Top Law Schools

I read things about good "softs" giving people a bump. Does anyone know what kind of things T14 schools consider to be good softs? I am looking for examples of people who seem to have gotten a bump because of softs.

Some kid around here claims to be able to fart the Star Spangled Banner.

Military experience, peace corps, TFA, founding a multi-million dollar company, olympic athlete, astronaut, Ghostbuster, ninja.

Yes. Shape your UG experience around things that may or may not give you a bump in law school admissions. We all did it. That's why were all at top law schools.

a graduate degree with a high gpa. foreign language fluency. some schools like community service.

ccs1702 wrote:Military experience, peace corps, TFA, founding a multi-million dollar company, olympic athlete, astronaut, Ghostbuster, ninja.

Ghostbuster would be a REALLY cool soft!

What if you are a ninja ghostbuster who worked for peace corps while starting up a multimillion dollar ghost extermination franchise?

eaters333 wrote:What if you are a ninja ghostbuster who worked for peace corps while starting up a multimillion dollar ghost extermination franchise?

pshaw! everyone knows that's impossible. Peace Corps doesn't hire ninja ghostbusters.

eaters333 wrote:What if you are a ninja ghostbuster who worked for peace corps while starting up a multimillion dollar ghost extermination franchise?

Only if you light the Olympic torch while docked at the International Space Station.

holydonkey wrote:a graduate degree with a high gpa. foreign language fluency. some schools like community service.

Is it really possible that a grad degree with a high GPA matters? It would be nice; I have an MA in Constitutional Law Studies with a 3.9 GPA. I was told repeatedly that it wouldn't matter, which is fine because I wasn't thinking about law school applications so much as wanting to study something I was interested in.

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

holydonkey wrote:a graduate degree with a high gpa. foreign language fluency. some schools like community service.

Is it really possible that a grad degree with a high GPA matters? It would be nice; I have an MA in Constitutional Law Studies with a 3.9 GPA. I was told repeatedly that it wouldn't matter, which is fine because I wasn't thinking about law school applications so much as wanting to study something I was interested in.

No. Everybody has a graduate degree, and everybody speaks a foreign language. Only truly extraordinary things will give you a significant bump.

Getting papers published in journals, founding a charity, having a full time job through UG. Being a future leader of the resistence against the machines. (watching Terminator2 atm)

ccs1702 wrote:

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

holydonkey wrote:a graduate degree with a high gpa. foreign language fluency. some schools like community service.

Is it really possible that a grad degree with a high GPA matters? It would be nice; I have an MA in Constitutional Law Studies with a 3.9 GPA. I was told repeatedly that it wouldn't matter, which is fine because I wasn't thinking about law school applications so much as wanting to study something I was interested in.

No. Everybody has a graduate degree, and everybody speaks a foreign language. Only truly extraordinary things will give you a significant bump.

How about 3 foreign with various degrees of fluency? Does everyone speak that too?

Ragged wrote:

ccs1702 wrote:

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

holydonkey wrote:a graduate degree with a high gpa. foreign language fluency. some schools like community service.

Is it really possible that a grad degree with a high GPA matters? It would be nice; I have an MA in Constitutional Law Studies with a 3.9 GPA. I was told repeatedly that it wouldn't matter, which is fine because I wasn't thinking about law school applications so much as wanting to study something I was interested in.

No. Everybody has a graduate degree, and everybody speaks a foreign language. Only truly extraordinary things will give you a significant bump.

How about 3 foreign with various degrees of fluency? Does everyone speak that too?

I would say three foreign languages is a pretty good soft. I think some work experience that requires one to speak them would be more impressive, though.

ccs1702 wrote:

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

holydonkey wrote:a graduate degree with a high gpa. foreign language fluency. some schools like community service.

Is it really possible that a grad degree with a high GPA matters? It would be nice; I have an MA in Constitutional Law Studies with a 3.9 GPA. I was told repeatedly that it wouldn't matter, which is fine because I wasn't thinking about law school applications so much as wanting to study something I was interested in.

