Veteran Admission Question

[mrussell840]

Going to do my best to give the abbreviated version here. Went to college for the first time directly after HS, due to some unforeseen real life disasters, I had a bout with depression, drugs and drinking. Since I had skipped 2nd grade I had just turned 17 when I left and needless to say I handled some rather difficult situations poorly. I got a retro-active medical withdrawal for about half of the classes I took, however I still ended up with 2 F's. Additionally, in HS I took 2 advanced accounting courses at UNC-CH and got C's in both of those classes. After the first round of college, I joined the military and went to language school. I posted the highest GPA for a non-native speaker in almost a 10 year period and graduated with every award and distinction possible. Throughout my time in the military I continued to rank first in every school I attended. Fast forward 9 years and I'm back finishing up my bachelors at The Citadel. I have an almost perfect (3.9GPA) in my first year. My issue is this, cumulatively I am sporting a 3.3GPA due to the F's in college and the HS classes with C's. If I apply for this admissions cycle I feel like I will be at an extreme disadvantage for entrance into a T14 with that low of a GPA. I have 45 more hours to add, including this semester, and am fully expecting all of those to be A's. This would give a significant buff to my cumulative GPA. If I decided not to apply for this admissions cycle, I would add a minor in French, adding an additional 10+ A's to my cumulative. It would also give me my 4th language, to include an AA in Korea, BA in Spanish, and then the minor in French. I am currently about a 170 LSAT and definitely believe I have room to improve. I guess the question is this, would it be beneficial for me to take one more year to significantly raise my cumulative GPA and add a minor, or risk it with a subpar GPA and 170ish LSAT? Or would going to a non-T14 school be my best option for 1L and then attempt to transfer? I really would only be satisfied with admission to a T14, ideally a T3 school. Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[Dave Killoran]

Hey MRussell,

Thanks for the questions, and it's always nice to help out a fellow Charlestonian

Your situation is pretty interesting. If I'm following you correctly, your current GPA is 3.9, but what's pulling you down are some grades from 9 years ago that include 2 Fs. If that's correct, then I think you should apply to the T14 schools now, and write a separate addendum addressing your GPA. It's clear there's a before and after story here (and I imagine your personal statement will address some of that, right?), and your pre-GPa and post-GPA are so different as to speak you being almost a totally different person. I feel like the adcoms are smart enough to look at you and say, "Here's a guy who clearly went through a rough patch, but he's recovered from that, matured, and is now excelling." With that understanding, they'd discount your earlier GPA and more heavily weight the recent GPA (and some stellar letters of rec wouldn't hurt at all).

Yes, you could bulk up that GPA with another year, but I think you should take a shot now, and rely on the intelligence of the admissions committee—they know when to look past bad behavior that's from a long, long time ago, especially when it's offset by recent exemplary performance.

Let me know your thoughts, and we can keep talking it over. Thanks!

[mrussell840]

Hey Dave thanks for getting back to me! I went in an entirely different direction with my personal statement, I attached a copy at the end. If you think it would be better to address that situation in order to emphasize the change and how that whilst mistakes were made, they were valuable life lessons, then I can definitely re-write for that. I figured I would write the addendum, but wasn't sure how much that actually weighs in on their decision. I have great letters of recommendation, academic and professional. Stanford is my #1 choice and I hear they are one of the more lenient schools as far as considering "soft" factors in their admissions process. As long as I won't be penalized in some way for applying and possibly getting rejected, then reapplying after I buff the GPA (and possibly LSAT),then I don't have any reason not to apply now and roll the dice, short of the insane amount of money it costs to apply. Is going to a T25 or T50 school and then attempting to transfer a bad idea? I know the transfer slots are almost non-existent so I am guessing it's probably not the best plan. I just want to give myself the best chance possible at a T3. I'm almost 30 and the clock is ticking so an extra year wouldn't be the ideal option, but definitely willing to do whatever is necessary. Thanks again for your help!

(Current Personal Statement, willing to change topics if needed!)

