Eulas Boyd
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid
Brooklyn Law School
Before joining Brooklyn Law School in 2015, Eulas Boyd practiced as a commercial litigator in New York for nine years, served in various talent acquisition and human resources roles, and was previously the Director of Admissions at Columbia Law School. Dean Boyd received his BS in communication from Cornell University and his JD from Harvard Law school. He is originally from Syracuse, New york and lives in Brooklyn.
The Basics
What are your best tips for asking for an application fee waiver?
We have no application fee!
Honestly, what is “yield protection” and does it really exist?
This is the practice of denying admissible applicants that you suspect will not come in order to protect your "yield" metric. I'm sure it happens, but not here and much less than people believe.
We admit the strongest applicants we receive and we live with it if they make other choices. Yield is just not that meaningful metric for us, and yield protection is antithetical to a true merit-based wholistic admissions competition.
Understanding that all schools may have different procedures, but generally, if an applicant doesn’t get accepted to a school when they applied ED, do they automatically get rolled over to regular decision or is it possible that you can be rejected directly from ED?
You can be denied if you are an early decision applicant. We will be crystal clear about the status of your application in your decision notification email, but if you have any questions you are always free to contact our office by email or telephone.
Understanding that all schools may have different procedures, but generally, what is the latest you would recommend a student taking the LSAT if they wanted to apply to law school during a given admissions cycle?
We are rolling admissions until our class is full. Based on recent experience, in the 2020 entering class admissions cycle, while it is possible we will still be taking applicants into April and May, I would recommend that applicants take the February 22, 2020 LSAT at the latest.
We will likely admit some students that take the March or April LSAT, but we will certainly have very few seats remaining and many such applicants will likely be placed on the waitlist.
Will K-JDs need to submit to LSAC another copy of their transcript after the fall semester and/or spring semester of their senior year? And, be honest, how much does a POST-admission GPA really matter to an admissions committee?
Yes. They matter. they especially matter for our public service fellowship program for which 1Ls are eligible and their undergraduate performance is relevant for selection.
The Law School Application
When reviewing an applicant's file, where do you typically start and what part do you tend to spend the most time (and why)?
This is my personal practice and not necessarily true of all of the experienced readers on my team, however I read every file for students to whom we offer admission.
I start with transcripts first, then LSAT or GRE scores, the Personal Statement, Resume, Letters of Recommendation and then biographical questionnaire and finally and addenda if any. I spend the most amount of time on the transcripts.
Aside from typos, or naming the wrong law school, what are the other two biggest mistakes that far too many students make in their personal statements?
The paragraphs lack substantive cohesion, resulting in a confusing message. The tone is intended to be irreverent or casual, which can be fine, but when poorly done, or done to excess, it leaves the impression that the applicant is too immature to present as a professional in short order as they will need to in order to succeed in law school.
The best personal statements I’ve read always contain:
Some information, message or idea that reveals some characteristic of the applicant that would be useful to an admissions committee in deciding (1) that the applicant can handle the workload in law school and/or (2) the applicant would be a good addition to the law school's community.
If a law school has a page limit for their personal statement but does not list a font size min/max, what do you recommend?
Ask, but just stick to 2 pages and you should be fine.
Name TWO things that all applicants need to consider when asking for a letter of recommendation.
Always ask "are you comfortable giving me a strong letter of recommendation." If you are not comfortable asking that question, find another recommender. Also, consider whether the recommender has any actual information that would be useful to an admissions committee in assessing your capabilities specifically as a student, rather than just as a human being.
A resumé is a resumé, however, aside from typos, what are TWO things you've seen included on a resumé that can totally sink an applicant?
It is very difficult to be sunk by a resume unless it is an embarassment of errors. I would say that two common problems all applicants should avoid are: (1) mistating dates and timeframes of positions and activities. This is a form of lying and is unacceptable in any context but especially in a law school application, and (2) embellishing responsibilities and achievements.
Character & Fitness
What is the impact of failing to disclose something on the Character & Fitness section of the application?
It can result in withdrawal of an offer, dismissal from law school and will certainly delay admission to the Bar. Simply do not, under any circumstances, fail to comply with C&F disclosure requirements.
What’s your best advice for students wrestling whether to disclose unflattering periods in their past?
Disclose. It is almost always the cover up. It is rarely the crime.
The Dreaded Waitlist
For waitlisted candidates who would immediately accept an offer of admission, how would you recommend that they convey that enthusiasm with your admissions team (and how often)?
We will communicate with students on the WL a few times during the summer. It is helpful in response to those communications to have an indication then as to whether an applicant would attend if offered a seat. We understand how challenging it is to be on the WL. Reach out as appropriate. We won't hold it against you, just don't over do it.
When you do go to your waitlist, what piece of information most significantly impacts your decision to extend an offer of admission?
The then current state of the class. It usually has little to do with the applicant at that point and is much more about who is already in the class and how many seats we either have or do not have remaining.
Aside from an outright denial of your offer, what is the most frustrating thing a student can do after being offered a spot from the waitlist?
Accept immediately only to withdraw without any intervening change of circumstances.
Visits & Admitted Students Days
How do current students feel about the faculty, administration, culture and physical plant of the law school? How involved are faculty in the admitted student programming?
If you were a prospective student visiting a law school, name TWO things you would do and/or look out for during the campus tour.
If you were a prospective student visiting a law school, what TWO questions you would ask current students?
Who is your favorite professor and why? Why did you choose Brooklyn Law School over your second choice school?
If you were a prospective student visiting a law school, what TWO questions you would ask law school administrators or faculty?
Foe administrators I would ask about the law school's institutional priorities. What is the school focused on over the next several years in terms of it's overall ambitions as an institution. for faculty, I would just ask them what they are working on. Law professors are endlessly fascinating people when you get them going on their subjects of interest.
Social Media & Internet Forums
What role, if any, does an applicant’s social media presence play in the admission decision (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram)?
None.
Do you, or members of your admission team, review Internet forums that discuss the law school admissions process (e.g., r/lawschooladmissions, LawSchoolNumbers) and, if so, what information do you typically learn or seek to learn?
We try to stay abreast in general terms of what is going on in the admissions cycle and in legal education broadly, but in general we are pretty focused on our applicant pool and our institution.
If you review internet admissions forums, in your estimation, what percent of the time are references to your law school or the procedures followed in your admission office INACCURATE.
Well, this is why we don't spend much time monitoring internet forums, etc. we find they are frequently inaccurate about many institutions, not just our own. We recommend that students looking for specific information about us get that information from our website, the ABA or call us directly.
Have you ever tried to identify an Internet forum poster in your applicant pool and, if so, were you successful?
Not that I recall.