CATEGORY - ADMISSIONS TIP

March 10, 2010

Admissions Tip: The Waitlist

What should an applicant do when placed on the waitlist at his or her dream school? While most applicants regard the waitlist in a negative light, the best approach is to view the glass as being half-full. In all cases, getting waitlisted is much better than getting denied.

Here are a few tips to help you navigate this often difficult and mysterious process:

1) Know your file. Before you can develop a waitlist strategy you need to understand where you may have fallen short in the application process. Read over your file with a critical eye and try to identify any weaknesses. Talk to anyone you know who might be able to give you feedback (law students at the target school, former admissions officers, admissions consultants, etc).

2) Familiarize yourself with the school’s waitlist rules. Do you need to ‘opt-in’ in order to be on the list? Are you allowed to submit supplemental materials to bolster your case or inform the committee of changes to your candidacy? Does the school offer a chance for feedback via a phone session or interview with a ‘waitlist manager’?

3) Consider a school visit. It may make sense to visit the school, particularly if you have not been before. So many different things can happen on a visit:

a) You never know when you’ll have that chance meeting with an admissions officer who is willing to give you a little feedback (and who through the process of meeting you face to face might get a better sense of your candidacy)

b) A school may take note of your visit (if you sign in with the admissions office) and view it as a potential sign of your interest

c) You may interact with students or professors who can better inform you of opportunities at the school and provide you with helpful ‘content’ for any waitlist materials you go on to submit

d) By visiting, you may find out that school X is really not for you, enabling you to move on and remove yourself from the waitlist

Just as there are a number of waitlist to-do items, there are also countless things to avoid doing – check back on this blog in the coming weeks for a post regarding this topic.

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March 3, 2010

Admissions Tip: Page and Word Limits

With applicants putting the finishing touches on their applications, the question of how strictly applicants need to adhere to page and word limits is perhaps more popular than ever. Law school candidates naturally have a good deal of information they want – and need – to convey in the limited amount of materials, and getting the important ideas down under restrictive page and word counts is a difficult task. While it might be tempting to run a bit beyond the guidelines to slip in that one extra thought, it’s important to keep the reasons for these limits in mind.

In addition to being a forum for explaining your goals and sharing your story, the essays also serve as a test of the applicant’s ability to communicate clearly and concisely, not to mention follow directions and answer a question. Because law schools and future employers place a premium on all of these elements, adhering to word counts ultimately works to the candidate’s advantage.

The other consideration is the reader’s time. Because of high application volume and the need to give every applicant fair and thorough consideration, schools are forced to limit the amount of information in each file. If you consistently extend your answers beyond the suggested limits, you are essentially asking the reader to give you more time than they are devoting to the other applicants. In other words, if you were to ignore the word or page limits and overshoot by 30% throughout, this might imply that you consider yourself to be 20% more interesting than everyone else who applied.

Therefore if a school gives you a page limit (e.g. 2 pages), the most you should go over is approximately 2.5 pages,  without excessive margin manipulation or font size reduction.  Diversity statements and “why School X” essays should be around one page (if not indicated otherwise), and addenda should be as concise as possible.

If a school gives you a word range (e.g. 250-750 words), you should ideally stay within that range.  However, if a school gives you a simple word count (i.e. 250 words) it’s generally acceptable to exceed the word limit by 10%.

In terms of the other end of the length issue, it is likely unwise to consistently fall more than 10% below
the word limits or use less than 75% of the page limit, as this is valuable room in which to share further information about your candidacy.  Similarly, not using the full word count or page length might signal a lack of effort, experience, or accomplishments.

What are your best strategies for writing concisely?  Feel free to share your thoughts below.

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# posted by admin @ 9:00 am in Admissions Tip, Personal Statements

March 1, 2010

Harvard Law School Assistant Dean for Admissions Addresses Applicant Concerns

Late last week, Assistant Dean for Admissions at Harvard Law School, Josh Rubenstein, took the time to address applicant questions on the Harvard Law admissions blog, HLS in Focus. Much like the concerns addressed by Yale Law School’s Dean of Admissions Asha Rangappa, the questions HLS applicants asked focused heavily on admissions requirements, the importance of the interview and what it means to be placed on “hold.”

