Worst Cycle of the Year award Forum

[Dignan]

I would put at least one vote in for this guy:
http://lawschoolnumbers.com/encyclopediabrown

This guy is definitely a nominee. I realize that the 3.0 GPA put him in a tough spot, but you'd think that someone in the T50 would bite at that 177 LSAT score. And he submitted most of his apps in October and early November. Ouch.

[thickfreakness]

I would put at least one vote in for this guy:
http://lawschoolnumbers.com/encyclopediabrown

This guy is definitely a nominee. I realize that the 3.0 GPA put him in a tough spot, but you'd think that someone in the T50 would bite at that 177 LSAT score. And he submitted most of his apps in October and early November. Ouch.

I think NYU or Columbia might buy that LSAT. Not really sure.

[existenz]

Has anyone looked at OP's application dates???

The ONLY schools he applied to before Jan 13th were T-14. He didn't apply to T15-T25 until late January, early February, so of course he hasn't heard back from the schools where he is a shoo-in. In about a month he'll have 5 or 6 acceptances from USC, UCLA, Cornell, Minnesota, etc.

Kind of surprised he didn't apply to Berkeley. Too late now.

*Edited for clarity.

[mps200]

I would put at least one vote in for this guy:
http://lawschoolnumbers.com/encyclopediabrown

This guy is definitely a nominee. I realize that the 3.0 GPA put him in a tough spot, but you'd think that someone in the T50 would bite at that 177 LSAT score. And he submitted most of his apps in October and early November. Ouch.

I think NYU or Columbia might buy that LSAT. Not really sure.

They could, but at this point in the cycle this guy has earned at least a spot in the discussion

[Dignan]

Has anyone looked at OP's application dates???

I noticed the late app dates as well. Unless there is something really wrong in his application, he'll get into several T20-T40 schools over the next few weeks.

Still, based on the T14 November apps alone, the OP's cycle has been disappointing. I understand why he nominated himself.

[Stringer Bell]

I would put at least one vote in for this guy:
http://lawschoolnumbers.com/encyclopediabrown

Nah, the 2.95 GPA makes a bad cycle sort of expected.

I completely disagree. Splitters have unpredictable cycles, but there should have been some more acceptances so far in that list with those numbers.

[Aeroplane]

Has anyone looked at OP's application dates???

He ONLY applied to T-14 back in November. He didn't apply to T15-T25 until late January, early February, so of course he hasn't heard back from those schools. In about a month he'll have 5 or 6 acceptances from USC, UCLA, Cornell, Minnesota, etc.

Kind of surprised he didn't apply to Berkeley. Too late now.

Yeah but the lack of T14 love is pretty shocking with those numbers. If it was 1 or 2 schools it'd be normal, but it seems pretty uniform. NYU didn't even defer, they just straight rejected. It's really the uniformity of reactions that's disturbing. And November is not "ONLY" when its late February. I applied mid/late December last year with much dicier numbers and already had answers from a bunch of T14's by this point (including some acceptances).

[scribelaw]

What was OP's personal statement like? Did you write 'ass' instead of as? Are you a horrible writer? Did your letters of recommendation screw you over?

What an atrocious atrocity. I feel for you.

I am kind of wondering this too, OP. You seem like a nice guy. I don't know why your cycle is going so badly with your excellent numbers. Can you think of anything that's running against you?

[phoenix323]

It's not about scores or silver spoons.

His cycle doesn't look bad to me at all, especially considering the schools he's getting WL'd at.

Sure, disappointment is relative. But all I meant was to give him a friendly reminder that things could be worse, a lot worse, and he's probably got more good news coming than bad.

If you're talking about the OP, his cycle looks ridiculously bad for his numbers.

OP - if I were you I'd immediately:
1) review my application materials
2) if at all feasible, mention the poor cycle thus far to recommenders and see if they volunteer any thoughts on why that might be
3) google yourself and see if there's anything terribly offensive that comes up

Good luck!

