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Academic Articles

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 12:46 am
by Fiddler
Hi there,

I'm currently working out my courses and ECs for next year and had a quick question...

Assuming I had good numbers... if I were to get a professional academic article or two published or presented at a conference, how much would that help me with law school?

Would it be a game changer, or just a standard soft?

Thanks,

Re: Academic Articles

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 10:23 am
by BriaTharen
Fiddler wrote:Hi there,

I'm currently working out my courses and ECs for next year and had a quick question...

Assuming I had good numbers... if I were to get a professional academic article or two published or presented at a conference, how much would that help me with law school?

Would it be a game changer, or just a standard soft?

Thanks,
It would be just another soft, but a better soft than something like a miscellaneous honors organization.

Re: Academic Articles

Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 5:12 pm
by r6_philly
So you think it's better than EC activities?

I spent all my extra time either working, at home with family, or doing extra academic things. I didn't get involved in any campus orgs but now I have 1 paper that I will present at a national conference this summer and 1 other submission that I am waiting on. Would that look better than if I spend time with a campus org?

I am going to volunteer as advisors to some orgs this fall as a grad student but that's pass UG level I don't know if it counts much?

Re: Academic Articles

Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 5:32 pm
by sumus romani
Hi, I applied this cycle. I have a few articles published in the leading journals of my field of research as determined by current scholars and lots of national and a few international presentations (not in law, obviously). I have a strong LSAT and not so great undergrad grades. I did get admitted above my numbers into some programs, but my guess is that my publications didn't really help. Rather, my years out of undergrad diminished the role of undergrad GPA, plus my LSAT was above median pretty much everywhere. It is hard to say, but I suspect that my presentations and publications were a non-factor.

Re: Academic Articles

Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 5:36 pm
by r6_philly
sumus romani wrote:Hi, I applied this cycle. I have a few articles published in the leading journals of my field of research as determined by current scholars and lots of national and a few international presentations (not in law, obviously). I have a strong LSAT and not so great undergrad grades. I did get admitted above my numbers into some programs, but my guess is that my publications didn't really help. Rather, my years out of undergrad diminished the role of undergrad GPA, plus my LSAT was above median pretty much everywhere. It is hard to say, but I suspect that my presentations and publications were a non-factor.
What range of schools? I wonder if research and scholarly activities are favored by the T14, or even T6 more than the lower ranked schools.

Re: Academic Articles

Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 5:44 pm
by sumus romani
r6_philly wrote:
sumus romani wrote:Hi, I applied this cycle. I have a few articles published in the leading journals of my field of research as determined by current scholars and lots of national and a few international presentations (not in law, obviously). I have a strong LSAT and not so great undergrad grades. I did get admitted above my numbers into some programs, but my guess is that my publications didn't really help. Rather, my years out of undergrad diminished the role of undergrad GPA, plus my LSAT was above median pretty much everywhere. It is hard to say, but I suspect that my presentations and publications were a non-factor.
What range of schools? I wonder if research and scholarly activities are favored by the T14, or even T6 more than the lower ranked schools.
You could be right. I applied in the T14, Stanford on down, plus a regional as a safety. I actually don't know about outside the T14 because I haven't really searched schools outside it.