What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad? Forum

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cavalier1138

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by cavalier1138 » Wed Jan 30, 2019 9:35 pm

criminologygeek wrote:I plan on doing what most people who get a JD do, become a lawyer a live a regular life.
Ok. The thing is that you don't need a Harvard degree to do that. You don't even need a T13 degree to do that. So I'm still curious about your specific goals from school. Do you want to go to biglaw? Federal government? Your local DA? The ACLU? A public defender? Go solo? In-house?

There are a ton of different ways to be a lawyer. And the reality is that the "really nice doors" that the vast majority of the "really nice doors" that Harvard will open up are also opened up by other top schools. More importantly, some doors don't require a Harvard degree, to the point that paying for one would be a mistake.

Also, I want to be clear that I'm not categorizing you as someone who won't go to law school if you don't get Harvard. But you clearly have a weird fixation on going to Harvard, one of the "oldest operating and highly well-known law schools in the nation," regardless of whether it will make any sense for you to go there in three years (which is when you absolutely know you need to go to law school because you've already decided at age 18/19 that you want to be a lawyer who lives a regular life).

I understand feeling defensive. My college-freshman self would definitely have felt defensive at a bunch of old people telling me that I might not know exactly what I want to do with my life. But try to listen to the advice you're getting here. Your posts paint the picture of someone who hasn't really considered what a career in the law really means, and that totally makes sense, because you're not at a point in your life where you should have thought all that much about it.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by Dcc617 » Wed Jan 30, 2019 9:55 pm

All my advice is now:

You’re just starting college. This is a big, super cool time in your life. You should be experiencing new things and meeting new people, and hearing new ideas. If you do it right, you’ll be a very different person by the time you graduate.

Be present and make the most out of where you are right now. Keep your grades up, but otherwise put law school out of your mind for a least a couple years. Do things that interest you because they interest you, not because you have to have a perfect resume.

College is over before you know it. Don’t spend your whole time there looking past it.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by criminologygeek » Wed Jan 30, 2019 10:01 pm

cavalier1138 wrote:
criminologygeek wrote:I plan on doing what most people who get a JD do, become a lawyer a live a regular life.
Ok. The thing is that you don't need a Harvard degree to do that. You don't even need a T13 degree to do that. So I'm still curious about your specific goals from school. Do you want to go to biglaw? Federal government? Your local DA? The ACLU? A public defender? Go solo? In-house?

There are a ton of different ways to be a lawyer. And the reality is that the "really nice doors" that the vast majority of the "really nice doors" that Harvard will open up are also opened up by other top schools. More importantly, some doors don't require a Harvard degree, to the point that paying for one would be a mistake.

Also, I want to be clear that I'm not categorizing you as someone who won't go to law school if you don't get Harvard. But you clearly have a weird fixation on going to Harvard, one of the "oldest operating and highly well-known law schools in the nation," regardless of whether it will make any sense for you to go there in three years (which is when you absolutely know you need to go to law school because you've already decided at age 18/19 that you want to be a lawyer who lives a regular life).

I understand feeling defensive. My college-freshman self would definitely have felt defensive at a bunch of old people telling me that I might not know exactly what I want to do with my life. But try to listen to the advice you're getting here. Your posts paint the picture of someone who hasn't really considered what a career in the law really means, and that totally makes sense, because you're not at a point in your life where you should have thought all that much about it.
I want to be a criminal prosecutor, and I get you don't need a Harvard law degree for that. What I don't get is you claiming me wanting to get into Harvard a "weird fixation." I've stated before Harvard is not my only choice of school, so it's not like I bite my nails everyday scrolling through thousands of Harvard posts itching at any information I can get. I have other options open. Also, I never was fixated on getting in "three years", but now that i'm taking account of all the advice, I've decided I will take a year off after undergrad to gain some work experience and have time to ace the LSAT for the score i'm targeting, before applying for any of the law schools I have in mind (Harvard being one of them).
Lastly, I must ask. What do you do? Are you a lawyer?

