Should I wait to apply to gain more soft factors? Forum

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nosymbols

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Should I wait to apply to gain more soft factors?

Post by nosymbols » Sat Oct 06, 2018 12:09 pm

I (3.93/168) will be ready to apply by the beginning of November (I'm mostly focusing on 5-20 schools, Cornell, Upenn, UVA, Michigan, washU, etc). However, I am a d3 student athlete in-season, and if I wait to apply until the end of November I will most likely be able to add my first All-American award to my resume. Is it worth it to wait 3 weeks in the application cycle for this, or should I ship out applications sooner?

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Pneumonia

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Re: Should I wait to apply to gain more soft factors?

Post by Pneumonia » Sun Oct 07, 2018 9:48 am

You should submit as soon as you can. The All-American award, though impressive, will not move the needle for admissions purposes. You can always send an updated resume, too.

QContinuum

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Re: Should I wait to apply to gain more soft factors?

Post by QContinuum » Sun Oct 07, 2018 8:55 pm

Pneumonia wrote:You should submit as soon as you can. The All-American award, though impressive, will not move the needle for admissions purposes. You can always send an updated resume, too.
Seconding this. Ship out your applications now, then update schools once you've received your All-American award.

Best wishes (and congrats on the award!).

goingnutslawschool

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Re: Should I wait to apply to gain more soft factors?

Post by goingnutslawschool » Sun Oct 07, 2018 11:19 pm

As far as I can tell from my research on law admissions, this award will not move the needle in any way. Remember for admissions it’s all about GPA, LSAT score and anything else that meets something the school really needs- URM status or something extraordinary (Malala wanting to go to your Law school moves the needle). They may list your award as a plus in a brochure somewhere on their entering class stats but that’s about it. So yeah, apply now.

abl

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Re: Should I wait to apply to gain more soft factors?

Post by abl » Mon Oct 08, 2018 1:13 am

It's entirely appropriate to update your application for something like an All-American award. My guess is that it could help you at YS (although you're probably just a hair out of reach for them, even with a boost), but that it won't make a noticeable difference elsewhere.*

My advice would be to apply now and use any All-American update as an opportunity to reiterate your interest to schools in a way that looks (and ideally is) targeted. Even if All-American doesn't move the needle, it's definitely a good reason to re-contact your schools, and an updated expression of interest accompanying a legitimate supplemental letter could move the needle.

Good luck!

*This all might depend a little on the school and also on your sport. I'm not sure that being All-American in fencing carries the same weight as being All-American in basketball. I'm assuming in this reply that your sport is not basketball or football.

nosymbols

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Re: Should I wait to apply to gain more soft factors?

Post by nosymbols » Tue Oct 16, 2018 1:04 pm

Thank you, all. It seems like I’m getting a unanimous response to my question! Thanks for your help

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