<p>It won't hurt if you take challenging coursework in other areas. This would suggest to an admission official that you are academically curious. However, this would only be a mild soft factor, and is not worth it if it seriously detracts from your major coursework.</p>
<p>Newmassdad, You really enjoy constructing straw men, don't you?</p>
<p>I have never claimed to be an admissions insider. My 'credentials' have been posted many times. I am an attorney with a J.D. from a top law school. (Frankly, I don't think that matters much in terms of deciding how much weight to give my views.) More importantly, I am the parent of a student who graduated from a different top law school in '07. That I think entitles my views to a bit more weight--though each reader can decide that for him-/her-self. </p>
<p>Outing myself more than I'd like to--and if anyone can figure out my identity, please don't post it--my kid participated in an EC which tends to attract many students who later go to law school. As a result, my kid has known many, many students who have applied to top law schools over the last 8 or so years. In general, I know their credentials and have seen where they ended up in law school. I know some of these students personally; more often, I don't. </p>
<p>I don't claim--and never have--that my knowledge is anything other than anecdotal. But based on what I've seen, a master's degree really doesn't help with admissions to top law schools.</p>
<p>The real question here is whether Ladistar, who attends the U of Florida and has a UG GPA below 3.7 and no impressive ECs (based on her own assessment), can increase her odds of getting into YHS, CCN, or UMichigan Law by getting a one year master's from U of Florida in what appears to be a vocational subject. My answer is a loud and resounding NO.</p>
<p>(I assume that it is a vocational subject because she has said it's something she can "fall back on" if she doesn't like law school.)</p>
<p>And further you say:</p>
<p>"we can infer that most graduate degrees do not result from fellowships/scholarships because the latter are far rarer than graduate degrees."</p>
<p>How is this relevant to ANYTHING? That's another one of your straw men!!! Sure that's true.</p>
<p>What we are talking about is limited to a small subset--the folks at YHS LAW SCHOOLS--who have master's degrees. And, again, all I claimed was that MANY of the students at YHS who have master's degrees go them while studying abroad on prestigious fellowships. (By your math, it's 7% of the class as a whole, but it's a much higher percentage of those who have master's degrees, and that's what I was talking about.) </p>
<p>My point was simply that you can't look at the number of folks at top law schools who have master's degrees and say, "If I stick around another year at school and pick up a master's degree it will help my chances of admission at a top law school."</p>
<p>I have to agree that I don't think a graduate degree helps much. I place attorneys into lateral positions and I certainly see plenty with graduate degrees, but I doubt they helped much with admission. I can tell you that with the exception of advanced science degrees for IP lawyers or advanced degrees in econ or and MBA, I have not found that they help much with a job search either. Sometimes antitrust practices what attorneys with econ backgrounds and quite often, I have been asked to find attorneys with MBAs, but that is still rare in the scheme of things.</p>
<p>Not sure what newmassdad is doing. Jonri's in the right here.</p>
<p>How do these extra curr. look as far as HYS…(esp Stanford) chances are concerned</p>
<p>President and founder of 2 student organizations that help in education for underprivileged individuals. First is for refugees in USA second is for children in the Middle East. (3 years)
President of organization that helps educate refugees in Darfur (3 years)
Treasures (Public Health Honorary) (1year)
intern 2 summers but not really special internships</p>
<p>Volunteered at an orphanage in Africa for 2 weeks. worked in educating young orphans.
Also did an independent 3 credit study while i was in Africa
Trip Leader for a group of students from my college. We worked at an orphanage in Dominican Republic
Study Abroad in Morocco to study public leadership in non US cultures</p>
<p>Also, I created my own major…and i volunteerd at various places (hospitals, ESL programs etc) throughout undergrad</p>
<p>I am interested in public interest law esp in international human rights and international development. I love helping others and I am passionate about public services</p>
<p>Given I do well on the LSAT(170+) and have a good GPA(3.85+) do I still need a fullbrigh/rhodes/something prestigious to have a good shot at HYS?
I want to study abroad an learn arabic in my year off (thru easy program to get into) so I want to know if pursuing a fullbright/rhodes would be crucial to a HYS acceptance?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>If anybody is just reading this, the standards have been raised.
For instance, you are now ranked on a scale of 1-5, 1 being the 1st choice person for being picked.
To be in scale one, you must do one or more of the following:
Write a Book
Plan to participate at the Olympics
Do something the NATION(state is also good, but nation is usually what they look for) would recogize
Do something amazingly out of the ordinary, like break a world record
Star in a TV show</p>
<p>Score 2 is where most very active people are at:
Captain of at least 2 sport teams or clubs
200+ hours of communty service that ACTUALLY BENEFITED the community(this means doing a major fundraiser or other big ideas)</p>
<p>As you can imagine, Scores 3-5 usually are not accepted. This is not including your almost perfect SAT scores or you highly recommended 3.9 UW GPA.</p>