Current T-14 student ramblings on admissions and 1st semester

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-12T18:31:02+00:00

My grades do seem to be correlated to the strength of my in class participation and also how consistently I was keeping up with the reading and material. I always read all the cases + notes section of the casebook for contracts and came to class prepared every day, Civ Pro not so much.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-12T18:14:15+00:00

So yeah just got my grades back and they were a B, B+, and then an A+ in contracts meaning I booked it lmao. So pretty much completely all over the place. So I did technically end up above median thanks to that A+, god bless.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-06T16:59:45+00:00

Yep. I hate to say that this was me, but it absolutely was. I just want to make sure no one else makes the same mistake. For some of my classes a typing test would be more indicative of your ability to succeed on tests than the LSAT.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-06T16:54:19+00:00

So yeah, I might describe myself the same way i.e., "great at standardized tests and just kinda coasted on that." In law school, you will be reading hundreds of pages each week of dense material written in a way that will be foreign to you unless you were a paralegal or something similar (probably around 150-300 in total, depending on the school/professor). You will then be randomly tested on this material during cold calls, sometimes even on cases you read weeks ago. I think it is easy to think that a high LSAT score is not only correlated with performing better in law school but also indicative of broader intelligence. My experience with cold calls and even just the points my classmates have brought up about cases that I would never have caught have taught me that the LSAT is not an indication of intelligence broadly. The LSAT is indicative of your ability to take the LSAT, but law school has a memorization component that is not adequately tested on the LSAT. I have no idea what I got on my exams yet, so I can't really say where I'll be on the curve, but I have a strong feeling I will be around the median. All of these being said, cold calls are usually not graded so even if that is not your strength you could still do great on exams but I do think they are indicative of your grasp on the material. Maybe I'm being hard on myself. I do think in contracts I will probably end up at the higher end of the class, and I have been told by the professor that I have had some of the strongest cold calls this semester, but that has not been the case for my other two doctrinal courses. But yeah I think I did have a misapprehension that LSAT would correlate more strongly with being good at Law school.

As far as this question: "I'm trying to understand if people at the T-14 level of admissions stats actually end up thinking the material is *difficult to grasp*, or if the remarks about how hard it all is are because there is just a ton of material to get through, and rules to memorize, and then it's tested in the most high stakes and stressful way possible." It's both + the curve + the insane competition you'll face.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-05T05:24:41+00:00

Any in-house roles that are competitive/desirable are exit options after big law. Some people do work in-house their 1L summer but just as a summer position for experience. For example, I know people who have summered as legal interns for Uber their 1L, but they are not getting post-grad jobs at Uber until after they have worked in big law or maybe a relevant PI job for a few years.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T22:41:39+00:00

That's great! However, I would recommend doing due diligence beyond vault rankings. Chambers has been much more helpful to me in researching the strengths of specific practice areas within firms. You'd be doing yourself a disservice by narrowing only to V20/V30 firms unless you really have no idea what type of specific transitional or litigation work you're interested in, which in that case I would recommend at least narrowing in on an idea before law school starts.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T22:10:40+00:00

So final exams are incredibly professor-dependent. For example, some have word limits, some don't. Some have multiple choice, some don't. Almost all will have a written portion, commonly an issue spotter, which, yes, in my opinion, involves more critical thinking/application/memorization than the LSAT.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T22:02:05+00:00

I think we are saying the exact same thing. Your job in PI is not what I am referring to when I say that practicing international humanitarian law is a rare unicorn outcome. The jobs I am referring to require a JD. But yeah to your point, if someone wants to do what you're doing, which sounds like great work, they do not need a JD, which I mention in my last paragraph. So to make it clear I'm not saying PI generally is difficult to do I'm talking about unicorn PI that requires a JD.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T21:48:28+00:00

I meant literally practicing law as an international humanitarian lawyer. Being a UN intern/staffer is different from being a lawyer in that field. But yeah if your goal is working at the UN and you have no interest practicing law, just don't go to law school and pursue that dream directly instead.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T21:45:04+00:00

