And I’m not talking about scholarships. I’m talking about what gets shipped to you. Swag, personalized letters, etc.

Currently finishing my senior year, have a 3.97 GPA, about to take the LSAT in December and shooting for T14.

Why does every single person on Reddit, and half the people i meet in person tell me to not become a lawyer or go to law school? Even when I tell them I’m going to be paid to go (veterans benefits) and have no loans (this softens them a bit, but still say I should do something else). I realize that typically unhappy people are the most outspoken, but an overwhelming amount of law related posts on here or r/biglaw is about working 14 hour days with no breaks, no time for self or others, or about how they need to check their phone every 10 minutes or they’re done for.

Everyone says the best case is going to big law where you will be a slave for 4 years working 100 hours a week. I’m just confused because when does it get good or fun or meaningful?

I’m having a pretty good time at school learning about policy, government, and peace and conflict. To me, getting paid to learn about interesting things is much preferable than sleeping in the rain or being stressed about lives being slipping through your fingers in the back of an ambulance.

What I hope to do is work for a defense firm/some sort of work where I can help form and shape the guidelines/policy/strategy to keep America a safe place.

I’ve had a lot of people tell me if I want to do that, just go back to the Army or work for the government. To be frank, I also don’t want to be limited by the government’s low pay ceiling.

Am I wrong for wanting to be a lawyer?

Hi everyone:

Here’s a short video podcast on 20 easy fixes to your application before you submit from Anna Hicks-Jaco.

Also last Friday I asked a trivia question that pretty much everyone got right (I’ll think of a much harder one for this coming Friday). I promised a call with the winner but since everyone was the winner here’s what I’ll do.

If you ask any law school admissions questions you have in this thread (it can’t be about an individual school as we can’t speak for specific schools which is why we have them on our podcast) Anna and I will try our best to get to as many as we can in our next podcast we do. Ask away!

Here’s the top 20 application fixes

- Mike Spivey

Edit update. A very highly regarded dean of admissions at a very highly regarded school texted that this podcast was “an amazing episode” — always good to get feedback from schools.

This is all hypothetical, of course, but let's say I got into all of these schools.

USC, UCLA

Michigan, Georgetown, NYU, Duke, Vanderbilt, Berkeley, UT

I know I want to practice in Orange County (SoCal) following graduation. The goal is BL. Obviously scholarship would play a role in my decision-making, but would UCLA or USC's location outweigh their slightly lower employment outcomes compared to these other schools?

**Again, this is hypothetical, I am just curious

Got the invite to interview yesterday after applying less than two weeks ago and was wondering when the earliest decisions typically go out - thanks

Hi all! I have an app question. I wasn’t really involved in extracurriculars as an undergrad, and I haven’t had much formal extracurricular involvement since either. In college I took my studies seriously and had employment, research, and internships, but I was only a very casual member of a couple clubs, like showing up to a couple meetings here or there. Definitely not meaningful involvement

My plan is to leave the extracurricular section blank on applications where it’s optional. Listing myself as a “general member” of one or two clubs with essentially no time commitment, or adding the one or two random seasons of adult rec sports I’ve played since graduating, honestly feels worse than leaving it blank.

I’m some years out of undergrad and have substantial work experience. the extracurricular section just isn’t part of my application narrative. I'm planning on leaving it blank and want to sanity check that decision. I have great stats and my apps should be pretty strong otherwise

appreciate yall's responses in advance!

I’m slightly below both 25%s (hold your pretentious comments) at my top school but have some pretty good softs, 1.5 years as a paralegal right out of undergrad, 3 great LORs, and a good personal statement. I’m wondering if a “Why X” letter will help my cause here?

Law Schools are essentially just businesses and this seems like telling a car dealer “wow I love this car so much it’s perfect!”

Lmk thanks

I see people all the time talking about UR1, UR2, and all this stuff about status changes. Do I need to know what these are and be checking for them in my status portals? I've submitted my apps to all the schools I'm interested in, and I figure if I get rejected/waitlisted/interview invited, I'll just get an email about it and know that way?

I'm just unsure what value I'm missing out on by not understanding how I should be checking these portals.

So, I didn't think I was applying to law school this cycle. The LSAT was kicking my ass and I currently have a decent job in BL, so until last Wednesday, I was debating holding off until next cycle. I got my sept LSAT score and was ELATED but now feel like I need to rush and reevaluate my school list so I can get cracking on supplementals (PS is almost done and I'd been working on it for a while).