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by QContinuum » Wed Jan 30, 2019 10:33 pm

criminologygeek wrote:Also, a disclaimer, Harvard is NOT my only choice of preference. I have other schools in mind as well; so this is not a scenario where I rush out of undergrad and run to apply to HLS, and if I don't get in, I sigh and put my hands in the air in defeat and run off to bed and cry in agony. I get that "0L's" have that mentality because they see Harvard being portrayed in movies as a ~fancy~ school but to categorize me with that group is irrational, just because I had asked how it can be possible to go right through to HLS.
It's good to hear that you're not HLS-or-bust. No single law school is worth fixating on. I hope, though, that you see why your earlier posts conveyed the impression that you were fixated on HLS. HLS doesn't have a unique approach to admissions (quite the contrary), so there's no real reason to specifically ask "[w]hat are ways to get admitted into Harvard" (as opposed to, say, "what are ways to get admitted into the best law schools"), unless the asker is dead-set on HLS and thinks no other law school can compare.
criminologygeek wrote:As for your question, I plan on doing what most people who get a JD do, become a lawyer a live a regular life. So it does matter what Law School you go to because it pretty much shapes the rest of your life, and getting into one of the oldest operating and highly well-known law schools in the nation does open up some really nice doors, wouldn't you think so?
Sure, but none of that is unique to Harvard. Any of the top 50 law schools will safely allow you to "become a lawyer [and] live a regular life." All of the T13 - and even the T20 as well, though (obviously) to a lesser extent - are extremely well-known and highly regarded in the legal profession, and all of them have the ability to "open up some really nice doors."

"Oldest" doesn't mean anything, because if it did, then W&M and Maryland Law would be two of the top schools in the country (they were actually established before HLS!); Yale would be ranked below Virginia; and you'd have schools like Cincinnati, Penn State, Saint Louis University, and Cumberland in the T13.

The posters here are not trying to say that Harvard is overrated, or faulting you for wanting to dominate the law school admissions game. We're just trying to help you understand that it's a bad idea to structure your entire life - starting in freshman year of college! - around the idea of getting into Harvard Law School.
Dcc617 wrote:You’re just starting college. This is a big, super cool time in your life. You should be experiencing new things and meeting new people, and hearing new ideas. If you do it right, you’ll be a very different person by the time you graduate.

Be present and make the most out of where you are right now. Keep your grades up, but otherwise put law school out of your mind for a least a couple years. Do things that interest you because they interest you, not because you have to have a perfect resume.

College is over before you know it. Don’t spend your whole time there looking past it.
I can't emphasize the above strongly enough. Like many other TLSers, I was also an overachieving student starting from a young age, and even as a freshman I was neurotic about keeping my resume "perfect." I was focused on acquiring all the "right" ECs and internships and volunteering to the point where I never really took the time to enjoy the college experience. I always figured I'd absorb enough of the "unimportant stuff" anyway, since college is four years and at that age, four years felt like an eternity.

But in reality, it goes by like a whirlwind (especially because college isn't really four calendar years - you're really only on campus a little over 30 weeks per calendar year). When I think back to my college days, I never regret not doing a "better" EC or internship or volunteer gig. I often regret not taking more time to do fun stuff, build deeper friendships, explore my other interests. I was - still am - interested in architecture. In geology. But I never took or audited a single architecture or geology class in college, so laser-focused was I on choosing the "right" classes to take.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by nixy » Wed Jan 30, 2019 11:40 pm

OP, I think you're getting the responses you're getting based on statements like this
criminologygeek wrote:It's just a school of preference. I'm sure we all have our preferences and that is mine. If it doesn't work out i'll look at other top law schools...but i'm set on wanting to go to Harvard.
(which doesn't really suggest you're looking at a number of schools equally)
and these
I know it's not taboo to go straight into law school (harvard in particular), I would prefer not take time off.
The reason why I want to go straight through is because I feel like I don't need to take years off to gain work experience when it could be done during undergrad. I could probably learn the same set of skills applying for interniships/taking on any leadership roles at my University than working a 9-5 post grad.
I would definitely not want to do 9-5 just to gain experience, there's other alternatives
(as well as asking about starting to study for the LSAT now). I'm glad if you're rethinking those things, but that's what people are reacting to.

In any case, TBF I think there are always inevitably going to be things everyone regrets about doing/not doing during college - some people regret not being more focused, some regret being too focused - and not everyone has the luxury of focusing on that kind of choice, it's made for them by life circumstances. I guess the only thing I would say is that it's worth knowing that you don't *have* to focus everything in college around getting into law school (or any other kind of grad school) - people come to law school from a wide variety of paths, so there's no one "right" way to get there (beyond getting good grades/a high LSAT).