No. Everybody has a graduate degree, and everybody speaks a foreign language. Only truly extraordinary things will give you a significant bump.

That's what I figured. Got me good LORs, though. Still, probably should have spent that year training as a ninja instead.

Ragged wrote:Getting papers published in journals, founding a charity, having a full time job through UG. Being a future leader of the resistence against the machines. (watching Terminator2 atm)

Again, though, does the full-time job really mean anything? I had one through undergrad and grad school (plus TA during grad school). I have a feeling that, once again, it doesn't matter.

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

holydonkey wrote:a graduate degree with a high gpa. foreign language fluency. some schools like community service.

Is it really possible that a grad degree with a high GPA matters? It would be nice; I have an MA in Constitutional Law Studies with a 3.9 GPA. I was told repeatedly that it wouldn't matter, which is fine because I wasn't thinking about law school applications so much as wanting to study something I was interested in.

It won't matter in terms of gpa, but it's not a bad soft. After you get past lsac gpa, lsat score, urm status, military, work experience and really get into the soft category of factors, I think it can help. It helps most in securing good fresh letters of recommendation, but having a strong grad gpa can also put distance between subpar undergrad work and your current ability.

I got into Michigan recently with 25% undergrad gpa and 50% lsat. I'm convinced grad school had something to do with it.

Olympic Gold Medal.

dextermorgan wrote:Olympic Gold Medal.

Which gets me back to a Curling discussion I had earlier. Curling brusher FTW! I could do that.

a 180 on the LSAT instead of a 179

[quote="holydonkey"] a doctorate [strike]graduate degree with a high gpa. foreign language fluency. some schools like community service.[/[/strike]quote]

FTFY

ccs1702 wrote:

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

holydonkey wrote:a graduate degree with a high gpa. foreign language fluency. some schools like community service.

Is it really possible that a grad degree with a high GPA matters? It would be nice; I have an MA in Constitutional Law Studies with a 3.9 GPA. I was told repeatedly that it wouldn't matter, which is fine because I wasn't thinking about law school applications so much as wanting to study something I was interested in.

No. Everybody has a graduate degree, and everybody speaks a foreign language. Only truly extraordinary things will give you a significant bump.

Americans tend to claim fluency in a foreign language when they can order a cup of coffee and tell the cab driver the way home. As such, I think actual fluency in a foreign language is a good soft that certainly not everyone has as opposed to the two-semesters-in-college fluency.

By the way cool pic - I like Mr. Bean.

ccs1702 wrote:

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

holydonkey wrote:a graduate degree with a high gpa. foreign language fluency. some schools like community service.

Is it really possible that a grad degree with a high GPA matters? It would be nice; I have an MA in Constitutional Law Studies with a 3.9 GPA. I was told repeatedly that it wouldn't matter, which is fine because I wasn't thinking about law school applications so much as wanting to study something I was interested in.

No. Everybody has a graduate degree, and everybody speaks a foreign language. Only truly extraordinary things will give you a significant bump.

If by everyone you mean a max of 20% of the matriculants at any given law school. LOLZ

eaters333 wrote:What if you are a ninja ghostbuster who worked for peace corps while starting up a multimillion dollar ghost extermination franchise?

That just counts as WE, and is only really helpful at Northwestern.

Spaceman Spiff wrote:

holydonkey wrote:a graduate degree with a high gpa. foreign language fluency. some schools like community service.

Is it really possible that a grad degree with a high GPA matters? It would be nice; I have an MA in Constitutional Law Studies with a 3.9 GPA. I was told repeatedly that it wouldn't matter, which is fine because I wasn't thinking about law school applications so much as wanting to study something I was interested in.

I think most grad degrees are meh for law school, but yours will actually probably be a considerable benefit to you. Kudos.

HYPSM undergrad