169/3.4 - Some Transcript Issues Forum

[thatjuanguy]

So - I'm curious to get some feedback on what you all think are realistic prospects for my cycle this year-

Here are my stats:
LSAT: 169
GPA: 3.4
I'm half Mexican.
I have good softs, I will have 2 years WE as a teacher at a private school in FL by the time Fall 11 comes around.

The potential problem...

I have 9 W's on my Transcript, and while none are punitive, I think it might send off some warning bells to adcomms which makes me leery about my chances at the T14. 7 of the W's are explainable in that I had some extreme circumstances that occured during the respective semesters(1 semester was health related, 1 semester was family situation/death of best friend). Obviously I will be sending in an addendum - I guess I'm curious based on what you all have heard/anyone with personal experience - will these significantly impact my cycle in a negative way?

Thanks

[blackwater88]

I'm also curious as to what other people have to say, we have surprisingly similar numbers. Suerte!

[12AngryMen]

Depending on where you want to go your a lock at UCLA, and a possible all the way up to Yale, maybe, and Columbia, probably, and being a Mexican muchacho helps very much too.

[sophia.olive]

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[kazu]

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elcome to Top-Law-Schools.com, a free and valuable resource to assist students applying to law schools. Top-Law-Schools.com offers 2010 law school rankings which links to exclusive law school profiles, advice for writing law school personal statements, and law school forums. In addition to the forums, the main sections of Top-Law-Schools.com are law school admissions, law schools, and law students.

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New and Updated TLS Articles


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QF huh?


Edit for unwarranted hostility. I'm just grumpy today.

[blackwater88]

QF proof.

Is it just me or is this poster's posts getting more useless by the day?

Uh?

[kazu]

Uh?

Nvm.

Still, what is that?

[Knock]

So - I'm curious to get some feedback on what you all think are realistic prospects for my cycle this year-

Here are my stats:
LSAT: 169
GPA: 3.4
I'm half Mexican.
I have good softs, I will have 2 years WE as a teacher at a private school in FL by the time Fall 11 comes around.

The potential problem...

I have 9 W's on my Transcript, and while none are punitive, I think it might send off some warning bells to adcomms which makes me leery about my chances at the T14. 7 of the W's are explainable in that I had some extreme circumstances that occured during the respective semesters(1 semester was health related, 1 semester was family situation/death of best friend). Obviously I will be sending in an addendum - I guess I'm curious based on what you all have heard/anyone with personal experience - will these significantly impact my cycle in a negative way?

Thanks

Aaaaaaand bringing this thread back on topic. I would definitely write an addendum for all your W's on your transcript. Explain the ones you have a reason for, explain immaturity for the other ones, and distance yourself from it, which your 2 years WE will help. I know some people on TLS, Vanwinkle for one, had a lot of W's and wrote a addendum and I don't think it hurt him. If you don't write an addendum though, it might ring some warning bells on your application, although it probably depends on the individual school, admissions office, or admissions committee member on how much it will affect your application. If this is the only "red flag" in your application, I wouldn't worry much though, it shouldn't have a large negative impact on your cycle.

You have pretty good numbers, I can see some T-14 schools, probably lower ones but it's hard to say, biting. Try searching around lawschoolnumbers.com. Remember that URM cycles are fairly unpredictable though, so apply broadly. Get as many fee waivers as you can and take advantage of them.

Are you planning on writing a DS, or touching on diversity-related issues at all in your PS? You should do at least one or the other if you want a significant URM "boost."

[thatjuanguy]

Yeah, I am definitely going to be writing a seperate DS. One thing I've noticed about the apps I have looked at is that a lot of them want the PS to be pretty school specific which I guess I'll try to do.

[Knock]

Yeah, I am definitely going to be writing a seperate DS. One thing I've noticed about the apps I have looked at is that a lot of them want the PS to be pretty school specific which I guess I'll try to do.

Not necessarily, i'm writing a generic PS about me, I don't even mention any specific law school.

[thatjuanguy]

Yeah, maybe you're right it seems like it would just be a huge hassle.

Anyways, got my NU Off-Campus Interview tomorrow... should be interesting to see how that goes.

[Knock]

Yeah, maybe you're right it seems like it would just be a huge hassle.

Anyways, got my NU Off-Campus Interview tomorrow... should be interesting to see how that goes.

Good luck! let us know how it goes .

[thatjuanguy]

Yeah, maybe you're right it seems like it would just be a huge hassle.

Anyways, got my NU Off-Campus Interview tomorrow... should be interesting to see how that goes.

Good luck! let us know how it goes .

Went okay, it was a lot different then I thought it would be. It was extremely informal and ended up being the case that I asked him far more questions then he asked me.

One thing I have not really been able to decipher is how large of a roll the interview plays in your app - lets say your numbers are 25%LSAT/25%GPA but your interviewer for some reason falls in love with you does that put into the accept list, or is the purpose of the interview just to sort of make sure that you aren't completely insane? The latter is what my interviewer seemed to at least implicitly communicate with me over the course of the interview.


Also, what do you all think - should I shoot Yale an app or would I just be wasting my time? I am definitely going to app to Harvard and I'm still really on the fence about Stanford.

[Knock]

Yeah, maybe you're right it seems like it would just be a huge hassle.

