I have an interview with a law school this week need advice Forum

[MGH1989]

I saw the interview thread and that is helpful, but my case is kind of specific. Its with a non T14. My numbers are above the median in terms of their GPA and at the median for their LSAT. My suspicion is the interview might be because I was involved in an incident during UG that resulted in me being put on student probation for a couple of months. Will law schools bring that sort of thing up in an interview? Furthermore, my gf goes to this law school. Is this something I should bring up in my favor and bring up the positive things I've heard and the fact that I did attend their admitted students day as a guest which began my interest in them initially? Or is it something that I should leave alone? I don't want them thinking I'm going just to follow my GF (which isn't the case).

[Ron Don Volante]

what school

[swampman]

My suspicion is the interview might be because I was involved in an incident during UG that resulted in me being put on student probation for a couple of months. Will law schools bring that sort of thing up in an interview?

They might, you should have an answer prepared in case they do. As for the girlfriend, that is a reasonable thing to mention as one of several reasons you want to attend the school.

[03152016]

if they thought you had a c&f problem significant enough to ding you, they'd ding you
they want to accept students who can pass the state bar. if your record would make that difficult, i doubt they'd change their mind b/c you explained it away in an interview
student probation for a couple of months sounds like nbd. i doubt it would matter, and i doubt anyone would bring it up

they're probably interviewing you to sell you on the school and to make sure you're actually interested in attending

[Clearly]

Going to take the risk and disagree with Brut here. It's pretty common for schools to interview people that have C+F issues even if they don't usually interview applicants, they want to try get a feel for if you're a sociopath before they take a chance on you. I'd say it's a tossup between a yield thing because your numbers are too good, and a CF thing to see if you're a crazy person. If its a yield thing, I'd DEF drop that girlfriend line. They don't care "why" you're going to matriculate, they'll take any indication that you actually would as a strong sign.

[03152016]

Going to take the risk and disagree with Brut here. It's pretty common for schools to interview people that have C+F issues even if they don't usually interview applicants, they want to try get a feel for if you're a sociopath before they take a chance on you. I'd say it's a tossup between a yield thing because your numbers are too good, and a CF thing to see if you're a crazy person. If its a yield thing, I'd DEF drop that girlfriend line. They don't care "why" you're going to matriculate, they'll take any indication that you actually would as a strong sign.

dude, there's no "risk" unless you're being an idiot. i know you're still sore about my criticizing your company, sorry that upset you but it had to be said

op, if the nature of the offense was so minor that you were on student probation for two months, it would be a waste of everyone's time to bring you in for an interview just to address that. i haven't heard of c&f interviews being "common", but if they are, i'm highly skeptical they're conducted for minor offenses resulting in only two months disciplinary probation (i'm assuming it's something like getting caught with an open container. if you provided more detail, including what ls you're talking about, it would be helpful)

of course you can bring up the fact that your gf attends the law school
law schools want to admit people who will actually attend
i can easily see how talking about your gf, tactfully, would demonstrate this. your gf attends and has had such a great experience, speaks very highly of it, finds the profs engaging/insightful, took you on a tour and you were really impressed, yada yada yada. best not to say you're attending b/c of your relationship, frame it as your having a connection with the school that has reinforced your interest

[yot11]

I have a moderate C&F issue (worse than parking/speeding tickets or open containers). The issue was brought up in 2/4 interviews that I had with admissions officers. So don't be surprised if it gets brought up, depending on the severity of your situation (if your issue is really minor then it probably won't). Just don't be too nervous; if they wanted to autoding you for it then they would have already.

I agree bringing up your GF tactfully will only help you, especially if they are considering you as a YP candidate.

My guess is the interview is primarily for YP, but in my experience, admissions officers will also take this opportunity to ask you directly about aspects of your application that they have questions about, including C&F issues.

[swampman]

op, if the nature of the offense was so minor that you were on student probation for two months, it would be a waste of everyone's time to bring you in for an interview just to address that. i haven't heard of c&f interviews being "common", but if they are, i'm highly skeptical they're conducted for minor offenses resulting in only two months disciplinary probation (i'm assuming it's something like getting caught with an open container. if you provided more detail, including what ls you're talking about, it would be helpful)

This might be true, but regardless of what the c&f issue is or how often c&f interviews happen, nobody here can tell him whether they will or won't ask about it in the interview. Either way, OP should take half an hour to prepare a solid explanation for what happened.

[MGH1989]

what school

Don't wanna say. Its a private school in the south.

[MGH1989]

Going to take the risk and disagree with Brut here. It's pretty common for schools to interview people that have C+F issues even if they don't usually interview applicants, they want to try get a feel for if you're a sociopath before they take a chance on you. I'd say it's a tossup between a yield thing because your numbers are too good, and a CF thing to see if you're a crazy person. If its a yield thing, I'd DEF drop that girlfriend line. They don't care "why" you're going to matriculate, they'll take any indication that you actually would as a strong sign.

dude, there's no "risk" unless you're being an idiot. i know you're still sore about my criticizing your company, sorry that upset you but it had to be said

op, if the nature of the offense was so minor that you were on student probation for two months, it would be a waste of everyone's time to bring you in for an interview just to address that. i haven't heard of c&f interviews being "common", but if they are, i'm highly skeptical they're conducted for minor offenses resulting in only two months disciplinary probation (i'm assuming it's something like getting caught with an open container. if you provided more detail, including what ls you're talking about, it would be helpful)

of course you can bring up the fact that your gf attends the law school
law schools want to admit people who will actually attend
i can easily see how talking about your gf, tactfully, would demonstrate this. your gf attends and has had such a great experience, speaks very highly of it, finds the profs engaging/insightful, took you on a tour and you were really impressed, yada yada yada. best not to say you're attending b/c of your relationship, frame it as your having a connection with the school that has reinforced your interest

It was basically letting a friend out of my UG parking deck on several occasions. I was placed on probation for several months, but that was about it. As for the GF thing, I plan on framing it as you described. I can't lie its a plus she is attending, but having been able to attend admitted students day, learn about their programs and hear from others students has given me great insight to the school and motivation to apply.