Cornell Decision

[rosemaryblue]

Where did you hear Virginia's class is filled?

And not sure if this matters at all but I did receive an e-mail from Cornell a few days ago requesting my fall term grades to help them reach a decision...

[GoHuskies05]

i compeletly expect to be WL (so far true) at all the t7-14 everywhere with my 3.2 engineering from top5 UG / 169
i doubt the admissions officers care if u majored in engineering or poli sci, same sh*t to them.

I agree that majors don't mean anything.  I think that adds to the ridiculousness of the process. 

Certain UG institutions are very easy to receive high grades at.  Certain majors are very easy on the grades. 

I'm fine with the LSAT being the great equilizer, but I think your 3.2/169 should be taken over a 3.7/167 Business major from Washington State University (I choose Washington State because I know it's a school at which it's easy to receive high grades).

Obviously adcomms do not follow by my theory, but it doesn't change my opinion. 

[wclegal]

Looks like we're both in the same boat, siehard.  I underperformed on the Oct. LSAT because the hotel at which I was staying went on strike (googling that situation will clue you in on my location).  Didn't get a wink of sleep that night, which affected my performance.  Took 23 practice tests, lowest score out of the last seven that I took was a 176.  

I had already scheduled myself to retake it in June in hopes of having a better cycle next year, in case something like what appears to be happening now came to be.  

[wclegal]

Heard that the Virginia class was filled (more or less) from "a friend of a friend," basically.  That's never 100% reliable, but I'm also predicting my fate at Virginia based on the fact that they don't seem to admit people with LSATs of 168 with my GPA, neither last year and certainly not this year.  169 seems a magic number with them. 

[Carpe JDiem]

I am still "Complete"...unchanged since late January/Early Feb.  Is this a bad thing that I haven't gone decision?

Cornell is my dream school.  If I don't get in, I can see myself trying to transfer in after a year.  

166/3.4 Top 15 undergrad.  

I can still dream until the rejection comes...

[disgruntled]

As someone who is also anxiously waiting to hear from Cornell (my status didn't even update!) I thought I'd chime in on a couple of things.
As far as UVA having already filled up its class - Most likely true, I'm sorry to say. My friend who is waitlisted there visited and talked to Jason Trujillo (however you spell his name) at UVA and he told him that 75-80% of the seats were already filled - and this was more than a month ago. Hopefully some of you still waiting slip in, but it is looking a bit bleak at this point unless you have a fabulous app.
Regarding WCLegal getting T-14 waitlists, on the surface, yes it seems a bit incredulous. And not knocking WCLegal, as I don't know anything about his/her app, but it very well could be your personal statements/writing sample/etc. With those numbers from an Ivy and soft factors, it would seem that supplemental written materials could have been a big factor. The importance of them is always understated. From my experience: My ex-gf and I went to a top undergrad like WCLegal. Her numbers were 3.7 (graduated w/ honors) in International Studies, 168, soft factors included study abroad at Oxford and part-time work all through college. The only T-14s she applied to, Columbia, UVA, and GULC, all waitlisted her (she eventually got in off the GULC priority waitlist.) I have a 3.37 (same major) and a 170, without any soft factors. This yr, I was admitted to GULC less than 3 weeks after I applied and currently waiting to hear back from Cornell and Penn. She was clearly a stronger candidate than I was - my verdict? When she gave me her PS to read while I was applying this cycle - it was GODAWFUL. I sh*t you not, one of the most bland, incoherent, and unintriguing things I had ever read. Not to toot my own horn, I was a Writing Minor in undergrad and have won many awards for my writing (and presumably wrote a better PS than my ex.) Make what you want of it. In the end, I believe that the PS and other written supplements are extremely important.

[wclegal]

I agree that these "soft factors" are very important.  However, I had the prelaw advisor at my school (which is a top undergrad. and thus sees many strong candidates apply to top law schools) read my personal statement.  She said, no joke, that mine was "fabulous" and "one of the very best I've read."  She used to serve on the adcom of Stanford law.  So it wasn't the PS.

It certainly wasn't my extracurriculars, which include editor of my school's newspaper, dorm staff RA for two years, summer work at a law firm, intern in the Office of the Governor, and independent research in both science and economics that has been published. 

If there's an undetermined "weak link," I think it may be one of my letters of recommendation.  I have since found out that the guy has somewhat of an animosity towards law schools.  Wish I had known that beforehand.  For all I know, he left a bad impression because of that bias. 

[lentomaria]

Hm...I still think wclegal got screwed this cycle.  That really, really sucks.  Judging from the writing in his/her posts, the PS couldn't have been a total disaster.

I had the same thing happen with a recommender.  A lot of academics (mine was a philosophy prof.) really disapprove of people "selling out" and going to law school, and it can sometimes come through in their writing.  I don't know; I haven't read it.  But every e-mail correspondence contained some "dig" at me going to law school instead of grad school.

[wclegal]

I figure not every one of these schools arbitrarily screwed me over.  They must have seen something in my file that really rubbed them the wrong way.  The only such skeleton would be one of those recommendation letters.  Unfortunately, that's the one submitted item for which the content will never be revealed and something now totally out of my control. 

[glascow1]

what dod the ex-gf write about?