Official TLS Wailisted to Accepted thread 2010 Forum

[cr073137]

I got off the Waitlist from Minnesota 2 days ago, I'm dont think it was YP, but I sure was a competitive applicant for them. They also offered me almost a full ride, which is great!

[tintin]

anyone waiting out berkeley with me? i wish i knew where on the list i was! soon....

[Slimpee]

WL'ed at MN, W&L, WM

WL/In: WI

[Shellbelle]

SPWL GUCL
WL Duke
WL Virginia
WL UCLA

Held from Northwestern in dec/jan, WL last thursday, accepted yesterday!!!

Congrats Shell! Nice to see you making the victory lap on the threads to withdraw everywhere. Enjoy Chicago!

Thanks Jks. I'm pulling for you to get in off one of your many wl!!

[skamike]

WL then in at American

[danieltorrey]

Hello my fellow law students/applicants,

I want to ask you all to give your blunt opinion on what are my realistic chances of being accepted off of George Washington's wait list.
I have a bit of an unusual situation.
I scored 160 LSAT and I have strong softs. LSAT was a bit low to my capacity because English is my second language. I am also an under represented minority.
In addition, I don't have a traditional American 4.0 scale GPA because I am foreign graduated; however, my undergrad is in law (LL.B degree, aka Bachelor of Laws) in a civil law country, with strong grade average (8.7 on a 0 to 10 scale)
Since being wait listed, I hand delivered a Letter of Continued Interest and arranged another strong LOR to be sent to their admissions office.
I have an upcoming law book being published in my home country (its basically my senior thesis turned into a book), but since the publishers were hit hard by the financial crisis, I am not sure the book will be out in time to send them a copy. I have mentioned this project in my LOCI however.

What do you guys (and gals) think? Any other ideas on how I can increase my chances? I really, really want to get into GW law.

Cheers.

[98234872348]

In addition, I don't have a traditional American 4.0 scale GPA because I am foreign graduated; however, my undergrad is in law (LL.B degree, aka Bachelor of Laws) in a civil law country, with strong grade average (8.7 on a 0 to 10 scale)

87/100 is a B+ which is equivalent to a 3.3 gpa...

In what world is a 3.3 a good gpa?

[gdane]

Mistergoft, Whats the purpose behind being a jerkoff? Seriously? Its always amazing how people on here feel the need to belittle everyone and talk trash. Its great that we're all behind fake names and a computer screen, it gives jerkoffs the opportunity to be jerkoffs. Torrey asked a genuine question and there was absolutely no reason for you to say "in what world is a 3.3 a good gpa?". There are many factors at play and you have no idea of the difficulty it takes to get an 8.7/10 in Torrey's country. Answer his question. If you dont have anything good to say, then dont say it.



On that note, Torrey, your situation is definitely unique, which may work to your favor. I would focus on the good. Let the GW admissions office know what youve been up to and continue to sent them LOCI's whenever appropriate. None of us here are on the team that will be deciding who gets in off the waitlist at GW, so we cant give you specific answers. Just keep letting them know youre interested.

Good luck!

[Ty Webb]

Mistergoft, Whats the purpose behind being a jerkoff? Seriously? Its always amazing how people on here feel the need to belittle everyone and talk trash. Its great that we're all behind fake names and a computer screen, it gives jerkoffs the opportunity to be jerkoffs. Torrey asked a genuine question and there was absolutely no reason for you to say "in what world is a 3.3 a good gpa?". There are many factors at play and you have no idea of the difficulty it takes to get an 8.7/10 in Torrey's country. Answer his question. If you dont have anything good to say, then dont say it.



On that note, Torrey, your situation is definitely unique, which may work to your favor. I would focus on the good. Let the GW admissions office know what youve been up to and continue to sent them LOCI's whenever appropriate. None of us here are on the team that will be deciding who gets in off the waitlist at GW, so we cant give you specific answers. Just keep letting them know youre interested.

Good luck!

I tend to think MisterGoft is just bringing some realism. It appears that the poster thinks 8.7/10 is a strong grade average (which it *might* be where he's from, but that doesn't mean he's getting credit for anything better than a 3.3 in this process). If he wants legitimate insight, this is one place where he should start.

[98234872348]

Mistergoft, Whats the purpose behind being a jerkoff? Seriously? Its always amazing how people on here feel the need to belittle everyone and talk trash. Its great that we're all behind fake names and a computer screen, it gives jerkoffs the opportunity to be jerkoffs. Torrey asked a genuine question and there was absolutely no reason for you to say "in what world is a 3.3 a good gpa?". There are many factors at play and you have no idea of the difficulty it takes to get an 8.7/10 in Torrey's country. Answer his question. If you dont have anything good to say, then dont say it.