In a previous blog post, Josh explained that “The ‘hold’ status is essentially our way of saying that we’re not quite ready to make a decision on your application yet and need some more time to re-examine it in the context of the broader applicant pool. This is normal as we’re not evaluating candidates in a vacuum but rather trying to select a class from the entire applicant pool.” In last week’s post, he reassured worried applicants that being placed on hold is not a bad thing, and that “there are still places open in the class, and these will be filled by people on hold or whose applications have not been reviewed yet.” Additionally, candidates who have interviewed and been placed on hold should not panic, as this is not a sign of a poor interview. As Josh explained, “If I interviewed you, you’re not on hold because you had a horrible interview (if that were the case, you’d probably just have gotten denied).”

Josh also took the time to briefly explain the purpose of the interview, which is a requirement for admission to Harvard Law. He explained that the process is a “relatively straightforward” one, and candidates who have spent a bit of time preparing should do just fine. As Josh stated, “In general though, if you do a little homework, come prepared, and honestly convey why you’re interested in law school and Harvard Law, you’re likely to have a good interview.”

Finally, Josh tackled a question frequently asked by applicants: does HLS have LSAT/GPA cutoff numbers? According to Josh, Harvard Law truly does not have cutoff numbers, but does expect applicants with lower GPAs or LSAT scores to possess “’superstar’ qualities” in the workplace, extracurricular activities including volunteer engagement or in their scholarship. As Josh concludes, “We’re looking for people who not only have the academic talent, but also have a demonstrated record of impact.”

To read Josh’s full blog post, click here.

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# posted by admin @ 12:00 pm in Admissions Blogs, Admissions Tip, School: Harvard

February 25, 2010

Yale Law School Dean of Admissions Answers Applicant Questions

Late-February is a notoriously stressful time for law school applicants. Although some applicants have begun to hear back from programs regarding their candidacy, February marks the crunch-time for reading applications at law school admissions offices. The anxiety caused by the seemingly endless waiting period has prompted a number of conversations on popular online forums.

Recently, Asha Rangappa, Yale Law School’s Dean of Admissions, took the time to respond to a number of the questions raised by prospective students on the (203) Admissions Blog. For example, one candidate wondered if Yale has a cutoff for applicants in terms of GPAs or LSAT scores. As Asha explained, Yale does not have a cutoff, but a candidate with a notably low GPA or LSAT score “does usually need extremely strong everything else.”

Another applicant wondered just how detrimental typos in an application are to an applicant’s candidacy. Again, Asha explained, ”I probably do miss some typos.  However, I catch a fair number of them, and whether they are fatal to your application really depends on the overall strength of your application and the egregiousness of the typo (as in, are you just sloppy, or does it call your literacy into question?).” Additionally, Asha eased the concern of another applicant who was worried that the late date of his submission might indicate a lack of interested in the school to the admissions committee. According to Asha, “We don’t really interpret the date you choose to apply as having any correlation with your interest (in fact, it might suggest that you chose to spend more time applying to us than to anyone else!). “

For more answers to your “burning questions,” make sure to check out the full blog post. To read questions asked of Asha in the past – and the responses to them – click here.

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# posted by admin @ 10:16 am in Admissions Blogs, Admissions Tip, School: Yale

February 24, 2010

Admissions Tip: The Advantage of Experience

Law school applicants range from current college seniors to those who have been out of college and working for several years.  Today we’d like to offer some guidance to those applicants who have been in the working world for a substantial amount of time and are now interested in going back to school to become lawyers, as there are several ways these J.D. candidates can stand out from relatively younger applicants in a helpful manner.

1. Use your experience to your advantage. For applicants who have spent some time in the working world, it’s important to demonstrate that their professional experience has been valuable to them.  This value includes personal growth and a better understanding of one’s strengths and weaknesses, which can be easily explained through professional accomplishments and challenges.  In your personal statement (and possibly interview), it’s therefore important to show that the time you have spent out of school after gaining your undergraduate degree has helped you improve and therefore better prepared you for law school and a career as a lawyer.