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by Npret » Thu Jan 31, 2019 7:24 am

criminologygeek wrote:
cavalier1138 wrote:
criminologygeek wrote:It's just a school of preference. I'm sure we all have our preferences and that is mine. If it doesn't work out i'll look at other top law schools...but i'm set on wanting to go to Harvard.
Yes, we all have preferences. For example, I prefer redheads. And although that preference is totally irrational, it doesn't have any real impact on my life.

The law school you go to does have an impact on your life. The reason people are asking why you so strongly prefer ("fixate on" might be more accurate) Harvard is because it's very common for 0Ls to develop the idea that a Harvard Law degree is important solely because the name seems so impressive. It indicates that you aren't thinking about law school as a means to an end (your career as a lawyer) but rather as the goal in and of itself. That's a recipe for disaster, and it's one of the other reasons that people are recommending you don't plan on going straight through.

Law school is three years of your life. Where you go is important, but what you do afterwards is much more important. And unless you've identified a career goal that cannot be achieved from Columbia (for example) but can be achieved from Harvard, then it's a really bad idea to develop this Harvard-first mentality. Most students and lawyers on these boards will be happy to tell you that such careers don't exist, or to the extent they do, they're about way more than your Harvard degree.

All this is really to ask: What do you want to do with your JD?
I get why people would think that, and while Harvard is pretty extravagant just by the name itself, that's not the reason why I want to attend.
Also, a disclaimer, Harvard is NOT my only choice of preference. I have other schools in mind as well; so this is not a scenario where I rush out of undergrad and run to apply to HLS, and if I don't get in, I sigh and put my hands in the air in defeat and run off to bed and cry in agony. I get that "0L's" have that mentality because they see Harvard being portrayed in movies as a ~fancy~ school but to categorize me with that group is irrational, just because I had asked how it can be possible to go right through to HLS.

As for your question, I plan on doing what most people who get a JD do, become a lawyer a live a regular life. So it does matter what Law School you go to because it pretty much shapes the rest of your life, and getting into one of the oldest operating and highly well-known law schools in the nation does open up some really nice doors, wouldn't you think so?
It’s not irrational. You perfectly fit the 0L fixated on Harvard profile we’ve seen here for years. You’re just starting extremely early considering you have one semester of college.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by miskellyjohnson » Thu Jan 31, 2019 8:51 am

OP, fwiw, I dont really understand the problem with someone wanting to go to HLS as a first choice. I think you just tapped into a collective anger that people on this forum have towards HLS/prestige whores, and they are now taking it out on you with 500 word diatribes scolding you for having the perfectly reasonable goal of wanting to go to HLS.

The answer to how you get into HLS without work experience is (in addition to getting good grades and LSAT): find something meaningful to you, dedicate a substantial amount of time towards it such that you become a significant figure and make a substantial impact. That "something meaningful" may be political (LGBT policy on campus), or it may be personal (volunteering with/supporting cancer patients at local hospital) , or it may be completely academic (scientific research into a new material for solar cells), or it maybe starting your own company, etc. etc..

(And, yes, here's a bunch of advice unrelated to what you asked but that people really want to give you: Have fun during the process, make relationships with people, call your parents weekly and tell them you love them, use protection during sexual encounters, dont drink the water in mexico, the orange LSD is bad. Why people feel the need to bring up this type of advice in a thread asking about HLS, I dont know, other than that us old people love to give unsolicited advice to youngs as a way to relive our regrets).

Also, I'd just say that *right now*-- with a strong economy and legal market-- there is not a meaningful difference in career outcomes between HLS and other T13s. You can get big law from both. However, I do think (without any evidence to support this view) that HLS is recession-proof (or at least recession-resistant) in ways that other T13s may not be. If the legal market shrinks substantially, I'd rather be holding onto a H degree than a NW degree, but that may just be me.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by QContinuum » Thu Jan 31, 2019 11:39 am

miskellyjohnson wrote:OP, fwiw, I dont really understand the problem with someone wanting to go to HLS as a first choice. I think you just tapped into a collective anger that people on this forum have towards HLS/prestige whores, and they are now taking it out on you with 500 word diatribes scolding you for having the perfectly reasonable goal of wanting to go to HLS.
I don't think folks on this forum have anything against HLS. Quite the opposite, TLS is one of the most prestige-obsessed places I've ever had the "pleasure" of finding. Nowhere IRL have I ever met folks so totally obsessed with parsing the differences in prestige between the V5 and V10, or the V3 and V5, or whether the V3 should even be a thing, or whether Chicago is better than Columbia and NYU, or... you get the point.