+1
I have to agree with this. I would pull up your applications on LSAC and review them. With numbers like yours, there must be some glaring error or inadequacy in your applications. Also, what's your PS look like? I wish you the best of luck on the rest of your cycle. And if I were you, I'd throw in some apps to some other schools before the deadlines pass.

[LS18]

OP--did you have a different TLS screen name at the beginning of this cycle? Your numbers are real familiar with someone I talked to way back in October.

I've had a strikingly similar cycle as you with nearly identical numbers. WL at UVA, Held at Columbia, Priority Reserve at Duke...

[Dignan]

What was OP's personal statement like? Did you write 'ass' instead of as? Are you a horrible writer? Did your letters of recommendation screw you over?

What an atrocious atrocity. I feel for you.

I am kind of wondering this too, OP. You seem like a nice guy. I don't know why your cycle is going so badly with your excellent numbers. Can you think of anything that's running against you?

He did mention that his LSAT was a retake. How low was the first score? And does he have more than two scores?

[phoenix323]

I would put at least one vote in for this guy:
http://lawschoolnumbers.com/encyclopediabrown

I think applicants like this suggest that the prevailing logic that all schools care about are numbers isn't entirely true. Maybe these people bs'd their personal statements, or had terrible LOR's, or they were just plain uninteresting (encyclopediabrown admits to having no EC's at all). I really do think that law schools, no matter how dedicated to high numbers, want well-rounded interesting candidates.

[Dignan]

I would put at least one vote in for this guy:
http://lawschoolnumbers.com/encyclopediabrown

I think applicants like this suggest that the prevailing logic that all schools care about are numbers isn't entirely true. Maybe these people bs'd their personal statements, or had terrible LOR's, or they were just plain uninteresting (encyclopediabrown admits to having no EC's at all). I really do think that law schools, no matter how dedicated to high numbers, want well-rounded interesting candidates.

I think you're right. Still, I'm surprised that there haven't been at least a couple of lower T1 schools that accepted him anyway.

[AngryAvocado]

I would put at least one vote in for this guy:
http://lawschoolnumbers.com/encyclopediabrown

This guy is definitely a nominee. I realize that the 3.0 GPA put him in a tough spot, but you'd think that someone in the T50 would bite at that 177 LSAT score. And he submitted most of his apps in October and early November. Ouch.

I think NYU or Columbia might buy that LSAT. Not really sure.

They could, but at this point in the cycle this guy has earned at least a spot in the discussion

Regardless of softs, he has roughly 0% chance at Columbia/NYU. They rarely delve below 3.4 (let alone 3.0) for non-URMs period.

Even though they have the same effect on GPA median as someone .01 below, schools are very cautious to take extreme splitters (save for maybe Northwestern if you have a 170+ and substantial work experience). There are just too many candidates with slightly lower LSATs and significantly better GPAs that seem like a safer bet.

[holybartender]

Why not, I nominate myslf.

http://lawschoolnumbers.com/holybartender

[AngryAvocado]

Why not, I nominate myslf.

http://lawschoolnumbers.com/holybartender

Ouch. Do you have work experience?

[mps200]

Regardless of softs, he has roughly 0% chance at Columbia/NYU. They rarely delve below 3.4 (let alone 3.0) for non-URMs period.

Even though they have the same effect on GPA median as someone .01 below, schools are very cautious to take extreme splitters (save for maybe Northwestern if you have a 170+ and substantial work experience). There are just too many candidates with slightly lower LSATs and significantly better GPAs that seem like a safer bet.

This creates a dilemma- getting YPed by lower schools yet having too low a GPA for top schools to take a chance on.

[APimpNamedSlickback]

op, ed to uva as a last resort? will they turn your waitlist into an ed application? you should ask man. soon.

[holybartender]

Why not, I nominate myslf.

http://lawschoolnumbers.com/holybartender

Ouch. Do you have work experience?

