Harvard 2010! Forum

[fmehrabi]

I was thinking along the same lines. I'm pretty sure I can make the jump for the June test (I'm hitting 170 as it is now) and I'll apply early. I'm just really lost as what to do to boost my chances for next year other than the LSAT score.

[NightHooded]

You can apply to *transfer* to Harvard your first year, but you can't apply for regular admission if you are attending another law school. Your ability to transfer (especially to a place like Harvard) means you need to be near the top of your class,

What if he gets into Yale or Stanford? Or CCN? I'm assuming he would not need to be at the very top of the class, just in the top third or so?

[swampthang]

My thoughts:

just got dinged. not even a jr1. my lsat was low, but i had the gpa and good work experience. and, not to brag, a pretty kickass PS and stellar recs.

From what they've told me, my professors sent in really good recommendations.

Just as general commentary, seems like everybody thinks they have good activities/WE/PS/recs. There's some truth to that since we're all competitive applicants at top schools, but not worth much comparatively within that pool. I could probably count on one hand the number of people who have disparaged their statements or wondered about their recs. Everybody's putting together a strong, competitive application, and unless we're the AdComm and can actually see and compare these factors, it's kind of meaningless to assume ours are that great and unique. That said, I do understand the motivation to be perserve anonymity and be scant on details (hence my profile reference to "unique" WE w/o further detail), but I sort of feel like Mr. Bingley when he remarked, "I never heard a young lady spoken of for the first time, without being informed that she was very accomplished."

An unsurprising ding for me - too many strong non-trads this year.

That does certainly seem to be the case. I blame the economy. Also interesting that much like URMs, NTs seem to have a pretty long cycle. It feels like a large number of the pending and WL candidates are NTs. Interesting to see how that plays out.

Also, Harvard did not ask for a diversity statement, but I think I should have sent one to them anyway. I am not URM but come from a mixed ethnic heritage and if nothing else, it makes for a good story and a good essay.

Absolutely. I'm a white male, but I wrote a DS about a comparatively obscure aspect of my background. As Loretta DeLoggio says, it's just a matter of giving the AdComm the best opportunity to get to know you, and an extra statement gives them more time to become acquainted with you.

Just some thoughts. Best of luck to all as the cycle draws to a close!

[Peter N]

Sorry to hear about the latest round of dings, guys. Wow, these past 2-3 weeks has been a bloodbath for HLS hopefuls.

I would've thought that we'd see some serious "movement" (ie. JR2s/some JR1s/slew of dings/JR2s off WL/etc) after May 1st, given that May 1 is the seat deposit deadline date. Guess the "movement" has already started.

Anyway, I'm really sad to see that some of the most interesting posters here on TLS's HLS threads (with strong #'s no less) were either dinged (eg. BioEBear, etc) or have opted not to go to HLS after all (a la crackberry, tomhobbes, et al).

too many strong non-trads this year.

+1

Agreed.

My cycle is almost over. Just waiting to hear from Northwestern regarding a dual degree program.

NW's 3-year JD/MBA?

If so, this is a Catch 22. If you have taken the LSAT, your score gets reported vis LSDAS. If you didn't, and took the GMAT and you did well on the GMAT, you have a good shot. Oh, also, you best have some stellar WE for this applicant pool. Good luck, either way.

[swampthang]

I would've thought that we'd see some serious "movement" (ie. JR2s/some JR1s/slew of dings/JR2s off WL/etc) after May 1st, given that May 1 is the seat deposit deadline date. Guess the "movement" has already started.

Can you clarify this? I actually feel like the past few days have been rather stagnant as compared tor the rapidfire dings issued the past few weeks. And to my knowledge, there's been no "movement" off the WL, nor would I expect there to be any till mid- to late May.

[Peter N]

I would've thought that we'd see some serious "movement" (ie. JR2s/some JR1s/slew of dings/JR2s off WL/etc) after May 1st, given that May 1 is the seat deposit deadline date. Guess the "movement" has already started.