I also think that it's perfectly reasonable to want to go to a top law school, but I think that it's regrettable for anyone to fixate on a single law school to what comes across as the point of obsession. I think it's that apparent fixation (which I recognize OP now denies) that folks ITT are responding to. I think folks would have responded exactly the same way if, instead of honing in on Harvard, OP had honed in in the same manner on Chicago, or NYU, or Berkeley, or heck, even ASU.
miskellyjohnson wrote:The answer to how you get into HLS without work experience is (in addition to getting good grades and LSAT): find something meaningful to you, dedicate a substantial amount of time towards it such that you become a significant figure and make a substantial impact. That "something meaningful" may be political (LGBT policy on campus), or it may be personal (volunteering with/supporting cancer patients at local hospital) , or it may be completely academic (scientific research into a new material for solar cells), or it maybe starting your own company, etc. etc..
What you describe is what a K-JD needs to do to get into Yale or Stanford. Sure, inventing a revolutionary solar cell or starting the next Facebook would also get someone into Harvard, but it's hardly necessary. Harvard's admissions process exemplifies the numbers-driven approach used by all law schools from Harvard on down.
miskellyjohnson wrote:(And, yes, here's a bunch of advice unrelated to what you asked but that people really want to give you: Have fun during the process, make relationships with people, call your parents weekly and tell them you love them, use protection during sexual encounters, dont drink the water in mexico, the orange LSD is bad. Why people feel the need to bring up this type of advice in a thread asking about HLS, I dont know, other than that us old people love to give unsolicited advice to youngs as a way to relive our regrets).
I don't think any of the other posters ITT had any interest in advising OP w.r.t. their relationship with their parents, let alone their dating life.

We have been solely focused on trying to advise OP to not fixate on a single law school as a college freshman.
miskellyjohnson wrote:Also, I'd just say that *right now*-- with a strong economy and legal market-- there is not a meaningful difference in career outcomes between HLS and other T13s. You can get big law from both. However, I do think (without any evidence to support this view) that HLS is recession-proof (or at least recession-resistant) in ways that other T13s may not be. If the legal market shrinks substantially, I'd rather be holding onto a H degree than a NW degree, but that may just be me.
The idea that H is "recession-proof" in some unique way is categorically untrue. I have plenty of HLS friends who attended about a decade ago and can directly attest to that.

It's also not instructive, IMO, to compare H to NW. No one disputes that there are meaningful differences between the top and the bottom of the T13. No one ITT is telling OP H = NW. Rather, it's that H isn't materially different from, say, Chicago in outcomes, and in many cases it will make more sense, objectively, to attend CCN over H. In some cases, such as for someone whose goal is simply to be a lawyer and live a regular life, attending NW or even a non-T13 school for $$$ may make far more sense than attending H. The point, which I absolutely stand by, is that there's no reason for OP (or any other 0L) to fixate on H (or any other single law school) in particular.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by The Lsat Airbender » Thu Jan 31, 2019 3:17 pm

QContinuum wrote:The idea that H is "recession-proof" in some unique way is categorically untrue. I have plenty of HLS friends who attended about a decade ago and can directly attest to that.
Agree. If anything, HLS's huge class size probably makes its grads a bit more vulnerable in a recession compared to a smaller T13 like Duke or Chicago. Broad alumni networks open doors but deep ones will go to bat for you, and you want the latter when firms decide to no-offer half of their SA class.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by Npret » Thu Jan 31, 2019 3:53 pm

