The need. Hey, everybody, it's Dean
Z here in a somewhat obscure room in what appears to be the attic
of one of our buildings, Hutchins Hall. I don't know how Dustin found this room,
but here we are. Let's get started. Today, I want to talk to you about the soft factors in an application. Things that are under the control
for the most part of the applicant that make an application really successful
or not successful. To do this yesterday
when I was reading applications, I really focused on two different kinds
of applications. Those were the numbers are at end or above our medians,
both the LSAT and the GPA on a given file or those where the numbers were below
our medians, both the outset and GPA. And then from those two categories, which were the ones that didn't want to admit
and which were the ones that really captured my attention
and the attention of our first readers. And we were very enthusiastic
about the reason I divided this up this way is because it's just sort
of taking numbers out of the equation. I know applicants tend to think everything
comes down to the numbers, but we deny lots of people
whose numbers are at or above our medians, and we admit about 10%, sometimes even slightly
more than that of our class, who whose numbers are below
both of our medians. So numbers are not an issue. What made the two groups fare
so differently for people in those two groups fare
so differently? So let's talk first about the ones where the numbers look great, but it wasn't coming together. And as I say,
most of these factors are ones that are in your control, things
that you can address. So first, an application
where we just have no sense of the person's personality
or to the extent we do get a sense of personality,
it is something very dull and dry. So this isn't like
you sound like a terrible human being. It's just like, what? Who are you? Right. This comes up a lot. Often if people are talking
about very academic topics and they are just not infusing any of their personality
and that is into the discussion. But it can come up in other contexts,
too, is just, you know, just there's no there's no I don't
know what's the word I'm looking for? There's no zing
no zing to this applicant right at all in so that, you know, it's
not like we think you're horrible, but it's not and it isn't inspiring us
to ask you to come join our community. So think about that when you're writing,
you know, is this is this cap going to capture anybody's
attention and interest? Another kind of flaw that comes up is a sense that you are arrogant
or that you lack community humility or that you are
just extremely self-centered. So the latter self-centered
is like whatever story you're telling, you are the star. And so you don't even notice that
anybody else is in the movie with you. Right. That is very off putting to a reader, or at least to us, arrogance,
lack of humility. Those are pretty closely related,
you know, steady of saying, like, I am going to be a great law student and lack of humility usually is more in the context of your you're telling a story
and you're taking credit for everything that happened when obviously other people
were involved too. So all of those are big turnoff. This is the first one. No personality is sort of like an absence
and this is like an actual thing
that you're you're expressing badly. And I tend to think these are this isn't always a reflection
of the person's actual personality. I think it's something about this format
that makes people express themselves in in ways that they don't realize are coming off
so negatively to the reader. Speaking of negatively, sometimes we read essays
that are on topics that are it's understandable
that the person is sounding negative about something, right? Like they're telling a story
about something bad that has happened in their life. But it is unalloyed. The negativity. It is just nothing but nothing but negative. There's no take away that the person can communicate
from this experience. No. No growth that appears to have happened. Just nothing but bad news. And that can be a lot to read for two
or three pages of a personal statement. Closely related,
telling a story about something and and being very dramatic about it
tends to suggest a lack of perspective of. Right. It's always
I think it's always more effective even if the story you're
telling is dramatic, if you're sort of underplaying
it as opposed to blowing it up out of proportion. Another issue that can
sometimes come up is multiple essays. So you write a personal statement,
then you write even one or even two optional essays,
and they are all basically on the exact same topic. Like maybe you're examining it
through slightly different lenses, but you're telling the same story
three different times. That is, number one, a wasted opportunity. You know,
we didn't learn anything new about you. And number two, it just makes it
sound like you are a one note song and that you don't have a wide range
of engagement with the with the world. So that's problematic. This is one
that may not be in your control. Maybe it is. It's when we read an application
and we just don't get any sense that you've had
any experience outside the classroom. To be
clear, when I say outside the classroom, I mean that could be jobs, that could be extracurriculars, that could be, you know, a range of of things. But, you know, you're just giving us a resume
that really doesn't have very much on it. And you don't talk about anything
