Exhibit D: Supplemental Statements
Beyond the essay and your checklist of fields of law, virtually every aspect of most applications can be appended with a supplemental statement from you. These statements offer you a further opportunity to tell your story, but be careful not to pass the buck; take responsibility for your record.
Inconsistent or blemished grades are a common spawning ground for a supplemental statement. "A GPA of 2.5 rather than 3.3 is going to require some explanation," says the former dean. However, "if the explanation is that it's someone else's fault, that's a lame excuse. But if you learned and showed an upward trend as a result, that's good."
Skeptics argue that undue light shed on any subject is harsh on the admissions committees' eyes. A successful applicant to a top-ten school who believes "supplemental statements are frequently improperly used," remembers how the loss of a family member "allowed me to point out a few things about me that worked in my favor -- ambition, improvement etc. But if I hadn't had the family issue, the supplemental statement (just) to point out the upward trend in my grades would have been lame."
As a general rule of thumb: Your transcript speaks for itself. If there is something that relates to your academic performance but isn't represented on your transcript, or if you feel like you want to draw specific attention to an upward trend and elaborate on the reasons it exists, use the supplemental statement to inform the admissions committee.
Exhibit E: Recommendations
When deciding whom to ask to write your recommendations, anticipate their answers to these questions: What are your strengths? How does your performance compare with those of your peers? In what ways could you improve professionally? What are your ethics? If you have a bad feeling that their answers to any of these questions will raise red flags, reconsider your choice of reference. If you stay with the reference, counter the possibility of a red flag elsewhere in your application or address it in a supplemental statement.
In addition, take some time to discuss your law school plans and goals with potential references when asking for a recommendation. You should be able to spot any hesitation on their end. If they seem less than willing, ask them if they are comfortable writing a recommendation on your behalf. If they aren't, or if they leave the strength of your recommendation in doubt, thank them for their honesty, and seek a recommendation from another source. Now is not the time to be shy or risky.
Exhibit F: Professional Experience
For resumes, professional or not, list your experiences in reverse chronological order unless instructed otherwise. Leave no unexplained gaps in your work resume, and distinguish between college and post-college activities.
Some applicants worry that their professional experience is too modest to include on their resume. Should you even mention that you spent two years as bartender and ski instructor? Like everything else in your application, it needs to be articulated it in a way that shows you believe in its value to your makeup as a person. "The applicant recognized a need for employment, pay tuition, help out his family," says the former dean when asked about the ski-bum scenario. "Whatever it may be, it means that he's participating in the social and economic structure of the country."
Exhibit G: Interviews
When it comes to interviews--sometimes required by admissions committees in addition to your application--your mission, as always, is to tell your story in a manner that helps you come across as a qualified and genuine applicant. That takes a good amount of sincerity as well as preparation for whatever turn the interview takes.
"I had an evaluative interview [at a top-five school that] was incredibly adversarial and I walked out knowing that I hadn't done that well," recalls one applicant. "I was wait-listed and, because of the interview, I took myself off the waiting list after spending a week or so deliberating. I expected it to be a pleasant conversation about why I wanted to go to law school, what I had done in school and out of school. Instead I felt I was auditioning for a part. It was very off-putting." Interviews may be combative and aggressive, or relaxed and casual; you need to be prepared for either.
While many interviews leave both applicant and admissions officer with a worsened outlook on the applicant's chance of admission, those who succeed at gaining admission tend to look back at the interview as a turning point and recommend getting as close to the heart of the admissions office as possible. With each member of the committee analyzing ten or more applications each day, every day, for months, any opportunity to demonstrate a human personality, when successful, can hit the committee like a welcome blast of fresh air.
Addendum: Is Honesty the Best Policy?
Fresh air is nice, but what about the dirty laundry in your application? It's a standard question, for example, to ask if you've ever been convicted (or sometimes even arrested) in connection with any crime. As a lawyer, you are in a position of power. That's an added incentive to the law schools' need to ask the question. Depending on the crime, it will prevent your admission to the Bar, and therefore most schools will also use it as a basis not to offer you admission. Be honest. If it's something that will keep you from joining the Bar, you are better off knowing before you spend three years in school. If it's something less serious, 'fess up if the information is explicitly asked for on the application. Use the Supplemental Statement to elaborate if warranted.
What if you don't intend to practice law, but want a law degree for another reason or field? "Maybe," offers the former dean, "but by saying he doesn't intend to practice, he or she is occupying a seat of someone who does intend to practice." Most schools "don't want to run the risk." Even though it's not uncommon for law schools to have several applicants who don't want to practice law, this may be better left unsaid. Again, that depends on the picture you want to paint of yourself and on the make-up of the schools you are targeting.
Of course, there are gray areas, as the former Dean explains: "I had an applicant who had been a professional prostitute in Reno. She said, 'I admit that I was a call girl.' Had never been arrested. I admitted her." Note, the applicant in this case took a calculated risk; ultimately you have to be the judge of what you share and what you don't. Whatever you do, don't lie. If caught, your acceptance will be rescinded.
Whether or not you have a mugshot on file, you will often be given the option to supply a photo of your choice as part of your application. There is no hard evidence to prove any disadvantage from not sending a picture; however, there are ways (not necessarily obvious) that a photo could hurt your chances of acceptance. Most successful applicants who sent a photo remember it as professional-looking, - clean-cut, professional (dare we say "lawyerly"?) attire -- although some graduates believed that a smiling or relaxed pose in a more informal setting showed their true identity better.
Another applicant was successful without enclosing any photo, and abhorred the idea: "It made me uncomfortable. They all turned up in the "freshman facebook," too. Gross." Whether you choose the professional pose or the relaxed version, it's probably best to keep it fairly neutral and in line with the rest of your image developed throughout your application.
In the end, a successful application utilizes every opportunity to make a compelling case for your unique story. To create such a case, devote the kind of time and attention to each one that will allow you to look back on the process and know that you did the best job possible. Then let the jury decide.
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