The Lsat Airbender wrote:
QContinuum wrote:The idea that H is "recession-proof" in some unique way is categorically untrue. I have plenty of HLS friends who attended about a decade ago and can directly attest to that.
Agree. If anything, HLS's huge class size probably makes its grads a bit more vulnerable in a recession compared to a smaller T13 like Duke or Chicago. Broad alumni networks open doors but deep ones will go to bat for you, and you want the latter when firms decide to no-offer half of their SA class.
I don’t recall anything about Harvard grads being saved from the massive no offer purges. It would likely be posted on this forum somewhere if true. Firms didn’t make decisions based on schools.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by criminologygeek » Thu Jan 31, 2019 10:48 pm

Npret wrote:
criminologygeek wrote:
cavalier1138 wrote:
criminologygeek wrote:It's just a school of preference. I'm sure we all have our preferences and that is mine. If it doesn't work out i'll look at other top law schools...but i'm set on wanting to go to Harvard.
Yes, we all have preferences. For example, I prefer redheads. And although that preference is totally irrational, it doesn't have any real impact on my life.

The law school you go to does have an impact on your life. The reason people are asking why you so strongly prefer ("fixate on" might be more accurate) Harvard is because it's very common for 0Ls to develop the idea that a Harvard Law degree is important solely because the name seems so impressive. It indicates that you aren't thinking about law school as a means to an end (your career as a lawyer) but rather as the goal in and of itself. That's a recipe for disaster, and it's one of the other reasons that people are recommending you don't plan on going straight through.

Law school is three years of your life. Where you go is important, but what you do afterwards is much more important. And unless you've identified a career goal that cannot be achieved from Columbia (for example) but can be achieved from Harvard, then it's a really bad idea to develop this Harvard-first mentality. Most students and lawyers on these boards will be happy to tell you that such careers don't exist, or to the extent they do, they're about way more than your Harvard degree.

All this is really to ask: What do you want to do with your JD?
I get why people would think that, and while Harvard is pretty extravagant just by the name itself, that's not the reason why I want to attend.
Also, a disclaimer, Harvard is NOT my only choice of preference. I have other schools in mind as well; so this is not a scenario where I rush out of undergrad and run to apply to HLS, and if I don't get in, I sigh and put my hands in the air in defeat and run off to bed and cry in agony. I get that "0L's" have that mentality because they see Harvard being portrayed in movies as a ~fancy~ school but to categorize me with that group is irrational, just because I had asked how it can be possible to go right through to HLS.

As for your question, I plan on doing what most people who get a JD do, become a lawyer a live a regular life. So it does matter what Law School you go to because it pretty much shapes the rest of your life, and getting into one of the oldest operating and highly well-known law schools in the nation does open up some really nice doors, wouldn't you think so?
It’s not irrational. You perfectly fit the 0L fixated on Harvard profile we’ve seen here for years. You’re just starting extremely early considering you have one semester of college.
What's your problem with me? you already added in your input and left so many unnecessary comments, like seriously do you wake up everyday wanting to attack a 18/19 year old just for asking a simple question on a forum? I've said it once and i'll say it again. HAVE A NICE DAY. Meaning, please stop adding in your unnecessary input, which none have actually pertrained to my question, just simply you wanting to bash me for a law school choice. Go water some plants, or feed the homeless. Something useful.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by criminologygeek » Thu Jan 31, 2019 10:54 pm

miskellyjohnson wrote:OP, fwiw, I dont really understand the problem with someone wanting to go to HLS as a first choice. I think you just tapped into a collective anger that people on this forum have towards HLS/prestige whores, and they are now taking it out on you with 500 word diatribes scolding you for having the perfectly reasonable goal of wanting to go to HLS.

The answer to how you get into HLS without work experience is (in addition to getting good grades and LSAT): find something meaningful to you, dedicate a substantial amount of time towards it such that you become a significant figure and make a substantial impact. That "something meaningful" may be political (LGBT policy on campus), or it may be personal (volunteering with/supporting cancer patients at local hospital) , or it may be completely academic (scientific research into a new material for solar cells), or it maybe starting your own company, etc. etc..

(And, yes, here's a bunch of advice unrelated to what you asked but that people really want to give you: Have fun during the process, make relationships with people, call your parents weekly and tell them you love them, use protection during sexual encounters, dont drink the water in mexico, the orange LSD is bad. Why people feel the need to bring up this type of advice in a thread asking about HLS, I dont know, other than that us old people love to give unsolicited advice to youngs as a way to relive our regrets).