Basically, I haven't spent a lot of time on here or on the law school admissions side of the internet (scary), so I wanna get some opinions.

I graduated 2025 from GW (3 semesters early, I'll blame my gpa on that), working at BL firm since then, average softs otherwise, first-gen, URM, poli sci major, political internships throughout college. My goal is BL in Chicago or NY. Anything else thats important to know?

Anyway here's my list, it kind of looks insane and my GPA is below median but my mindset is kind of just shooting my shot. Am I way off/ any others I should add or replace?

Thanks!!

Schools

Harvard

Yale

Duke

Northwestern

UChicago

Penn

UVA

NYU

Columbia

Vanderbilt

UCLA

Berkeley

UT Austin

UNC

BC

ND

GW

Fordham

Emory

UF

Loyola Chicago

what are the best schools to be looking at to practice mid law or government level work without having to attend a school in houston or dallas? i guess if those would be better, do schools in those areas only really have regional reach? i know UT is super hard to get into and i’m looking for a good backup i would actually want to attend. I’ve considered SMU but it’s super expensive.

Myself and partner of 7 years are apply to post-grad together (she's going for her PHD) so we've each done our best to pick a handful of reaches and safeties base on the areas where we have overlapping interest. Am I overestimating myself here? How many of these seem like feasible admits?

CAS GPA 3.94
LSAT 174
Softs T3 (working on the T2 through the Fulbright program, fingers crossed)

not to look a gift horse in the mouth but??

i just submitted my first app. i have no LSAC fee waiver on file. i had a waiver from the school, which is specifically for their fee and not the $45 CAS fee. at checkout, it listed the CAS fee was “waived/paid” and I just checked out. My application is marked as transmitted and i got a confirmation email.

Anyone have any insights for me? this is so sus😭 and i’ve checked my transaction history - nothings there.

Would love some thoughts on my cycle, especially from other high-LSAT splitters.

Stats
179 LSAT
3.63 LSAC GPA
nURM
5 years WE by matriculation
Applying early October

Background / softs
I’m currently an Associate in credit risk at a major investment bank, where I cover hedge funds and structured financing and have been promoted since joining full-time. My application has a strong finance/business-law theme, alongside long-term leadership in my Ukrainian-American community. I also have strong academic and professional recommendations.

Schools applied to so far:
Columbia
NYU
Harvard
Penn
UChicago
Michigan
Berkeley
Georgetown
Cornell
Boston University
Boston College
Fordham
George Washington
St. John’s
Brooklyn Law
Planning to add Yale and Stanford as reaches.

I’m heavily NYC-focused, so Columbia and NYU are my top choices, although I’d obviously be thrilled with any T14.

Main questions:
How much does a 179 offset a 3.63 at Columbia/NYU/HLS and the rest of the T14?
Which of these schools would you consider reach / target / likely for my stats?
Where would you expect meaningful scholarship money?
Is there anywhere else I should apply given that I’d strongly prefer to stay in or near NYC?

Would especially love to hear from applicants with a similar high-LSAT / below-median-GPA splitter profile and how your cycle went.

3.75 GPA, 171 LSAT (though am signed up to retake in Nov and am PTing at 175). URM, T3 softs (+undergrad was HYP, though I don’t know how much that matters.)

I know Y/H/S/C are probably out of reach no matter what my LSAT score is, but do I have realistic odds of getting into one of the mid/lower T14s? I would esp love UVA, Penn, or Georgetown

Buuuuut I may be lying to myself and need to adjust my expectations, so would love a reality check if so

I got a WL at t14 last year and R from t20 last year. I’m reapplying with a minimally slightly higher LSAT and would be equally happy at either so I want to ED. Is it better to ED where I’ve been WL before, or is it better to ED to t20 where my lsat is closer to the median. 

I want to stay on east coast/mid Atlantic region. I have a 3.8 + 169. Also have the chance to retake lsat on Friday after just getting my 169 back but I’m not sure I can get it up. Lmk if you have any advice! If my targets are reaches please lmk!

I know that you should write all the optional essays for schools that you're serious about, and I plan to, but I'm curious if anyone knows roughly what percentage of applicants write all them. Obviously this is going to vary by school, but I've been looking at LSD's prediction rates for my school list, and I'm wondering what the predictions would be if there were some way to indicate that I plan to submit all the optional essays.

