Top Law Schools

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2011 4:19 am**

What are some good softs for law school?
Does it have to be related to law in some way?
Or anything that shows passion is good?

For summer internships, what kind of internship that law schools are looking for?

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2011 6:30 am**

Consensus on the board is that the vast majority of softs (including PT work experience in college, internships, clubs, volunteering, leadership activities, etc.) is only a minor factor.

Softs can hurt you if you've done nothing in college.

They're only really helpful if they're extraordinary (as in, only a small % of LS applicants have them). Common examples include Peace Corps, TFA, winning something national, publishing a book, curing cancer, etc.

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2011 9:06 am**

Ability to use the search function ranks pretty high as a soft in my book.

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2011 9:13 am**

I'd say my 1000 hours of volunteer work in Haiti after the earthquake was a good soft.

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2011 2:25 pm**

Humility is the best soft of all.

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2011 2:48 pm**

A good soft is anything that you had to work for or earn (i.e. not something that was naturally bestowed upon you) that makes you unique/original or puts you in a small minority.

Thus, being handicapped, really tall, or really good looking alone would not be a good soft.

However, if you overcame your handicap to compete in the special olympics. thats a good soft.

or if you used your height to play basketball at a D1 school while maintaining high grades, thats a good soft.

and if you spent three years after UG working runways and modelling for burberry that is, yes, a good soft.

Also, things that don't put you in a small minority are not good softs. part time work in college isn't that great of a soft, everyone works. being in your schools version of Death of a Salesman isn't a good soft. living in paris one summer between junior and senior year is not a good soft at all.

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:17 pm**

IMO, anything that shows you can overcome adversity. An experience where you start at a disadvantage, put in work, and then succeed (or at least not give up/fail).

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:18 pm**

sanetruth wrote: However, if you overcame your handicap to compete in the special olympics. thats a good soft.
or if you used your height to play basketball at a D1 school while maintaining high grades, thats a good soft.

I doubt this would be helpful as special olympics is strictly for folks who have cognitive disabilities. Many of the participants have physical disabilities as well, but the commonality of participants is the intellectual disability piece.

You may be thinking about paralympics? These tend to be more competitive and those participants tend to be legit athletes (e.g., the bladerunner guy who missed the 400 meter olympic qualifying time by .7 seconds) If you ever want to see an athletic person with a physical disability get pissed off, ask them if they've ever competed in the special olympics. Reaction is priceless.

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:19 pm**

wothli wrote:What are some good softs for law school?
Does it have to be related to law in some way?
Or anything that shows passion is good?

--ImageRemoved--

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:20 pm**

@Drake014 I love you for that.

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:28 pm**

TommyK wrote:@Drake014 I love you for that.

I don't know how I was the first to do that.

Posted: **Fri Feb 25, 2011 4:06 pm**

Drake014 wrote:
wothli wrote:What are some good softs for law school?
Does it have to be related to law in some way?
Or anything that shows passion is good?
--ImageRemoved--

meh

Posted: **Sun Feb 27, 2011 10:44 pm**

zonto wrote:Humility is the best soft of all.

+1
Admissions officers see thousands of over confident kids.

Posted: **Sun Feb 27, 2011 10:46 pm**

I'm finding that softs are incredibly important during 1L hiring. Everyone is a blank slate, if you can show you volunteered in the area of practice, it can really help you get interviews/position.

I did some work for a disabled baseball league and almost all of my call-backs have been disability related.

Posted: **Sun Feb 27, 2011 10:56 pm**

Hi folks,

I am a medical doctor that has been practicing as a subspecialty surgeon for 10 years and is ready to pursue my true passion of studying the law. I would be most appreciative of any advice on how competitive my application will be considering the following somewhat atypical stats and background.

41 years old, practicing surgeon for 10 years
Undergraduate GPA in challenging undergrad pre-med program at McGill University 3.61. Suffered "sophmore jinx" and had bad second year. Graduated with "Great Distinction"
Medical School at McGill University
Internship and 5 years of postgrad residency training plus one year subspecialty fellowship
MBA degree from University of Michigan during first job in academic medicine
LSAT of 166 = 94 percentile in 1991 (20 yrs ago!!). Will write again this summer...assuming similar or better score
Numerous research papers from first job in academic medicine
Leadership skills of starting up and running solo surgical practice
Selected to America's Top Surgeons every year since 2007
Manuscript reviewer for many years for several scientific journals
Lectured nationally and internationally in my subspecialty area
Married with two girls 4 and 6
Dual citizen of USA and Canada

Please advise on chances of acceptance at Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern, Univ Texas, Univ Michigan (alumni), UC Berkeley.

