Chicago c/o 2015 Applicants (2011-2012 cycle) Forum

[Hawkeye Pierce]

No problem, glad to help! I'll answer questions as best as I can.

[Tiago Splitter]

Hm, you're right, I think they just don't like numbers. Also, I noticed that some of the fields in this app don't seem to be required, since there isn't an asterisk next to them, for example. Does this mean we don't have to fill them out? For instance I had a pretty terrible GPA at my first college, and I figure they'll see it on the transcript anyway. Or the rank, for example.

Yeah no asterisk = not required to fill in. Re: GPA, they'll see it one way or another.

[SA1928]

This is probably not a great question - but should we be tailoring our academic interests to each school? For example, if there is a specific student group that one school has that maybe other schools do not have, should we mention it there or save it for a Why X essay?

EDIT: Sorry, I meant the "Academic Interest" section on the application, not our personal academic interests.

[madvillain]

This is probably not a great question - but should we be tailoring our academic interests to each school? For example, if there is a specific student group that one school has that maybe other schools do not have, should we mention it there or save it for a Why X essay?

Also wondering about this.

[soj]

I'm also all but PS at Chicago.

[MumofCad]

I think you're about the only person who makes talking about his kid interesting to other people

Thanks, in their defense, they don't have my kids

I am filling out the application now too. In response to the question re: answering question about other law schools, I plan on following the same rule on all questions: just be completely honest. Don't ever lie or purposefully fudge something on an application. You are signing it and it represents your character.

The question is pretty much common sense anyhow. I think they would assume in previous cycles that certain numbers would be applying to certain other schools. This most likely will just confirm that and be used for an internal stat of some sort.

[Hawkeye Pierce]

This is probably not a great question - but should we be tailoring our academic interests to each school? For example, if there is a specific student group that one school has that maybe other schools do not have, should we mention it there or save it for a Why X essay?

EDIT: Sorry, I meant the "Academic Interest" section on the application, not our personal academic interests.

Eh, I don't really know. I listed Law Review and Law and Economics, but I doubt it's really that important. If you wanted, you could probably arbitrarily list stuff that you're remotely interested in.

[Xifeng]

This is probably not a great question - but should we be tailoring our academic interests to each school? For example, if there is a specific student group that one school has that maybe other schools do not have, should we mention it there or save it for a Why X essay?

EDIT: Sorry, I meant the "Academic Interest" section on the application, not our personal academic interests.

Eh, I don't really know. I listed Law Review and Law and Economics, but I doubt it's really that important. If you wanted, you could probably arbitrarily list stuff that you're remotely interested in.

Last year I put completely random-ass stuff that wasn't specifically tailored to Chicago/sneakily-thought-out. If you talk about stuff in your PS, put that to keep your application cohesive, but other than that I wouldn't overthink it.

[MumofCad]

Anyone else have trouble with the honors section? Mine keeps flagging up, but it doesn't give an explanation as to why. How'd you format the explanations and what not?

ETA- Eh, got it to work. Had to cut it down and get rid of the -

[madvillain]

Anyone else have trouble with the honors section? Mine keep flagging up, but it doesn't give an explanation as to why. How'd you format the explanations and what not?

Haha yes I'm glad I'm not the only one who had issues with that, I thought I was going crazy for a moment. I've figured out that the system does not like quotation marks. Whenever I had a quotation mark in the section it would mark it was invalid. When I removed the quotation marks, for instance around "Dean's List," then it was fine. Hopefully that solves your problem.

[dakure]

Applications out? Will do this later.

[Blessedassurance]

I don't think you can submit it till September 1st, but I stand corrected.

[Hawkeye Pierce]

I don't think you can submit it till September 1st, but I stand corrected.

No. You can't submit it until Sep 1. You can work on it before then, however.

[Hawkeye Pierce]

Anyone else having the following problem?:

Under the Education section, when I add my high school AND my undergraduate institution, neither show up on the preview PDF.

But, when I add just my undergraduate institution, that does show up on the preview PDF.

[acadec]

Is there a good reason to add your high school? I've been consistently told that you shouldn't have any hs stuff on your resume, so i can't imagine why where you went to high school matters.

[Hawkeye Pierce]

Is there a good reason to add your high school? I've been consistently told that you shouldn't have any hs stuff on your resume, so i can't imagine why where you went to high school matters.

I can't imagine that it matters either, but it does give you the option of listing high schools.

[SA1928]

I'm not sure if this would have anything to do with it - but I served with an education based program where a college degree was required. We had to submit proof of graduating both college and high school, even though it is typically assumed that if you have a college degree then you must have a high school degree. Apparently there are a few colleges in the US that you can actually attend and graduate from without a high school degree. I'm not sure if this could have any part of schools wanting to know our high school, but maybe!

[Perdevise]

Hey guys, stoked to be actually filling out the UChicago forms. On the awards and honors section, should you indicate the dollar value of any scholarships/fellowships you have earned?

[Tiago Splitter]

Hey guys, stoked to be actually filling out the UChicago forms. On the awards and honors section, should you indicate the dollar value of any scholarships/fellowships you have earned?

I don't see why not, but it sounds like special characters mess up the system. No dollar signs.

[Perdevise]

Hey guys, stoked to be actually filling out the UChicago forms. On the awards and honors section, should you indicate the dollar value of any scholarships/fellowships you have earned?

I don't see why not, but it sounds like special characters mess up the system. No dollar signs.

Thanks. I've been experimenting, and the form will accept commas, parentheses, and $ (at least it does on mine).

[Tiago Splitter]

Hey guys, stoked to be actually filling out the UChicago forms. On the awards and honors section, should you indicate the dollar value of any scholarships/fellowships you have earned?

I don't see why not, but it sounds like special characters mess up the system. No dollar signs.

Thanks. I've been experimenting, and the form will accept commas, parentheses, and $ (at least it does on mine).

Nice. Blind leading the blind. We'll be way ahead of the curve and can make fun of all those late applicants who don't apply til, like October.

[tmon]

Nice. Blind leading the blind. We'll be way ahead of the curve and can make fun of all those late applicants who don't apply til, like October.

You're no longer welcome in the October LSAT thread

In other news. Seems like switching from ED to RD would be a hassle, so I'm trying to decide whether to risk having to switch or just make the decision after I get my score. I figure I can pull up the common form with other apps, and there's the PDF app that I can go over and make sure I know the answers for, so I should be able to just fill it out in October right? Any huge risk/down side I'm overlooking here?

[Tiago Splitter]

Nice. Blind leading the blind. We'll be way ahead of the curve and can make fun of all those late applicants who don't apply til, like October.

You're no longer welcome in the October LSAT thread

In other news. Seems like switching from ED to RD would be a hassle, so I'm trying to decide whether to risk having to switch or just make the decision after I get my score. I figure I can pull up the common form with other apps, and there's the PDF app that I can go over and make sure I know the answers for, so I should be able to just fill it out in October right? Any huge risk/down side I'm overlooking here?

Filling out the app took about five minutes tmon. I wouldn't worry about making the decision until you get your score and can better evaluate your chances. I doubt you'll want to apply ED anyway once that 180 comes through

[bball1997]

Is there a good reason to add your high school? I've been consistently told that you shouldn't have any hs stuff on your resume, so i can't imagine why where you went to high school matters.

I can't imagine that it matters either, but it does give you the option of listing high schools.

I'm having the same problem as you Hawkeye Pierce. The problem is that the prompt asks you to submit all educational institutions you attended, so I feel like we would have to include it in order to follow the instructions.

Edit: grammar

[Hermione]

What do you do in terms of major if you have a dual major? And if one of your majors is in like three different major catagories?