Hey everyone:
Unfortunately I was rejected from all the universities I apllied for (NYU, CLS, Berkeley, Chicago, Michigan and Penn).
I am 28 years old, I am going to take the BAR exem next week. I took two years internship in a huge firm in my country (very intensive intern) with one of the biggest lawyers in my country. I have a very good resume on pro-bono cases and I am helping a lot of organizations (pro-bono).
I finished my LLB in 10% (40 from 400) in a collage (cum laude).
I have 3 nice letters of recommenation (one from my boss in the internship and two others from law proffesors). I was a teacher assistent of one luctuerer in my country.
The biggest problem, I think, was that my TOFEL score was 97.
I had a very well personal statement and still I was rejected from all the universities.
I want to apply again next year. my intrest area is public law.
What do you think I sould do in order to success next year.
Obviously, I am going to take the Tofel again. What alse do I need to do???
Please help me with your advice.
Thank's

In my humble opinion, the best you can do for yourself between now and December this year (application season) is to take a very intensive (and extensive) English language course. Yo credentials seem okay and so am inclined to share your suspicion that the TOEFL did you in also. TOEFL practice(and tutoring) may also help, in view of the limited time frame yo dealing with. Best wishes, BK

Thanks. I am planning to study english as much as I can as soon as I will finish the bar exam.

Where are you from?

In which school did you obtain your degree?

In my opinion, I dont think the TOEFL score was the problem.

The average TOEFL score that is requiered is between 85 and 100.

Try to apply University of Minnesota, Saint Louis University, Vander or Austin.

greetings from mexico

Hi Tomi! First advice: don't give up. Needleess to say also that you really need to improve your TOEFL score. Besides that, I would take an specialization course, strive to get really good grades and have them sent to the universities, even if you have not finished your specialization by the time of the application. Let us know from which country are you from and maybe we can come up with some extra advices. Good luck!

Hey everyone:
Unfortunately I was rejected from all the universities I apllied for (NYU, CLS, Berkeley, Chicago, Michigan and Penn).
I am 28 years old, I am going to take the BAR exem next week. I took two years internship in a huge firm in my country (very intensive intern) with one of the biggest lawyers in my country. I have a very good resume on pro-bono cases and I am helping a lot of organizations (pro-bono).
I finished my LLB in 10% (40 from 400) in a collage (cum laude).
I have 3 nice letters of recommenation (one from my boss in the internship and two others from law proffesors). I was a teacher assistent of one luctuerer in my country.
The biggest problem, I think, was that my TOFEL score was 97.
I had a very well personal statement and still I was rejected from all the universities.
I want to apply again next year. my intrest area is public law.
What do you think I sould do in order to success next year.
Obviously, I am going to take the Tofel again. What alse do I need to do???
Please help me with your advice.
Thank's

Thank's for your advice.
Obviously my personal statment was checked by expert, and I think he was perfect.

Maybe they had many applicants from your country who all had great credentials? (i.e. if you are from India or China or other big countries with a lot of applicants) Sometimes schools like diversity. Maybe you should also apply to a couple of back-up schools?

Maybe you need different work experience than an internship?

Did you have a native English speaker go through your stuff before you sent it in? Sometimes experts are not always experts. I consider myself fluent, but I definitely make some mistakes every so often that a native speaker wouldn't make. Plus a native speaker can make your language flow better.

Just to confirm that the TOEFL score is not the most important factor: I was rejected by Chicago and NYU although my score was 115/120 (iBT) with 30/30 on writing. However, I think the TOEFL score can play some role in case your application competes with other applications with similar credentials. Don't forget that your proficiency in English is not only important to get admission, but also to actively participate in the courses and, most importantly, to write papers, reports and so on. A weak English will do much harm in those situations, since you can't ask for an expert's opinion every time you write a paper.

Thank's for the answer.
When I asked NYU's admission office if I should make another Tofel they answered me politly that without the score of 100 the admission commitee doesn't even cheack your apllication.
In columbia's web site they mention that if your tofel score is less then 105, most probobly that you are not going to be admitted even if your other factors are strong.
Yet, I will never know if the Tofel score is the only reason for my rejection. As I mentioned, I have a nice resume with good letters of reccomendation.
Anyway, I am going to applay again next week, hopfully with bettrer Tofel score and even better resume.

Hey everyone:
Unfortunately I was rejected from all the universities I apllied for (NYU, CLS, Berkeley, Chicago, Michigan and Penn).
I am 28 years old, I am going to take the BAR exem next week. I took two years internship in a huge firm in my country (very intensive intern) with one of the biggest lawyers in my country. I have a very good resume on pro-bono cases and I am helping a lot of organizations (pro-bono).
I finished my LLB in 10% (40 from 400) in a collage (cum laude).
I have 3 nice letters of recommenation (one from my boss in the internship and two others from law proffesors). I was a teacher assistent of one luctuerer in my country.
The biggest problem, I think, was that my TOFEL score was 97.
I had a very well personal statement and still I was rejected from all the universities.
I want to apply again next year. my intrest area is public law.
What do you think I sould do in order to success next year.
Obviously, I am going to take the Tofel again. What alse do I need to do???
Please help me with your advice.
Thank's

๋ีJust to share some experience.....

After I read all posted above, I realize that all of you have better profiles than me, but why did I get admitted into NYU???

I have no any published work.
I have no working experience.
I graduated from an Asian country which is not so famous for my school comparing to China or Japan.
My Toefl is exactly 620 CBT, comparing to some of you with very high scores.
I have another LLM in the US, however, I dont think this is a good profile enough comparing to being an assistant lecturer or working for big law firm. My GPA from my first LLM does not even reach 3.5.

However, one thing that I think it did help me a lot is a "recommendation" from an NYU alumni who is currently a well-known professor in his area in the US. I got an "A" from his class and so I think he wrote me a very well recommendation. Thus, I think, probably, recommendation from an alumni who is kinda famous now in his area and the school for which you apply know him might help.

Another experience is, my profile is not so good when I initially applied to my first LLM program, i.e., my TOEFL score did not reach the minimum, however, I chose to apply for a backup school (Still Top20). I think my first LLM also gave me some help to get into NYU as NYU, then, could believe that I could study in the US successfully. So a backup school might be a bit needed as a first step to get into a better law school in some way (although not necessary)

Hi Tomi,

Please be advised that I have also been rejected from all the law schools I had applied to : Harvard, Columbia, NYU, Penn (after being waitlisted), Berkeley, Chicago and Georgetown. My iBt Toefl score was 99/120 and I also had good credentials in the N°1 law school of my country (France). I had like 4/5 letters of recommandation for each application including one from the President of my University. I have almost one year of experience in 3 top ranked law firms in the US. Plus, I had 2 law related books published. So, how come? I don't have the slightest idea !!!!

The best thing to do is to improve the quality of our application : More experience, a better Toelf score, more letters of recommendation, have your personal statement revised by other experts and you'll be fine.

Hey evryone,

I am going to try again to aplay next year. Meanwhile, I work on improving all my credentials.
I was shocked to read that someone with creedentials like yaoz was rejected. Anyway, I think that if I will be rejected this year also, I will apply to University of malbourn.
I know for a fact that the tofel has a decisive meaning. I was specificly told by NYU admission office that they won't consider my application.
Hope for the best....
I wish I had a way to publish an article or to make another academeic meaningful thing.

Thank's for all the replies, I appricate it.

Tomi

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