Top Law Schools

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Your softs are decent, but they're not really that unusual or exceptional for top law schools. I would expect you perform roughly how you'd expect to based on your numbers.

Mullens wrote:Your softs are decent, but they're not really that unusual or exceptional for top law schools. I would expect you perform roughly how you'd expect to based on your numbers.

I see. I don't know whether to be disappointed that everything I did after UG doesn't give me a boost, or relieved that going to a subpar school for UG didn't wreck my chances.

mylsn.info

Agree with above

I am in a similar position (MFA in Acting, etc etc) and, FWIW, I was told by a consultant (former dean of admissions) that it would be especially important for me to get my applications in early. Her reasoning was that my softs might give me a small boost, but only early on when I am one of the first artistic types they are looking at. Once the cycle has played out for awhile, it is likely they will have admitted several people with similar softs and will be less inclined to give a boost to people with such softs.

I agree that these are good softs, but that numbers carry the greatest weight. However, to the extent you can craft a coherent, compelling narrative about yourself in the application, I think these kinds of softs can be helpful on the margins. One thing you may want to guard against is giving the impression that you're going to law school because you couldn't get a job/make a living in creative writing; career changers need to have a strong explanation for why law school, especially if you're coming from something that doesn't seem to transition naturally/looks cooler than law. Going from consulting/finance to law, for instance, seems more related to law than coming from creative writing (which a lot of people might envy or think has nothing to do with law).

A. Nony Mouse wrote:One thing you may want to guard against is giving the impression that you're going to law school because you couldn't get a job/make a living in creative writing; career changers need to have a strong explanation for why law school, especially if you're coming from something that doesn't seem to transition naturally/looks cooler than law. Going from consulting/finance to law, for instance, seems more related to law than coming from creative writing (which a lot of people might envy or think has nothing to do with law).

The thought's definitely crossed my mind. I try to touch on why I'm making the switch in my personal statement (which honestly has nothing to do with not being able to get a job), so hopefully I should have that covered.

Awesome. And didn't mean to suggest that was why you were doing this; just that it's something that can come to mind for highly competitive fields like creative writing.

Oh no, of course. It's definitely not uncommon MFAs to say "oh god, what have I done?" and run to law school in hopes of finding a steady career.

Did you get your MFA at Brown?

That's pretty cool that you're a writer transitioning into a career with law. What made you decide to go to law school?
I was an English Writing major for undergrad, and for a while really wanted to get an MFA.