foolhardy (2022-2023)

Believe me, if I saw that 165 and those admissions on someone else's profile, I would certainly take notice, too. Indeed, I would probably wonder if they were (a) a minority, (b) a legacy, (c) a national-class athlete, etc. Since I'm not any of those -- and still, frankly, continue to be surprised by my success -- I can only offer the following: 1. Third in my class at Reed College, a famously demanding small liberal arts college, probably counts for more than I realized. 2. Perhaps the extensive professorial contact of said liberal arts college led to exceptionally strong LORs? (Yes, I know everyone says the letters rarely make that big a difference, but still, there were literally four people in some of my classes, so it's hard to avoid speaking a great deal, and getting on well with your professor, in such an environment.) 3. I will have three years between college and law school, so am a little older and more experienced than someone coming straight out of college. More to the point, I have used that time to, among other jobs, do research-intensive work for the humanities program of my college, fairly substantive paralegal work for an immigration law firm, and volunteer work for a local legal services group. I guess that probably helps; perhaps the last one was particularly compelling. 4. Maybe everyone else agrees with me that classicists are the best students ever? :-) Seriously, beyond those thoughts, I'm not sure what to identify as a dispositive factor of my success. I guess the above tells you a little bit more about me. Other than that, though, I'm really not sure.

Hey, glad to help. I figure something in all that had to have been compelling, in my case, even if I can't specifically identify it, so hopefully you can find similar success.

via e-mail with a link to the status checker - that is where they post a pdf of the decision. good luck!

thanks for your comment :) my philosophy behind not withdrawing is that I don't actually "know" i won't be attending anywhere. as i've said in a few places, anything can happen in the next several weeks, and I see no reason for me to hurry my decision. if you asked the admissions staff at U of H, they'd probably agree that there's no reason for me to hurry and withdraw if there's even a .01% chance I would attend. i don't expect anyone to withdraw from Chi or Col to "make room" for me, since i don't even believe admissions works that way. who will attend will attend, and if that leaves room for me, great, but i certainly don't expect anyone whose credentials surpassed mine to inconvenience or cause anxieity to themselves on my behalf. que sera sera

how did you find out about cornell (snail mail, email)? also, did the status check go to decision before you received notification? thanks!

Yeah it was the first I heard from them after the complete email. It came by email, and the status checker still hasn't even been updated. I actually was offered the acceptance and money on the condition that I defer for a year, so its not an outright acceptance.

No, I won't be accepting their offer. I will be going to Stanford if the waitlists don't work out.

hey, when did cornell contact you? was it by phone? email? snail mail? thanks!

via email. they gave me a week. your chances are probably quite slim with the lsat, but best of luck. why did you withdraw from cornell?!, decided on the cash instead?

next to NU? that's a no.