... I think it's a legitimate question, just because it's difficult to get a 3.3 in engineering at Georgia Tech doesn't make it better than a 3.9 in liberal arts from random state university for the purpose of lawl school admissions.

[danieltorrey]

[luddite]

Mistergoft, Whats the purpose behind being a jerkoff? Seriously? Its always amazing how people on here feel the need to belittle everyone and talk trash. Its great that we're all behind fake names and a computer screen, it gives jerkoffs the opportunity to be jerkoffs. Torrey asked a genuine question and there was absolutely no reason for you to say "in what world is a 3.3 a good gpa?". There are many factors at play and you have no idea of the difficulty it takes to get an 8.7/10 in Torrey's country. Answer his question. If you dont have anything good to say, then dont say it.

Good luck!

+1

Legitimate criticism in my book. In what world is it not impolite to begin a snarky rhetorical question with "in what world?" Nothing against mistergoft personally, but I think we should all remember to show at least a modicum of respect/civility in our interactions, electronic or otherwise.

[lostjake]

In addition, I don't have a traditional American 4.0 scale GPA because I am foreign graduated; however, my undergrad is in law (LL.B degree, aka Bachelor of Laws) in a civil law country, with strong grade average (8.7 on a 0 to 10 scale)

87/100 is a B+ which is equivalent to a 3.3 gpa...

In what world is a 3.3 a good gpa?

8.7/10 is a 3.48 GPA. Go math skills. I'm surprised no one else checked that.

8.7/10 = .87 x 4 = 3.48

That 3.3 at Tech probably has an easier time balancing the ole' check book!

[98234872348]

In addition, I don't have a traditional American 4.0 scale GPA because I am foreign graduated; however, my undergrad is in law (LL.B degree, aka Bachelor of Laws) in a civil law country, with strong grade average (8.7 on a 0 to 10 scale)

87/100 is a B+ which is equivalent to a 3.3 gpa...

In what world is a 3.3 a good gpa?

8.7/10 is a 3.48 GPA. Go math skills. I'm surprised no one else checked that.

8.7/10 = .87 x 4 = 3.48

That 3.3 at Tech probably has an easier time balancing the ole' check book!

makes sense, I was just determining it as 87=B+=3.3

I took no time attempting to actually derive a formula to convert it to a 4.0 scale, way too busy to do that much thinking bro.

[danieltorrey]

In addition, I don't have a traditional American 4.0 scale GPA because I am foreign graduated; however, my undergrad is in law (LL.B degree, aka Bachelor of Laws) in a civil law country, with strong grade average (8.7 on a 0 to 10 scale)

87/100 is a B+ which is equivalent to a 3.3 gpa...

In what world is a 3.3 a good gpa?

8.7/10 is a 3.48 GPA. Go math skills. I'm surprised no one else checked that.

8.7/10 = .87 x 4 = 3.48

That 3.3 at Tech probably has an easier time balancing the ole' check book!

makes sense, I was just determining it as 87=B+=3.3

I took no time attempting to actually derive a formula to convert it to a 4.0 scale, way too busy to do that much thinking bro.

Ergo what I mentioned about making such conversions, its tricky. Also, what is the pass/fail mark in the 4.0 scale?

So, nobody have any constructive thoughts on how one (me, it this case) may increase his/her chances?

Thanks.

[rockstar4488]

I think looking on LSN shows that in the majority of law school admissions situations, a high GPA is better a low GPA regardless regardless of whether the high GPA is in a much weaker field of study. Though, as far as I know, there's no concrete data on this.


Danieltorrey:

a 0 (F) is a fail
a 1 (D) generally gets you credit, provided the class was not in your line of study
a 2 (C) is usually considered the lowest acceptable undergrad grade
a 3 (B) is usually considered the lowest acceptable graduate grade

Schools deal with +'s and -'s differently.

Also, I am reasonably sure that GW knows how to interpret your 8.7/10 and has a good idea of how competitive it is. I wouldn't be concerned that they are staring blankly at it. As far as what to do on the waitlist, I'd just make sure that they continue to know that you're interested and willing to attend.

[lostjake]

LSAC will not give you a GPA, you will have to score in the 170s to be competitive for law schools. I would retake.

[danieltorrey]

LSAC will not give you a GPA, you will have to score in the 170s to be competitive for law schools. I would retake.

I have done a lot of research on this subject, and the answers I got are sometimes contradictory. According to some LSAC people I talked to, when they can, they will convert a foreign GPA to the American-styled 4.0 GPA. On the other hand, according to some schools I talked to, they are the ones that interpret the raw data LSAC provides, including GPA conversions. I could not get a straight answer for this question however.

