What should I emphasize? Forum

[vanwinkle]

I don't pretend to have a handle on how the country feels about gays, but this is definitely a much MUCH more tolerant country than some others that spring to mind. Trust me on that one.

I agree with you on this point. However, being gay in this country can still lead to enough negative experiences that it's worth discussing from an "overcoming adversity" standpoint.

His #3 still wins out over all else. He came through all that with a gpa near 4.0.

I agree with this also, at least on the basis of what was shared so far. #3 is incredibly unique. #1 and 2 might be worth discussing if they can be part of the narrative, though.

[YCrevolution]

..

[ehaller]

I see what y'all mean about the "gay" card being played. In my experience, there are boatloads of gay lawyers. I'll work it in as a quick aside somewhere.

I think I will work on topic #3 then. My goal for the past five years has been to get into Yale Law, so that's what I'm shooting for. I spent ten weeks there last summer and it was amazing. Living in a castle is the life for me.

Now I'd better get back to making the LSAT my b*tch. My fiance had a 1580 on the SAT and got a 168 on his first LSAT diagnostic, so I have some healthy competition at home.

[ehaller]

I'd say that #3 is the most appealing on the basis of getting adcomm attention. I feel that it could also be risky though.

How do you think it could be risky?

[legalized]

[quote="ehaller"I just graduated with a BA in English Writing and Rhetoric, and I'm taking the October LSAT and applying for schools shortly thereafter. I don't have my LSAT scores yet, but I was a 158 on my diagnostic. I'm going to study with a local prep guy from late June until October, treating it like my 9-5 job. I have a fairly odd history, though, and I was wondering which parts I should emphasize on my apps.

Here are the different things I think I have to work with:

1) I'm gay.

2) I've got a few drops of Mexican blood in me. But it's light-skinned Mexican and I can barely say I tan well.

3) My mother is schizophrenic, and she pulled me out of school in 5th grade to live far up in the mountains where she thought the neo-Nazis she feared wouldn't be able to get us. I spent a few years only talking to 2-3 people, with months of solitude in between. I got my GED and hadn't been in school for eight years when I went to college. I still swung a 3.91 by the time I graduated.

4) I'm a big believer in small government. Because of this, I am very interested in constitutional law, particularly originalism. I think that might be somewhat rare for people who are 1, 2, and 3.

What do you think I should prioritize?

#3 by FARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

#2 can be mentioned in passing in the buildup story of #3. Like, a few words in a sentence. Is the Mexican from mother or (apparently absent?) father?

#1 I don't see why people feel the need to mention their sex life. Is sex life no longer a private matter between the two people involved in it?

#4 How does this translate into how the school you are applying to will fit into your career aspirations? What exactly are your career aspirations?

This may come as a shock to you, but gays actually do think about things other than sex and do things other than sex. And society clearly worries about it a lot.

What does your revelation have to do with my question?

Mentioning gay just to mention that you're gay is pointless. Where is the unique individual aspect in that by itself? If there is some hurdles faced personally and overcome due to that status or hurdles observed out there that you plan to fight using your law degree, fine, but he didn't say that. He said "I'm gay." If he plans on going into corporate law or doing anything besides fighting bias against gays in the law...then being gay remains simply his private life and I don't see the need to address private life except as it relates to your legal aspirations. Not everyone who is gay had some terrible injustice done to them, not every gay wants to get married or adopt/grow children, etc. And if they are focusing on some other aspect of their lives that is tied into their legal career dreams, that still means there is no relevance in mentioning their sex life, now is there? The only difference between a gay person and a straight person is not all the other things they do with their lives but what gender they have sex with. Unless you're telling me that gay people have some cranial difference I am unaware of?

Because gays do and think other things besides same sex relations, is exactly why I asked the question. His #3 is relevant whether he is gay or not. Being gay by itself is not something whose emphasis brings something individual to the table.

Using this reasoning, you would have to say that anybody who says "I'm black... should I talk about it in my PS/DS?" shouldn't do so (unless they specifically plan on fighting bias against blacks), particularly since blacks do not have some "cranial difference." So what you're saying is:

Mentioning black just to mention that you're black is pointless. Where is the unique individual aspect in that by itself? If there is some hurdles faced personally and overcome due to that status or hurdles observed out there that you plan to fight using your law degree, fine, but he didn't say that. He said "I'm black." If he plans on going into corporate law or doing anything besides fighting bias against blacks in the law...then being black remains simply his private life and I don't see the need to address private life except as it relates to your legal aspirations. Not everyone who is black had some terrible injustice done to them, not every black wants to have equal footing with whites. And if they are focusing on some other aspect of their lives that is tied into their legal career dreams, that still means there is no relevance in mentioning their race, now is there? The only difference between a black person and a white person is not all the other things they do with their lives but what the color of their skin is. Unless you're telling me that black people have some cranial difference I am unaware of?

