When Elle Woods decided she would try to get into Harvard Law, she did not let ideas like “I’m trying to get into Harvard Law” stop her. As a fashion merchandise student, Elle Woods’ journey to getting into Harvard Law may have been predicated on some impossibilities, but there is a lot of practical advice in there too if you look really hard for it and make a few leaping generalizations.
Here are six things Elle Woods taught me about applying to grad school:
- Don’t actually send in a video essay like Elle – that kind of thing only happens in the movies. But pretty privilege is real so make sure your applications give a sense of how attractive you are – the kind of person you might see in a university ad campaign. If you are pretty, try and see if you can meet for an interview. If not, stick to email.
- Once Elle finally achieves a score of 179 on the LSATs and manages to get accepted into the highly competitive law school, it is not because just anyone can get an amazing LSAT score and then into Harvard if they try hard enough, but rather because she is actually just that smart. However, had she not applied to law school in the first place, she would have never tapped into the insane intellectual potential she is now notorious for nearly, but not quite as much as her hair. Just like you would never know if you could be the next Will Hunting unless you become a janitor at MIT, unless you apply for grad school you will never know if you are an Elle Woods adjacent type.
- Motivated by vengeance of a broken heart, Elle might not have been in it for the right reasons at first, but once she realized how much more satisfying it was to brag to her ex about being at the top of her class than to get back together with him, she was in this lawyer business for the long haul. If you aren’t entirely sure about your desired program at first, just remember that once you commit, even if you regret it, the bragging rights will feel so great you will forget your love of any other subject than the one you ended up studying.
- Elle is forced to study for the LSATs during spring break. For those of you who may not be able to remember, back then, deciding to stay inside and not party with others was considered a sort of unique achievement. These days we might not have the same spring break temptations, you could almost say that life is easier — almost. However, getting an application in on time requires major focus so just remember: spring break is temporary, but bragging rights are forever. Plus, who doesn’t want their own work-hard-to-play-hard montage, full of scenes of themselves poring over books in different settings, from the elliptical to the sorority floor?
- In the ripe era of the early-2000s, Elle’s laptop looked insanely cool, but it was not as fun. Now that our laptops are rife with distractions, if you are having trouble focusing on your application, pretend like you were born in a different era, for instance one where social media didn’t exist and everyone was happy.
- Did I mention bragging rights?