The effect of undergrad rep and WE on scholarship outcomes Forum

(Applications Advice, Letters of Recommendation . . . )
Post Reply
thatlawschoolshit

New
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat May 04, 2019 10:04 pm

The effect of undergrad rep and WE on scholarship outcomes

Post by thatlawschoolshit » Sat May 04, 2019 10:13 pm

https://www.reddit.com/r/lawschooladmis ... kjd_39179/

This cycle confuses me. It seems like this person (3.94 179) would get more scholarship money at t13. Is going to an unknown college and taking the KJD path that much of a detriment? Obviously their letters of rec and/or personal statements might of hurt them, but still!

I go to a decent state school, but the prestigious internships aren't lining themselves up, and I was hoping my stats would be able to carry me to some good scholarship money.

QContinuum

Moderator
Posts: 3594
Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2017 9:52 am

Re: The effect of undergrad rep and WE on scholarship outcomes

Post by QContinuum » Sat May 04, 2019 10:23 pm

thatlawschoolshit wrote:https://www.reddit.com/r/lawschooladmis ... kjd_39179/

This cycle confuses me. It seems like this person (3.94 179) would get more scholarship money at t13. Is going to an unknown college and taking the KJD path that much of a detriment? Obviously their letters of rec and/or personal statements might of hurt them, but still!
That person's cycle doesn't seem remotely terrible? Not every 3.94/179 is gonna get a full-ride at CCN*, and a weak LOR or PS could easily play a determinative role (that K-JD themselves says their recommenders didn't actually know them that well). That K-JD ended up with $ at Chicago, $$ at Penn and $$$ at Michigan. I don't think that applicant did too badly at all.

*Also, notably that K-JD didn't apply to NYU, which is one of the most generous T13s w.r.t. merit aid. There are far fewer large schollies given out at CC than at N. It's entirely possible they would've gotten $$$ at NYU had they applied.

nixy

Gold
Posts: 4446
Joined: Fri Feb 16, 2018 8:58 am

Re: The effect of undergrad rep and WE on scholarship outcomes

Post by nixy » Sun May 05, 2019 6:52 am

I don’t think the college is likely to have had anything to do with it. I suspect being KJD contributed (in this case) to the less interesting PS, and I also suspect that when you’re looking for big money from the very top schools, everything about your app needs to be great (including PS and LORs). I don’t mean that a KJD can’t put together a great app on top of the stats, just that this particular one struggled to do so. Obviously they got into amazing schools and got money everywhere, so yeah, overall very successful.

User avatar
cavalier1138

Moderator
Posts: 8007
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2016 8:01 pm

Re: The effect of undergrad rep and WE on scholarship outcomes

Post by cavalier1138 » Sun May 05, 2019 7:44 am

Yeah, those outcomes seem more like the result of weak LORs/PS and bad planning (i.e. only applying to a handful of T13 schools for arbitrary reasons) than the result of the applicant going to an unknown college.

thatlawschoolshit

New
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat May 04, 2019 10:04 pm

Re: The effect of undergrad rep and WE on scholarship outcomes

Post by thatlawschoolshit » Sun May 05, 2019 4:53 pm

nixy wrote:I don’t think the college is likely to have had anything to do with it. I suspect being KJD contributed (in this case) to the less interesting PS, and I also suspect that when you’re looking for big money from the very top schools, everything about your app needs to be great (including PS and LORs). I don’t mean that a KJD can’t put together a great app on top of the stats, just that this particular one struggled to do so. Obviously they got into amazing schools and got money everywhere, so yeah, overall very successful.
Fair enough. Do you have any advice for how to put together a good resume as a KJD? I have run of the mill volunteer stuff and plenty of part time jobs, but little else.

Want to continue reading?

Register now to search topics and post comments!

Absolutely FREE!


nixy

Gold
Posts: 4446
Joined: Fri Feb 16, 2018 8:58 am

Re: The effect of undergrad rep and WE on scholarship outcomes

Post by nixy » Sun May 05, 2019 8:43 pm

I don’t know about your resume specifically, but for your application generally, it sounds like (compared to the person you linked to) you need to have a better PS and better LORs. Come up with something interesting about your volunteering/jobs and write a compelling statement that explains who you are. Get people to write good things about you.

I personally think a big thing when you’re looking to be treated as more than stats is to make sure there’s a coherent narrative throughout your whole app. What you talk about in your PS makes sense in light of what’s on your resume and transcript and what your LORs all say. I realize that’s not a really concrete answer, it’s just that there are lots of different ways you could put together that kind of app, and they depend a lot on what you’ve done.

Also keep in mind the person you’re linking to didn’t apply to the whole T13 and stuck mostly to the T6 (okay T8 though that’s not really a thing). They might well have ended up with more money at Cornell/NU/UVA/Duke (and might have been able to use that to negotiate for more from the places they were accepted). So good stats will get you a long way even if that particular person limited their options.

User avatar
cavalier1138

Moderator
Posts: 8007
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2016 8:01 pm

Re: The effect of undergrad rep and WE on scholarship outcomes

Post by cavalier1138 » Sun May 05, 2019 8:56 pm

The best way to improve your resume is to have things to put on it (i.e. don't go straight to law school).

Want to continue reading?

Register for access!

Did I mention it was FREE ?


Post Reply

Return to “Law School Admissions Forum”