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Hey all,

So I'm a HYPSM (Harvard,Yale,Princeton,Stanford,MIT) recent college graduate, and I originally planned on spending a few months after college graduation to study full-time for the LSAT before I would join the Peace Corps or some kind of intensive full-time program.

Problem is, the LSAT did not come easy for me, and I ended up spending longer studying for it than I expected. I've taken it 4 times over the course of 2 years, and have finally hit around my goal score.

During those 2 years of studying for the LSAT, however, I did not have a "full-time" professional job-- like someone working full time as a Business Analyst at McKinsey (like many of my peers) or as a paralegal at a BigLaw firm.

The reason I did not choose to do such a "full time" professional job is because they are very demanding, often requiring 70+ hours a week. I was really struggling with my LSAT, and I could not see myself balancing a full-time demanding job with the rigors of LSAT studying (I know many do this, but given how bad I was at the LSAT and how slow a learner I was, I thought this would be REALLY hard, and would impede on my LSAT prep).

As a result, during these 2 years, I was self-employed and worked as a private admissions consultant for high school students - both in my area and through referrals, around the world. The money was good and far better than any retail job. I charged $75/hour for my clients and helped everything from writing their personal statements to crafting their resumes. The hours were flexible, the money was good, and the work was fun and interesting.

I was able to do this because I am a HYPSM college graduate, so I could sell myself on the "How to get into an Ivy League" story.

This has been my main source of income and my main "job" for the past 2 years. How would this "job" look like on my resume for law school admissions? Would law schools look down on this because it's not as "cool" or "traditional" as a full time paralegal job, or a job working as a consultant at McKinsey? Would it be a considered negative? Or just no effect?

My main interests and motivations in law are in environmental law and regulation, so what I did as private college admissions consultant was NOT related in any way to my story of "why law school?" so I don't see it related in any way when I write my personal statement on my passion in environmental law. It was just a way to make money and survive. Would that be seen as a negative?

My STORY (and what I hope to write my personal statement on) of how I got into environmental law are mostly based in my college internships/coursework (from a few years back), and not my work as a college admissions consultant.

Would that be ok?

Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated. Thanks. Please do not quote.

I think your personal statement should focus on the self-employer college admissions schtick. Would be unique, and there's a lot there. You could get a phenomenal essay out of it. See: https://jezebel.com/all-the-greedy-youn ... 1782508801. Lean into it.

If you can write a slam dunk environmental-y statement I guess go for it, but given that you didn't pursue it after you graduated, little skeptical that it'll be as compelling as something funny/pointed on the college admissions scam.

90% of admissions is LSAT-GPA-URM status, even if you worked in consulting or w/e. So this ultimately doesn't matter much. But seems like a waste to just leave your college admissions job as a (kinda crappy) resume line item.

LBJ's Hair wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 07, 2020 5:26 pm

I think your personal statement should focus on the self-employer college admissions schtick. Would be unique, and there's a lot there. You could get a phenomenal essay out of it. See: https://jezebel.com/all-the-greedy-youn ... 1782508801. Lean into it.

If you can write a slam dunk environmental-y statement I guess go for it, but given that you didn't pursue it after you graduated, little skeptical that it'll be as compelling as something funny/pointed on the college admissions scam.

90% of admissions is LSAT-GPA-URM status, even if you worked in consulting or w/e. So this ultimately doesn't matter much. But seems like a waste to just leave your college admissions job as a (kinda crappy) resume line item.

thanks for the feedback!

yea I guess I could write a personal statement on college admissions consulting. Except I don't really know how I can make that into an essay that answers "WHY LAW?" or "Why I want to go to law school?"

My real passion is in environmental law, policy, and regulation. And it's usually really hard (and not really clear) to get a job as a policy advisor at the EPA straight out of college. You would need mad connections or something haha.

And I needed a "job" that would give me a lot of free time to study for the LSAT while also paying really well lol. Because I knew that at the end of the day, my LSAT was the most important number for law school...far above any job I could get.

What are your thoughts and feedback?

DO you think my resume/background would have a "red flag?"

I want to be genuine in my personal statement about why I want to go to law school and my passion on impact litigation with environmental law, air quality regulation, etc. But yea ... not sure how I can incorporate my time as a college admissions consultant that I've been doing the past 2 years into that. Or if I should at all?

Any thoughts? Thanks.

toplawschoolmonkeys wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 07, 2020 6:29 pm

LBJ's Hair wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 07, 2020 5:26 pm

I think your personal statement should focus on the self-employer college admissions schtick. Would be unique, and there's a lot there. You could get a phenomenal essay out of it. See: https://jezebel.com/all-the-greedy-youn ... 1782508801. Lean into it.

If you can write a slam dunk environmental-y statement I guess go for it, but given that you didn't pursue it after you graduated, little skeptical that it'll be as compelling as something funny/pointed on the college admissions scam.

90% of admissions is LSAT-GPA-URM status, even if you worked in consulting or w/e. So this ultimately doesn't matter much. But seems like a waste to just leave your college admissions job as a (kinda crappy) resume line item.

thanks for the feedback!

yea I guess I could write a personal statement on college admissions consulting. Except I don't really know how I can make that into an essay that answers "WHY LAW?" or "Why I want to go to law school?"

My real passion is in environmental law, policy, and regulation. And it's usually really hard (and not really clear) to get a job as a policy advisor at the EPA straight out of college. You would need mad connections or something haha.

And I needed a "job" that would give me a lot of free time to study for the LSAT while also paying really well lol. Because I knew that at the end of the day, my LSAT was the most important number for law school...far above any job I could get.

What are your thoughts and feedback?

DO you think my resume/background would have a "red flag?"

I want to be genuine in my personal statement about why I want to go to law school and my passion on impact litigation with environmental law, air quality regulation, etc. But yea ... not sure how I can incorporate my time as a college admissions consultant that I've been doing the past 2 years into that. Or if I should at all?

Any thoughts? Thanks.

If you think you can write a good personal statement about environmental law, I say go for it. But you don't have to -- the personal statement doesn't have to address "Why law?" or "Why law school?" Major misconception 0Ls have.

RE "red flag" -- it's not. K-JDs get into T14s every year. Is it suboptimal? Sure. But even the McKinsey job isn't gonna move the needle a ton, and you can't go back in time to get that job at McKinsey. I wouldn't worry about it.

Just focus on putting together the best application for *you*.

You really have nothing to worry about here. Most of your future classmates won't be McKinsey alums, and the minority who were aren't necessarily at an advantage. Once you get into law school, past work experience is overshadowed by law school GPA and legal internships/law school activities like journal and moot court.

From a law school admissions standpoint, your college advising sounds like a fun topic for a personal statement (all that matters with these things is that they're fun essays for admissions to read to get a sense of your ability to craft an entertaining story — "why law?" is not necessary to address unless the particular law school asks for that). It's a perfectly fine resume line, too.