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SchopenhauerFTW

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by SchopenhauerFTW » Tue Jul 26, 2011 5:40 pm

RobMD wrote:In light of the Norway shootings (along with other past shootings) you may not want to use this topic in your PS.
ಠ_ಠ

ihhwap1

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Post by ihhwap1 » Tue Jul 26, 2011 7:12 pm

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Last edited by ihhwap1 on Fri Jul 29, 2011 7:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

firemed

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by firemed » Tue Jul 26, 2011 7:14 pm

@ RobMD: um, really? really dude?

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bilbobaggins

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by bilbobaggins » Tue Jul 26, 2011 7:46 pm

ihhwap1 wrote:RobMD, I'm going to be honest, that may very well be the one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this forum is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
Haven't we moved past this particular reference?

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Gecko of Doom

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by Gecko of Doom » Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:05 pm

bilbobaggins wrote:
ihhwap1 wrote:RobMD, I'm going to be honest, that may very well be the one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this forum is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
Haven't we moved past this particular reference?
Your expectations for the Internet are clearly overly optimistic.

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MumofCad

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by MumofCad » Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:18 pm

I think it would be a very risky strategy. It certainly could turn off some adcomms, even if well done. Yes, it will stand out from many of the PSs they read, but it could very well be in a not-so positive light. The particular college might impact your decision though.

Reading RobMD's posted interview (regardless of the advice he offered based on it), I chuckled when the comparison was made that being a Guild leader was comparable to running a 7 man enterprise. It seemed a ludicrous comparison. I'm picturing a PS trying to make that case, adding beautiful narrative detail of course. Then reading a PS from someone who actually started and ran their own start-up IT company in a Stanford application, dealing with the in-outs of patent law, etc. Similarly would be saying your leadership skills developed through WoW are comparable to some of the leadership experiences others will put forward to gain acceptance at top schools. I'm picturing a Yale application preceded by someone describing their experience leading a movement to address FGM in northern Uganda. If leadership isn't your selling point, let it go and write about your intellectual achievements or a particular interest/passion. That may not mean total abandonment of a creative WoW essay (yet probably does), but it would def strongly recommend against it as your strongest example of leadership upon which you thus argue to be admitted to law school.

I think you are selling yourself short if you write this essay and probably not putting your best self forward. I'm not saying your WoW didn't demonstrate solid leadership. I have no idea. I am saying that you should reasonably keep a perspective of what you may be up against if you go down the, "I'm a proven leader road" with an essay on WoW. Most of the top schools explicitly state in their interviews that they are looking for someone who is not just accomplished, but self-reflecting.

Then again, you might get really lucky and run into an adcomm whose a big fan of WoW. Their experience may incline them toward your essay and its creativity, but even they may be skeptical. With so much on the line, I would go in a less risky direction. Sure you could send it to a crazy reach school. Focus your time on your other PS though and work on this if you have some spare time later.
Last edited by MumofCad on Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Gecko of Doom

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by Gecko of Doom » Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:35 pm

MumofCad wrote:Sure you could send it to a crazy reach school.
I don't quite understand why everyone keeps saying this. Well, I do, but I don't really agree. Why would you risk ruining your already-small chance to get into your reach by using a personal statement likely to be viewed negatively? If you use it at all (which seems like a bad idea to me), I would use it for one of your safety schools, where you would be admitted no matter what your essay looked like.

MumofCad

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by MumofCad » Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:41 pm

Gecko of Doom wrote:
MumofCad wrote:Sure you could send it to a crazy reach school.
I don't quite understand why everyone keeps saying this. Well, I do, but I don't really agree. Why would you risk ruining your already-small chance to get into your reach by using a personal statement likely to be viewed negatively? If you use it at all (which seems like a bad idea to me), I would use it for one of your safety schools, where you would be admitted no matter what your essay looked like.
Operative word is "crazy." You would never send an essay like this to a target/safety school, it might land you on the waitlist or out of money. Sending it to a school where you are already presumably auto-reject and then getting auto-rejected - no harm done. The point would be moving yourself miraculously out of auto-reject because of the originality of your approach to the process. I find it unlikely in this case, but that's the general idea with creative reach PSs.

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Gecko of Doom

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by Gecko of Doom » Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:49 pm

I guess if you had no better use for your money than to drop it on auto-reject app fees...

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MumofCad

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by MumofCad » Tue Jul 26, 2011 9:32 pm

Gecko of Doom wrote:I guess if you had no better use for your money than to drop it on auto-reject app fees...
I know several people who have "auto-reject" numbers in the T5 that got in over the last few years. They were not URM. Through some combination of softs or stellar PSs, they overcame the numbers game. I highly doubt they would consider their application fee as simply squandering money. Probably the best $75 they'll ever spend. Someone every year will get in - if you want it badly enough, might as well be you, right?

