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for those of you who have already applied; did you limit your response to the three lines provided on the app. form or attached an additional "why Cornell Law"sort of essay?

I wrote one extremely generic sentence that I proofread 5 times to make sure I didn't spell anything wrong. I'm pretty sure that quesiton can only hurt you and not help since they give you all of 2.5 lines to answer it.

My PS was not about "Why Cornell"

Why? Because Ithaca is gorges.

...

certain schools, specifically columbia, are known for the weight they give to that small section.

I just looked over my Columbia app again, and didn't find any section that asked why I wanted to apply to Columbia. Am I overlooking something?

I did limit it to the space they provided, but I mentioned specific courses and clinics that excite me. I also mentioned that I love the cold; here's hoping they don't think I'm belittling the importance of that question.

...

No problem--you made me panic a bit there!

I used the 3 lines provided. BSed a bit about how desperately I wanted to be in Ithaca and study at Cornell's fine-ass institution. /shrug. I figured, if I ended up going there, it'd be true.

A big part of why you want to go to school is the city. After all, I think UCLA is the best school in the LA region, right? So if you have your mind set on LA, you might as well take some scholarship money and go to UCLA over Boalt or Stanford even.

But how are you supposed to know this already? Be a world traveler? Who has the time and money? How can I sample LA, San Fran, Boston, Chicago, etc?

You can be interested in a city without ever having been there

/shrug. I figured, if I ended up going there, it'd be true.

LOL....love this logic. You are a fine lawyer already.

Here's my three line plea:

From the Gothic and Victorian appeal of Cornell's architecture, to the large rare books collection in the law library, Cornell has a strong connection with the past. This, combined with the free-thinking culture of Ithaca, would make for an excellent law school experience.

I worried about this for a while, but I ultimately decided that it was best to just follow their instructions. If they'd wanted a "Why Cornell" essay, they would've asked for it.

M51 wrote:I'm pretty sure that quesiton can only hurt you and not help since they give you all of 2.5 lines to answer it.

This is flat-out wrong... and you misspelled "question"!

It all depends on what you write. If your answer is something like "Because I love the Cornell tradition and the library is big and I want to help people and I love Ithica and I really wanna go to Cornell", then don't expect that to help at all.

If your answer is "Because my father is on the Board of Trustees", then I'm thinkin' you just moved your app to the auto-admit pile.

flcath wrote:

M51 wrote:I'm pretty sure that quesiton can only hurt you and not help since they give you all of 2.5 lines to answer it.

This is flat-out wrong... and you misspelled "question"!

It all depends on what you write. If your answer is something like "Because I love the Cornell tradition and the library is big and I want to help people and I love Ithica and I really wanna go to Cornell", then don't expect that to help at all.

If your answer is "Because my father is on the Board of Trustees", then I'm thinkin' you just moved your app to the auto-admit pile.

I know for a fact my answer isn't helping, lol. It's a steaming pile of horse manure.

That said, I didn't want to say the real reason, which is:

"I would like to attend Cornell because it is T-14 but has a low median LSAT score. I will suck up all the boredom and coldness of life in the middle of nowhere for this opportunity."

I took this very seriously. I didn't submit a why app, because I figured--if they wanted one, they wouldn't have given us a three-line box. Mine said, and this is a paraphrase:

"Cornell is my dream school. The focus of my undergraduate political science degree has been on the subject of Genocide, and Cornell offers an International Human Rights law clinic. No other school in the country offers a simmilar program that can provide it's students with such practical experience in the field".

The "Cornell is my dream school." first line, is a direct quote. I considered it somewhat risky, but what the hell, its true.

Cupidity wrote:I took this very seriously. I didn't submit a why app, because I figured--if they wanted one, they wouldn't have given us a three-line box. Mine said, and this is a paraphrase:

"Cornell is my dream school. The focus of my undergraduate political science degree has been on the subject of Genocide, and Cornell offers an International Human Rights law clinic. No other school in the country offers a simmilar program that can provide it's students with such practical experience in the field".

The "Cornell is my dream school." first line, is a direct quote. I considered it somewhat risky, but what the hell, its true.

They also have the original Nuremberg trial documents in the library. Shoulda put that in there.

daesonesb wrote:

Cupidity wrote:I took this very seriously. I didn't submit a why app, because I figured--if they wanted one, they wouldn't have given us a three-line box. Mine said, and this is a paraphrase:

"Cornell is my dream school. The focus of my undergraduate political science degree has been on the subject of Genocide, and Cornell offers an International Human Rights law clinic. No other school in the country offers a simmilar program that can provide it's students with such practical experience in the field".

