What should applicants dreaming of acceptance to Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, and other T14s prioritize in their applications? A memorable story from a formative work experience? An independent study with a professor who first lit their passion for legal research? A summer internship at a law firm that confirmed the legal profession was an ideal fit? On October 13th, law school hopefuls with these questions gathered in midtown Manhattan to hear two law school admissions committee members weigh in with advice to navigate the law school application process.

Assistant Dean of Admissions at the University of Idaho College of Law Jason Owen and Assistant Dean of Admissions at Duke University Law School Mark Hill both brought invaluable insights to their panel discussion, which covered topics ranging from personal statement tips to who to ask for letters of recommendation. Early in the session, Owen and Hill spent time outlining their perspectives on personal statements in particular and how valuable of a tool they are for Admissions Committee members.

Personal Statements and Diversity Statements Anchor Any Successful Application

“Your grades, your test scores tell us something,” Hill relayed. “There’s some nuance to how we look at that information, but once we’ve considered it, the most interesting part of applications is hearing directly from you: your experiences, your passions, your goals.” Taking this admission to heart, the Fortuna Law team recommends you put yourself in the shoes of Hill and other Admissions Committee representatives. As they read 20-30 applications per day during high season, spending an estimated 15-30 minutes per application, numbers and grades can start to blur together, and what they are most curious to do is hear from you the candidate directly, in your own voice in your personal statement, about your “why?” for law school.

This sentiment was echoed by Hill throughout the panel. “The personal statement is a great way,” he noted, “for you to introduce yourself to the folks considering your application. We are looking for people who will really contribute something to the life of our law school. We tend to give you a lot of latitude in terms of what you might choose to talk about. What is important for us is to know what about your experiences led you [to apply to] law school?”

An element of the application often overlooked by many candidates is the diversity statement, and Owen spoke to this directly, emphasizing, “You want to submit a diversity statement in this day and age [regardless of your identity and background]. The Supreme Court came down with a significant decision this summer. What most law schools are doing is making it very clear that they would like you to talk more about diversity in your life. Specifically: how your life has been affected by that diversity.” Owen went on to recommend that applicants “think about all the opportunities and privilege you have or don’t have. Think about how those have affected your life and your family’s life . . . to give a better understanding of exactly what you want to share.”

Despite the current law school landscape remaining uncertain for Admissions Committees and how much latitude they can legally take in building diverse classes while adhering to the Supreme Court’s ruling, Owen remained optimistic and pointed out that the last two last school classes nationwide have been the most diverse in history, and shared he expects that trend to continue. “There are a variety of avenues [in your diversity statement] to talk about how you will be representing a specific viewpoint or community in a class, and that’s what law schools want, so share as much information as you can,” he advised.

Holistic Review and the Supreme Court’s Effect on 2023 Law School Admissions

Owen and Hill transitioned to a discussion about how Admissions Committees consider a spectrum of datapoints when making each decision to admit or deny candidacy. Even with the Supreme Court’s new requirements, the business of accepting and denying candidates will continue to rely on multiple candidacy facets rather than a single datapoint. Hill shared, for example, that AdComs have a variety of data-points at their disposal when it comes to examining transcripts, including tools to look at grade inflation school to school, and are adept at reading between the lines and noticing, for example, if poor initial academic performance changes and students finish strong due to finding the right major and focus.

“We do want to be aware of the opportunities people have had and that they haven’t had,” Hill emphasized. “If you are someone who was a first-generation college student and needed a 20-hour a week job at the library or dining hall, that should be in your application, and we understand that perhaps you didn’t have the opportunity to join as many clubs as someone with a different circumstance. If you worked in the summers to support your family and could not take an unpaid internship on Capitol Hill, that’s something we factor into our assessment. We think a lot about individual people–the voices they will bring to our community, the experiences they have had, and their potential to become successful lawyers. We have a good eye when we want to take a chance on someone we think could be successful. Holistic review is really about thinking about you in the big picture.”

Recommendation Letter Selection Strategy and the Importance of the LSAT

During the Q&A portion of the panel, Hill shared some valuable insights about how to select your recommenders, sharing that the typical recipe for success is one recommendation that highlights your academic skills and potential, and a second that shines light on you in a professional context. “The reason letters of recommendation are important is because of the details they will give us about your specific experiences,” he relayed. “They should be from people who know you well. The TA from your class who sat down with you for an hour every week and who does know you might be [the ideal] recommender.” Often, Hill elaborated, applicants will pick a high-profile professor who teaches a large lecture class to write their letter when the final result could have been better executed by someone closer to the applicant’s performance, thinking, and contributions to the course.

The Q&A was rounded by some advice from Owen on the current importance of the LSAT, which remains a required hurdle in the cases of most law schools. “The LSAT, combined with your undergraduate GPA, remains the best indicator of success for your first year in law school,” he shared. “Your first year in law school remains the best indicator of success on how you’ll do on the Bar Exam. The LSAT [therefore remains] a critically important tool for law schools.” Owen went on to say that the headwinds may be changing in the years ahead, and that conversations with individual law schools are encouraged for applicants seeking flexibility and additional ways to demonstrate their intellectual abilities.

Overall, energy and optimism remain high on the part of AdComs like Owen and Hill, and the invaluable actionable advice they provided will no doubt help attendees of the session gain acceptance to dream schools like Yale Law, Harvard Law, Stanford Law, and other dream schools across the US. They closed the session by emphasizing that they are eager to hear your full story when you apply to the law schools they represent–including the formative highs and lows that have shaped you–and gaining a better understanding of how your academic, professional, and personal interests converge on law school as your next logical and inevitable degree choice.

If you’re interested in telling your story to AdComs as persuasively and thoughtfully as possible, schedule a free consultation with us, during which we will dive into your candidacy, look for narrative threads that can help your application rise from the slush, and ultimately secure the law school seat you are vying for.