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Gecko of Doom

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by Gecko of Doom » Tue Jul 26, 2011 10:26 pm

MumofCad wrote:
Gecko of Doom wrote:I guess if you had no better use for your money than to drop it on auto-reject app fees...
I know several people who have "auto-reject" numbers in the T5 that got in over the last few years. They were not URM. Through some combination of softs or stellar PSs, they overcame the numbers game. I highly doubt they would consider their application fee as simply squandering money. Probably the best $75 they'll ever spend. Someone every year will get in - if you want it badly enough, might as well be you, right?
I agree that it can be worth it in certain circumstances. I made the assumption that if OP is thinking about writing a PS about being a Warcraft guild leader, he doesn't have the kind of softs to get him admitted with auto-reject numbers, or he would be writing about those. Admittedly, I could be wrong.

Gorges

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by Gorges » Wed Jul 27, 2011 1:00 am

wolfpack37 wrote:My basic question is, do you think it would be a good idea to use this as a backbone for a PS? Conversely, would it be better to just incorporate it in some way? Or will it just be completely over adcomm's heads/dismissed as ludicrous/irrelevant?
Despite the fact that I am a TLS newbie, I think that if you tie it into a slightly more real-life type leadership situation, you have the backbone of an interesting PS. It could be refreshing, but going too far could come across as not taking the law school app process seriously.

If this ever turns into a PS, I'd love to read it.

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Rocketman11

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by Rocketman11 » Wed Jul 27, 2011 2:32 pm

wolfpack37 wrote:Soooo ... I mean I don't know how many of you have ever played this game or will have any idea what I'm talking about ..

Anyways, I think that my best example of leadership capacity is that I ran a (relatively) successful WoW guild a few years back. For people who have never played the game, the best guilds had ~30-50 active members, and raids required 25 members. So basically there were a lot of egos and drama etc. It's pretty difficult to coordinate a minimum of 25 people 3+ times a week for 4+ hours, as well as prepare for/understand the different encounters (bosses) from multiple points of view (each of 9 classes has a different job, as guild leader I had to understand all of them). I honestly believe that it was one of the most difficult and character-building experiences that I've had (certainly more so than a part time job or college class), and it required intelligence, time, commitment, good mediation skills, etc.

My basic question is, do you think it would be a good idea to use this as a backbone for a PS? Conversely, would it be better to just incorporate it in some way? Or will it just be completely over adcomm's heads/dismissed as ludicrous/irrelevant?

Thanks!
LOL try playing WoW in its prime when raids were 40 people.

Any experience post-BC release isn't worth writing about.

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bilbobaggins

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by bilbobaggins » Wed Jul 27, 2011 2:37 pm

Rocketman11 wrote:
wolfpack37 wrote:Soooo ... I mean I don't know how many of you have ever played this game or will have any idea what I'm talking about ..

Anyways, I think that my best example of leadership capacity is that I ran a (relatively) successful WoW guild a few years back. For people who have never played the game, the best guilds had ~30-50 active members, and raids required 25 members. So basically there were a lot of egos and drama etc. It's pretty difficult to coordinate a minimum of 25 people 3+ times a week for 4+ hours, as well as prepare for/understand the different encounters (bosses) from multiple points of view (each of 9 classes has a different job, as guild leader I had to understand all of them). I honestly believe that it was one of the most difficult and character-building experiences that I've had (certainly more so than a part time job or college class), and it required intelligence, time, commitment, good mediation skills, etc.

My basic question is, do you think it would be a good idea to use this as a backbone for a PS? Conversely, would it be better to just incorporate it in some way? Or will it just be completely over adcomm's heads/dismissed as ludicrous/irrelevant?

Thanks!
LOL try playing WoW in its prime when raids were 40 people.

Any experience post-BC release isn't worth writing about.
This is the moment where video game nerd meets hipster.

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bjsesq

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by bjsesq » Wed Jul 27, 2011 2:37 pm

Rocketman11 wrote:LOL try playing WoW in its prime when raids were 40 people.

Any experience post-BC release isn't worth writing about.
Why don't you rejoin and prove it, pussy?

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Rocketman11

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by Rocketman11 » Wed Jul 27, 2011 2:39 pm

bjsesq wrote:
Rocketman11 wrote:LOL try playing WoW in its prime when raids were 40 people.

