URM 2013-2014 Cycle Thread Forum

[optimistic]

Congrats to everyone as well. I just got in a huge argument with my mom because I told her I was thinking about bowing out of this cycle and retaking the LSAT. Her reaction was pretty

She just doesn't get it.

I may do the same and take the December test. I am not completely sure as of yet. I really don't want to sit out another cycle but I might just do it. However, I am on the other side of the spectrum. I am trying to rush to go into school while my dad is all take your time law school will always be there.

Oh believe me. Apart of me wants to rush and just go to NYU and who cares if I get any money from them. Then another part is like, a few more points will do miracles for scholarships. It's a tough decision. I just need to meditate on it.

I hear you on that one. That is actually what I have been doing for the past few days. I've really been in deep thought myself the last couple of days.

Waiting until next cycle can be a great choice. I applied last year and things did not work out (low LSAT, rejections, and acceptance to a private school with no scholarship). It was a hard decision to make, and my family was not happy, but I'm so glad I did it. I retook the Feb LSAT, wrote a much better personal statement, and had more time to relax and prepare myself for the rigor of law school.

[ThePiedPiper]

Cheer up. At least y'all didn't get WL'ed at Georgetown like me

That sucks. Are you going to stay on it?

[MoMettaMonk]

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[logicspeaks]

Did anyone here get accepted into Harvard with multiple LSATs? How big was the point difference and how far apart were your scores?

[El Principe]

Cheer up. At least y'all didn't get WL'ed at Georgetown like me

That sucks. Are you going to stay on it?

Might as well. I don't have the deposit. However, my interest in them is deteriorating by the day, so I'm not sure if I'm even going to send them a LOCI. Same with NW. However, I already have one for Duke in case of waitlist.

Who knows, I might get accepted off of waitlist by June retake score alone.

[applelover]

Did anyone here get accepted into Harvard with multiple LSATs? How big was the point difference and how far apart were your scores?

I know someone. I can't remember what the first score was, but I think s/he went up 9+ points. Her/his second score was in the 99th percentile.

[El Principe]

Currently writing a Why Duke... gonna call and send it in tomorrow. I heard it worked for one guy who was pending, so might as well. I really wanna go there.

[femmefatale]

Held at Northwestern.
WL at UVA.

This makes me nervous for the rest of the T14.
I think I may start dusting off those LSAT Prep books.

[Futuregohan14]

So is anyone else freaking out about housing?? I will more than likely be living off-campus. If anyone else is looking at a similar situation how are you planning to pay your security deposit in addition to firsts/last month's rent if applicable?? Is it expected we pay out-of-pocket for this?? I doubt COL loans will be made available to us until the start of the school year. Should we be factoring this as an expense pre- law school?? If so,

From what I have been told from a white student ..."It really isnt the schools fault if you do not have the money. Yeah, you may be disadvantaged, but that is not the school's fault. If you cannot afford tuition deposits, housing and food...maybe you shouldnt be a lawyer. The whole profession is going to cost you money and this is just the start."

[Quan292]

Held at Northwestern.
WL at UVA.

This makes me nervous for the rest of the T14.
I think I may start dusting off those LSAT Prep books.

Don't let that worry you too much. From what i've seen UVA has been WL everyone and northwestern has been holding a lot of ppl too.

[El Principe]

I didn't even think about negotiating with Vanderbilt after UT gave me a better offer. I think it might be in my best interest to negotiate with them to get my COA matched with Texas'.

Also need to call and check if they're still doing flight reimbursements for their April 4th ASW. Anyone else here going to that?

[runinthefront]

.

[teampeeta]

Did anyone here get accepted into Harvard with multiple LSATs? How big was the point difference and how far apart were your scores?

I know someone. I can't remember what the first score was, but I think s/he went up 9+ points. Her/his second score was in the 99th percentile.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Monk got into HLS with multiple scores. I believe his high was in the 170s.

[El Principe]

I'm pretty sure Vanderbilt has a "no negotiation" policy but it never hurts to try! They are definitely still reimbursing flights and even if you contact them AFTER the ASW, I think they will still reimburse you up to $350.00. I just left their ASW this past weekend and it was awesome.

Oh okay, that's what I heard, but I wasn't sure if I was thinking of the right school. Well, that's a bummer. I really liked the things I heard about the environment, it essentially has the same stats as UT, and the real catch is the smaller class size.

[AAJD2B]

Good morning, everyone! Wishing you all a great St. Patty's day and week ahead!

So I assume most of us are coming down the wire in deciding where to attend. Outside of ranking reputations and financial aid are people also taking URM representation and the social environment for URMs into consideration ? By social environment I not only mean reception by students but also administration. I want to know what efforts a law school makes to address the dearth of URMs in their school, whether or not their career services research and ensure they provide us with resources regarding special diversity programs seeking 1L and 2L hiring and/or have events that tailor to minority recruiting with the help of alumni. I'm also interested to know if they put their money where their mouth is in supporting diversity through providing funds to host events specific to minority groups (ie do they lend financial support to host Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, etc.).

