu Apr 07, 2011 4:57 pm

splitmuch wrote:
SrLaw wrote:
What happened to Pre-Med???? Did the 3.09 hold you back? I would try and kill the MCAT.

I actually got a 37 (98th percentile) on the MCAT. I know its a stupid financial decision but I would rather be a lawyer. I drudged through it in UG (hence the GPA) but I just don't like science.
Did you highlight the science background in your PS ? Avoid it ? Did you say/hint at the area of law that you might pursue ?

In any event, $84K at WUSTL is a not-at-all-bad deal. A bit disappointing to have so few other options, with your smoking 178... But you might have chosen WUSTL anyway. Also -- wouldn't be surprised to see one or two waitlists come through. (But you might still want to take the 84K at the rising school!)

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by SrLaw » Thu Apr 07, 2011 4:59 pm

Eponymous wrote:
splitmuch wrote:
SrLaw wrote:
What happened to Pre-Med???? Did the 3.09 hold you back? I would try and kill the MCAT.

I actually got a 37 (98th percentile) on the MCAT. I know its a stupid financial decision but I would rather be a lawyer. I drudged through it in UG (hence the GPA) but I just don't like science.
Did you highlight the science background in your PS ? Avoid it ? Did you say/hint at the area of law that you might pursue ?

In any event, $84K at WUSTL is a not-at-all-bad deal. A bit disappointing to have so few other options, with your smoking 178... But you might have chosen WUSTL anyway. Also -- wouldn't be surprised to see one or two waitlists come through. (But you might still want to take the 84K at the rising school!)

Completely disagree. A 178 and you have to attend WUSTL with 84K?? That is a shit deal if I have ever seen one.

splitmuch

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by splitmuch » Thu Apr 07, 2011 5:01 pm

Eponymous wrote:
splitmuch wrote:
SrLaw wrote:
What happened to Pre-Med???? Did the 3.09 hold you back? I would try and kill the MCAT.

I actually got a 37 (98th percentile) on the MCAT. I know its a stupid financial decision but I would rather be a lawyer. I drudged through it in UG (hence the GPA) but I just don't like science.
Did you highlight the science background in your PS ? Avoid it ? Did you say/hint at the area of law that you might pursue ?

In any event, $84K at WUSTL is a not-at-all-bad deal. A bit disappointing to have so few other options, with your smoking 178... But you might have chosen WUSTL anyway. Also -- wouldn't be surprised to see one or two waitlists come through. (But you might still want to take the 84K at the rising school!)
Yeah I figured it would raise questions so I focused my PS on my science background and how I came to law and did hint at a few different areas of law I'm considering. I also couldn't resist the temptation to turn it into a bit of a GPA addendum since the reasons for having a low GPA and for not wanting to do med school are somewhat related, that may have hurt me as I've read its not good to highlight your negatives.

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sanetruth

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by sanetruth » Thu Apr 07, 2011 5:02 pm

bdubs wrote: Yeah, anecdotally GULC is splitter friendly (they have one of the lowest 25% in the T14). I think NU is much more splitter friendly for 2+ years of WE, also they explicitly say that they don't like paralegal work which your profile mentions.

You had a good shot of getting into GW (see below), so it was either your late application or your materials that hurt you.
http://www.law.gwu.edu/Admissions/JD/Pages/Profile.aspx
Where does Northwestern explicitly say they don't like paralegal work? I'm not doubting you I just never saw that anywhere.

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splitmuch

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by splitmuch » Thu Apr 07, 2011 5:02 pm

SrLaw wrote:
Eponymous wrote:
splitmuch wrote:
SrLaw wrote:
What happened to Pre-Med???? Did the 3.09 hold you back? I would try and kill the MCAT.

I actually got a 37 (98th percentile) on the MCAT. I know its a stupid financial decision but I would rather be a lawyer. I drudged through it in UG (hence the GPA) but I just don't like science.
Did you highlight the science background in your PS ? Avoid it ? Did you say/hint at the area of law that you might pursue ?

In any event, $84K at WUSTL is a not-at-all-bad deal. A bit disappointing to have so few other options, with your smoking 178... But you might have chosen WUSTL anyway. Also -- wouldn't be surprised to see one or two waitlists come through. (But you might still want to take the 84K at the rising school!)