Any experience post-BC release isn't worth writing about.
Why don't you rejoin and prove it, pussy?
I sold my account for $500 to some dude in Australia. It was worth 200-300 more than that, but eBay kept pulling down my auction. No desire to start at level 1 ughhhh grindgrindgrind

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bjsesq

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by bjsesq » Wed Jul 27, 2011 2:40 pm

Rocketman11 wrote:
bjsesq wrote:
Rocketman11 wrote:LOL try playing WoW in its prime when raids were 40 people.

Any experience post-BC release isn't worth writing about.
Why don't you rejoin and prove it, pussy?
I sold my account for $500 to some dude in Australia. It was worth 200-300 more than that, but eBay kept pulling down my auction. No desire to start at level 1 ughhhh grindgrindgrind
RAF will get you to 80 in <30 hrs of gameplay. Ya pussy.

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Bosoxfan

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by Bosoxfan » Wed Jul 27, 2011 2:44 pm

I'm maxed out on world of warcraft and it took 7 years to do so, and along the way I built up dedication and teamwork whilst wasting my summers when others were out building their resumes with jobs and such.

Should I apply to YHS or just T14



I'm embarassed to say this question need even be posed. get out

clone22

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by clone22 » Wed Jul 27, 2011 3:05 pm

Bosoxfan wrote:I'm maxed out on world of warcraft and it took 7 years to do so, and along the way I built up dedication and teamwork whilst wasting my summers when others were out building their resumes with jobs and such.

Should I apply to YHS or just T14



I'm embarassed to say this question need even be posed. get out
YHS or bust

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buckilaw

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by buckilaw » Thu Jul 28, 2011 12:59 am

bilbobaggins wrote:
Rocketman11 wrote:
wolfpack37 wrote:Soooo ... I mean I don't know how many of you have ever played this game or will have any idea what I'm talking about ..

Anyways, I think that my best example of leadership capacity is that I ran a (relatively) successful WoW guild a few years back. For people who have never played the game, the best guilds had ~30-50 active members, and raids required 25 members. So basically there were a lot of egos and drama etc. It's pretty difficult to coordinate a minimum of 25 people 3+ times a week for 4+ hours, as well as prepare for/understand the different encounters (bosses) from multiple points of view (each of 9 classes has a different job, as guild leader I had to understand all of them). I honestly believe that it was one of the most difficult and character-building experiences that I've had (certainly more so than a part time job or college class), and it required intelligence, time, commitment, good mediation skills, etc.

My basic question is, do you think it would be a good idea to use this as a backbone for a PS? Conversely, would it be better to just incorporate it in some way? Or will it just be completely over adcomm's heads/dismissed as ludicrous/irrelevant?

Thanks!
LOL try playing WoW in its prime when raids were 40 people.

Any experience post-BC release isn't worth writing about.
This is the moment where video game nerd meets hipster.
+1

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Storm

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by Storm » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:13 pm

ihhwap1 wrote:RobMD, I'm going to be honest, that may very well be the one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this forum is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
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ObLaDiObLaDa

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by ObLaDiObLaDa » Thu Jul 28, 2011 1:30 pm

Today was the first time I ventured into the PS forum and years and I'm so glad I did.

When I read your posts, my immediate thought was "Yeah, well maybe your GPA might have been better if you weren't playing video games so much." As an ex-girlfriend of a former WoW player, I'm betting that isn't an unrealistic thought. Don't do it because it is such a risky topic. I'm well aware of the game and understand the difficulty in being a guild leader, and have even tried it on occasion but if I were an adcomm and read a PS on WoW, I would laugh. Then I'd probably wonder why the applicant couldn't think of anything more compelling to write about.

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canes

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by canes » Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:12 pm

I don't get the amount of attention this thread has gotten, other than the obvious need for some of you guys to share your passion for or against this time-waste with each other.

Writing this essay is not a rational choice, no matter how well it's written. Would the adcomms like a break from "overcoming adversity" essays? I don't know, but it doesn't seem to matter, because everyone writes them and mostly everyone's cycles go just as their numbers would suggest. The rational decision is to write a conventional, but well written essay and take your chances with your numbers--not with your hobby.

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NYC Law

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by NYC Law » Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:14 pm

Why has this thread continued past no?

firemed

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Re: World of Warcraft Guild Leader

Post by firemed » Mon Aug 01, 2011 10:30 pm

canes wrote:I don't get the amount of attention this thread has gotten, other than the obvious need for some of you guys to share your passion for or against this time-waste with each other.
Well this damn thread had been dead for three days, but you just necro'd it.

So good job.

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

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