Chances Forum

[chickentikka]

Thanks everyone

[Jchance]

some money some other place

[arklaw13]

I think it would be pretty dumb not to reapply next year. Half-urm = urm. You'll get decent money somewhere if you apply earlier.

[teampeeta]

Hey guys, I'm half AA and am all maxed out on LSAT attempts. I have two years of work experience in I banking (~1 year) and teaching LSAT (1 year). I went to a top 10 undergrad.

I applied in late January and my cycle has been a disaster. I'm still young, but the thought of waiting another year is kind of a bummer, especially because I'm not sure that I'll fare much better next year. So my question is, assuming that I get into Columbia (unlikely at this point), should I go to school (likely paying sticker) OR reapply next year in hopes of a H (unlikely again) or some money some other place (is it worth reapplying for this alone? am I likely to get anything?)

I have been

Waitlisted
Chicago
NYU
Penn
Berkeley
Duke

Rejected
Yale
Harvard

Held
Columbia

Don't Know (but 99% sure rejected)
Stanford

I am sorry your cycle has not turned out the way you'd hoped. I feel like I underperformed my numbers too. I would suggest withdrawing and reapplying in September/October. Maybe get a new rec letter or two and rewrite your personal statement? With numbers like yours, you should have lots of top-10 acceptances and probably one or more of HYS. I think you're selling yourself short if you don't try again.

[muskies970]

Can you explain the half URM? Did you check URM box or not?

[chickentikka]

Yeah my mom was an African refugee. And I did check AA, which is how I identify. I also click south asian

[hichvichwoh]

Yeah my mom was an African refugee. And I did check AA, which is how I identify. I also click south asian

did you phone in your personal statement or do you have a criminal record or something? Your cycle makes no sense for an AA with 173

[PrideandGlory1776]

You have a full-ride at any school of your choice if you have a normal application given AA URM and 173 - unless there was something catastrophically wrong with your application or personal criminal history reapply next year and enjoy the Hamilton or Ruby

[Brettanomyces]

Yeah, if you can take a year off, do it.

I've also underperformed my numbers after applying late, and now I'm leaning toward waiting a cycle.

edit: typo

[aboutmydaylight]

There's been a lot of weird URM cycles this year (mine included). Ride out the waitlists.

[jbagelboy]

Yeah my mom was an African refugee. And I did check AA, which is how I identify. I also click south asian

did you phone in your personal statement or do you have a criminal record or something? Your cycle makes no sense for an AA with 173

People are overestimating the strength of a URM splitter; data is too weak to draw any conclusions, but admission chances at YHSCC aren't particularly strong. That being said, 173 is a great score and it should have worked a little more magic here.

Also, OP may not be african american, strictly speaking. As the child of a refugee, he/she isn't a member of the under-represented class of historically disenfranchised black americans at whose legacy remedial affirmative action programs are targeted. Terrific diversity material, but not sure what impact that nuance may have, if any.

Sticker at columbia is ouch unless you have alternative means of financing your education. Reapplying seems necessary but results are tough to predict. If you see definite areas in your application that warrant improvement, would be worth giving it another go around.

[chickentikka]

.

[chickentikka]

.

[arklaw13]

I also quit americorps so maybe that made me look bad

Describe

[A. Nony Mouse]

Also, OP may not be african american, strictly speaking. As the child of a refugee, he/she isn't a member of the under-represented class of historically disenfranchised black americans at whose legacy remedial affirmative action programs are targeted. Terrific diversity material, but not sure what impact that nuance may have, if any.

Certainly not an expert on this, but I've seen international black applicants post here that (based on their cycles) they received the same URM bump as African-Americans. The consensus seems to be that if you're black, you're black. Admittedly it's kind of hard to get any hard data to verify that.

[jbagelboy]

Yeah my mom was an African refugee. And I did check AA, which is how I identify. I also click south asian

did you phone in your personal statement or do you have a criminal record or something? Your cycle makes no sense for an AA with 173

People are overestimating the strength of a URM splitter; data is too weak to draw any conclusions, but admission chances at YHSCC aren't particularly strong. That being said, 173 is a great score and it should have worked a little more magic here.

Also, OP may not be african american, strictly speaking. As the child of a refugee, he/she isn't a member of the under-represented class of historically disenfranchised black americans at whose legacy remedial affirmative action programs are targeted. Terrific diversity material, but not sure what impact that nuance may have, if any.