Completely disagree. A 178 and you have to attend WUSTL with 84K?? That is a shit deal if I have ever seen one.
Well, in any event, I disagree and in this particular case I think mine is the relevant opinion.

protein

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by protein » Fri Apr 29, 2011 9:27 pm

lshamlet wrote:
paulinaporizkova wrote:wait, someone really ED'd without withdrawing other places? like, he paid the deposits for other schools and stuff? why? (someone tell me i don't want to search that whole thread)
It's just this LSN. The story is told through the comments.

http://lawschoolnumbers.com/daninreallife
this is my favorite one

SchopenhauerFTW

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by SchopenhauerFTW » Thu May 19, 2011 4:31 pm

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09042014

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by 09042014 » Thu May 19, 2011 4:33 pm

protein wrote:
lshamlet wrote:
paulinaporizkova wrote:wait, someone really ED'd without withdrawing other places? like, he paid the deposits for other schools and stuff? why? (someone tell me i don't want to search that whole thread)
It's just this LSN. The story is told through the comments.

http://lawschoolnumbers.com/daninreallife
this is my favorite one
Its a FAAAAAAAAAAAAAKe.

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legaleagle9

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by legaleagle9 » Thu May 19, 2011 10:29 pm

Shooter wrote:
tomwatts wrote:
onepass wrote:I'm sorry, but a post loses all credibility if they want to whine about having the worst cycle ever and they've been admitted to Northwestern and Cornell.
That person had not yet been admitted to Northwestern and Cornell at the time of the post.

For those who can't be bothered to read last year's topic (fair enough, it's long) or are still unclear on the concept, the idea is that the "worst cycle" is supposed to be relative to what your numbers/reasonable expectations would suggest. We're talking 3.9/179 rejected from all of the t14 for no obvious reason, 3.5/168 being shut out of the entire first tier, or whatever. If you ED somewhere and don't withdraw from other places (as in the case of one person last year), or anything else stupid like that (lie about a criminal record and then get caught on a background check), that's a gray area that the judges of the thread will have to consider.

Let the horror stories commence! (Though I think we're a little early for all of this, yet. We won't have true horror stories until the mass of rejections from a lot of the top schools in late January/early February.)
It's also important to put one's cycle into context. "Worst Cycle" threads are all about where someone ended up RELATIVE to their numbers/expectations. Is Cornell an amazing school? Yes it is. Is it as amazing if you have the numbers for Harvard? Not so much.

Btw, that one guy who ED'd without withdrawing was like omgtheworstthingI'veeverseen.

EDIT: I essentially just repeated everything you said. WTF was I thinking?

wait. this ED thing is now confusing me. If you ED somewhere, you have to withdraw everywhere else even before they accept you? Or how does this process work. I'd really appreciate someone explaining this to me! thanks

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by Gideon Strumpet » Thu May 19, 2011 11:23 pm

legaleagle9 wrote:wait. this ED thing is now confusing me. If you ED somewhere, you have to withdraw everywhere else even before they accept you? Or how does this process work. I'd really appreciate someone explaining this to me! thanks
Early Decision means if the school admits you, you're done. Period. Full Stop. If you apply ED and you're accepted, you have only two options: (1) go there; or (2) go nowhere. It does not mean you can't apply to other schools. You can even apply ED to several schools, but the first one that accepts you ED gets you, no questions asked.

It also means, except in the case of a few quirky programs, that you will get zero merit dollars. GWU was running an ED scheme a few years ago that coupled ED with a full ride, just to get people they wanted to think about applying that way. But I'm not sure if they kept that up. For most schools it's guaranteed you're paying full freight, for obvious reasons.

legaleagle9

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by legaleagle9 » Fri May 20, 2011 12:14 am

Gideon Strumpet wrote:
legaleagle9 wrote:wait. this ED thing is now confusing me. If you ED somewhere, you have to withdraw everywhere else even before they accept you? Or how does this process work. I'd really appreciate someone explaining this to me! thanks
Early Decision means if the school admits you, you're done. Period. Full Stop. If you apply ED and you're accepted, you have only two options: (1) go there; or (2) go nowhere. It does not mean you can't apply to other schools. You can even apply ED to several schools, but the first one that accepts you ED gets you, no questions asked.

