2 application questions for Renee Post

[jakov]

hi renee,

i am applying to top 14 schools and thought you might be able to provide some insight on my application.

my first question involves the lsat. i took the lsat at the end of my senior year of college. i wasn’t sure i wanted to go to law school before taking the test. i studied a week or two for the exam and did horrible – 142 i think it was. four years have passed and i have four years of work experience as a paralegal, and know for sure now that i want to go to law school. i also just got my score for the dec lsat and received a 172 (i studied on and off for about six months). my question is this – do i need to explain in an addendum why the first score shouldn’t be given much consideration or is it safe to assume that because of the large disparity, many adcoms will automatically give more weight to the second score – in other words should i even address the two lsat scores? i’ve been warned that writing unnecessary addendums can really turn off adcoms. also, a few of the schools, i noticed, accepted only lsats taken within the last three years – i think upenn was one of them. could you also address what i should do in this case and if these schools will even consider the first score since four years have passed?

my second question is this – i have an undergrad degree in chemical engineering. i wrote my personal statement already, without addressing my academic background or the fact that i’ve been out of school for the past four years. i think it is a really strong essay though which addresses prejudice i’ve experienced earlier in my life. plus, i really could not think of an interesting way to write a personal statement about my particular work experience and academic background. will adcoms look unfavorably on my application if i do not address my work experience or why i have an engineering degree and now want to go to law school? if so, should i address these issues in an addendum? i was planning to send each school a resume.

if you could provide insight from your point of view (as someone who has worked on an adcom) on these issues i would greatly appreciate it. thanks.

– jack

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