abacab44

A lot of people have said this to me, yet when I was applying told me that my JD wouldn't help me much for admissions into programs. It seems odd that it wouldnt help when trying to get admitted but would be beneficial when trying to get a job. I'm definitely going to see what advice my undergrad prof has for me/actually go and visit Stony Brook before I make up my mind, but at this point I think I'm going to be a nervous wreck either way I go.

Yea, legal history is the route I'm considering--I'm hoping to look at how legal developments/philosophies affected how colonists/Americans in the early republic viewed their ties to Britain. As to whether I ultimately seek to work in the legal history dept of a law school, or in the history dept of a university, I always saw myself more in the latter. I really do hope that in the end it does translate into more options.

Thanks a lot for all of the replies! I'm still extremely undecided, but you guys really gave me a lot of great things to think about With regards to taking a year off to do other things, thats sort of what I'm doing now. I graduated from law school last spring, and have been spending the year doing some lawyer stuff/tutoring--unfortunately I didn't make any long term job plans because I figured I'd be back at school by next fall, but now I'm not so sure.

I am planning on talking with a professor at my undergrad next week to see what she says. The only issue I see is that, besides writing a better SOP and trying to forge relationships with my POIs, I'm not sure what else I can do to improve my application. Credential-wise, it seems as though it would be hard for me to become more impressive when I am now out of a university/law school setting.

Hi all, I would really appreciate it if some of you could give me your thoughts on my current situation. So it seems that I'm going to come out of this cycle with one funded offer from Stony Brook (I'm still waiting to hear from Columbia and Rutgers, but it seems as though they're done with acceptances, and that a rejection is certain). I'm really happy that I received a funded offer, but I'm really uncertain about the job prospects coming out of a SUNY, and feel that I did not manage the application process as well as I could have this year. I should also point out that I only applied to four programs due to a family emergency causing me to miss several deadlines. In terms of grades, i have a magna cum laude GPA from NYU, a perfect verbal GRE score, and a J.D. from NYU Law. I did not contact any of my POIs (I was unaware people did that), and now think that may have worked against me. Looking back, I also think that perhaps I could have put together a better SOP. My language skills arent that great, but arent non-existant either (and as an Early-Americanist, I don't think that was what hurt me). Basically, I'm unsure if I should take the Stony Brook offer, or retry again next year with a more polished SOP, contacting POIs and applying to more programs. Any pearls of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

One of the medievalist rejections said it was from a POI, the other said it was from the director.

I noticed two Columbia rejections on the results page...but yes, still very strange I think.

I think that, as an Americanist, I'm screwed lol. But if I were a non-Americanist I would still have hope

One of them mentioned that last night he received an official email as well though.

Also, I called Rutgers (my impatience is getting the better of my usual shyness lol) And they said they should have decisions by the end of next week as well.

From the way they sounded on the phone, they still had decisions to make. I was just remarking that since at least two people on the board already know they've been accepted, they may actually be done with acceptances, and he just didnt tell me that lol

If anyone is interested, I just spoke to the coordinator at Columbia and they said that they hope to make final decisions within a week. I know they've already notified a couple of people on this board...so that may just mean "we plan to send out the rejections within a week," i dont know lol.

I'm in the exact same boat as you (early acceptance to Stony Brook, now freaking out about Columbia). It seems that a couple of people have heard from Columbia, but in the form of contacts from their POI, not an official notification. So I'm trying realllly hard not to give up hope lol. That said, if they knew who was accepted last night, I havent the foggiest idea what is taking them so long to send out official notifications