Anyways, got my NU Off-Campus Interview tomorrow... should be interesting to see how that goes.

Good luck! let us know how it goes .

Went okay, it was a lot different then I thought it would be. It was extremely informal and ended up being the case that I asked him far more questions then he asked me.

One thing I have not really been able to decipher is how large of a roll the interview plays in your app - lets say your numbers are 25%LSAT/25%GPA but your interviewer for some reason falls in love with you does that put into the accept list, or is the purpose of the interview just to sort of make sure that you aren't completely insane? The latter is what my interviewer seemed to at least implicitly communicate with me over the course of the interview.


Also, what do you all think - should I shoot Yale an app or would I just be wasting my time? I am definitely going to app to Harvard and I'm still really on the fence about Stanford.

Meh, I think the odds are against you, but you already know this, so it really just comes down to how much the application fee is worth to you, vs. wondering "what if."

Glad to hear your interview went decently .

[thatjuanguy]

Yeah, maybe you're right it seems like it would just be a huge hassle.

Anyways, got my NU Off-Campus Interview tomorrow... should be interesting to see how that goes.

Good luck! let us know how it goes .

Went okay, it was a lot different then I thought it would be. It was extremely informal and ended up being the case that I asked him far more questions then he asked me.

One thing I have not really been able to decipher is how large of a roll the interview plays in your app - lets say your numbers are 25%LSAT/25%GPA but your interviewer for some reason falls in love with you does that put into the accept list, or is the purpose of the interview just to sort of make sure that you aren't completely insane? The latter is what my interviewer seemed to at least implicitly communicate with me over the course of the interview.


Also, what do you all think - should I shoot Yale an app or would I just be wasting my time? I am definitely going to app to Harvard and I'm still really on the fence about Stanford.

Meh, I think the odds are against you, but you already know this, so it really just comes down to how much the application fee is worth to you, vs. wondering "what if."

Glad to hear your interview went decently .

Would you say the same about Stanford too?

[Knock]

Good luck! let us know how it goes .

Went okay, it was a lot different then I thought it would be. It was extremely informal and ended up being the case that I asked him far more questions then he asked me.

One thing I have not really been able to decipher is how large of a roll the interview plays in your app - lets say your numbers are 25%LSAT/25%GPA but your interviewer for some reason falls in love with you does that put into the accept list, or is the purpose of the interview just to sort of make sure that you aren't completely insane? The latter is what my interviewer seemed to at least implicitly communicate with me over the course of the interview.


Also, what do you all think - should I shoot Yale an app or would I just be wasting my time? I am definitely going to app to Harvard and I'm still really on the fence about Stanford.

Meh, I think the odds are against you, but you already know this, so it really just comes down to how much the application fee is worth to you, vs. wondering "what if."

Glad to hear your interview went decently .

Would you say the same about Stanford too?

Yeah, they weigh GPA pretty heavily, although your LSAT is above their 25th so you definitely have a better shot than Yale, and stranger things have happened. If I had to pick one between S and Y to apply to in your shoes, it'd be S for sure.

[thatjuanguy]

So you would think that of the 3 - H is probably my best chance?

[Knock]

So you would think that of the 3 - H is probably my best chance?

Hmm, i'd probably guess so, although other TLSers may have a different opinion. They have the largest class size to fill so perhaps you would have a better shot there. Although you're below the 25th LSAT and GPA there so it is a longshot.

[thatjuanguy]

Okay so taking into account the URM boost, which of the T14 do you think are my best chances?

[Knock]

Okay so taking into account the URM boost, which of the T14 do you think are my best chances?

Hmm, this is a tough one, since URM cycles are known for being unpredictable.

This guy got into U. Chicago with 169, 3.5: http://lawschoolnumbers.com/KirbyTX
Thsi girl got U. Michigan with 169, 3.4: http://lawschoolnumbers.com/ChocoboFan82
This girl got Columbia with 169, 3.39: http://lawschoolnumbers.com/heygina

Keep in mind that general African-Americans receive the largest boost, and it seems that KirbyTX didn't have his ethnicity repoted, and heygina is partially African-American, so it might not be exactly indicative.

Personally, I think you got a shot at MVP. I wouldn't ED if I were you, i'd see who would throw some money at me. Unless you really want one of CCNMVPB. Or you could try ED'ing to a T-6 and you could ED to UVA after if you get rejected. It depends how much you're looking for money.

[thatjuanguy]

Yeah, I have been researching LSN quite a bit and it seems like URM acceptances are a bit random to a certain extent.

I shouldn't have screwed around so much in college - my GPA is a joke and is 100% because my class attendance rate was like 15% from my soph-sr years. Should I write an addendum about how I coulda done wayyy better but was too lazy to go to class?

Had I decided that I wanted to do LS prior to Senior year then maybe my gpa wouldnt be so awful. Ohhhhhhh well.

[Knock]

Yeah, I have been researching LSN quite a bit and it seems like URM acceptances are a bit random to a certain extent.

I shouldn't have screwed around so much in college - my GPA is a joke and is 100% because my class attendance rate was like 15% from my soph-sr years. Should I write an addendum about how I coulda done wayyy better but was too lazy to go to class?

Had I decided that I wanted to do LS prior to Senior year then maybe my gpa wouldnt be so awful. Ohhhhhhh well.

No definitely not . Just let that one go .