except school in your essays, maybe I can never be sure. Is this a is is this a failure
to communicate on your part? Did you do things that you didn't
tell us about or did you really not do anything? And either either one is a problem. And so if you didn't do anything, then I would say put off applying to law school,
do some things and then apply. And if it's a communication issue,
maybe you think we don't care about things because they're not fancy internships
or something. We do. We care deeply
about all the things that you were doing. Make sure to tell us the last two, I think. Well, one is probably pretty obvious. We care a lot
about writing in this profession. Law is, you know, depends in many
different fields on your ability to write. Now, we will teach you
how to write like a lawyer, but we want you to come with a certain
basic skill set. So reading that is awkward, unclear. There are multiple grammar
mistakes. I'm not talking about typos. I'm talking about,
you know, real abuses of grammar. That is that's the problem. And that's
probably going to keep you out of. And then finally, a sense just the we aren't getting the real picture
like that. You don't we don't have a sense of authenticity from you. We don't maybe you don't sound genuine
or sincere. That can manifest
in a lot of different ways. This is probably the part that is going
to be my biggest bit of advice here, because I spent a lot of time
actually talking about it with my other first readers about the ways
this can crop up. And we couldn't really land
on something succinct to convey it, but it fundamentally we finish reading it
and we just think something feels off. Like maybe you're talking about something
in your personal statement that you have an interested in interest in, and then it's not reflected
anywhere else in your application or you're using language
that just doesn't sound natural. Or maybe it's like different tones throughout the essay,
which makes us think, well, maybe somebody else is helping to edit
this all kinds of ways this could come up, but fundamentally, it's like we don't know
what we're getting into here, so that's not going to be an offer. Now, usually these will result in waitlists rather than denials. But you want an offer, not a wait list. So these are things that if you're still preparing
your application, when you see this, you should be stepping back
and looking and seeing how is how am I conveying all this information
and is it coming across in a way that is going to make someone
want to have me be in their community? All right. Now let's
turn to the second half of this equation. People
whose LCT and GPA are not as strong, but who we are very enthusiastic
about and want to make an offer to. You might think that it takes something
like extreme and magical in order for us to admit someone who doesn't meet
either of our mediums. And that is just not true. It is far more common
that it is a very steady kind of drip, drip, drip of a positive feeling
as we're reading the application. Like you're not making any unforced
errors, you know, just that throughout the application, it's
using it in small ways. Is, is a bunch of positive character characteristics, character
traits, communication skills. So it is true you don't have to have
all these I'm going to list, but you know,
you should be trying to avoid any mistakes that you that you can
if you are in the position and you're applying to a school
that you know is a reach. So one,
you want to definitely make it look like you put effort into it. So, you know, you want to avoid typos, you want to avoid any kind of sloppiness. You want to if a if a
if an applicant if an application allows you to write an optional essay,
you should write an optional essay. You know, you want to
you want to say, like, I really want this. And putting effort into your application
conveys that by the same token, schools that are meeting people
who are below their medians, they want to know that you are going
to be excited to get this offer. So to the extent you can convey
some strong interest in the school, some specific interest in the school,
you should definitely do that. I think sometimes people feel like
they don't want to do that because they feel maybe almost desperate,
like they're thinking, this is I'm not going to get in. I don't want to put myself out there
and show how much I want to get in. But it's sort of a chicken
and the egg thing here. I think if you if you don't express
that interest in the school is probably not going to express it. But you want to have supportive letters of rec
to the extent you can. Again,
this doesn't mean that you have to have, you know, letters from famous people
saying you are the single best individual they have ever met in their life. You want to have a letter
from your supervisor or your professor that is detailed and supportive and warm. It doesn't have to be anything
extraordinary, but it should these these should be from people who really do know
and support you. We like to see something
about the applicant in these cases that is unusual and interesting. It could be a job
you've had that we rarely see. It could be a perspective
that you are expressing. It could be an experience,
something that has happened to you in your life that is unusual, just something that, you know is a little bit different than, you know, the run of the mill human
being in this world that we encounter. You know, I think we all have something
about us that is interesting and unusual. I think for people who are applying