Can you clarify this? I actually feel like the past few days have been rather stagnant as compared tor the rapidfire dings issued the past few weeks. And to my knowledge, there's been no "movement" off the WL, nor would I expect there to be any till mid- to late May.

Sorry. My bad. You're right. (I've had a very long day at work... and I'm tired as heck).

Yep, that's what I meant. ie: I would've expected that the slew of dings/JR1s/JR2s/WL pile/etc. would've kick-started after HLS had some idea as to how many students would 'commit', from the initial offers that were sent out (by ~2nd or 3rd week of May), given that May 1st is the seat deposit deadline day. I'm guessing (read: my uninformed opinion) that the dings that have gone out to date are sure-fire dings (ie. not worthy of any further consideration).

WLs, IMHO, should be taken with a grain of salt. Despite what the "WL e-mail says" (oh so eloquently!), the chances of getting accepted from the WL might be slim to none, but it has happened before (per the HLS admissions blog). HLS has admitted people who were not even on the W/L when the incoming class was almost full, so I wouldn't rule anything out just yet.

If you're still in the running, good luck!! Anything and everything is possible.

[clintonius]

You can apply to *transfer* to Harvard your first year, but you can't apply for regular admission if you are attending another law school. Your ability to transfer (especially to a place like Harvard) means you need to be near the top of your class,

What if he gets into Yale or Stanford? Or CCN? I'm assuming he would not need to be at the very top of the class, just in the top third or so?

You mean, if s/he got into one of those this year? It seems that's also highly unlikely given the LSAT. I don't know much at all about transferring and wouldn't feel comfortable commenting one way or the other on the chances of going to Harvard from one of those.

[big_blue79]

Still standing. Put in my seat deposit at NYU and will happily attend, but I would still take HLS. Just waiting for my ding, though. Also, yet another non-traditional with great (if unrelated to law) softs here

[biglll]

Guys forgive my stupidity--when you say non-traditional what do you mean? G/L?

[Unitas]

Guys forgive my stupidity--when you say non-traditional what do you mean? G/L?

Non-Trad is generally older with W/E, been out of school a while, and/or have a family or something along those lines. Some people treat it differently, like I consider myself non-trad, but I took off time in the middle of UG not after I graduated.

[biglll]

Guys forgive my stupidity--when you say non-traditional what do you mean? G/L?

Non-Trad is generally older with W/E, been out of school a while, and/or have a family or something along those lines. Some people treat it differently, like I consider myself non-trad, but I took off time in the middle of UG not after I graduated.

O thanks, gotcha. And when you say "self-selected non-trad"? Btw, I am an international, have family and kids, worked in several places..but I have never seen in any app form a box asking: "am I a traditional applicant?"

[Unitas]

Guys forgive my stupidity--when you say non-traditional what do you mean? G/L?

Non-Trad is generally older with W/E, been out of school a while, and/or have a family or something along those lines. Some people treat it differently, like I consider myself non-trad, but I took off time in the middle of UG not after I graduated.

O thanks, gotcha. And when you say "self-selected non-trad"? Btw, I am an international, have family and kids, worked in several places..but I have never seen in any app form a box asking: "am I a traditional applicant?"

I said different people consider it differently. I consider myself non-trad (most would), but some would not - mainly because I took time off during UG and not after.

Non-trad will come across in your writings (PS, Resume, etc) and doesn't need a box to check.

It sounds like you would be non-trad and international.

[biglll]

Guys forgive my stupidity--when you say non-traditional what do you mean? G/L?

Non-Trad is generally older with W/E, been out of school a while, and/or have a family or something along those lines. Some people treat it differently, like I consider myself non-trad, but I took off time in the middle of UG not after I graduated.

O thanks, gotcha. And when you say "self-selected non-trad"? Btw, I am an international, have family and kids, worked in several places..but I have never seen in any app form a box asking: "am I a traditional applicant?"

I said different people consider it differently. I consider myself non-trad (most would), but some would not - mainly because I took time off during UG and not after.

Non-trad will come across in your writings (PS, Resume, etc) and doesn't need a box to check.