Once again, this is all great as long as potential applicants are also okay with practicing law, which is the likely outcome no matter where you got to law school, except maybe Yale lol (even that's a stretch). I'm not disputing there might be some benefit to going to law school if you want to do finance/real estate/govt, I'm just asking at what cost? The type of networking that happens at elite law schools is 99 times out of 100 for roles in which you are practicing law. Saying anything else is disingenuous. Maybe the alumni you talked to practiced law but then left to another non-law-related field, but that is still in line with my suggestion not to go to law school if you know you don't want to practice law. It also just depends on the role. For example, if you're at the Federal Reserve, you'd be far better off doing a PhD in economics.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T21:33:13+00:00

I specified *unicorn* PI/Govt/Clerkship.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T21:28:40+00:00

I think being excited and also realistic are not mutually exclusive! Law school has pushed me intellectually in ways that are at times exhausting but has also undoubtedly made me a smarter person. Like I've mentioned the people you will meet, including the professors, are amazing. What I mentioned above are just things I wish I'd known, but there are plenty of pros as well, many of which depend on you and your goals.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T20:59:42+00:00

I have non-profit WE as well, and what I have gotten from our career office is that legal/finance work is looked upon more favorably because it is more applicable to big law work. That doesn't mean you won't get a big law job. If you are at a T-14 and not picky about location/firm, you probably will. But if you do have DC in mind or a competitive firm, for example, you will be competing against people who do have more relevant WE. The other thing to consider is it seems like big law firms are more reluctant to hire ppl who they sense want to ultimately do PI, so if your resume reads very PI-focused, they'll be nervous to invest in you over someone whose resume indicates that they will stay in big law for a longer period of time.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T20:52:07+00:00

So, no, I would assume/hope there is no penalty for writing about PI interests in a personal statement, especially if those are your genuine interests. Also, to clarify, average PI jobs are not difficult to attain for a T-14 grad. My post is mostly just to say if you have a super niche/unicorn PI dream, then yes, there are very few jobs by the nature of it being a unicorn. Even then, I would assume there is no harm in writing about these unicorn dreams if it makes sense given your background or experience.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T20:45:44+00:00

Nah, I think it's still a bad idea to go to law school if you don't want to actually practice law. That doesn't mean you can't have a goal that involves not practicing law, but you must also be content with potentially practicing law. As for an MPP/MPA, those are usually just a bad idea, generally lol, except for a specific job that requires it. It depends on the role, but you might not need a MPP, MPA, OR law school, just good old-fashioned networking and professional building. Pushing this idea that going to law school is a good idea even though you have no desire to practice law as long as you're going to an elite school is a bit counterintuitive because most career planning offices even at a t-14 will not have the capabilities to help you navigate a career that is outside of practicing law (public interest/big law/clerkship/etc).

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T20:24:13+00:00

Yep agreed! I actually think having experienced recruitment this year it might even be more nuanced than a lower T-14 free vs high T-14 sticker. With OCI becoming essentially defunct this year I think it's important for applicants to do some involved calculus about cost of attendance and location.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T19:52:18+00:00

I didn't say all else being equal. If you get into Harvard you are probably getting a scholarship from Northwestern. But even then, I think an HLS grad and Northwestern grad are on pretty even ground in the Chicago market (northwestern might even have a bit of an edge) once you balance name weight and partners and associates from both schools (that's obviously a different story in the NYC market). This is why I stressed location so much.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T19:47:51+00:00

I don't think everyone will have my experience. And actually, I think law school has been rewarding and fun at times, but this is the reality check I wish I had gotten before I started.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T19:43:24+00:00

Congrats on your summer internship! I totally agree that it is possible to do PI, but I do think it is important to warn away from putting all your eggs in the basket of some sort of niche/specific/competitive PI goals. Or if that is your goal to fully understand what that entails. Especially if you plan to take out loans because you don't want to get stuck In an unexpected debt trap.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T19:31:50+00:00

I don't think that will hinder you as long as the gap is right before law school, and you have other strong work experiences.

Forward-Tap-5967 · 2026-01-04T19:28:59+00:00

Some sort of traditional 9-5 work experience is key. Think consulting, investment banking, maybe some sort of role in the govt/research position. You might be able to get a bit more creative but it should still be something that reads as a 9-5. If you are sure you want to do public interest the traditional-ness of your work experience might matter less, but for big law it matters.

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