It also means, except in the case of a few quirky programs, that you will get zero merit dollars. GWU was running an ED scheme a few years ago that coupled ED with a full ride, just to get people they wanted to think about applying that way. But I'm not sure if they kept that up. For most schools it's guaranteed you're paying full freight, for obvious reasons.
ohh i see thank you! so this guys mistake was depositing to places after he was accepted to his ED? oh my.

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by Gideon Strumpet » Fri May 20, 2011 12:16 am

legaleagle9 wrote:ohh i see thank you! so this guys mistake was depositing to places after he was accepted to his ED? oh my.
If it's the "daninreallife" profile you're talking about, the comments suggested his problem was leaving applications open at other schools after he got an ED accept from CLS. The ED agreements you sign when you send in your application specifically say you agree to withdraw all other applications immediately when the school notifies you of an ED acceptance. So it doesn't even take putting down a deposit; failing to withdraw is enough.

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bigjinjapan

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by bigjinjapan » Fri May 20, 2011 12:35 am

Gideon Strumpet wrote:
legaleagle9 wrote:wait. this ED thing is now confusing me. If you ED somewhere, you have to withdraw everywhere else even before they accept you? Or how does this process work. I'd really appreciate someone explaining this to me! thanks
Early Decision means if the school admits you, you're done. Period. Full Stop. If you apply ED and you're accepted, you have only two options: (1) go there; or (2) go nowhere. It does not mean you can't apply to other schools. You can even apply ED to several schools, but the first one that accepts you ED gets you, no questions asked.

It also means, except in the case of a few quirky programs, that you will get zero merit dollars. GWU was running an ED scheme a few years ago that coupled ED with a full ride, just to get people they wanted to think about applying that way. But I'm not sure if they kept that up. For most schools it's guaranteed you're paying full freight, for obvious reasons.
GWU still does this, and it's not a bad deal in that they guarantee all their ED admits a full ride. It's probably the only way they can hope to compete with higher ranked schools for the best applicants.

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sanetruth

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by sanetruth » Fri May 20, 2011 9:33 am

Gideon Strumpet wrote:You can even apply ED to several schools, but the first one that accepts you ED gets you, no questions asked.
I have never heard of anyone applying ED to multiple schools concurrently. I guess it makes sense...you just withdraw your ED app from whatever school(s) that don't accept you first. But aren't there rules about this? It's also extremely risky. What if School A accepts you ED on one day and School B accepts you ED the next morning, before you have time to withdraw?

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Mike12188

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by Mike12188 » Fri May 20, 2011 9:44 am

sanetruth wrote:
Gideon Strumpet wrote:You can even apply ED to several schools, but the first one that accepts you ED gets you, no questions asked.
I have never heard of anyone applying ED to multiple schools concurrently. I guess it makes sense...you just withdraw your ED app from whatever school(s) that don't accept you first. But aren't there rules about this? It's also extremely risky. What if School A accepts you ED on one day and School B accepts you ED the next morning, before you have time to withdraw?
Yea I don't know about that. You can definitely ED to UVA which has a 2 week turn around and if they WL or reject you, you can ED somewhere else. ED to multiple schools at the same time sounds very sketchy.

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beachbum

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by beachbum » Fri May 20, 2011 9:46 am

First, having several ED applications out at the same time is terrible advice. Don't do it.

Second, ED doesn't necessarily exclude you from scholarship consideration. I'm an ED applicant who received a scholarship, and I can think of several others who applied ED this cycle who also received some cash. But yes, if you're hoping to compare offers/negotiate scholarships, then ED is not for you.

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Gideon Strumpet

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by Gideon Strumpet » Fri May 20, 2011 11:06 am

sanetruth wrote:I have never heard of anyone applying ED to multiple schools concurrently. I guess it makes sense...you just withdraw your ED app from whatever school(s) that don't accept you first. But aren't there rules about this? It's also extremely risky. What if School A accepts you ED on one day and School B accepts you ED the next morning, before you have time to withdraw?
Read the agreement. If it says "I agree not to apply to a binding acceptance program at any other school," then obviously don't do it. Most of them just say you make a binding agreement to attend if they accept you, and upon acceptance you will withdraw from all other schools. If school A accepts you on day one and school B accepts you on day two, obviously school A gets you; there's nothing hard about a first-in-time rule.