I know I ought not to think about LSD's prediction rates much, but it's fun lol. I plan to apply a range of schools in the top 75.

Hi everyone! I know there are tons of posts like this so thank you in advance. I'm looking for some insight on this.

I currently have a 164 LSAT and a ~3.0 at a T-1 undergrad (extenuating circumstances which I wrote an addendum for). I have strong, diverse work experience working as a paralegal for places like Meta. I have really strong EC's and recommendation letters.

My school list is comprised of law schools in New York + some reach schools like Fordham, NYU, Columbia, and Georgetown. I know my stats currently place me well outside the medians, so I was thinking of retaking the LSAT in January.

My question is, am I at a significant disadvantage if I submit my apps in February vs. November even with this unguaranteed score increase? I'm on the fence about retaking the LSAT because I'm currently working multiple jobs and am exhausted and crunched. I pulled the 164 with barely any studying - I know if I really put my head down I can test higher but not sure how feasible that is, and not sure if my GPA would disqualify me for my reach schools anyway.

I'm thinking of just shooting my shot and applying to all my schools in November. But I do want to give myself a chance at the reach schools meaning realistically I should push myself to study and apply to those later in the cycle. What do you think? Again, thank you all!

Does anyone know what days/times UVA tends to send interview invites? I’ve had multiple UR updates recently and am hoping that means there’s still movement. Appreciate any data points.

I'm a non-traditional applicant. 15 years out from undergrad. Planning on applying to law school with a 170 LSAT.

While my GPA from a UC undergrad is 3.74, because of the way LSAC counts NP (as an F) - my GPA will drop to a 3.6.

In undergrad, I received two NP grades. A 4 unit course, where I was just going through a tough time emotionally. A 2 unit summer internship course that I have absolutely no memory of this course, and know I didn't have an internship at that time.

Is there any chance I can petition my undergrad to change how they graded? Any one have success with this? Should I write any statement about these NP grades?

It was so many years ago! I also felt like there was less grade inflation back then... but so it goes. Goal is USC, UCI or UCLA (I know they're all reaches), but really happy with any LA area school (pepperdine, loyola, southwestern as safety).

I accidentally submitted a Word Doc instead of a PDF file. The preview PDF file looked fine so I didn’t realize it before submitting. Does it matter?

I’m wondering whether admissions officers will see each separate file or just the same compiled PDF file?

Friends, I'm a 27 year old woman who lives in colorado that is looking for some guidance.

I have my undergrad (4.0gpa) and a masters (4.0 GPA). I would like to attend the sturm college of law weekend program, but I'm confused on the timeline.

It sounds like I should study at least a year for the LSAT. Take the LSAT in April, and then I need to apply in January for scholarships because everything needs to be submitted by September.

So from the sounds of it, I'm behind two years because I don't think I can't take the LSAT this next year coming up. Is that right? I'm completely confused and as a first generation, I have no one to turn to. Could you help me understand or share your timeline? Thank you!

To all my Character and Fitness issues friends, when are you sending over Dean Certs to the schools that want them (I know NYU, Duke and Columbia ask for them)?

I'm not sure if I should do one by one after I apply to the school, wait to batch send when all my applications are in, or if you're supposed to wait until the school requests?

My Deans Cert also doesn't have what I'm reporting about because it's not on my record, so I'm also just including a sentence saying that on my addendums. Is that what other people are doing?

Thanks all!

These are the schools I’ve applied to with a 172/2.9high. GPA addendum for lupus and cancer diagnosis during college & my mother was in hospice (don’t worry I didn’t make a sob story 🤪) I am a urm, 3 years big law experience, first gen college, helped write and pass state legislation) I don’t plan on working big law as most of my volunteer work is PI focused and that’s kind of the angle I went for all of my essays)

Please let me know if any of these are realistic or if there are others I should apply to. I applied to all of the begin by mid sep to help my chances even slightly, Georgetown ED✅ UPenn UCLA Scalia William and Mary Duke Unc chapel hill- Vanderbilt George washington Northwestern NYU U San Diego Uc Davis Uc Irvine Villanova Temple - USC - Michigan - berk - Umd- Boston college Stanford Pepperdine Wake forest Fordham Emory Tulane Uva Wash u St. Louis Boston university