2010 Cycle: Expectations vs. Reality Forum

[Grizz]

LSP was good for me, 168/3.75.

UVA - consider - WL - applied late Nov.
Duke - consider - WL - applied mid Jan.
Texas - strong consider - in, $$ - applied mid Jan.
Vanderbilt - consider - in, $$ - applied mid Jan.
Emory - admit - in, $$ - applied late Nov.
UGA - admit - in, $$$ - applied late Nov.
UF - admit - in, $$$ - applied late Nov.

So in where it said I'd be in at, and went 50/50 on the targets and reaches. When I applied didn't seem to have made any difference in terms of admits and money.

[tru]

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[tru]

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[Pearalegal]

For some reason, LSP wasn't at all right on for me. Not sure why.

I got in places I was a weak consider, rejected from most places I was a consider except for a few acceptances with money.

[tru]

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[Mickey Quicknumbers]

Expectation ---> do whatever it takes to get into Vanderbilt
Reality ---> no Vanderbilt

Other than that my cycle went pretty much exactly as expected.

[Mickey Quicknumbers]

Can those who are saying that things other than GPA/LSAT really seemed to affect their cycle suggest what it is they think helped/hurt?

[strike]Strong writing. Early apps. Great LORs. Good softs. Those come to mind.[/strike]

Nothing

O rly?

[justbluemyself]

Can those who are saying that things other than GPA/LSAT really seemed to affect their cycle suggest what it is they think helped/hurt?

[strike]Strong writing. Early apps. Great LORs. Good softs. Those come to mind.[/strike]

Nothing

O rly?

Plus one. I respectfully disagree. LSP had me at "Weak Consider" (32%) for Harvard and "Consider" (45%) for Columbia. I was admitted to Columbia, and was admitted to Harvard off the waitlist. In my case, I would have to say that it was all about my softs.

Also, I applied fairly late (mid-January).

[robin600]

Before cycle: In order to be a good lawyer, I have to make it into a great school
After cycle: I can do anything I want to do and I've been through enough bumps in the road to know what's a pothole and what needs a detour.

All in all, I'm happy the way I played my cycle. I applied early to schools across the board and I got accepted with scholarship money to schools that should've either admitted me with no money or WLed/rejected me. I also got rejected from schools that I probably should've been admitted to. It's not just a numbers game, but every school (some to a lesser degree than others) is a numbers whore. Knowing that going in would've made this cycle a lot less painful.

[84Sunbird2000]

My cycle was extremely anticlimactic. 166/3.75.

In: Boston U., Emory, W&M, IUB, Iowa, W&L, plus all of the schools ranked 30 or below that I applied to.

WL: Duke, Cornell (Reserve), WUSTL (Hold), Vandy, Notre Dame, BC, UIUC (this one was perplexing, but I was a bit late in applying)

Rejected: UVA, Penn, UCLA, Michigan

The only weird thing was that I received at least 15k per year from ALL of my admits sans Iowa, who admitted I only missed out on a full scholarship because they were out of money. So...it appears I fell right off the cliff from slam dunk admit to borderline candidate. This reaffirms, at least in my case, the LSAT/GPA whoring. With my high-ish GPA, it meant that my LSAT vs. The Median was the only difference between a WL and $$.

[DrPlacebo]

I didn't bother to check how my numbers stacked up until more than a month after I submitted my last application. I went into the cycle thinking that any top-100 school would be a reach with a 171/3.37, so was surprised when the calculator said I should be an automatic admit to about half of the schools I applied to, and at least a consider at most of them. So far I have three admission offers (Pacific McGeorge $$$$, U of Houston, U of Seattle $$), SPWL at Georgetown, and a couple other waitlists... but certainly not the pile of offers the calculator said I should have had. Still not disappointed, since I went in with very low expectations.

Also, two factors that may have affected my cycle:
1) I applied very late - submitted all my applications between 1/31 and 3/6. I would have kept going even after that, but stopped applying to backup schools after my first acceptance letter arrived in the mail.
2) Double-edged softs. I wrote a very risky personal statement, about being a victim of profiling after the Virginia Tech shootings, and recovering from a wrongful suspension from medical school (it took six months and an attorney to clear my name) to take on leadership roles in mental illness advocacy as well as health policy advocacy in general. But a risky personal statement was better than an unexplained gap of two-and-a-half years in my resume after leaving medical school about halfway through. I suspect this turned at least two or three automatic admits to rejections, but the SPWL at Georgetown suggests I probably improved my chances there with the personal statement, and the full scholarship offer from McGeorge was postmarked only three days after I submitted my application. (Other than that, softs were strong - I had three very good recommendations, strong extracurriculars, and currently hold an elected position in a national organization. But dropping out of another graduate program under extraordinary circumstances seems to be a big knock.)

[romothesavior]

LSP was good for me, 168/3.75.

UVA - consider - WL - applied late Nov.
Duke - consider - WL - applied mid Jan.
Texas - strong consider - in, $$ - applied mid Jan.
Vanderbilt - consider - in, $$ - applied mid Jan.
Emory - admit - in, $$ - applied late Nov.
UGA - admit - in, $$$ - applied late Nov.
UF - admit - in, $$$ - applied late Nov.

So in where it said I'd be in at, and went 50/50 on the targets and reaches. When I applied didn't seem to have made any difference in terms of admits and money.

Wow Radlaw, I see you post on here all the time and enjoy your posts... but I didn't realize we are numbers twins! 168/3.75 here as well. The only schools we applied to in common were Duke (reject for me... only one of the cycle, so it stung) and Vanderbilt (with 60k).