2. Know what to write about. As we’ve stated before, the broad prompts for the personal statement can often be a challenge for law school applicants, regardless of their current status in the academic or working world.  However, for applicants who have been out of school for quite some time, this is the perfect opportunity to explain how you’ve spent this time, and more importantly, how your work has led you to the decision that you need to gain a law degree to progress in your career.  Law schools are sometimes hesitant to accept relatively older applicants, expecting that that these people are more interested in a change than the rigors of law school and a legal career.  Therefore in your personal statement, it’s important to demonstrate that your work experience has led you to make an informed decision regarding your interest and commitment to law school and being a lawyer.

3. Know what they will value. Because relatively older applicants have been out of school for a few or more years, the adcom looks to other sections of their applications to gauge their current abilities and potential.  These applicants should not that their LSAT scores, work experience, personal statements, and recommendations carry greater value than their undergraduate academic records.  This may be good news for applicants who did not perform as well as undergraduates; however, these applicants will need a particularly strong LSAT score to demonstrate their academic abilities to the adcom.

For all of our readers who have been out of school for a few years, how have your working experiences been helpful to you thus far in the application process?  Feel free to share your comments below!

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# posted by admin @ 9:00 am in Admissions Tip, Personal Statements

February 17, 2010

Admissions Tip: Positive Positioning in the Personal Statement

As we’ve stated in other Admissions Tips, the personal statement is the prime opportunity for law school candidates to express themselves in the application process.  Therefore it’s important that in this section of the application, candidates present themselves positively, therefore effectively show the admissions committees why they would be good additions to the law school community.  We offer some tips below to help law school applicants put their best food forward in doing this and writing their personal statements.

1.  Put yourself at the center. In talking about your future goals or in elaborating on your academic or work experience to date, you will want to put yourself in the picture, indicating what you would like to do in the short and long term or what role you specifically played in the various projects or assignments at work.  Your personal statement is meant as an opportunity to provide the adcom with greater insight into your candidacy and what sort of person you are and lawyer you will be in the future.  Thus, elaborating on what others have done or talking generally about the state of your field of interest will not appear a meaningful discussion unless you can demonstrate how the material relates to you and pertains to your goals and interests.

2.  Focus on fully realized successes. In writing about an accomplishment or achievement, it’s important that applicants’ stories and projects are ones in which a positive outcome has been accomplished or is ensured, as potential successes are not actual ones.   Talking about a project that is ongoing or that is just starting to come together will not be as meaningful as one in which an applicant has already displayed leadership, initiative and creativity in accomplishing a goal.  Though ultimate impact may have not yet been observed (an example being an unknown verdict in a trial), one’s goals in the project should already have been attained (meaning, for example, that an applicant already built and/or motivated a team to achieve the desired end).

3.  Keep it positive. Many law schools ask for applicants to reflect on their unique interests, background, life experiences, and perspectives, and how these components would add to the diversity of a class.  Although this is a good opportunity to discuss what you feel makes you unique, it’s important to focus on how you have grown from these experiences and the positive outcomes—law schools want to see how people are able to make the best out of bad situations and use obstacles to find further success.  Therefore in describing any disadvantages or challenges you have encountered in your life, it’s important to focus on how you are a stronger person because of your experiences and why this would make you a good addition to the law school community.

We hope these essay-writing tips are helpful for those working on their personal statements and other law school essays.  We love hearing back from our readers, so feel free to respond below - what’s the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

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# posted by admin @ 8:00 am in Admissions Tip, Personal Statements

February 10, 2010

Admissions Tip: The Comparison Trap

Picking up our earlier tips regarding essay-writing, we wanted to take some time today to discuss a frequently-made mistake in the application process. In their desire to make their case to their target law schools, many applicants devote sentences and even paragraphs to explaining why the school in question is their “first choice” and arguing its superiority over other schools.