Also, I'd just say that *right now*-- with a strong economy and legal market-- there is not a meaningful difference in career outcomes between HLS and other T13s. You can get big law from both. However, I do think (without any evidence to support this view) that HLS is recession-proof (or at least recession-resistant) in ways that other T13s may not be. If the legal market shrinks substantially, I'd rather be holding onto a H degree than a NW degree, but that may just be me.
Yes!! someone finally said it. I literally asked one simple question and a whole mob of angry protesters come launching at me with 500-word essays, makes me never want to ask a question again if this is the input I will be getting. There are a few like yourself that gave useful tips and encourage me. And actually answered my question rather than writing an interrogating essays asking me why I choose HLS. Thank you!

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by criminologygeek » Thu Jan 31, 2019 11:40 pm

Hi quick PSA
If anyone's answer doesn't provide helpful input but rather is full of unnecessary comments asking me why I want to attend HLS, please by all means, don't hit send. I don't want to read (and frankly don't have time to read) bashful, and nasty posts. I get that people are saying focus on GPA, focus on college life and experiences and that I might not be able to have if i'm rushing, I get that! But that was has absolutely no relevance to my question. I simply wanted to know how to go straight to HLS without having to take a gap year. That does not mean I only want to ~only~ attend HLS as I've previously stated multiple times. I have other law schools in mind!

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by The Lsat Airbender » Fri Feb 01, 2019 12:10 am

The answer is unironically to focus on your GPA, though. That's the only thing you can control right now that matters. Having a 3.95 instead of a 3.85 or 3.75 or 3.6 is hugely consequential, for Harvard and every other T14 (since even the "lower" ones will offer you better scholarships if you have the raw numbers for Harvard).

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by Lxwind » Fri Feb 01, 2019 12:31 am

To answer the question: get a near-perfect GPA and a near-perfect LSAT and you'll be good to go. As far as I'm seeing, HLS admission is fairly predictable and highly depends on the numbers - especially LSAT which you have time to study for and have multiple chances to improve. Other than that, I'll say that if you know you are gonna do this, submit early. Stats show that for HLS, basically the earlier you apply the better chance you have, which is different from YLS and SLS. So, have all your documents ready in the summer and submit in early September will likely boost your chance, but only marginally. There are more students with experience than KJDs in HLS doesn't mean the admission rate is higher for older applicants. As a matter of fact, stats have shown that younger test takers tend to have higher LSAT scores in general. Therefore, if you've already decided this is what you want to do, leverage your advantage as a younger student who is determined and have the time - nail the test. A 3.9+ and a 180 basically means Harvard is a lock unless, idk, there is sth. extremely weird in your application. That is a goal that doesn't require gap years. Aim for that. Just remember, Harvard is always gonna be there and you don't have to rush. Good luck!

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by nixy » Fri Feb 01, 2019 1:06 am

The thing is, people often post here asking questions that suggest they need additional information/advice.

Good luck with school/your admission plans.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by GFox345 » Fri Feb 01, 2019 2:02 am

Horrible thread.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by QContinuum » Fri Feb 01, 2019 2:25 am

nixy wrote:The thing is, people often post here asking questions that suggest they need additional information/advice.

Good luck with school/your admission plans.
I also am bowing out of this thread. I think I've done my best to give helpful advice, and I apologize if any of my advice made anyone (whether OP or others) feel attacked, as that was not my intention.

I wish OP all the best with college and with their future law school admissions cycle. I hope they will continue to use TLS as a resource if/when they have further questions to ask.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by Npret » Fri Feb 01, 2019 7:22 am

QContinuum wrote:
nixy wrote:The thing is, people often post here asking questions that suggest they need additional information/advice.

Good luck with school/your admission plans.
I also am bowing out of this thread. I think I've done my best to give helpful advice, and I apologize if any of my advice made anyone (whether OP or others) feel attacked, as that was not my intention.

I wish OP all the best with college and with their future law school admissions cycle. I hope they will continue to use TLS as a resource if/when they have further questions to ask.
I’m glad to see OP story has changed because they resisted the advice given for a while. I’m glad “what’s the easiest and fastest way into Harvard” expanded to include other schools. I’m glad that “just being a lawyer and living a normal life” became something specific, though I still think OP is too young to know.

