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I'm not sure if I'm allowed to talk about this kind of stuff in this forum, but I need some opinions, insight, anything from other people.

My stats are 172/3.82. I was pretty active on campus and served in leadership positions at a couple of student organizations, and I did internships at a marketing agency, a non-profit organization abroad, and a law office. I got LORs from two professors. I took a small seminar on criminal law from one of them and two large classes from another. I got A's in all of their classes. My personal statement probably wasn't the best but it was decent according to my friends who provided comments. It was about my childhood sports training experience and how that influenced on the formation of my characteristics and further achievement later in life, rather than about why law, why school X stuff. I applied around late January and early February.

Admissions results so far:

Admit: Columbia, Chicago, NYU, UCLA
WL: Harvard, Penn, Berkeley, Michigan, Georgetown
Interview pending: Cornell
No result yet: Stanford, Virginia, Duke, Northwestern


Until I got WL'd at Berkeley and Georgetown, it was ok. Harvard WL, well I knew the chances would not be so favorable, so it was bearable. But Penn and Michigan.. I got 3 WL's in 2 days. Michigan even sent me an invitation letter with a handwritten note saying that they love to have graduates from my alma mater.

Fortunately I haven't been rejected from any of the schools yet, but now looking at the results so far, I keep thinking that I should have done something more. I should have studied a bit harder and done something more. I'm grateful for the acceptances into CCN, it's not that I'm not appreciating it, but I can't stop blaming myself.

Any thoughts or insight on why I got WL'd from so many schools other than CCN? I'm guessing they probably didn't like my LORs or personal statement, but I'd still appreciate any thoughts.

Thanks guys! Congrats, condolences, and good luck!

dude. relax. you got into half of the top 6 law schools in the nation. you are not a failure.

penn probably WL'd you b/c of yield protect. they do that. look at mylsn.info if you don't believe me. probably the same for berkeley, michigan, or georgetown. and your numbers were never good enough for harvard in the first place, since you're below both medians. tbh you should be happy that they even WL'd you; it means they must have liked something about the "soft" part of your application.

lc0626 wrote:I'm not sure if I'm allowed to talk about this kind of stuff in this forum, but I need some opinions, insight, anything from other people.

My stats are 172/3.82. I was pretty active on campus and served in leadership positions at a couple of student organizations, and I did internships at a marketing agency, a non-profit organization abroad, and a law office. I got LORs from two professors. I took a small seminar on criminal law from one of them and two large classes from another. I got A's in all of their classes. My personal statement probably wasn't the best but it was decent according to my friends who provided comments. It was about my childhood sports training experience and how that influenced on the formation of my characteristics and further achievement later in life, rather than about why law, why school X stuff. I applied around late January and early February.

Admissions results so far:

Admit: Columbia, Chicago, NYU, UCLA
WL: Harvard, Penn, Berkeley, Michigan, Georgetown
Interview pending: Cornell
No result yet: Stanford, Virginia, Duke, Northwestern


Until I got WL'd at Berkeley and Georgetown, it was ok. Harvard WL, well I knew the chances would not be so favorable, so it was bearable. But Penn and Michigan.. I got 3 WL's in 2 days. Michigan even sent me an invitation letter with a handwritten note saying that they love to have graduates from my alma mater.

Fortunately I haven't been rejected from any of the schools yet, but now looking at the results so far, I keep thinking that I should have done something more. I should have studied a bit harder and done something more. I'm grateful for the acceptances into CCN, it's not that I'm not appreciating it, but I can't stop blaming myself.

Any thoughts or insight on why I got WL'd from so many schools other than CCN? I'm guessing they probably didn't like my LORs or personal statement, but I'd still appreciate any thoughts.

Thanks guys! Congrats, condolences, and good luck!

Don't beat yourself up. People with higher numbers get wait listed and even rejected, so more studying wouldn't have necessarily changed your results ... could be YP, could be something else. If you really have your heart set on Michigan or Penn, let them know that and work to get off the WL. If you don't, then don't sweat it.

First (and I know you acknowledged this) but you shouldn't feel bad about your cycle even if you get rejected everywhere else: CCN is still a great outcome! Second, in regards to your question: I think your cycle may be the result of being in a very specific band of applicants. Basically you have great numbers, which makes you vulnerable to yield protection (which would explain Michigan WL etc) but they fall just short of YHS medians (which would explain why H didn't show you any love). I don't think this means that you did anything wrong on your apps. Again, congrats on a great outcome, and hopefully the rest of your cycle goes well!

Probably a confluence of personal statement and numbers. When I get down because WLs, I remind myself I have been admitted to several Top 10 schools, and already you an in an advantageous position relative to the other users who don't.

Thanks guys! You are truly awesome. I was just being kind of moody after getting three WL letters in a row. I should chin up and be happy with what I got. It will be alright after I get some nap haha

Thanks again and good luck to those who are still waiting for admission results!

Hey there,
It's okay to be a little nicer to yourself! Columbia/Chicago/NYU are great outcomes! Really, what more can a person hope for? Great job! You should be proud.

I'm no authority, but I've read a lot about law school admissions and I want to tell you that the waitlists are not personal - especially when we consider each one individually. From what I understand, Michigan keeps a relatively small waitlist and tries to get people in. If Michigan is your top choice and you express serious interest and enthusiasm, your odds aren't bad. Penn and Georgetown are known to protect yield - again, campaign if you really care. Berkeley is a black box and waitlists/denies qualified people based on things we can't know from where we stand. It's not personal. It's Berkeley.

Don't hold your breath for UVA as they've had a strange cycle. A lot could happen with the others.

I will say though that I see 2 things that could've affected your outcomes: you applied late, and you're coming straight from undergrad. By the time you applied, a lot of these places who waitlisted you already had filled out a decent portion of their class, and admissions in general tend to be more difficult for people without work experience. (This can explain the HLS waitlist - below median without work experience, your odds weren't good to begin with. Celebrate the WL here!)

Overall I think you've had fabulous outcomes, all things considered, and you still have a lot of potential for movement with the waitlists.

I'm really curious, what are you hoping for beyond what you've got? What's the dream? It seems like you're still young; you've got time to try again if you're really unsatisfied.

If you're unhappy, consider getting a year or two of work under your belt and re-applying at the beginning of a cycle. Just be cautious, as your outcomes aren't guaranteed year to year, and you've got some great choices now.

.

haha dude I feeeeeel you.

CCN seems to have been the sweet spot for me, too. I'm in at Columbia and NYU, and I have a Chicago interview coming up. I was waitlisted by Harvard, Duke, Michigan, and Georgetown--my only other acceptance so far is Berkeley.

And we're both amazingly lucky. These are highly, highly selective schools that will give us incredible opportunities. Ginsburg and both Roosevelts went to Columbia.

In a similar situation too, are you guys staying on the waitlist for these lower ranked schools? And reasons why or why not?

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lc0626 wrote:I'm not sure if I'm allowed to talk about this kind of stuff in this forum, but I need some opinions, insight, anything from other people.

Michigan even sent me an invitation letter with a handwritten note saying that they love to have graduates from my alma mater.

same here - I was wondering how many other people got handwritten notes, only to get hit with a wl (I was waitlisted today). All I was thinking is hmm.. you must not love having grads from my school that much..