Reapplication from March 2018

[ngreen221]

Hi PS,

I feel like I am in a somewhat unique predicament. I took the LSAT twice back in 2017 and applied to schools with a 147 close to the March 2018 deadline to attend school later that fall. I was subsequently rejected from all of the schools that I applied. Since then, I took time to travel, move to NYC, and get a paralegal job at one of the top BigLaw firms.

I never stopped wanting to go to law school and spent more time studying for about 6 months (with PowerScore of course!). I have taken the LSAT two more times, most recently getting a 152 (my best score) with the first ever digital test in July, but I am taking it again in November because as you all may know there were a lot of issues with the tablets (mine didn't register any of my markups) and I feel like I can still do at least 3-5 points better after digital practice.

I am planning to finish up applications by the end of September for early decisions. The concerns I am having lie with my prior applications and LSAT scores. I am going to submit an LSAT addendum, but I also know that I should revamp my personal statement. I read that it can be a good idea to describe what happened after my first application and denial process. Honestly for me, it was devastating at first, but I flourished and persisted forward.

I am curious what you guys think, is it a good idea to write a personal statement relating to application failure and the aftermath? Should I make small tweaks to the original personal statement I submitted in 2018? Should I make a completely new personal statement not mentioning the prior application process?

Any feedback at all would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

[Dave Killoran]

Hi PS,

I feel like I am in a somewhat unique predicament. I took the LSAT twice back in 2017 and applied to schools with a 147 close to the March 2018 deadline to attend school later that fall. I was subsequently rejected from all of the schools that I applied. Since then, I took time to travel, move to NYC, and get a paralegal job at one of the top BigLaw firms.

I never stopped wanting to go to law school and spent more time studying for about 6 months (with PowerScore of course!). I have taken the LSAT two more times, most recently getting a 152 (my best score) with the first ever digital test in July, but I am taking it again in November because as you all may know there were a lot of issues with the tablets (mine didn't register any of my markups) and I feel like I can still do at least 3-5 points better after digital practice.

I am planning to finish up applications by the end of September for early decisions. The concerns I am having lie with my prior applications and LSAT scores. I am going to submit an LSAT addendum, but I also know that I should revamp my personal statement. I read that it can be a good idea to describe what happened after my first application and denial process. Honestly for me, it was devastating at first, but I flourished and persisted forward.

I am curious what you guys think, is it a good idea to write a personal statement relating to application failure and the aftermath? Should I make small tweaks to the original personal statement I submitted in 2018? Should I make a completely new personal statement not mentioning the prior application process?

Any feedback at all would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Hi N,

Thanks for the question!

I need to post a caveat before commenting, which is that since I haven't read your original statement, it's impossible to say whether you should write an entirely new one or just rewrite and upgrade the old one. I'm in the dark here and that makes things rather challenging. That said, we know the prior one has already been seen by the adcomms, and in those cases generally the advice is to submit something new or at least significantly improved.

With that in mind, the "rejection process lead me to a new start" isn't a terrible topic, but as always it's about how you execute that statement. It could be awful in the wrong hands but great in the right ones, if you get my point there (for tips on how to make it great, watch this free webinar: PowerScore’s Law School Personal Statement Seminar). There is danger on focusing on a negative, but the story of overcoming that could be very good. So, write carefully

As for an LSAT addendum, I don't know that I'd advise that. You want to treat the adcomm's time as extremely valuable, and so if your addendum is just that you struggled at first and then improved through better/more studying, don't submit it. You want an LSAT addendum to explain in compelling terms why you have lower scores, and that usually means a unique or unusual explanation, such as a death in the family while studying, or test conditions that were extremely compromising. If you don't have something like that, you can easily do more harm than benefit to your app.

So, I'd explore the options around "it was devastating at first, but I flourished and persisted forward," and see how it goes, but I'd scuttle the LSAT addendum unless you have something unusual that explains what happened.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!

[ngreen221]

Okay, this is great and I will definitely play around with it. Thank you Dave!

One side note about the addendum, one school that I’m applying to states “Prospective students with significant score differences (more than 3 points) are encouraged to submit a brief, explanatory statement with their admissions materials.” This is mostly why I thought I needed an addendum. Would I just say that with the prior tests, I did not study properly? Or something brief saying that I studied better?

[Dave Killoran]

Well, saying you did not study properly the first time reflects badly on you, and suggests you didn't take law school seriously. Plus, it calls into question your judgment in sitting for the LSAT when you knew you hadn't studied properly. So, I always hesitate on advising anyone to use that explanation!

Btw, that three point note is a joke on the part of the school. Score bands show a +-3 point range; asking for an explanation of a 3 point movement qualifies as ridiculous imho