Though certainly understandable, this is actually not a very productive exercise. Let’s consider a few reasons why, from the schools’ point of view:

1. Tell me something I don’t know. A popular strategy – and not always bad one – for applicants seeking to demonstrate their fit with one school above any other is to study its website to understand the program’s self-determined selling points, and then profess an interest in those. The thing that essay writers don’t always consider is that while a school’s distinguishing characteristics might be the factors that set it apart from others, this is not necessarily what the admissions committee wants to read about in an applicant’s essays. The very admissions officer reading your file spends months every year pushing this marketing message out to prospective students. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t touch briefly on these key points (the schools highlight these for a reason), only to suggest that to put together a really compelling application, it’s important to push beyond high-level differentiators and immediate association and demonstrate that you’ve learned about the program on a deeper level. In making room for this level of detail within a restrictive word limit, cutting other schools out of the picture is a great starting point.  As always, we’d like to recommend the in-depth Clear Admit Law Guides to help applicants pinpoint the unique offerings of their target law schools and discuss them effectively in their applications.

2. Enough about us, let’s talk about you. It’s not uncommon for applicants to become so engrossed in explaining how their target program differs from other law schools that they neglect to really articulate how their own interests, personality and preferences fit into the picture. Very nearly every school requires that prospective students use their personal statement to explain how the law degree is necessary for them to accomplish their goals, but there’s not a single one that adds “better than any other law school.” Though schools may explicitly inquire about other target programs if an applicant advances to an interview, at this early point the adcom is much more interested in hearing about the candidate and his or her fit with the school. It’s a bit premature to assure a school that it’s your #1 when the adcom hasn’t even decided whether they’re interested. Better to use all the space at your disposal in the essays to cover your experiences and accomplishments, share your aspirations and showcase your research on the law school.

3. I bet you say that to all the girls. Seriously, though, if an applicant goes out of his way to profess that Chicago is the best school for him, is his first choice, etc., the Chicago Law School really has no assurance that this applicant hasn’t written an equally passionate love letter to regional rival Northwestern University Law School. If a strategy seems likely to work in one place, might as well use it everyplace, right? Yes, it’s generally true that schools prefer to admit students who are excited about their program and seem likely to attend, but actions speak louder than words. The details of campus visits and conversations with students and alumni are far better topics to cover in your essays. To invoke a classic essay-writing maxim, “show, don’t tell” the adcom that you care. Further, the best way to convince the adcom that you “only have eyes for their school” is to not mention any other school at all.

We hope that this offers a number of helpful “do”s to offset this big essay “don’t.” It’s true that the deadlines are looming, but there is still plenty of time to get an in-depth understanding of your target law schools and engage members of the community. Happy writing and researching!

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# posted by admin @ 8:00 am in Admissions Tip, Personal Statements

February 3, 2010

Admissions Tip: Are Your Deadlines Marked On Your Calendar?

The beginning of February brings about the first slew of law school deadlines.  While some have already passed, let’s take a look at the remainder of this month as well as March and April to consider the deadlines spread over the next three months:

February 15: Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Michigan, Northwestern, University of Pennsylvania, Yale
March 1: Boston College, Boston University, Emory, Fordham, Iowa, University of Virginia, Washington and Lee, William and Mary
March 15: Illinois, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt
March 31: George Washington
April 1: Minnesota
April 15: Washington University in St. Louis (recommended deadline is March 1)

While it’s usually best to apply as early as possible, sometimes there is no option but to apply closer to the deadline.  However, because many leading law programs grant admission on a rolling basis, the closer it is to the deadline, the more seats in the incoming class have already been given away.

To maximize your chances of a close to deadline acceptance, demonstrating your interest in the school and submitting thoughtful and error-free written materials will be crucial. Just as applying early is generally taken as a sign of interest in a given program, applicants submitting their materials closer to the deadline need to work extra hard to convince the adcom that they are genuinely interested in the school and are not simply applying as an afterthought because interview invitations didn’t come through from other schools. Demonstrating that you would make a valuable contribution to the community and providing evidence that you have taken steps to engage current students and alumni will work to your advantage.

As always, we’d like to recommend the in-depth Clear Admit Law Guides to those applicants who are targeting the later deadlines and just beginning to investigate certain programs, or are preparing for interviews at their target schools.