For my country, LSAC uses a 2004 report on academic quality. Come on, 2004? That is 6 years ago! Which sucks, because as a foreign graduate, it makes it really hard to predict how they are going to treat my gpa.

[danieltorrey]

I think looking on LSN shows that in the majority of law school admissions situations, a high GPA is better a low GPA regardless regardless of whether the high GPA is in a much weaker field of study. Though, as far as I know, there's no concrete data on this.


Danieltorrey:

a 0 (F) is a fail
a 1 (D) generally gets you credit, provided the class was not in your line of study
a 2 (C) is usually considered the lowest acceptable undergrad grade
a 3 (B) is usually considered the lowest acceptable graduate grade

Schools deal with +'s and -'s differently.

Also, I am reasonably sure that GW knows how to interpret your 8.7/10 and has a good idea of how competitive it is. I wouldn't be concerned that they are staring blankly at it. As far as what to do on the wait list, I'd just make sure that they continue to know that you're interested and willing to attend.

Thanks for the info rockstar, I'll definitely continue to show my interest. Its just weird that they put so much emphasis on the LSAT for foreign lawyers. For instance, in the classes I watched at GW, American, W & M and Mason, I had 50% of all the question the professor asked correct in my mind, and without having done any studying. Of course it is unfair because I am already a lawyer, but I hail from a very different legal system, that's why I want a JD, because its different from what I am accustomed to.
Anyway, since the LSAT is supposed to measure one's probability of success in law school, I feel I fall into the cracks, because I feel I would do great in law school here, but that is not reflected in the LSAT at the same proportion.

[Cali167]

Riding out Columbia and NYU. Would def attend either.

[MURPH]

Hello my fellow law students/applicants,

I want to ask you all to give your blunt opinion on what are my realistic chances of being accepted off of George Washington's wait list.
I have a bit of an unusual situation.
I scored 160 LSAT and I have strong softs. LSAT was a bit low to my capacity because English is my second language. I am also an under represented minority.
In addition, I don't have a traditional American 4.0 scale GPA because I am foreign graduated; however, my undergrad is in law (LL.B degree, aka Bachelor of Laws) in a civil law country, with strong grade average (8.7 on a 0 to 10 scale)
Since being wait listed, I hand delivered a Letter of Continued Interest and arranged another strong LOR to be sent to their admissions office.
I have an upcoming law book being published in my home country (its basically my senior thesis turned into a book), but since the publishers were hit hard by the financial crisis, I am not sure the book will be out in time to send them a copy. I have mentioned this project in my LOCI however.

What do you guys (and gals) think? Any other ideas on how I can increase my chances? I really, really want to get into GW law.

Cheers.

Unless you a a URM, your chances are not good. The fact that you are on the waitlist means you do have a chance, though. The fact is you don't offer the school a good LSAT or a good GPA. They do not benefit in ranking data from admitting you. Your best bet is to continue to show interest and ride out the waitlist. LOCI, another LOR, occasional phone call or in person interviews, etc will all help. I'd take solice in the fact that they are obviously impressed with you or you wouldn't have made it this far.

[danieltorrey]

Yeah, I am an URM. But what is odd is that I was checking LSN, and there are some people there who made into GW with lower LSATs than mine for the 2009-2010 cycle. Some even as low as 148 LSAT and 2.91 GPA. That is wayyyyy lowwr than mine. Its hard to tell what is the criteria for acceptance, the acceptance process is not very transparent. How am I supposed to verify, for example, if I am not being discriminated against?
Anyway, thank you for the input, it's much appreciated!

[gdane]

Remember that LSN isnt verified or proven information. For the most part it is accurate, but there are going to be people that understate or overstate their numbers. If someone with a 148 did get into GW, they may have been the only one and there is no doubt that person had incredible soft factors.

Im pretty certain youre not being discriminated against, so dont worry about that one bit.

[MURPH]

Yeah, I am an URM. But what is odd is that I was checking LSN, and there are some people there who made into GW with lower LSATs than mine for the 2009-2010 cycle. Some even as low as 148 LSAT and 2.91 GPA. That is wayyyyy lowwr than mine. Its hard to tell what is the criteria for acceptance, the acceptance process is not very transparent. How am I supposed to verify, for example, if I am not being discriminated against?
Anyway, thank you for the input, it's much appreciated!

You know, letting us know the fact that you are a URM would probably have made the last ten entries in this thread unnecessary. As such you have as good a chance as anyone to get in off the waitlist. Good Luck. Also GW maintains a chart on their admission web site of GPA and LSAT scores.

[MURPH]

http://twitter.com/jasonwutrujillo/statuses/13073156581
Virginia is full. There will be no further waitlist activity until summer. I got a WL-->rejection letter this morning. Good Luck to all. I'll try to compile some more data this weekend. It seems like a lot of schools have activity.