ekiki (2017-2018)

Strong softs and interesting story (happy to elaborate more via PM)

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The best advice that I got was that law school is like dating. Sometimes you vibe with a school, and it's a good fit for both parties, and sometimes it's not.

My advice would be to consider prestige (of course) but not let it blind you. As a public interest law hopeful, I shouldn't have even applied to Columbia or Penn, as they are both not good fits for me (sending less than 5% of their grads to PI jobs). It was a waste of time and energy, and I was drawn to those schools only because of prestige. Both schools waitlisted me (and rightfully so) as I was not a good fit.

Find the schools that you vibe with, spend a lot of time on your essays (don't submit them all the same day like I did!) and let the chips fall where they may. The admissions committees do ultimately know if you're a good fit or not with a school, and they generally know better than we do. Be sincere in your reasons for pursuing law school, and let your personality show through. You don't want to end up at a school that you don't feel good attending.

And most importantly: do NOT take rejections or waitlists to heart. Schools have more qualified applicants than they do seats in their entering class. If you don't get in, that doesn't mean you're not good enough to succeed at that school, but just that they had more qualified candidates than spots, and something (literally anything) could've put someone else in that spot instead of you.

Applying to law school is stressful enough, do not increase that stress on yourself! You will be fine and everything will work out.

First try on LSAT (9/16) - 167
Second time (12/2) - 169

(My first diagnostic exam was a 152, so rest assured that if you work hard you can significantly improve your score!)

12/23/17 - Applied for almost all of my schools, finishing last two tomorrow after I write the "Why XYZ" essays. I completed the optional essays for all of the schools that I applied to.

12/24/25 - All done with apps! Will update as I hear back.

12/26 - Interview invite from Washington University in St Louis. Will complete interview on 1/9.

1/5 - First acceptance! UCLA via phone call.

1/9 - Into ASU via phone call! They also said I would receive confirmation + scholarship offer via email by the end of the week. They asked me not to post the scholarship so I didnt post it.

1/9 - Provisionally admitted to Duke via email! Official acceptance will be given after applying for financial aid. Completed scholarship interview 2/14.

1/12 - Admitted to Washington University in St. Louis via email! (Received scholarship info on 1/25)

1/16 - Harvard interview request! (Interview completed on 1/26)

1/18 - Georgetown interview request! (Interview completed on 1/25)

1/29 - Admitted to Berkeley via email!

2/1 - Admitted to Michigan via status checker!!

2/3 - Admitted to Emory via mail! Scholarship information was included in the package. Letter was dated 1/30.

2/7 - Waitlisted by Columbia.

2/8 - Scholarship offer from Michigan!

2/9 - Admitted to Georgetown! Letter was dated 2/5.

2/22-2/23 - Received both merit and need-based aid from UCLA!

3/2 - Waitlisted by Penn.

3/5 - Received scholarship information from Berkeley. Will try to pursue the scholarship reconsideration process.

3/6 - Rejected from Stanford.

3/9 - Waitlisted by Chicago.

3/12 - Georgetown PILS invitation!

3/17 - Received Duke scholarship offer.

3/26 - Waitlisted by Harvard.

3/29 - Received waitlist for the PILS program and also Georgetown scholarship offer.

4/3 - Withdrew from most schools and ready to make a choice soon, after my reconsideration request goes through Berkeley.

4/3 - Received revised Berkeley award. Since they didn't match Michigan, I'll be withdrawing.

4/25 - Waitlist offer from NYU. No way Id attend if I was admitted with no financial aid so I withdrew my application.

4/27 - Rejected by Yale. Cycle is over! Happy to have closure. Barring an HLS waitlist admission offer, I am headed to Michigan!

6/28 - Released from HLS waitlist. Michigan, here I come! :)