I've heard some things regarding schools in the T14 that are not as supportive as they claim. Minority students who attend these schools are stating differently. I personally refuse to once again attend a school for the sake of tokenism (I did it in undergad).

[EvMont]

Good morning, everyone! Wishing you all a great St. Patty's day and week ahead!

So I assume most of us are coming down the wire in deciding where to attend. Outside of ranking reputations and financial aid are people also taking URM representation and the social environment for URMs into consideration ? By social environment I not only mean reception by students but also administration. I want to know what efforts a law school makes to address the dearth of URMs in their school, whether or not their career services research and ensure they provide us with resources regarding special diversity programs seeking 1L and 2L hiring and/or have events that tailor to minority recruiting with the help of alumni. I'm also interested to know if they put their money where their mouth is in supporting diversity through providing funds to host events specific to minority groups (ie do they lend financial support to host Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, etc.).

I've heard some things regarding schools in the T14 that are not as supportive as they claim. Minority students who attend these schools are stating differently. I personally refuse to once again attend a school for the sake of tokenism (I did it in undergad).

Hmm...I have thought about this, but not to the extent is seems you have. Are there particular schools you've found don't fit the bill?

[AAJD2B]

Good morning, everyone! Wishing you all a great St. Patty's day and week ahead!

So I assume most of us are coming down the wire in deciding where to attend. Outside of ranking reputations and financial aid are people also taking URM representation and the social environment for URMs into consideration ? By social environment I not only mean reception by students but also administration. I want to know what efforts a law school makes to address the dearth of URMs in their school, whether or not their career services research and ensure they provide us with resources regarding special diversity programs seeking 1L and 2L hiring and/or have events that tailor to minority recruiting with the help of alumni. I'm also interested to know if they put their money where their mouth is in supporting diversity through providing funds to host events specific to minority groups (ie do they lend financial support to host Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, etc.).

I've heard some things regarding schools in the T14 that are not as supportive as they claim. Minority students who attend these schools are stating differently. I personally refuse to once again attend a school for the sake of tokenism (I did it in undergad).

Hmm...I have thought about this, but not to the extent is seems you have. Are there particular schools you've found don't fit the bill?

Yes, but these complaints not only came from black students but Asian students as well (at least for one of the schools).

[Ben Reilly]

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[BankruptMe]

Good morning, everyone! Wishing you all a great St. Patty's day and week ahead!

So I assume most of us are coming down the wire in deciding where to attend. Outside of ranking reputations and financial aid are people also taking URM representation and the social environment for URMs into consideration ? By social environment I not only mean reception by students but also administration. I want to know what efforts a law school makes to address the dearth of URMs in their school, whether or not their career services research and ensure they provide us with resources regarding special diversity programs seeking 1L and 2L hiring and/or have events that tailor to minority recruiting with the help of alumni. I'm also interested to know if they put their money where their mouth is in supporting diversity through providing funds to host events specific to minority groups (ie do they lend financial support to host Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, etc.).

I've heard some things regarding schools in the T14 that are not as supportive as they claim. Minority students who attend these schools are stating differently. I personally refuse to once again attend a school for the sake of tokenism (I did it in undergad).

Are there any law schools that ACTIVELY support diversity? I would assume that this whole "boost" thing occurs because they need URMs and are willing to throw money at them to attend just so they can say "Hey, we got us some URMs...look at us, we are diverse!"

I think tokenism exists throughout most law schools and a decent percentage of law firms too. Though not law, I read that investment banks hire AAs so that when they are doing business with a minority owned, minority heavy or minority conscious company that they can point to an analyst and say "LOOK we have one! And he is working on your case."

How are you (or others) looking to get around it? I have gotten so use to being a token it doesnt even really phase me anymore.

SN: When you are evaluating law schools, you should go and look up their ABA 509 Consumer information. It gives their admission info, but one thing they cite is how many Minority students they admit and how many exist at the school at all (breaks down each race and sex). I have found that most schools have less than 10% black. Just go to the search bar on the law school website and but in 509 and it will come up.

[mandyjay11]

Good morning, everyone! Wishing you all a great St. Patty's day and week ahead!

So I assume most of us are coming down the wire in deciding where to attend. Outside of ranking reputations and financial aid are people also taking URM representation and the social environment for URMs into consideration ? By social environment I not only mean reception by students but also administration. I want to know what efforts a law school makes to address the dearth of URMs in their school, whether or not their career services research and ensure they provide us with resources regarding special diversity programs seeking 1L and 2L hiring and/or have events that tailor to minority recruiting with the help of alumni. I'm also interested to know if they put their money where their mouth is in supporting diversity through providing funds to host events specific to minority groups (ie do they lend financial support to host Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, etc.).

