How has Covid-19 affected your life over the past year? When working in a team do you prefer to speak up or listen to others? A 24-year-old applicant with a solid LSAT and graduating in the top 20 of her class had been suspended for a semester for plagiarism. What was a challenge you faced as a leader in your extracurricular activities in undergrad? What is your communication/teamwork style like? Pick two things off of your resume to talk about. I was also in the mens rowing team at my University so she asked me what that was like and how I balanced schools and a sport at the same time. What would Jewel contribute to a law school community? The second most important question I thought was asked is what I hope to get out of law school. Do you want to study and work in Chicago? What experience prepared you most for law school, and a characteristic that would describe you. What kind of student would you be at Harvard? What do you want admissions to know about you? Describe a time where you had to tell someone difficult news. Student As online interview (2018/2019 cycle), (very casual conversation with alumni, was an hour long), Vanderbilt Alumni Interview- over an hour long, very conversational, Overall very laid back and conversational - left a lot of time for me to ask questions, entire interview lasted ~20 min, Student A (Interviewed by an alumna in person, about 45 min long), Note: Student reported that the Vanderbilt interview was pretty relaxed compared to other interviews; interviewer only asked 2 questions and then the rest was a discussion about interviewers personal experience, Student A interview with an alum in Tokyo, Interviewer said he is required to ask these two questions* What programs/extracurriculars am I interested in at UChicago law? When did you know you wanted to practice law? First scenario was about a student who had been suspended for a year on account of plagiarism. He also cared about order and structure he noticed people who did not follow his instructions precisely or spoke out of turn. Admissions person spoke a lot. How did that happen? Yours was an exceptional group. Dean Cornblatt said that didnt happen with this guy, though usually any tiny mistake in the application is followed by a frantic apologetic fixing email. A time when you worked on a team and your team mate was disengaged. If you had to defer for a year, and resume building was not an issue, what is something you would like to do during this time? He explained that rescinding an offer is a BIG deal, and that the standard for doing so is much higher than denying an applicant. Questions 1) are there multiple waitlists or is preferred waitlist just a diplomatic way to call a waitlist? My interviewer did not take out the prepared list of questions until the very end of the interview. Others, like Harvard, Chicago, and Columbia, offer interviews by invitation only. What characteristics do you hope to develop and grow over the next five years? Dean Cornblatt said it was a 7-10 zone for sure because of the contrast between the recommendation letter and the PS. Tell me about why you were motivated to pursue your job. How would a mentor or someone else describe you? Why did you decide to go to UMass from California? 2) what's my chance of getting in? By using this website, you agree to be bound by the. When did you start seriously consider going to law school? What would your 1L section mates say about you? If you cant find your interviewers email address, you can send your thank you note to the email address of the general admissions office. Towards the end, Interviewer asked me if I would be 100% committed to coming to Columbia if accepted. Suppose someone gets injured playing Pokemon Go. How would you approach that conflict? Is there anything that you want to add to your CSS profile for us to consider? Student As Zoom Interview (December 2020). Good idea? People really have nothing to worry about here just be yourself. I got a unique question that was along the lines of recall a time where you received new information and used it to make a different decision than you had originally intended on making. Tell me about your current role and what you do and do not like about it. The glowing references about her writing ultimately showed him that she was a great writer when she actually cared, and that the poor quality of the statement therefore reflected her lack of enthusiasm. Any response youve prepared but were not asked? Note: Interviewer said Northwestern gave them a list of questions on the online platform, but currently they were unable to access. For the video-response questions, youll get about thirty seconds of prep time and about a minute to respond. Toward the end, she explained a bit about the process. What do you plan to do in your deferral years? I feel this entire cycle has been whack because my numbers should have been good enough, and I . Before the hearing, he decided to withdraw from school. Pestering them with phone calls will not help your chances. Whats a job you would like to have long-term / how do you think about your career post-JD? If you were a fly on the wall, what do you think the admissions committee might think the strengths and weaknesses of your application might be? Tell me about a time where you worked with someone that had a different work style than you, and how did you keep a good relationship? Northwestern also performs a waitlist interview via Kira. How will you use your skills gained after law school? Its okay to give yourself time to think by saying something like, Wow! What learning environment do you work best in? What opportunity at UT Knoxville are you most excited about? What is the biggest challenge that youve faced so far? Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgetown University. What do you look for in deciding to apply to a law school and what drew you to Columbia? What do you want your legal career to look like 5 years from now? If I were to ask your best friend what your three best qualities are, what would they say? Tell me about a time you had to deliver difficult news to someone. The last application issue discussed an otherwise glowing application that unfortunately had a series of spelling and grammatical issues in the personal statement as well as a reference to a different law school. Tell me about your job at [an organization where you worked]. Why are you switching careers? If possible, plug into your modem for online interviews. in that country! The people they've been accepting probably aren't going to attend because they're probably going to T6 schools, and everyone they're waitlisting (me included) will probably be either A) salty by the time they make a decision or B) committed to a school that . What is more important to you? Why Texas? I stated I would give it a 5 with an asterisk, and I stated that a few spelling mistakes are inevitable for all applicants, however the reference to a different law school was more egregious and showed carelessness. What did you do to motivate a disengaged team member? We write about InitialView interviews here. Its normal to be a little nervous. (she didn't ask me specifically WashULaw - maybe because I wrote a why WashULaw statement? How did you feel, what did you do, and what did you learn? What are three traits that will serve you well in law school? See alsoWhat Questions Should You Ask a Law School Admissions Officer? Be friendly, charming, and enthusiastic. What are you looking for in potential classmates? When you and a colleague didnt see eye to eye-what did you do? The ABA is thinking