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# posted by admin @ 8:00 am in Admissions Tip, Deadlines

January 27, 2010

Admissions Tip: The Addendum

Most law schools offer addendum essays, in which applicants are required or have the opportunity to explain extenuating circumstances in their application, including serious issues including academic, professional, or criminal records.  Today we’d like to offer some advice to candidates who are obliged to write essays responding to these circumstances.

1. Consider the requirements. Most schools do request that applicants write an optional essay to address certain issues, such as an academic probation or criminal record.  In this case, it’s necessary that you answer the question being asked.  However, some schools offer s broad optional essay option, in which students have the opportunity, but are not required, to discuss negative aspects of their candidacy.  In deciding whether or not to discuss your background, consider if writing an essay about your situation would be helpful to your candidacy, quieting potential concerns and demonstrating your growth, or whether an optional essay would instead cause the adcom to dwell on negative aspects of your candidacy.

2. Remain constructive. As you approach writing your addendum response, think carefully about the way this information might be perceived and make sure that the impact it makes on your chances of admission is a positive one.  Although it’s necessary that you explain the situation as honestly as possible, you should also include information to demonstrate how you have grown from the experience and/or improved since the time it occurred.

For instance, an essay that simply alerts the adcom to a serious medical condition might help its author stand out from other applicants, but could also leave the reader wondering whether this person could handle the demands of a rigorous academic program. On the other hand, a few details about this applicant’s strategies for achieving success in spite of some kind of disability and commitment to supporting others with a chronic illness or impairment might make him or her seem like a very valuable addition to the law school community.

3. Be concise. It’s important to keep in mind that by responding to this type of essay, you are creating extra work for the person reading your file. This should not dissuade you from addressing a required topic or one that you have deemed important based on the considerations above.  However, it’s very important that you demonstrate good judgment by limiting your comments to the most relevant information, keep your response as direct and concise as possible, and follow any set page or word limits.

We hope that these general guidelines have helped to shed some light on the sometimes confusing issue of law school application addendum responses.  For further help on this topic, check out our other Admissions Tips on essay writing.

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# posted by admin @ 8:00 am in Admissions Tip

January 20, 2010

Admissions Tip: Interviewing the Interviewer

We’ve been offering a good deal of advice lately on how to conduct oneself and prepare responses to law school interview questions; today, we’d like to highlight the importance of thinking about what you might ask. Virtually all law school interviewers conclude their discussion by offering the applicant a chance to ask some questions about the program. While it might be tempting to claim that you’ve already learned all you need to know about the school, this is actually a great opportunity to gain additional insight, show your enthusiasm about a specific element of the curriculum or community, and demonstrate that you appreciate the opportunity to learn from your interviewer’s experiences.

Here are a few simple guidelines to keep in mind while thinking about what you might ask:

1. Focus on the positive. Now is not the time to conduct due diligence or express skepticism about a school’s academic program or career resources. You’re still marketing yourself to the adcom at this stage of the process, so you’ll want to project enthusiasm and demonstrate a desire to become more familiar with a program’s merits and your potential fit.

2. Avoid the obvious and the obscure. Because this is an opportunity to tap the interviewer’s unique knowledge and point of view (and he or she will assume that you did your basic research before applying), it’s best to avoid asking questions that could be answered by perusing the school’s website or speaking with anyone you might happen to encounter on campus. On the other hand, you don’t want to ask something so obscure or specific that your interviewer might not have an answer. Seeking the interviewer’s opinion on or impression of some element of the program often makes for a discussion that both parties will find interesting and enjoyable.

3. Mind your audience. Remember that students, alumni and admissions staff will all have a different perspective on and level of familiarity with the program, and that it’s wise to pose inquiries tailored to his or her experience with the school. For instance, alumni interviewers generally feel strongly about their schools but might not have the most current information on the academic programs and campus culture, so a good question might focus on the classes they have found most useful in their post-graduation career.

We hope that these guidelines are helpful in thinking about how you might approach the end of your discussion, and wish everyone interviewing at law schools in the coming weeks the best of luck!

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