The Top 15 Things Every Law School Applicant Should Know is a series that will teach you the ins and outs of successful law school applications. Stay tuned for the remaining elements. This week we’ll discuss reasons for choosing a school. Just as students like to be courted and wooed when they are looking for…
LAW SCHOOL ADMISSIONS
Law School Admissions Tip #7: The not so optional “optional” essay
The Top 15 Things Every Law School Applicant Should Know is a series that will teach you the ins and outs of successful law school applications. Stay tuned for the remaining elements. This week we’ll discuss the not so optional “optional” essay. Almost every law school will ask for a personal statement as part of…
Athletic Appeal in Admissions
Long before Gabby Douglas flew through her floor exercise and Michael Phelps dominated the pool, admissions directors have been impressed by athletes. From stories about the perfect basket, goal, spike or serve, athletes have wonderful stories that display their endurance, strength, leadership and team skills. Fascinated by the applicant who used his marathon run as…
Top Feeder Schools to Big Law
Wondering which law school will lead you to that coveted Big Law job? Well, the WSJ Law Blog broke it down for you using newly released data from the ABA. This data involved employment summary reports for individual schools, revealing that only about 8% of 2011 grads found jobs at big law firms. Plus, “schools…
Low Employment Stats for 2011 Law Grads
The NALP has released its latest employment data, and it isn’t pretty. The overall employment rate (measured as of February 15, 2012) for the Class of 2011 is at 85.6%, which is the lowest it has been since 1994. This rate fell two percentage points from last year, and has dropped each year since 2008….
Law School Admissions Tip #5: The Value of the Opening Anecdote
The Top 15 Things Every Law School Applicant Should Know is a series that will teach you the ins and outs of successful law school applications. Stay tuned for the remaining elements. This week we’ll discuss the value of the opening anecdote. When deciding whether or not you might be interested in reading a particular…
Optional Essays: When and How to Write Them
In this short video, Linda Abraham explores the two kinds of optional essays, who should write them, and what should go into them. Don’t miss the crucial warning at the end. Related Resources: • 5 Fatal Flaws to Avoid in Your Application Essays, a free guide • How to Edit Your Application Essays, a podcast…
Law School Admissions Tip #4: Choosing a Topic for Your Personal Statement
The Top 15 Things Every Law School Applicant Should Know is a series that will teach you the ins and outs of successful law school applications. Stay tuned for the remaining elements. This week we’ll discuss choosing a topic for your personal statement. In my 15 years working in graduate and undergraduate admissions, I have…
The President Wrote My Letter of Recommendation!
“Wouldn’t that be great. I’m in!” Or are you? On this President’s Day, let’s think about it: Would a letter of recommendation from President Barack Obama, POTUS himself, ensure your acceptance? I’m sure a letter from President Obama would get passed around the admissions office. That presidential seal and signature (even if from a machine)…
Adcoms’ New Tool to Detect Plagiarism in Essays
Rather than go through the hassle of writing your application essays yourself, especially since you’re not the most effective or practiced writer (or since you don’t have enough time), why not have someone who really knows how to do it well write them for you? That someone could be a friend or colleague who’s offered…
4 Application Strategy Tips: Stand Out AND Fit In
It can be confusing: Half of the advice you read urges you to stand out in your application, while the other half advices you to explain how you’ll fit in. So which is it? Should you stand out or fit in? The answer, unsurprisingly, is BOTH. You need to show your distinction and demonstrate fit…
Are Law Schools Cash Cows?
Are law schools cash cows, or do some have a soul? With all the talk about the rising tuition at law schools, The New York Times wrote a scathing article (“Law School Economics: Ka-Ching!”) about New York Law School and its allegedly dubious practices. Despite the fact that NYLS is ranked in the bottom third…
U.S. News’ Best Law Schools 2012, Ranked Two Ways
U.S. News released its law school rankings today, with few surprises among the top 20. Yale Law School took its place at the top of the list (where it has been for the last two decades) and was followed by the rest of the top 5 regulars—Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, and Chicago. There is one…
It’s Not Fair! How to Deal with Dings
It may or may not be fair, but many of you are going to get at least a few rejections. What are you going to do about them? First and foremost—if you’ve gotten dinged at your top choice school, that doesn’t mean that you’re never going to get in. It doesn’t even mean that you…
Personal Branding in Admissions
The term “personal brand” is bandied about a lot in admissions. I don’t claim to be an expert on branding, but after fifteen years editing essays and advising applicants, I know a bit about admissions. I see the concept of “personal brand” as a threat and opportunity for applicants. Want to know more? See this…
Admissions Resume: What to Include
Recently in “MBA Admissions:The May-October Romance,” I suggested that applicants for Fall 2011 entry begin assembling materials for their applications now – a full five months in advance of the first fall deadlines. One of the ideal documents to begin now is a resume, something that any professional should always have updated and at the…
Application Boxes Should Do the Heavy Lifting
For one of Accepted’s first forays into video, I decided to focus on application boxes, the mundane, pedestrian elements of an application that frequently are not given appropriate attention. Please watch the video to see how you make the ordinary into extraordinary, value-added elements of your application. Since this is our first attempt at providing…
College Early Admissions: The Early Bird….
For those college seniors who decided to apply under one of the early admission plans for the fall semester of 2010, last week was a big week. As my high school sophomore noted, “Everyone on campus (of his college prep school) is tense and freaking out.” A little less so after Monday, when Columbia, Brown,…
Grad Admissions: Helicopter Parents
The New York Times published an article this week “Letting Your Grad Student Go “ on the phenomenon of helicopter parents in graduate schools admissions. Yes, I mean graduate, not undergraduate, admissions. I have a dual perspective on helicopter parenting. I have been working in graduate admissions as a private consultant for the last fifteen…
Personal Statement Tip: Story Time (Part 1)
The moment I found the lump, I suspected my life was about to change—in a big way. Good enough for an opening line? Want to read more? I hope it’s yes on both counts. Because I’m going to tell you a story. A short one. A true one. Not so much for the sake of…