Good luck OP.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by Wild Card » Fri Feb 01, 2019 5:56 pm

Harvard Law School is nowhere as selective as Harvard College. A high GPA and high LSAT score are "all" you need. It's easy to get a high GPA but extremely difficult to get a high LSAT score.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by The Lsat Airbender » Fri Feb 01, 2019 6:18 pm

Wild Card wrote:Harvard Law School is nowhere as selective as Harvard College. A high GPA and high LSAT score are "all" you need. It's easy to get a high GPA but extremely difficult to get a high LSAT score.
This is veering into the "not even wrong" type of preftige nonsense that fouls up these threads because it's an apples-and-oranges comparison. Plenty of people graduate magna from the college but get rejected from the law school (at Harvard and everywhere). Law school acceptance rates are generally a lot higher than elite colleges' but that is mainly a result of self-selection.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by criminologygeek » Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:00 pm

Lxwind wrote:To answer the question: get a near-perfect GPA and a near-perfect LSAT and you'll be good to go. As far as I'm seeing, HLS admission is fairly predictable and highly depends on the numbers - especially LSAT which you have time to study for and have multiple chances to improve. Other than that, I'll say that if you know you are gonna do this, submit early. Stats show that for HLS, basically the earlier you apply the better chance you have, which is different from YLS and SLS. So, have all your documents ready in the summer and submit in early September will likely boost your chance, but only marginally. There are more students with experience than KJDs in HLS doesn't mean the admission rate is higher for older applicants. As a matter of fact, stats have shown that younger test takers tend to have higher LSAT scores in general. Therefore, if you've already decided this is what you want to do, leverage your advantage as a younger student who is determined and have the time - nail the test. A 3.9+ and a 180 basically means Harvard is a lock unless, idk, there is sth. extremely weird in your application. That is a goal that doesn't require gap years. Aim for that. Just remember, Harvard is always gonna be there and you don't have to rush. Good luck!
Sounds like a solid plan, though from what people seem to be saying, the later you apply the better. I think a 180 is honestly heaven, but im aiming for at least a 177+ to get my foot in the door, even if that means halfway. What's your take on applying after University and if I don't get in, applying again after a year? A rejection would be devastating, but i'm wondering if Harvard wouldn't consider someone they had previously declined.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by criminologygeek » Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:04 pm

Wild Card wrote:Harvard Law School is nowhere as selective as Harvard College. A high GPA and high LSAT score are "all" you need. It's easy to get a high GPA but extremely difficult to get a high LSAT score.
True. But assuming you take a reasonable and fitting amount of time to prepare for the test, it can have significant amount of difference. Though, that also depends on your personal statement, recommendation letters, and essay you submit. Harvard University is definitely somewhat more competitive than HLS.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by criminologygeek » Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:06 pm

The Lsat Airbender wrote:
Wild Card wrote:Harvard Law School is nowhere as selective as Harvard College. A high GPA and high LSAT score are "all" you need. It's easy to get a high GPA but extremely difficult to get a high LSAT score.
This is veering into the "not even wrong" type of preftige nonsense that fouls up these threads because it's an apples-and-oranges comparison. Plenty of people graduate magna from the college but get rejected from the law school (at Harvard and everywhere). Law school acceptance rates are generally a lot higher than elite colleges' but that is mainly a result of self-selection.
Yep. Isn't it ironic it works that way? You'd think those who graduated from Harvard undergrad would have a better likelihood of getting accepted into HLS. Quite the contrary, but it gives me hope.

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Re: What are ways to get admitted into Harvard without taking a year or two off post grad?

Post by criminologygeek » Fri Feb 01, 2019 8:11 pm

QContinuum wrote:
nixy wrote:The thing is, people often post here asking questions that suggest they need additional information/advice.

Good luck with school/your admission plans.
I also am bowing out of this thread. I think I've done my best to give helpful advice, and I apologize if any of my advice made anyone (whether OP or others) feel attacked, as that was not my intention.

I wish OP all the best with college and with their future law school admissions cycle. I hope they will continue to use TLS as a resource if/when they have further questions to ask.
Thank you for the input you gave, I didn't take offense to any of them to be frank. It was solely the ones that questioned my intent after getting my JD and questioned my law school choice. Either way, you did great with the advice!

Seriously? What are you waiting for?

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