where it's more of a reach, you really need to do the work to look for that in yourself
and figure out how you want to convey it. That is more important in your case. But in general, we also want to get a strong,
positive sense of your personality. So maybe maybe it's just that you are
a very kind and compassionate person. Maybe it is
that you have a nice sense of humor. Maybe it is
that you have an unusual curiosity or broad range of interests. Maybe it's
just that you're extremely pleasant. I But we want to that
your personality needs to be coming through in your in your writing
and in other elements of your application. It should all be hanging together
with this with a strong, positive sense. And finally, you really
you really need to have writing that is good. Really good. I'm not talking about like you have to
write a novel that wins the Booker Award. I'm talking about, you know,
it just has to be there should be no no typos, no mistakes. You know, on the technical level,
it should be very clear in substantively it shouldn't
you should be holding our interest, telling us stories that are engaging and have a level of detail
that helps us really get into the story. You know, these are all important things and in the writing, the book helped carry
you over the finish line. That's really you can't
you can't skimp on on the writing quality then, too kind of quirky, extra credit,
things that I think leap out at us often. One is when you teach us something,
this is rare, but we love it. So a couple of weeks ago
I was reading an application from someone who was talking about their religion
and it was not one I was familiar with and it was very interesting
and they explained it very well and it and they related it
to why this would make them a particularly good
candidate in law school. And it just really captivated me. And I ended up, you know, reading Wikipedia
for a while afterwards to learning more. So that is I love when that happens. And then the other thing is
when you are doing something that is totally out of your
like expected zone. So, you know, say you're offering time to an organization,
you're volunteering with an organization that serves a population
that is not your population. So, you know,
let's say you're doing service for kids with autism. You don't have autism. You don't have a sibling with autism. You just know about autism. And you're like kids with autism. And you think that something
I would be interested in helping with, I think that I really love that. And it's those are both very unusual. Those are the I don't
those are in a slightly different category than the other things I've listed here. Those are like extra special,
you know, cherry on top kinds of things that can make a difference. But it's, you know, it's pretty unusual. So you shouldn't feel like, oh, my gosh,
what have I done like that? But just if you have done something like
that, if you fall into either of those categories, make sure you're utilizing
that when you're applying to law school. So I think that's all
I have to share on that topic today. But here's what I want you to remember. If you have great numbers for wherever you're applying, don't think
that means you're automatically in. And if you don't have great numbers, don't think that means you're
automatically out. There are lots of elements of this
application that are within your control, so feel empowered by that
and do a great job. Now let's turn to the language portion
of our program. First Pronunciation. Today
I was writing an email with someone else in my office and I was sort of reading out
loud as I was drafting and I use the word ray as in Let me know
if you have any questions, Ray. Blah blah blah. In person interrupted me
and he said, Ray, what? What do you mean, Ray? And I said, Ray. Ah he said I was re and was it's about it's
Ray I used to think was re too. But I memorized this because
when I was a paralegal before law school, I had a boss. I'm so always to take dictation. I had a boss who loved to dictate letters
to his client, Raymond Ray, and he'd say to Ray, Ray, Ray,
blah, blah, blah. He just thought that was hilarious. So Ray, if you're ever using that,
make sure you say Ray. And then the other is J.D. actually wrote a blog about this,
so maybe we'll put the link below. But I've been seeing it lately and it's wrong and it bothers me and I need to just spread the word
because I'm obsessed with this. J.D. stands for Juris Doctor,
not juris doctorate. Just Juris Doctor. So there's a doctorate. You get a Ph.D. that's a doctorate. But the juris thing is a doctor
and not a doctorate. I don't know why I don't make the rules. I'm just. Just telling you. Don't don't either that. And now that I've told you this, I hope you'll internalize
it and be obsessed with it the way I am. And then you'll see it everywhere wrong. And you know, between us, we can fix the world
this way, right? Okay. That's what I thought you
would you agree with me? That's great. Okay. That's all I have for today. Thank you, as always, for watching. If you have any questions or topics
you want to cover, please put them in the comments below
or send us an email to LA Dot JD Dot Admissions at U Mission UT Edu
and thanks as always to Dustin Johnston. But also today
I want to say thank you to the moms because the last couple of weeks
I've been hearing from a few moms who tell me
that they are watching these videos and I just feel like
the moms are my people. So thank you. Yeah. Wherever you go, go blue. The.
