The admissions director of Georgetown Law School offered a small group of interested students a few inside tips on the application process at the Office of Career Services yesterday.

Speaking to a group of nine seniors and one anxious junior, Andrew P. Cornblatt '72 urged Harvard students to apply to law schools "the sooner the better."

"I try to keep the fact that I'm a Harvard alumnus somewhat out of the picture in terms of favoritism," he said.

But last year, over half of Harvard's 238 applicants were admitted to Georgetown, Cornblatt said. That's a considerably higher percentage than Georgetown's overall admissions rate, which is approximately 20 percent.

Only 27 of the 129 Harvard graduates admitted last year matriculated at Georgetown this fall.

Cornblatt said Georgetown's application process consists of three equally weighted criteria: grade point average, LSAT score and "the third dimension," which includes a personal statement, recommendations, work experience and activities.

The admissions director addressed several issues that face law school aspirants nationwide.

"I strongly urge you to only take the test [LSAT] once... its too expensive, too boring to go through more than once," he said.

Even the simplest concepts, like grade point average, are complicated in the admissions game; Cornblatt said admissions officers consider not just a the final number, but also the trend of grades, quality of curriculum and university name.

Although Georgetown has no numerical cutoff for applicants, the admissions director said "numbers count."

The median undergraduate GPA of Georgetown first-years this year is 3.53 and the median LSAT score is 167, he said.

As important as numbers may be, however, Cornblatt emphasized the more intangible elements of law school applications.

"I could introduce you to 50 first-years who got in because of their personal statement," Cornblatt said.

Cornblatt also said he recognized the highly competitive nature of the law school application process.

"If you are really miserable, if you really hate it, you're probably doing it right," Cornblatt said.