I finished college a year earlier than I expected and thus applied during the fall after graduation, been working though.

[strokes788]

Don't give up yet, were almost numbers twins and though I've had better luck *knock on wood* with a few of those schools, your numbers are too good to ignore, I mean, the 172 alone is awesome, but your GPA isn't a 3.2 or 3.1, its above a 3.5, some T14s should definitely bite, and I remember you had some posts where you had mentioned writing the "why" essays in order to avoid yield protection, as well as the submission dates for your T14s are all pretty early in the cycle so you did all you could and a school is definitely going to accept you in the T14 if not a few more as well as Im sure one or two of those waitlists will open up for you with those numbers. And from what I've seen on TLS, you're an all around nice guy and I know there's a lot of skepticism and pessimism on the TLS board but a deserving nice guy like yourself will get in somewhere good

[Thomas Jefferson]

I would put at least one vote in for this guy:
http://lawschoolnumbers.com/encyclopediabrown

This guy is definitely a nominee. I realize that the 3.0 GPA put him in a tough spot, but you'd think that someone in the T50 would bite at that 177 LSAT score. And he submitted most of his apps in October and early November. Ouch.

Yeah the GMU ding, IMO, makes him the front-runner (pending some of the one's he's still waiting on).

[mb88]

Last cycle before my retake I went 0/6 in a cycle where I applied to several schools ranked in the 50-80 range.

I realize that your 172 is a retake, but I'm assuming that your previous score was in the 160s somewhere? If that's the case, you should have gotten into at least one of those 50-80 schools. Hell, even in the 150s you could have gotten into one of the 70-80 ranks.

When you add that cycle to this one, I strongly suspect that something is wrong with your application. If you've looked it over multiple times and found no errors, perhaps one of your LORs is a dud? Maybe your PS comes off as elitist or entitled without you realizing? I'm not trying to insult you in any way, I'm just trying to brainstorm things that could be wrong that you'd be likely to miss. The only way to get you back on track is to pinpoint what's wrong.

[BenJ]

What was OP's personal statement like? Did you write 'ass' instead of as? Are you a horrible writer? Did your letters of recommendation screw you over?

What an atrocious atrocity. I feel for you.

I am kind of wondering this too, OP. You seem like a nice guy. I don't know why your cycle is going so badly with your excellent numbers. Can you think of anything that's running against you?

He retook the LSAT from a score in the low 150s as I recall. That will hurt, although I would expect it to hurt less than it's hurting him.

[phoenix323]

Last cycle before my retake I went 0/6 in a cycle where I applied to several schools ranked in the 50-80 range.

I realize that your 172 is a retake, but I'm assuming that your previous score was in the 160s somewhere? If that's the case, you should have gotten into at least one of those 50-80 schools. Hell, even in the 150s you could have gotten into one of the 70-80 ranks.

When you add that cycle to this one, I strongly suspect that something is wrong with your application. If you've looked it over multiple times and found no errors, perhaps one of your LORs is a dud? Maybe your PS comes off as elitist or entitled without you realizing? I'm not trying to insult you in any way, I'm just trying to brainstorm things that could be wrong that you'd be likely to miss. The only way to get you back on track is to pinpoint what's wrong.

+1

[scribelaw]

What was OP's personal statement like? Did you write 'ass' instead of as? Are you a horrible writer? Did your letters of recommendation screw you over?

What an atrocious atrocity. I feel for you.

I am kind of wondering this too, OP. You seem like a nice guy. I don't know why your cycle is going so badly with your excellent numbers. Can you think of anything that's running against you?

He retook the LSAT from a score in the low 150s as I recall. That will hurt, although I would expect it to hurt less than it's hurting him.

In some ways that's a better scenario. If you go 168-172, they might be inclined to average and figure you're around a 170 performer. No way they can average a 20-point difference.

Gotta be something else -- an uninspiring PS, a big resume gap, something.