Good luck at Vandy.

[romothesavior]

And to OP:

I am a middle-class white kid applying straight from undergrad and I'm a non-splitter, so I'd say I am as traditional of an applicant as one can be. My cycle went exactly as one would expect.

168/3.75
Cornell (EA): Accepted
Boston U: Accepted
WUSTL: Accepted (75k)
Vanderbilt: Accepted (60k)
U of Illinois: Accepted (Full Ride)
Georgetown: Priority Waitlist
Michigan (ED): Deferred to RD, then Waitlisted
Duke: Rejected

[danidancer]

3.45/168/non-URM. Applied in November.

[keg411]

Got killed by very late completions at schools due to a Feb LSAT. On the one hand, it's hard to say I shouldn't have re-taken, because I got much better $$ offers due to it; but it wasn't really enough to get into the schools I really wanted. I'd consider re-cycling, but I don't know if it's worth it, nor do I know if the outcome would change (I'm a splitter and I'm fairly certain I maxed out my LSAT score). If I could have done it over, I would have sat out this cycle and applied early next cycle instead, even if it meant starting school another year closer to 30.

[bk1]

Got killed by very late completions at schools due to a Feb LSAT. On the one hand, it's hard to say I shouldn't have re-taken, because I got much better $$ offers due to it; but it wasn't really enough to get into the schools I really wanted. I'd consider re-cycling, but I don't know if it's worth it, nor do I know if the outcome would change (I'm a splitter and I'm fairly certain I maxed out my LSAT score). If I could have done it over, I would have sat out this cycle and applied early next cycle instead, even if it meant starting school another year closer to 30.

Do you know if people who reapply next cycle and have no changes other than an earlier app (other than new statements) do worse than they would had they not applied the cycle before?

[romothesavior]

3.45/168/non-URM. Applied in November.

Where are you going?

[fenderjsm88]

I learned that all that matters is GPA and LSAT, unless your last name is Bush or Kennedy or you're black, latino, or an eskimo.

This got me wondering about Jeb Bush's half-Mexican children. Turns out that one of them went to law school at U of Texas.

[kmap]

I did WAY better than I thought I would.

Non URM, 4.0/166 after one epic freakout resulting in score cancellation (sad trombone)

William and Mary: Accepted with $$
Georgetown: Accepted
BU: Accepted with $$
Maryland: Accepted with $$
UVA: Accepted
Cornell: Accepted
Berkeley: Held, rejected
NYU: Waitlisted
Harvard: Held, Waitlisted ---> Accepted

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that considering my LSAT score, I made out like a bandit this year.

[danidancer]

3.45/168/non-URM. Applied in November.

Where are you going?

Probably Cornell.

[fenderjsm88]

My cycle was a little disappointing, but I'm a URM (a mixed URM at that, and I mentioned my mixedness in the diversity statement) so my cycle was expected to be on the chaotic side. Basically, I was waitlisted at a few schools where I was predicted to be an Admit and admitted at a few schools where I was predicted to be a Consider. I got into my main target school, though, and waitlisted at a few great ones, so I can't be too disappointed, especially considering my unimpressive numbers (164, 3.7.)

[fenderjsm88]

I did WAY better than I thought I would.

Non URM, 4.0/166 after one epic freakout resulting in score cancellation (sad trombone)

William and Mary: Accepted with $$
Georgetown: Accepted
BU: Accepted with $$
Maryland: Accepted with $$
UVA: Accepted
Cornell: Accepted
Berkeley: Held, rejected
NYU: Waitlisted
Harvard: Held, Waitlisted ---> Accepted

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that considering my LSAT score, I made out like a bandit this year.

That is pretty badass.

[keg411]

Got killed by very late completions at schools due to a Feb LSAT. On the one hand, it's hard to say I shouldn't have re-taken, because I got much better $$ offers due to it; but it wasn't really enough to get into the schools I really wanted. I'd consider re-cycling, but I don't know if it's worth it, nor do I know if the outcome would change (I'm a splitter and I'm fairly certain I maxed out my LSAT score). If I could have done it over, I would have sat out this cycle and applied early next cycle instead, even if it meant starting school another year closer to 30.

Do you know if people who reapply next cycle and have no changes other than an earlier app (other than new statements) do worse than they would had they not applied the cycle before?

No idea... but I personally don't think it's worth it to "risk" without a significant change (i.e. another LSAT).

[kmap]

I did WAY better than I thought I would.

Non URM, 4.0/166 after one epic freakout resulting in score cancellation (sad trombone)

William and Mary: Accepted with $$
Georgetown: Accepted
BU: Accepted with $$
Maryland: Accepted with $$
UVA: Accepted
Cornell: Accepted
Berkeley: Held, rejected
NYU: Waitlisted
Harvard: Held, Waitlisted ---> Accepted

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that considering my LSAT score, I made out like a bandit this year.

That is pretty badass.

Forgot one ... Penn = waitlisted, giving me a pretty miraculous cycle with only one rejection. I'm really glad I didn't listen to the internet wisdom about where I'd get in, or I'd never have applied to Harvard. The moral of the story is, reach for the stars, kids.

[bk1]

No idea... but I personally don't think it's worth it to "risk" without a significant change (i.e. another LSAT).

Yeah, basically what I was getting at was the thought as to whether applying much earlier (i.e. when apps come out as opposed to at deadline) is a significant change in this regard.