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by Mike12188 » Fri May 20, 2011 12:19 pm

Gideon Strumpet wrote:
sanetruth wrote:I have never heard of anyone applying ED to multiple schools concurrently. I guess it makes sense...you just withdraw your ED app from whatever school(s) that don't accept you first. But aren't there rules about this? It's also extremely risky. What if School A accepts you ED on one day and School B accepts you ED the next morning, before you have time to withdraw?
Read the agreement. If it says "I agree not to apply to a binding acceptance program at any other school," then obviously don't do it. Most of them just say you make a binding agreement to attend if they accept you, and upon acceptance you will withdraw from all other schools. If school A accepts you on day one and school B accepts you on day two, obviously school A gets you; there's nothing hard about a first-in-time rule.
The only problem is, School B would flip shit if they accepted you and you responded "oh nevermind I got ED somewhere else." This is not a good plan, and I suggest no one do this. Multiple ED apps in the same cycle is acceptable if you do it right. This is the wrong way.

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by Gideon Strumpet » Fri May 20, 2011 12:23 pm

Mike12188 wrote:The only problem is, School B would flip shit if they accepted you and you responded "oh nevermind I got ED somewhere else." This is not a good plan, and I suggest no one do this. Multiple ED apps in the same cycle is acceptable if you do it right. This is the wrong way.
Calm down. I never said anyone "should do this." The original question was "does ED mean you have to withdraw everywhere else before they even accept you?" The answer is no, it does not mean that.

Just read the agreements you sign, know the rules, and don't break them.

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Mike12188

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by Mike12188 » Fri May 20, 2011 12:33 pm

Gideon Strumpet wrote:
Mike12188 wrote:The only problem is, School B would flip shit if they accepted you and you responded "oh nevermind I got ED somewhere else." This is not a good plan, and I suggest no one do this. Multiple ED apps in the same cycle is acceptable if you do it right. This is the wrong way.
Calm down. I never said anyone "should do this." The original question was "does ED mean you have to withdraw everywhere else before they even accept you?" The answer is no, it does not mean that.

Just read the agreements you sign, know the rules, and don't break them.
But, you gave an example of breaking the rules. If schools see that contract and make a decision at the same time you're fucked. You broke the rules.

So the REAL answer to the question is, No you don't have to withdraw everywhere else before they even accept you, you can have multiple RD apps out and ONE ED app out at a time.

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Gideon Strumpet

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by Gideon Strumpet » Fri May 20, 2011 12:35 pm

Mike12188 wrote:But, you gave an example of breaking the rules. If schools see that contract and make a decision at the same time you're fucked. You broke the rules.
No. It breaks the rules if it breaks the rules. Read the rules. Don't break them.

Also, as a practical matter, ED programs typically have discreet, hard dates for when they make decisions. You're not going to be surprised by one that comes out of nowhere down the line. On the ED date you typically get ED or you get rolled into the regular pool, so you are not going to have a race to accept people unless the dates fall on the same day.

If the agreement says you agree not to apply to any other binding acceptance programs, then don't do that.

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by Mike12188 » Fri May 20, 2011 12:40 pm

Ok smart guy, School A accepts you ED by status checker 11/18. You email School B and ask to switch to RD, they say too late decision is in the mail. School B accepts you by Regular mail 11/19, but the letter is dated 11/16. Who's at fault here? Did you break the rules?

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by Gideon Strumpet » Fri May 20, 2011 12:42 pm

Mike12188 wrote: . . .
Read the agreements you sign. Know the rules. Don't break them. They're not going to make this hard to figure out; the agreements say exactly what you agree and commit to do or not to do (they are, after all, written by law schools). If they tell you not to apply to any other binding program, don't do that.

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Mike12188

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Re: Worst Cycle of the Year

Post by Mike12188 » Fri May 20, 2011 12:50 pm

Gideon Strumpet wrote:
Mike12188 wrote: . . .
Read the agreements you sign. Know the rules. Don't break them. They're not going to make this hard to figure out; the agreements say exactly what you agree and commit to do or not to do (they are, after all, written by law schools). If they tell you not to apply to any other binding program, don't do that.
That was def. not edit worthy.

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