Vincent Vega wrote:autoding wrote:mhernton wrote:
2.2/155 admit here, must be a lot of pissed off people...
Ok so you're 11 years out of ug with a masters, you're a combat veteran, and an URM.
Congratulations on the acceptance but thats a little different situation than a normal 2.2/155 so I don't really see the point of just posting "2.2/155 admit here", its not comparable.
I think this every time I see him posting about his "unlikely" admission to W&M. I was happy for him at first, but let it rest already - you had just about every soft that anyone could wish for.
I'll let it rest just as soon as people stop assuming that I got in 'just because' I'm an AA Male. There are URMs on the WL with better numbers that didn't get in. It bothers me to see people that have as much experience with the application process and adcoms as every other layman giving advice to people about where they should apply to school based on some contrived notion that the LSAT/GPA combination is the end all be all. It is also irritating for me and people like me, you know with horrible numbers, to read posts from people that feel they are entitled to something because they have a LSAT score and GPA that fall within the numbers. As for the rest of my softs -
-only 9 years out of undergrad
-Abused kid who left home at 17 to join the Marines
-earn the opportunity for a commission at the US Naval Academy
-3 knee surgeries while at the Academy
-a funeral every year I was there
-Mother and Aunt had Cancer while I was there (mother survived, aunt died 6 months after graduation)
-Volunteered at the Pediatric Oncology Ward at Johns Hopkins University Hospital 3 years
-Stationed in Japan for two years as a Navy Officer
-Combat Tour in Iraq with the Marines
-MBA from UCSD 2006 -2008
-Consulted on two Tech Start-ups
-Worked Full time as a Financial Advisor from 2007 - 2008
-Leadership positions within the MBA class
-Defense Consultant
-mentoring inner city youth
-Recalled to Active duty
-trained 40+sailors for Force Protection & anti-piracy mission in the Horn of Africa and middle east
-Deployed to Kuwait and took the LSAT while in the middle of operations, and applied to Law School from over there
-Entrepreneur
Those are the highlights, but the softs are somewhat less important than conveying what W&M wants in a candidate. William & Mary Law School is after candidates that are interested in serving others. That is what I conveyed in my application. My Personal Statement didn't focus on my softs, it talked about my failures. A kid that got kicked out of the Marines because I couldn't push him hard enough to get legal counsel. He trusted me, but I wasn't an attorney and he refused to trust anyone else. It talked about one of the Start-ups that failed because I didn't have enough of a legal education to push my friend and client to get promises in writing that obligated other parties instead of just trusting hand shakes and agreements. He lost close to 200K in that deal and the opportunity to make millions because he didn't have legal counsel. The optional essay talked about the thing I was most proud of, which was sending a young Ecuadorian immigrant from my ship in Japan to the US Naval Academy and watching him graduate with the class of 2009.
Of course this is all conjecture, I wasn't on the Adcom. I could have been the first AA male to apply and just got lucky...
