Northwestern Law C/O 2016 (2012-2013 Applicants) Forum

[ramadden13]

Held. (168/3.67)

So soft rejection or do holds actually have a shot?

Sorry

Would you mind sharing your complete date and an update to your complete date if you had one?

Sure. 1/28 and 2/18

[snapdragon25]

How are people approaching the hold essays? Relating directly to law school/legal employment/general law stuff? Or taking a more general writing approach?

I have what I think are fairly strong, serious topics in mind but I'm having trouble linking them to "...and I would be an awesome law student" in a particularly direct and specific way.

Any thoughts/recommendations would be much appreciated, even if they are just hunches.

I'm going with a more general approach that answers the question while showing qualities that would make me a good law student/lawyer. The topics don't really lend themselves to an essay purely selling yourself. If you have more reasons you would make a great lawyer, save it for a LOCI. I like writing and I'm looking at it as a way to show off my creative side before law school brings me back down to earth in a few months.

And this is totally unscientific, but going through last year's thread it looked like about half the held applicants were admitted (usually YP numbers) and half were waitlisted. I didn't see anyone who was straight up rejected off hold. Don't quote me on this though!!

[CaptainLeela]

Welcome to TLS

[tcliff]

In today. 3.67, 171, 3 years work experience.

[Inconceivable!]

How are people approaching the hold essays? Relating directly to law school/legal employment/general law stuff? Or taking a more general writing approach?

I have what I think are fairly strong, serious topics in mind but I'm having trouble linking them to "...and I would be an awesome law student" in a particularly direct and specific way.

Any thoughts/recommendations would be much appreciated, even if they are just hunches.

I'm going with a more general approach that answers the question while showing qualities that would make me a good law student/lawyer. The topics don't really lend themselves to an essay purely selling yourself. If you have more reasons you would make a great lawyer, save it for a LOCI. I like writing and I'm looking at it as a way to show off my creative side before law school brings me back down to earth in a few months.

And this is totally unscientific, but going through last year's thread it looked like about half the held applicants were admitted (usually YP numbers) and half were waitlisted. I didn't see anyone who was straight up rejected off hold. Don't quote me on this though!!

I too am going more for a creative side. Everything else about my application demonstrates my "law school student-ness", I want to show a new side. I agree that an LOCI is a better medium for telling how you would be a great lawyer thanks to NU law.

[spyder11]

Just got my scholarship notification for the Accelerated JD program.

$150k spread over 5 semesters! Almost a full ride!

Only problem is they want a response (and deposit) by March 15th. I'm still waiting on a few schools and also I got $62.5k from NYU.

This is a pretty difficult decision for me. Should I take the money and run or should I consider the NYU offer?

[Dmini7]

Just got my scholarship notification for the Accelerated JD program.

$150k spread over 5 semesters! Almost a full ride!

Only problem is they want a response (and deposit) by March 15th. I'm still waiting on a few schools and also I got $62.5k from NYU.

This is a pretty difficult decision for me. Should I take the money and run or should I consider the NYU offer?

I would take it and run. You are getting a T14 education nearly free, and the schools placement numbers are amazing. Personally, I don't think NYU is worth 87.5k more than NU, but that is just me. Also congrats on the acceptance and money from the AJd program, I am jealous .

[Rahviveh]

Just got my scholarship notification for the Accelerated JD program.

$150k spread over 5 semesters! Almost a full ride!

Only problem is they want a response (and deposit) by March 15th. I'm still waiting on a few schools and also I got $62.5k from NYU.

This is a pretty difficult decision for me. Should I take the money and run or should I consider the NYU offer?

I would take it and run. You are getting a T14 education nearly free, and the schools placement numbers are amazing. Personally, I don't think NYU is worth 87.5k more than NU, but that is just me. Also congrats on the acceptance and money from the AJd program, I am jealous .

As things stand now, yeah NW is TCR. But look at his stats. I'd be surprised if he doesn't get comparable offers from other schools. That mid-March deadline kind of sucks though.

[TripTrip]

Man, these scholarship/fin-aid essays suck.

It doesn't help that I keep writing "attending NU would" instead of "attending NU will."

[testaker]

Sorry if this has already been covered, but for the financial aid essays (and more specifically, the request to "assess your position for merit aid"), are you guys including specific amounts of merit aid you've been offered elsewhere? I'm late in starting these essays and am basically wondering whether a debate akin to the GULC one (to divulge numbers or not to?), has been launched with regard to these NU ones, or whether people think dropping numbers is too crass for the prompt put forth by NU. Thanks.

[az21833]

in today via email , first good thing to happen to me in a while.

now for those scholly essays...

