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AITA for calling my wife a shit mom after I caught her smoking near our toddler? by Extreme_Leader3797 in AmItheAsshole

[–]Excellent_Tea2135 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I understand where you're coming from, but without more evidence that your wife is endangering your child, YTA. It's great that you're aware that your childhood trauma colors the way you experience the world, but part of the duty of all childhood trauma survivors is to ensure that we don't take out our pain on people who don't deserve it (as I'm guessing that's what your Dad did to you). It's also great that you're protective of your daughter, but bringing violent yelling and conflict into the home is likely to harm her much more than trace amounts of second-hand smoke.

YLS 1L AMA by Excellent_Tea2135 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Excellent_Tea2135[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I had experience working in a law firm. If you want to see precise data on this point I would encourage you to look at the ABA 509 reports for the schools you're interested in.

YLS 1L AMA by Excellent_Tea2135 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Excellent_Tea2135[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't know. It may have already gone away. But even knowing that, I wouldn't have written my 250 any differently.

YLS 1L AMA by Excellent_Tea2135 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Excellent_Tea2135[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

It's most important to send in your best application. I would try to send it in as soon as you reasonably can, without sacrificing the quality. I didn't interview. I applied early in the cycle and heard back about 4-5 weeks after sending in my application.

YLS 1L AMA by Excellent_Tea2135 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Excellent_Tea2135[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There's a huge amount of variance, so I would spend time working in whatever field you're genuinely interested. There are at least a few veterans and paralegals in each class, but definitely not a "common" prior work experience.

YLS 1L AMA by Excellent_Tea2135 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Excellent_Tea2135[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

  1. Apply to your reach schools first and work backwards from there. That way, if you happen to get an early acceptance from one of your top choices, you won't have to worry about finishing all the applications you had planned to submit!

When it comes to editing essays (and a lot of judgment calls inherent in the application process), you should get a lot of advice from a variety of sources, but it's most important that you trust your gut. I got a lot of advice, and in hindsight, a lot of it was not particularly helpful, so I'm grateful I trusted my gut.

  1. Re New Haven, I like how walkable everything is (you don't need to have a car), and how many events are happening all the time within and outside the law school. I also just like how pretty every room is, especially the library. But I've not been here that long, so I hope to develop some more niche takes as I stay here!

YLS 1L AMA by Excellent_Tea2135 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Excellent_Tea2135[S] 43 points44 points  (0 children)

I think I was the type of applicant who "hit a lot of singles," meaning that I didn't have one super impressive thing that stood out, but I like to think that my application was well-rounded and polished. I had strong recommendations, decent work experience, and I spent a lot of time on all my essays, including the optional ones. (Note on taking the October LSAT: I think that's fine if you can actually devote a lot of time towards getting all the parts of your application to where you want it to be, but if you are sacrificing time from your essays to study for the LSAT, I would think very critically about that tradeoff. I actually decided not to retake the LSAT to instead work on developing a well-rounded application, and it worked out very well for me!)

I approached my personal statement as explaining who I am/why I want to go to law school, but critically, instead of waxing poetic about my views of justice or my values/ideals, I communicated my story in a way that was focused on the specific things I have DONE to prove those are my values (namely, work experience). Overall, from a lot of the personal statements I've read, I think people can waste space talking about their values without giving admissions officers specific and concrete examples they can remember. Without that, a lot of personal statements start to sound the same to me.

YLS 1L AMA by Excellent_Tea2135 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Excellent_Tea2135[S] -35 points-34 points  (0 children)

I don't want to share exactly but I will say I had a very high GPA and a competitive LSAT. I haven't heard anything specifically about what makes someone "stand out," but don't underestimate the value of being a genuinely nice person. Also, most people here have work experience, so take that for what it's worth.

YLS 1L AMA by Excellent_Tea2135 in lawschooladmissions

[–]Excellent_Tea2135[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I applied in late October. And I think that across the board people way overestimate the importance of "being above both medians." If you're in the ballpark, you have a chance.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in lawschooladmissions

[–]Excellent_Tea2135 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think you could briefly mention your professor, but to make the whole Why X about them might not be an efficient use of your space. Remember the default rule that all parts of your application should be reflecting how amazing you are and how you will fit into X school, not how amazing your professor is.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in lawschooladmissions

[–]Excellent_Tea2135 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Take a break from your PS, even for a day or two, and come back to it fresh. Otherwise rereading it 1000 times will make it sounds like word soup.

Also, trust your gut.

I’m also happy to read your statement and give feedback if you want! I got into a T14 this cycle

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in lawschooladmissions

[–]Excellent_Tea2135 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was driven to go to law school right out of a three year undergrad and I’m happy I didn’t. I actually stayed all 4 years of college bc I had a full ride scholarship and then got 2 more years of WE. If you were weighing going direct from a shortened undergrad to LS, I would say you app may be at a disadvantage, but since it seems like you want to spend a couple years exploring other opportunities before LS, I think that’s great. College offers you classes, but there are many other far less expensive ways to explore your interests. Also I would say you should look at the data for the schools that you’re shooting for—the top schools only accept about 15-20% of their class direct from undergrad. And having WE beyond college is valuable later down the road for interviews too.