I've heard some things regarding schools in the T14 that are not as supportive as they claim. Minority students who attend these schools are stating differently. I personally refuse to once again attend a school for the sake of tokenism (I did it in undergad).

Hmm...I have thought about this, but not to the extent is seems you have. Are there particular schools you've found don't fit the bill?

Yeah I have thought about this too. But then I realized that I will be at a firm that probably won't cater to me as a URM and I will be there for a much longer time.

I think some schools do all that they can with what they have. Also, a lot of it depends on demand. If one AA student wants a black history month celebration or something, they probably aren't going to do it. (Also, I don't think schools do Black history month as much as they celebrate their first black graduates with BLSA conferences and such.)

In the end, I think it's up to us to create the experience we want by letting the administration know what changes might be implemented to make minorities more comfortable, and trust, we will probably not be the first ones to bring it up.

[AAJD2B]

Good morning, everyone! Wishing you all a great St. Patty's day and week ahead!

So I assume most of us are coming down the wire in deciding where to attend. Outside of ranking reputations and financial aid are people also taking URM representation and the social environment for URMs into consideration ? By social environment I not only mean reception by students but also administration. I want to know what efforts a law school makes to address the dearth of URMs in their school, whether or not their career services research and ensure they provide us with resources regarding special diversity programs seeking 1L and 2L hiring and/or have events that tailor to minority recruiting with the help of alumni. I'm also interested to know if they put their money where their mouth is in supporting diversity through providing funds to host events specific to minority groups (ie do they lend financial support to host Hispanic Heritage Month, Black History Month, etc.).

I've heard some things regarding schools in the T14 that are not as supportive as they claim. Minority students who attend these schools are stating differently. I personally refuse to once again attend a school for the sake of tokenism (I did it in undergad).

Are there any law schools that ACTIVELY support diversity? I would assume that this whole "boost" thing occurs because they need URMs and are willing to throw money at them to attend just so they can say "Hey, we got us some URMs...look at us, we are diverse!"

I think tokenism exists throughout most law schools and a decent percentage of law firms too. Though not law, I read that investment banks hire AAs so that when they are doing business with a minority owned, minority heavy or minority conscious company that they can point to an analyst and say "LOOK we have one! And he is working on your case."

How are you (or others) looking to get around it? I have gotten so use to being a token it doesnt even really phase me anymore.

SN: When you are evaluating law schools, you should go and look up their ABA 509 Consumer information. It gives their admission info, but one thing they cite is how many Minority students they admit and how many exist at the school at all (breaks down each race and sex). I have found that most schools have less than 10% black. Just go to the search bar on the law school website and but in 509 and it will come up.

By tokenism I mean I refuse to attend a school that uses me for false appearance of inclusiveness but behind closed doors, it's a different story. If I am going to be your poster child, the least you can do is try to live up to your image. Most do not.

I hope to get around this idea of false appearance by conducting my due diligence before placing a seat deposit. I am speaking to not one or two students, but several (both genders)...I also plan to speak to career services when I visit the schools to ask how active they are to ensure minority students have access to career events and programs that seek minority hires ( there are several 1L diversity programs and scholarships available out there, many of which are not readily disclosed). I am also reaching out to minority faculty to ask of their experiences with administration and fellow faculty members. I refuse to idly sit by and "hope for the best, prepare for the worst".

I think it speaks volumes if students, faculty and staff are willing to engage you or respond to your inquiries. For some schools, I haven't heard one word. For others, they are reaching out.

Thanks for the ABA 509 heads up. Just looking at some of the numbers....dang.

[El Principe]

Speaking of all of this 509 talk, I just browsed the 509 data for my top 4 choices, and I'm not impressed. Vandy is the only one above 5% black, which sucks because they don't negotiate.

[luuma]

Got WL'ed at Northwestern...

[californiauser]

Got WL'ed at Northwestern... Alongside the WL letter were about 5 essay questions which you can do either video or written.. And if I did that I'd also have to submit a LOCI, and my kidney. Do you guys think this is worth it? 155 3.15 (3.42) URM, lots of professional experience and academic involvement.

Thanks!

I don't think NU is worth sticker (300k with accrued interest and tuition increases), which is what you're probably looking at if you get off the wait list

[mandyjay11]

Got WL'ed at Northwestern... Alongside the WL letter were about 5 essay questions which you can do either video or written.. And if I did that I'd also have to submit a LOCI, and my kidney. Do you guys think this is worth it? 155 3.15 (3.42) URM, lots of professional experience and academic involvement.

Thanks!

I don't think NU is worth sticker (300k with accrued interest and tuition increases), which is what you're probably looking at if you get off the wait list

+1... but congrats on being waitlisted with your stats!