Green; not green like a tree, nor green like money, but a green like you’re looking at 1980s computer monitor. That’s what it’s like viewing the world through night vision. It is 3:00AM, and we’re walking to our objective. We’ve already crossed “IED highway” and countless kilometers of empty fields of mud. It’s amazing how quiet a group of 75 men can be if necessary. We’re moving to a small village in a remote Afghan valley looking for one man. In the distance a dog is barking—the early warning system for our enemy. It doesn’t matter, there is no turning back. We’ve gotten out of the fields and onto something that resembles a road. Slowly and mechanically, we advance onward towards the house. Thick mud walls, rusty metal gates; they all look the same during the day and even more so at night. That’s when I notice it. And by it I mean him or her, but in reality it just appeared as a dark mass moving towards us. I whisper into my headset, alerting the others to its presence, then break off from the group with my interpreter.
I don’t fear the dark anymore, but I do fear the unknown. 500m, 400m, 300m, the distance between us and it shrinks while my excitement and fear grow. Fear is healthy, fear is good, and fear keeps you alive. My laser goes on, illuminating it. It’s a man walking with something in his hand, using it almost like a cane. Is it a cane? Is it a gun? Is it a shovel? It’s too hard to tell. In combat your mind is constantly absorbing, processing, and analyzing information. And unlike most jobs, when your calculation is off, people die. I have my interpreter tell him to stop; first in Pashtu, then in Dari, then in Farsi, all to no avail. By this time I have determined three things—it’s a man, he is alone, and if he should explode my friends will be ok. He marches towards us, seemingly deaf to my interpreter’s commands. I hear the click, the innocuous yet deadly sound of my rifle’s safety disengaging. With six pounds of pressure from my right index finger I can take a life. Every second I’m reevaluating the situation; every little bit of data is analyzed, a new conclusion is drawn, and my plan is altered.
We’re now face to face. It’s an old man. There’s an interesting phenomenon that occurs in your head when your target changes from a moving dark mass 200m away to a real person made of flesh and blood, looking at you in the face. Your perception is altered; no longer do you get to enjoy the objectivity of a faceless entity in the night, but must face the reality of its humanity. The hardest part of this transition is maintaining your ability to quickly and objectively receive and analyze the happenings around you. There is no comparison to this outside of war. Not only does your life hinge upon your decision making, but the lives of your friends and ultimately the life of your enemy. By remaining calm, using the information at hand effectively, and being confident in your choices but willing to drastically change them if the situation warrants is what keeps people alive. In this case the old man was walking to the mosque a couple kilometers down the road for Morning Prayer. After a brief stop we let him go, somewhat shaken, but no worse for wear.
Law school and the legal profession require a multitude of skills for survival: intellectual capacity, analytical reasoning, persuasive arguments, and the ability to think quickly and confidently in a variety of high-pressure situations. This story is my story, one out of many. On that day an elderly man was able to pray and return home to his family. I too was able to return home and lived to replay this same story many times in the days and weeks to come. The skills, fortitude, ability to operate under pressure, and the confidence gained from the experience of leading soldiers into combat has prepared me for the challenges of both the legal profession and law school. I look forward to the challenges ahead and am determined to conquer and overcome them, and just like combat, persevere to learn, love, and live another day.

[mrussell840]

Also let me know when you're in Charleston. I'm never too busy to buy you a thank you beer.

[Dave Killoran]

Two part reply coming up: first reply on the apps, second reply will be on the essay.

I'll definitely take you up on that beer I'm typically in Charleston year-round since our main offices are in Chas (right down on Hasell Street just off Meeting, actually) but oddly I'm on the west coast for a bit doing some work at Berkeley (another school that places greater weight on softs).

There wouldn't be a penalty for applying now but I'm definitely aware of the costs involved, so you could cut down on the number of schools (and your final LSAT score may make a difference too; blow the roof off and you might want to apply to them all).

Transferring is always dicey, especially at the very top schools. It's just a gamble, and I always tell people not to count on being able to successfully transfer. So, my advice here would be not go to a law school unless you'd be satisfied graduating from it.

Part two coming up. Thanks!

[Dave Killoran]

Ok, on to the essay. First off, you're a good writer—I really like some of the details in the opening of this essay, and I get a real sense of some of the uncertainties you encountered and the decisions you had to make. You've also provided an action opening, and in the Personal Statement seminars I've done (we have a free one posted at http://www.powerscore.com/lsat/help/#free-lessons, it's the 7th link down: The Personal Statement), I talk about action openings and how necessary they are to engage the reader. That said, there are two things that concern me here:

1. Although I'm getting the idea of your analytical ability, maturity, decision-making, and responsibility from this story, the emphasis isn't totally locked in on you. In other words, I'm not getting a really clear sense of who you are (again, I'm getting some sense of it, but not a really crystal picture of who you are and what makes you unique). Your personal statement needs to draw a bright line around who you are and why you are special. This is heading that way, but needs some more work.

2. The transition from the story to law school is a bit too abrupt, and kind of takes away from the story itself. If this story stays in the essay, I'd either drop that last paragraph entirely (because they know what law school is; you don't need to tell them ), or change it significantly.