Please also recommend any other schools that you feel might be suitable

I am new to this forum and this whole concept of applications and stats etc so I sure appreciate your comments!!

Thanks!

MDwannabeJD

These are good softs, a summer internship is never going to get you good softs. Focus on the LSAT. Thank you for playing.

Posted: **Mon Feb 28, 2011 12:46 am**

Veyron wrote:
Hi folks,

I am a medical doctor that has been practicing as a subspecialty surgeon for 10 years and is ready to pursue my true passion of studying the law. I would be most appreciative of any advice on how competitive my application will be considering the following somewhat atypical stats and background.

41 years old, practicing surgeon for 10 years
Undergraduate GPA in challenging undergrad pre-med program at McGill University 3.61. Suffered "sophmore jinx" and had bad second year. Graduated with "Great Distinction"
Medical School at McGill University
Internship and 5 years of postgrad residency training plus one year subspecialty fellowship
MBA degree from University of Michigan during first job in academic medicine
LSAT of 166 = 94 percentile in 1991 (20 yrs ago!!). Will write again this summer...assuming similar or better score
Numerous research papers from first job in academic medicine
Leadership skills of starting up and running solo surgical practice
Selected to America's Top Surgeons every year since 2007
Manuscript reviewer for many years for several scientific journals
Lectured nationally and internationally in my subspecialty area
Married with two girls 4 and 6
Dual citizen of USA and Canada

Please advise on chances of acceptance at Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Northwestern, Univ Texas, Univ Michigan (alumni), UC Berkeley.

Please also recommend any other schools that you feel might be suitable

I am new to this forum and this whole concept of applications and stats etc so I sure appreciate your comments!!

Thanks!

MDwannabeJD
These are good softs, a summer internship is never going to get you good softs. Focus on the LSAT. Thank you for playing.

Veyron, thanks for the vote of confidence....now to get my LSAT up....

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2011 8:35 pm**

Is having narcolepsy while going to school full time and working full time a soft? I know many people who could not go to school full time and work full time, but I did it and did it well, while have narcolepsy.

Posted: **Wed Mar 23, 2011 8:55 pm**

danielle9281 wrote:Is having narcolepsy while going to school full time and working full time a soft? I know many people who could not go to school full time and work full time, but I did it and did it well, while have narcolepsy.

I am doing this. 4.0 gpa while working 40 hrs. a week. Speaking from experience, the Narcolepsy may be attributed to NEVER SLEEPING. Atleast it is for me. Seriously though, if you have truely been diagnosed and still manage to do what you are doing, I commend you!

Posted: **Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:42 pm**

Bartlebee06 wrote:
danielle9281 wrote:Is having narcolepsy while going to school full time and working full time a soft? I know many people who could not go to school full time and work full time, but I did it and did it well, while have narcolepsy.
I am doing this. 4.0 gpa while working 40 hrs. a week. Speaking from experience, the Narcolepsy may be attributed to NEVER SLEEPING. Atleast it is for me. Seriously though, if you have truely been diagnosed and still manage to do what you are doing, I commend you!

Yes I finally went in for testing and was diagnosed a year ago. The treatment for it helps but does not solve the problem, and adds other not so serious side effects. But the 4.0 that is great! I have about a 3.87, so not as good, but I am pretty proud of it. I have many friends who barely worked and just focused on school, only to graduate with a 3.5 or even less. I am just wondering in light of that fact, if narcolepsy would be something to mention to schools, or if they would look at it as a reason not to want me. I feel it could go either way and that is why I haven't mentioned it to any of the schools I applied to.

Posted: **Fri Mar 25, 2011 12:51 pm**

TheFactor wrote:
Drake014 wrote:
wothli wrote:What are some good softs for law school?
Does it have to be related to law in some way?
Or anything that shows passion is good?
--ImageRemoved--
meh

I'll second that.

Posted: **Fri Mar 25, 2011 1:13 pm**

TheTopBloke wrote:
TheFactor wrote:
Drake014 wrote:
wothli wrote:What are some good softs for law school?
Does it have to be related to law in some way?
Or anything that shows passion is good?
--ImageRemoved--
meh
I'll second that.

Really!??

Posted: **Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:09 am**

Drake014 wrote:
wothli wrote:What are some good softs for law school?
Does it have to be related to law in some way?
Or anything that shows passion is good?
--ImageRemoved--

hummm...had to scroll up and down numerous times...ty for that

they look kinda fake though

Posted: **Sun Mar 27, 2011 2:47 am**

Yeah, too much plastic surgery.

Posted: **Mon May 09, 2011 6:42 pm**

zonto wrote:Humility is the best soft of all.

Agreed.

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