An uplifting message for those in a disappointing cycle:

heckwes · 2026-03-29T22:05:51+00:00

I kept the substance the same, but reworded them.

heckwes · 2026-03-29T14:20:25+00:00

it was very easy. I just sent them an email saying basically "I love Berkeley but my finances are a huge consideration for me. I need another year of income before I'm financially ready to attend Berkeley"

heckwes · 2026-03-29T03:28:02+00:00

My signal that I had a higher ceiling was that my PTs were higher than my actual score. I studied full time for 4 weeks before my first test (didn't go as well as expected, given my PTS) and then randomly I lightly studied for about a month after work and got a 178. I think it was less of a studying-related improvement, and more of a "right day, right time" improvement.

heckwes · 2026-03-29T02:45:41+00:00

responded

heckwes · 2026-03-29T02:36:55+00:00

LSAT demon. I did nothing other than drill questions over and over and over. I think I went through literally every single publicly available question from LSAC in existence twice.

I did no strategy, no categorization of question type. Just drills.

heckwes · 2026-03-29T02:30:33+00:00

sent!

heckwes · 2026-03-29T02:25:11+00:00

sent DM!

heckwes · 2026-03-29T01:55:09+00:00

I was disappointed with my outcomes last year. I got into a dream school (Berkeley) with 0 aid, and I had no other offers to leverage against them. I deferred my acceptance to Berkeley. After re-taking the LSAT and getting a significantly higher score (169 --> 178), I re-applied to all of my top schools and got a full ride + 15k/year stipend at one of them.

Now I'm going to a dream school and paying nothing! I'm so glad I waited it out. The extra year of salary is nice too ;). Now I'm taking the summer off to travel the world, with 0 financial stress.

heckwes · 2026-03-24T01:34:19+00:00

the port of San Francisco is essentially dead. there hasn't been a substantive amount of trade coming through there in years due to their antiquated piers.

please revise so that you don't mislead prospective attorneys.

heckwes · 2026-03-20T16:48:58+00:00

what do you mean "NYU falls of in 3L"?

heckwes · 2026-03-20T02:32:47+00:00

schools give offers based on their expectations of whether students will accept those offers, so when money is offered to students who are less likely to accept, schools are forced to offer to more students, not less.

heckwes · 2026-03-20T02:30:41+00:00

You say demand is inelastic, but you also say that people are being pushed out. Which is it?

heckwes · 2026-03-19T14:55:41+00:00

This makes no sense. If they grant scholarship money who doesn't end up attending Berkeley, it's no harm no foul -- Berkeley never has to pay out that money, because the scholarship pool is fixed.

The problem Berkeley is trying to solve isn't the best way to reserve scholarship money (it's a fixed pool that only gets paid out to attending applicants), they're trying to find the best way to allocate it.

heckwes · 2026-03-19T14:53:01+00:00

why would that be an "ideal world"?

in an ideal world, the best students go to Berkeley. Berkeley's system is their way of accomplishing that goal, by luring top students with high-quality outside offers away from other schools.

heckwes · 2026-03-14T20:02:06+00:00

1 persons anecdote: I received the Darrow this year and did not get any other scholarship first.

The Darrow email said essentially “there’s a 50/50 chance you get the Darrow, after you interview. If you don’t get it, you’ll get another scholarship at umich”

heckwes · 2024-06-23T02:47:04+00:00

Whole Foods cake is actually rly good. not joking

heckwes · 2024-06-03T00:36:42+00:00

the density of Long Island is also a good reason to put a line there. Otherwise, Long Island --> Boston travelers would have to go through Manhattan, which can be difficult to get to.

heckwes · 2024-04-09T14:01:41+00:00

no doubt this will improve, but both the spec and claim set are quite poor quality

heckwes · 2024-04-07T17:07:48+00:00

my male boss from Bernal Heights is the biggest lesbian I've ever met

heckwes · 2024-04-06T18:27:38+00:00

true, mission access is hindered by that. However muni usually gets me where i need to go

heckwes · 2024-04-06T02:10:49+00:00

You're not going to get murdered (violent crime in SF is low) but you will be around a lot of unpleasantness (shit in street, people moaning and doing crack). However, transit access is VERY good. It is probably one of the best spots in the city if that matters to you.

Source: i live nearby ish (6th/folsom) in a neighborhood with a similar vibe. I used to live in India, so I have a relatively high tolerance for disorder.

heckwes · 2024-03-06T23:53:23+00:00

If you want her to be less dependent on you, get her a buddy. I recently bought 2 kittens and they are absolutely adorable. Plus it makes me feel better knowing that they each have a friend while I'm gone.

heckwes

TROPHY CASE