Sticker at columbia is ouch unless you have alternative means of financing your education. Reapplying seems necessary but results are tough to predict. If you see definite areas in your application that warrant improvement, would be worth giving it another go around.

I'm def AA (my mom is black)

Right - I know, I read what you posted. But black =/= African-American, which was my point. Entire nations of individuals who are not Americans are black.

Regardless, consensus seems to be that you should get the same boost as more traditional AA's. Good luck with CLS & SLS - reapplying early next cycle with a revised application will hopefully do the trick at many of these schools.

[Iroh]

As others have said, it's been a weird cycle for many URMs, particularly for splitters. My cycle has gone pretty much the opposite of how I thought it would. Accepted to a school I thought I had zero chance at, but waitlisted at schools I thought I had a strong chance at. I have no idea why this happened. I don't think yield protect really explains it. All I know is that it contradicts much of conventional wisdom.

I think what people lose sight of is that just because so many people on TLS history have had seemingly predictable cycles doesn't mean that cycles are easily predictable, especially for splitter-URMS. Will you have a much better cycle next year? It's hard to tell. I think Harvard is pretty much out. I've heard that they have a 3.5 floor for URMs, and while I'm sure it's possible to get past that you'd likely need to be a pretty compelling candidate. I'm not sure what will happen everywhere else. Applying in late January is obviously not ideal but it seems odd that it would negatively impact your cycle to such an alarming extent. Spivey and Buttenbaum seem to think it shouldn't hurt URMs at all.

I think before you go through the trouble of re-submitting your applications, which will cost you a fair bit of cash (assuming you're not getting need-based aid waivers), you should have your app examined by a professional admissions consultant. Normally I wouldn't suggest it, but after having such a lousy cycle it might be worth it to have it looked over with a fine-toothed comb before submitting yourself to more potential disappointment.

[Brettanomyces]

[

Right - I know, I read what you posted. But black =/= African-American, which was my point. Entire nations of individuals who are not Americans are black.

Regardless, consensus seems to be that you should get the same boost as more traditional AA's. Good luck with CLS & SLS - reapplying early next cycle with a revised application will hopefully do the trick at many of these schools.

Hmmm. I mean, Obama's African-American, right?

[arklaw13]

law school gets to report him/her as AA on their ABA report. I doubt they care much beyond that.

Back to quitting Americorps. Is this like a big deal or not? I don't know much about the process.

[FuturePanhandler]

Yeah my mom was an African refugee. And I did check AA, which is how I identify. I also click south asian

did you phone in your personal statement or do you have a criminal record or something? Your cycle makes no sense for an AA with 173

People are overestimating the strength of a URM splitter; data is too weak to draw any conclusions, but admission chances at YHSCC aren't particularly strong. That being said, 173 is a great score and it should have worked a little more magic here.

Also, OP may not be african american, strictly speaking. As the child of a refugee, he/she isn't a member of the under-represented class of historically disenfranchised black americans at whose legacy remedial affirmative action programs are targeted. Terrific diversity material, but not sure what impact that nuance may have, if any.


Sticker at columbia is ouch unless you have alternative means of financing your education. Reapplying seems necessary but results are tough to predict. If you see definite areas in your application that warrant improvement, would be worth giving it another go around.

The irony is that the descendants of those who came to America and were enslaved and disenfranchised are certainly better off, on average, than the descendants of those remaining in Africa. I bet if you asked the OP's mother if she thinks black people are better off in America or Africa, she'd say America.

[SplitMyPants]

I'd say reapply. As a fellow splitter with a very different cycle, I feel applying in late January hurt you. I'm 175/3.46, non-URM. I saw $$ at Duke and was in at Columbia/NYU with $. I can't see 2 points alone making that big of a difference, especially given that you're URM, which is why I feel you should reapply in September. I bet you see quite a bit of $$. I'll PM you my LSN.

[SemiReverseSplinter]

All around, I think this has definitely been an odd cycle for splitters, reverse-splitters, and other unique types. I got waitlisted and rejected across the board from t14 even with my above average numbers at many of them. For some reason, more than years past, applying late might have been a killer. Though I don't know why.

[Crowing]

Damn dude; that would be a seriously underperformed cycle even for a non-URM with those numbers. I would definitely try to figure out what red flag(s) your app is raising, and reapply while also applying more broadly.

[chickentikka]

Thanks guys

[francesfarmer]

I would say don't even ride those WLs. Rewrite your PS and reapply for $$. Maybe have a consultant look at your materials. You're seriously underperforming (we're almost numbers twins and I'm not a URM).