It sounds like you would be non-trad and international.

Wow, thanks!
Just was coming across so many profiles on LSN with the phrase "self-selected non-trad" and wondering what may it mean. Realistically, it means just: "had smth to do out of college and wrote PS/DS about it."

[MeredithGrey]

Still standing after another round of rejections. The fact that every decision on LSN since 4/21 has been a rejection, and the last outright acceptance was 4/6 doesnt look promising for us
But until we hear the official news, there is always hope!

[BaiAilian2013]

Blergh, waitlisted via e-mail. 3.79/180, complete 10/22, held 1/8. Will be withdrawing. Good luck guys!

Edit: 11/6 JR1.

[clintonius]

Also waitlisted this morning with 172/3.8. Applied 1/25, no hold, no JR1. Can't bring myself to withdraw just yet.

[hannah87]

Also waitlisted this morning with 172/3.8. Applied 1/25, no hold, no JR1. Can't bring myself to withdraw just yet.

good luck, clintonius!

[eachdaythewiser]

Blergh, waitlisted via e-mail. 3.79/180, complete 10/22, held 1/8. Will be withdrawing. Good luck guys!

Edit: 11/6 JR1.

Ahh! You're the dubbed cute girl from $1.99's thread!

You scores are amazing. Withdrawing from Harvard? Where did you settle on, and do you have a LSN's account?

Any advice related to your 180? I ask every 180 to gather what I can.

[clintonius]

Also waitlisted this morning with 172/3.8. Applied 1/25, no hold, no JR1. Can't bring myself to withdraw just yet.

good luck, clintonius!

Thanks! I'll be riding it out, at least for now.

[r6_philly]

Also waitlisted this morning with 172/3.8. Applied 1/25, no hold, no JR1. Can't bring myself to withdraw just yet.

good luck, clintonius!

Thanks! I'll be riding it out, at least for now.

Yes, good luck!

I still got nothing.

[MeredithGrey]

I still got nothing.

Ditto. Any day r6. Given our late complete dates, I would guess today or tomorrow.

By the way, I noticed on LSN that you have a lot of notable waitlistss: Penn, Duke, Columbia, etc. Some of them you withdrew from as soon as you got the waitlist email. If you rode out all your waitlists, I think you may have gotten in to one of these very respectable schools. Is it Harvard or bust for you?

[$1.99]

Blergh, waitlisted via e-mail. 3.79/180, complete 10/22, held 1/8. Will be withdrawing. Good luck guys!

Edit: 11/6 JR1.

Ahh! You're the dubbed cute girl from $1.99's thread!

You scores are amazing. Withdrawing from Harvard? Where did you settle on, and do you have a LSN's account?

Any advice related to your 180? I ask every 180 to gather what I can.

lol shes going to NYU

[r6_philly]

I still got nothing.

Ditto. Any day r6. Given our late complete dates, I would guess today or tomorrow.

By the way, I noticed on LSN that you have a lot of notable waitlistss: Penn, Duke, Columbia, etc. Some of them you withdrew from as soon as you got the waitlist email. If you rode out all your waitlists, I think you may have gotten in to one of these very respectable schools. Is it Harvard or bust for you?

I have family issues that won't allow me to just get up and go so I prefer to reapply over waitlist. I would ride the H WL if I get on though, not H or bust, but can't say no to a chance at H. For other schools I don't want to dissappoint myself and the school if I get an offer in June then can't attend. I figure it's better to withdraw then reapply than WL->acceptance-withdraw then reapply. I am really grateful that I haven't been rejected anywhere other than Yale, so I feel good reapplying.

[CoaltoNewCastle]

Blergh, waitlisted via e-mail. 3.79/180, complete 10/22, held 1/8. Will be withdrawing. Good luck guys!

Edit: 11/6 JR1.

Sorry, Bai. This is a crappy year for people with our numbers applying to Harvard. Thank you for withdrawing though and have a great time in New York!

[weee]

I wonder if they are really pushing to finish by tomorrow, or if they just figure we'll wait either way. I for one will wait either way.