[chadbrochill]

.

[ramadden13]

in today via email , first good thing to happen to me in a while.

now for those scholly essays...

Glad at least one of us got in az!

[rinkrat19]

Sorry if this has already been covered, but for the financial aid essays (and more specifically, the request to "assess your position for merit aid"), are you guys including specific amounts of merit aid you've been offered elsewhere? I'm late in starting these essays and am basically wondering whether a debate akin to the GULC one (to divulge numbers or not to?), has been launched with regard to these NU ones, or whether people think dropping numbers is too crass for the prompt put forth by NU. Thanks.

I personally wouldn't (and didn't). My feeling, while totally unconfirmed, is that they want something a little more thoughtful than a comparison of numbers. I certainly mentioned "other substantial scholarship offers," but spent more time on how a scholarship would open up more career paths, how while I wasn't a Rhodes Scholar, I'd always performed well at every stage of my education (not in those exact words), and how having a mortgage at home and leaving a solid career made law school a bigger risk for me.

[risa]

Congrats, admits!
Mind letting us know when you went complete?

[tcliff]

Submitted application mid/early Jan, interview on Feb 14, complete Feb 21.

[curepure]

Just got my scholarship notification for the Accelerated JD program.

$150k spread over 5 semesters! Almost a full ride!

Only problem is they want a response (and deposit) by March 15th. I'm still waiting on a few schools and also I got $62.5k from NYU.

This is a pretty difficult decision for me. Should I take the money and run or should I consider the NYU offer?

OMG that's awesome! I'm still waiting for AJD scholarship email, hope it's coming tmw

[jbagelboy]

in today via email , first good thing to happen to me in a while.

now for those scholly essays...

Duuuude. didn't you get into stanford like last week. you're all about the good news.

[Cobretti]

Grats admits, sorry chad and rama

[risa]

Submitted application mid/early Jan, interview on Feb 14, complete Feb 21.

Fuuuuck. Complete mid-January. Why does NU hate me so much? I hoped my 7+ yrs work experience made me a strong candidate but I can't help but feel like I got passed over.

[megagnarley]

in today via email , first good thing to happen to me in a while.

now for those scholly essays...

Duuuude. didn't you get into stanford like last week. you're all about the good news.

I just thought that same thing. Getting into Stanford qualifies as at least three months of good news.

Ah, sweet parallax.

[testaker]

bumping this...other thoughts?

Sorry if this has already been covered, but for the financial aid essays (and more specifically, the request to "assess your position for merit aid"), are you guys including specific amounts of merit aid you've been offered elsewhere? I'm late in starting these essays and am basically wondering whether a debate akin to the GULC one (to divulge numbers or not to?), has been launched with regard to these NU ones, or whether people think dropping numbers is too crass for the prompt put forth by NU. Thanks.

[esperanza11]

How long after an on-campus interview did people hear back re: decisions? My last update was 2/11 (complete) and I had an interview the week prior but radio silence since so I don't know if I should be panicking yet (though let's be honest, this entire process is a prolonged state of panic)

[TripTrip]

bumping this...other thoughts?

Sorry if this has already been covered, but for the financial aid essays (and more specifically, the request to "assess your position for merit aid"), are you guys including specific amounts of merit aid you've been offered elsewhere? I'm late in starting these essays and am basically wondering whether a debate akin to the GULC one (to divulge numbers or not to?), has been launched regard to these NU ones, or whether people think dropping numbers is too crass for the prompt put forth by NU. Thanks.

To me this sounds like an opportunity to evaluate yourself. I'm not going to specifically reference other offers, but I will use the space to talk about how awesome I am and argue for how I will bring a unique perspective to the law school.

[Cobretti]

bumping this...other thoughts?

Sorry if this has already been covered, but for the financial aid essays (and more specifically, the request to "assess your position for merit aid"), are you guys including specific amounts of merit aid you've been offered elsewhere? I'm late in starting these essays and am basically wondering whether a debate akin to the GULC one (to divulge numbers or not to?), has been launched with regard to these NU ones, or whether people think dropping numbers is too crass for the prompt put forth by NU. Thanks.

I personally wouldn't (and didn't). My feeling, while totally unconfirmed, is that they want something a little more thoughtful than a comparison of numbers. I certainly mentioned "other substantial scholarship offers," but spent more time on how a scholarship would open up more career paths, how while I wasn't a Rhodes Scholar, I'd always performed well at every stage of my education (not in those exact words), and how having a mortgage at home and leaving a solid career made law school a bigger risk for me.

Rink is a 1L at NU that got $ without stellar numbers. I'd do what she says.