And for the record: You've already had a two-week ban in the past. In a more recent thread, you were clearly violating copyright law (and TLS rules) by posting an entire newspaper article. This constitutes a final warning.[/quote]

You know what, you have some personal issue with me that you need to just GET OUT IN THE OPEN and be done with it.

1. I spoke to Ken about your behaviour with that ridiculous and unnecessary ban and he agreed you were out of line, so don't try to bring that up in front of people in the tactless way you just did and think you can intimidate me with that.

2. The two week ban had zero to do with violating copyright law. I also did not post any article in HERE so what are you bringing that up in THIS thread for? You warned me in that thread after you changed my post and I did not argue with you, so what are you bringing that up HERE for and why was this NOT better served by bringing the notice in the thread to my attention via private message since it's not like I argued with you about it?

Or are you feeling to ban me everytime I disagree with you?

3. I don't believe I posted the whole article the first time ANYway, I clearly posted the source and I remember typing "MORE HERE" so that is not the whole article, and not plagiarism either since the source is clearly defined in the same post. But either way, I had not argued with you about it so I don't see why you are picking a fight in HERE about THAT!

4. Final warning about what since you have not shown me any violations of anything in this thread? I posted, you disagreed, I showed you my points in more detail, and so because I dare to answer you back you are bringing up bans and final warnings?

What is UP with your power tripping? You've been doing it with me since I got here and frankly I wonder if this mod thing hasn't gone to your head. I violated no rules in this thread so leave me alone, and I can't be final warned on something as if I have repeated the offense when I have only done it once and did not fight the first warning. Get over yourself.

[legalized]

I see what y'all mean about the "gay" card being played. In my experience, there are boatloads of gay lawyers.

I am glad you see the advice for the efforts to help you actually succeed with your essays that they actually are. I wish you all the best.

************************
And for the record, I don't believe in people mentioning they are black just to be mentioning it either. The applications and the LSDAS already allow them to find out if you are black or not. Black for black's sake is not a PS or DS piece I would want to read after reading thousands of pages...if it's got a spin to it RELATED directly to the applicant's decision to pursue a legal education, then obviously it's about more than "i'm black"...

I personally don't plan to mention race in my PS or DS, although my nationality might give it away but then again it might not as we have every race under the sun. That is not my strongest selling point, personally.

[legalized]

I don't pretend to have a handle on how the country feels about gays, but this is definitely a much MUCH more tolerant country than some others that spring to mind. Trust me on that one.

I agree with you on this point. However, being gay in this country can still lead to enough negative experiences that it's worth discussing from an "overcoming adversity" standpoint.

His #3 still wins out over all else. He came through all that with a gpa near 4.0.

I agree with this also, at least on the basis of what was shared so far. #3 is incredibly unique. #1 and 2 might be worth discussing if they can be part of the narrative, though.

I agree with your first par. if incorporated like you suggested in your last sentence. Not as standalone topics is all I was saying.

[ehaller]

I see what y'all mean about the "gay" card being played. In my experience, there are boatloads of gay lawyers.

I am glad you see the advice for the efforts to help you actually succeed with your essays that they actually are. I wish you all the best.

************************
And for the record, I don't believe in people mentioning they are black just to be mentioning it either. The applications and the LSDAS already allow them to find out if you are black or not. Black for black's sake is not a PS or DS piece I would want to read after reading thousands of pages...if it's got a spin to it RELATED directly to the applicant's decision to pursue a legal education, then obviously it's about more than "i'm black"...

I personally don't plan to mention race in my PS or DS, although my nationality might give it away but then again it might not as we have every race under the sun. That is not my strongest selling point, personally.

Yeah, I don't think about this URM stuff much in my daily life. Everything I've ever gotten, I've gotten on merit. It's always been about test scores, not skin color or orientation.

And as for AA, I view it as a force of nature. It's completely out of my control and will continue to be, so I don't even bother thinking about whether it is right or wrong. If a minority got in, they got in. That's all that matters. I don't know jack squat about how they got there, so it isn't (and never was) for me to judge. If schools want to know my ethnicity, I will tell them, and they can make what they will of it. Besides a three-hour test and some essays that I'll spend a few days editing, it's all out of my hands anyway.