There's a third consideration here as well, and it relates to your overall application profile. We know from your GPA that there's some explaining to do about your early grades. I'd almost like to see the addendum for that first, just to get a sense of how long it would be (if it's too long, it might not get the attention it needs). So, in a sense, I feel like that story has to be told before a a decision can be made on what direction to go with your essay.

The good news is that the essay above shows you can tell an engaging story, and that's worth its weight in gold during the application process. If we can position the pieces properly between the addendum and essay, you will have a really compelling story.

Let me know what you think. Thanks!

[mrussell840]

Well let me know when you're back in town. Edmond's Oast or BSB awaits! I will revamp the personal statement ending. I was under the impression that tying it back to law school was key, but I have an idea of how to skip reiterating what they already know and bring it back to highlight my unique skills and abilities. Stay tuned till tomorrow afternoon. As far as the addendum goes, here are two versions. Option one is full story explanation, option 2 is the ultra-condensed model. Let me know what you think, thanks!


Option 1

During my sophomore year of college at UNC-W I experienced two traumatic incidents that profoundly impacted not only my personal well-being, but my education as well. After completing my freshman year I moved off campus with a roommate into a small home. After a few tumultuous months of a constant barrage of disruptions and visitors and parties, hosted by the roommate, I discovered that he was selling drugs from my home as well. Upon learning of his illicit activities, I immediately took steps to evict him and resolve the situation, but at this point the damage was done and I had already failed the bulk of my classes for the first semester and was well into failing the second. During his time in my home I had rescued a puppy and adult dog from a local shelter for companionship, as I was basically isolated to my bedroom in the house. I began to seek counseling and felt positive that I could overcome these mistakes and get back on track.

I began classes in the fall of 2004, excited to have another chance at school and felt stronger as a person. I was happy, working a full-time job, and making excellent grades in school. However this string of good luck was abruptly interrupted when one night as I was getting ready for work, my puppy collapsed at my feet. His last conscious decision was to get close to me. I rushed him to the emergency vet, and he was dead by the next morning. After an investigation, it was revealed that he had been poisoned by my neighbor. This crushed all the positive progress I had made and pushed me past my limits. I spiraled out of control battling a problem with drugs and alcohol, a recent ADHD diagnosis, and severe depression. Through a combination of intense counseling, pharmacotherapy, and determination by the spring of 2005 I was a new man. However during the fall semester, I had withdrew from 3 of the 5 classes I was enrolled in and attempted to take just 2. With everything that I was fighting through, I was unable to complete those courses and received 2 F's.

At the end of the day, I realized I needed a change in my life and the current path I was on was unsustainable. I received an administrative withdrawal from the first 2 failed semesters. I sought help for this first time in my life, and recognized that sometimes we can't do everything on our own. I enlisted in the Army, got sober, and went on to complete some of the most rigorous and intense training the Army has to offer. I am not proud of how I reacted, nor proud of my actions during that time, but all of them helped to shape me as the person I am today. I am more resilient, more responsible, and able to recognize when things are getting out of hand. I believe that my performance since these incidents demonstrates that my GPA from 2005 and beyond more accurately reflect my actual skills and abilities.


Option 2

In the fall of 2004 I was recovering from 2 traumatizing experiences over the previous year. I had a roommate whom I discovered was selling drugs in my home, and my dog was poisoned by my neighbor. These events led to my own drug and alcohol addiction and an intense bought of depression. Through intensive mental health treatment I was able to overcome these obstacles. I was administratively withdrawn from the Fall 2003 and Spring 2004 semesters due my medical condition. In the Fall 2004 semester I attempted to complete 2 classes. Unfortunately, due to the intensity of my treatment and mental state at that time; I received F's for both of the classes. Those F's have significantly impacted my current overall GPA. I believe that my 3.9GPA since 2005 more accurately reflects my actual skills and abilities.

Medical documentation can be provided upon request.




{Nothing like putting my life story out on the internet lol}

[Dave Killoran]

Ok, this is helpful! Option 2 is out—it's too brief and somewhat abrupt. With Option 1, the transition from the causal events to the problems perhaps needs a bit more explanation, or polish. The question that's going to come up—and I don't mean to be blunt—is why did two separate issues spread over time cause this spiral? It seems like there might be more to the story. Is there something missing here?

And, feel free to send this to me in a private message! There's a point where yeah, you don't want this on the net

I'll keep you posted on when I'm back in town; it will be a bit. Thanks!

[mrussell840]

Private message sent!