The "Cornell is my dream school." first line, is a direct quote. I considered it somewhat risky, but what the hell, its true.

They also have the original Nuremberg trial documents in the library. Shoulda put that in there.

I think I just drooled a little.

daesonesb wrote:

flcath wrote:

M51 wrote:I'm pretty sure that quesiton can only hurt you and not help since they give you all of 2.5 lines to answer it.

This is flat-out wrong... and you misspelled "question"!

It all depends on what you write. If your answer is something like "Because I love the Cornell tradition and the library is big and I want to help people and I love Ithica and I really wanna go to Cornell", then don't expect that to help at all.

If your answer is "Because my father is on the Board of Trustees", then I'm thinkin' you just moved your app to the auto-admit pile.

I know for a fact my answer isn't helping, lol. It's a steaming pile of horse manure.

That said, I didn't want to say the real reason, which is:

"I would like to attend Cornell because it is T-14 but has a low median LSAT score. I will suck up all the boredom and coldness of life in the middle of nowhere for this opportunity."

Hahaha. This is the ultimate "funny because it's true" line.

I mean, obviously you shouldn't put that, but I feel like the Cornell adcomms would at least appreciate the honesty. They must know that that's why most people are applying to Cornell. They should redesign the Cornell Law School coat of arms to incorporate the motto (in Latin, if possible) "safety of the T14".

flcath wrote:

daesonesb wrote:

flcath wrote:

M51 wrote:I'm pretty sure that quesiton can only hurt you and not help since they give you all of 2.5 lines to answer it.

This is flat-out wrong... and you misspelled "question"!

It all depends on what you write. If your answer is something like "Because I love the Cornell tradition and the library is big and I want to help people and I love Ithica and I really wanna go to Cornell", then don't expect that to help at all.

If your answer is "Because my father is on the Board of Trustees", then I'm thinkin' you just moved your app to the auto-admit pile.

I know for a fact my answer isn't helping, lol. It's a steaming pile of horse manure.

That said, I didn't want to say the real reason, which is:

"I would like to attend Cornell because it is T-14 but has a low median LSAT score. I will suck up all the boredom and coldness of life in the middle of nowhere for this opportunity."

Hahaha. This is the ultimate "funny because it's true" line.

I mean, obviously you shouldn't put that, but I feel like the Cornell adcomms would at least appreciate the honesty. They must know that that's why most people are applying to Cornell. They should redesign the Cornell Law School coat of arms to incorporate the motto (in Latin, if possible) "safety of the T14".

tutus locus of altissimus quattuordecim

Here's where I'm at now. I am half assing this while watching Youtube videos and trying to write my secondary U Michigan Essay. God, I would go to ann arbor over Cornell in a heartbeat.

Anyway:

Cornell's connection with the past and strong sense of tradition makes it unlike the other law schools I am applying to, most of which are fairly new West Coast schools. I'd be saddened to lose my East Coast roots, and that makes Cornell a top choice for me.

And I'm spent.

Cupidity wrote:I took this very seriously. I didn't submit a why app, because I figured--if they wanted one, they wouldn't have given us a three-line box. Mine said, and this is a paraphrase:

"Cornell is my dream school. The focus of my undergraduate political science degree has been on the subject of Genocide, and Cornell offers an International Human Rights law clinic. No other school in the country offers a simmilar program that can provide it's students with such practical experience in the field".

The "Cornell is my dream school." first line, is a direct quote. I considered it somewhat risky, but what the hell, its true.

Excellent answer (except for the apostrophe).

M51 wrote:I'm pretty sure that quesiton can only hurt you and not help since they give you all of 2.5 lines to answer it.

2.5 lines is plenty for the truth. "Because I may not get in to Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Chicago, Columbia, NYU, Berkeley, Penn, Michigan, Duke, Virginia, or Northwestern, and I don't know if I want Georgetown."

daesonesb wrote:Here's where I'm at now. I am half assing this while watching Youtube videos and trying to write my secondary U Michigan Essay. God, I would go to ann arbor over Cornell in a heartbeat.

Anyway:

Cornell's connection with the past and strong sense of tradition makes it unlike the other law schools I am applying to, most of which are fairly new West Coast schools. I'd be saddened to lose my East Coast roots, and that makes Cornell a top choice for me.

And I'm spent.

That's horrible. I mean, I wouldn't think it would go so far as to hurt you (I doubt they'd do more than just read past it quickly), but since this thread is dedicated to this one question, I gotta tell you: that's truly awful.