about adopting a uniform bar exam. I had my interview with WUSTL last Friday and I wanted to tell you about my experience! What influenced your decision to go to law school? ), (The interview lasted 16 minutes total, and had time to ask 2 questions. Its super relaxed and conversational. How does Chicago faculty try to differentiate their law school from other law schools? (Interview was scheduled to be 15 minutes, and although most people seem to say they are very strict on not running over, mine was 19 minutes, mostly because she spent a good amount of time answering my two questions. What's possible from those invited to interview are applicants the Admissions Committee wishes to know more about before making a decision. A student with a stellar GPA and LSAT, with glowing references that describe her excellent writing abilities, applies but her personal statement has typos and refers to the wrong school in the text. Instructions: He handed out a packet with scenarios written out, and he told you to keep it face down until he finished his instructions. Note: UT asks candidates to pledge not to share interview questions. Why did you study [something you studied at grad school] and how will it inform your career? The result or the process? If something really stumps you, its okay to say, Sorry, Im a little nervous, so long as you pick up the thread. Then we would progress onto scenario 2, and so on. Why did you choose your undergraduate institution? Since it does not seem to be useful in gaining employment (Note: this is a summary, Interviewer said it MUCH nicer than this). Why were you rejected, and what did you do afterwards? Have you worked with someone drastically different from you? Why did you decide to go to [grad school]? Do you consider yourself an optimist, pessimist, or realist? I hadnt thought about that before. When has a failure turned into a success? The second scenario was the sloppy PSspelling errors and used the wrong name. In her addendum, she said she was sorry for the mistake but also claimed it had merely been an issues with properly attributing citations; and while she took responsibility it didn't seem like she fully acknowledged the severity of the 'mistake'. Why did you choose to go your undergrad institution? Why did you switch from [one field] to [another field]? What do you think will be your biggest challenge in law school? What was a defining experience at [undergrad inst]? If you had to choose any contemporary or historical figure to be your mentor, who would it be? You have unlimited prep time, but three takes at recording your response. What was a challenge you faced when working on a team. Should this admission be overturned? Dean Cornblatt asked what wouldve happened if he wrote an apologetic email that admitted fault but that still didnt go into the story. Student A was also prompted to ask the interviewer questions about the school. Youll get five minutes to answer the written questions. How did you like your time at [undergraduate university]? When did you decide you wanted to become a lawyer? 15 minutes of candidate asking questions. Obviously this was all super sketchy, but the crux of the issue here was that the offer had already been given out, and they would have to rescind without any real evidence of wrongdoing (they called Oxford and didnt get much info, and the student didnt give any more info). (And defend those answers.). Is there anything you want us to know about you? Whens a time you applied for a job and didnt get it? [This is a clever way of saying What are your strengths and weaknesses?]. Tell about a stressing moment in your life and how you overcame it. I dont know if that means the application pool increased or if he wanted to meet more people. What charitable organization would you donate to and why? What if the essay is plagiarized? The leading theme was clearly "integrity" and how to deal with questions about candidates' integrity. What have you learned at your current job? (not sure??) Most of us went with minor, two of us went with major, and Dean Cornblatt went with major, too. Preferred Waitlist at Georgetown? Which headline would you like to see in the news? Also I see a lot about group interviews, is there a difference between group vs alumni interview this cycle, like is it better to get one or the other? Whats your backup plan if you dont go to law school? What is a trait that you need to improve / change in order to be able to change the world? We were asked to either rescind or let him keep his acceptance. Whats one thing that you might be scared or hesitant about in law school? What are you looking for in your potential classmates? My interviewer was Ann Perry (Associate Dean). Have you made a sacrifice for someone else at the cost of your own well-being? When someone comes to you with a problem, how do you respond? *. You should be thoughtful, confident, warm, and encouraging of other people as well. At the end, they asked me why Columbia but that was the only general question.. He also pointed out that when you care, you will reread your application fifty times before your friend tells you, Oh my god, just press the damn button already. So the fact that this had so many mistakes was actually pretty telling. One tip for this one is don't afraid to be bold--Dean Andy asks you to rank a couple of situations from 1-10 in terms of ability to look past/forgive the error and admit the applicant. He then divided us into groups of three, and he told to read through the first scenario. Do you think you are going be active in the student community at Columbia? Yes, and we strongly encourage you to complete your application as early as possible in the admissions cycle. What is something that you think differently about or has changed about you personally as you have matured? People going to a law school Northwestern are top performers. What is motivating your decision to pursue law? What is most important to you? Hope you had fun. ), Second Scenario: An Oxford masters student, who had already been accepted to Georgetown Law, told Georgetown that he withdrew from his masters program. What kind of student do you think you were in university and graduate school? Talk about why you decided to go into each one. How will you deal with not being in top ten percent of class? The Dean then weighed in, and he believed that this should be rated as a 7. However, her personal statement had typos, including the wrong school name. (I dont recall the exact wording). What if the application has some typos? I said Yes to this one. For each question, youll have thirty seconds of prep time followed by sixty seconds of talking time. Describe a situation where you were in an adversarial position and how you dealt with it/describe your general philosophy for dealing with adversarial situations. Her addendum did not do enough to explain this disconnect, and over all he felt that she spent more time trying to make the issue sound small than apologizing and taking responsibility- he said it showed a lack of growth. Sometimes its a great sign, and a prelude to an offer, but its just as often a chance for the interviewer to ask you genuine questions before they make a decision. Upon several attempts by the Dean to get more information in calls with him, the admitted student beats around the bush and says he would "rather not get into it." You've been to grad school before; what do you think will be challenging about Harvard? To give yourself time to think by saying something like, Wow you need improve. 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