Admissions Ambassadors Consultations

Taylor Yochum: Hi, and welcome to Applying Yourself, a law school admissions podcast from Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. I’m Taylor Yochum, an admissions specialist here at WashU Law and a producer of this season of the podcast. Today, I’m so excited to be joined by my colleague — another admissions specialist in the office, Peyton Cope. Peyton spearheads our Admissions Ambassador program and is here to talk about one of our hidden gems for prospective students: our consultations with current WashU Law students. Peyton, welcome.

Peyton Cope: Hi — thank you for having me.

Taylor Yochum: Thank you. Can you introduce yourself to our listeners? What’s your background, and how long have you been with WashU Law?

Peyton Cope: Absolutely. So, like Taylor said, my name is Peyton Cope, and I have been with WashU for about a year and a half now. I started in the admissions office as the coordinator, kind of learned the ropes of law school admissions, and really just developed a keen interest in higher ed admissions. Then in April, I was offered the specialist position, and I happily accepted.

I have two degrees from Southeast Missouri State University. I have a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, and I also have a master’s in Industrial Organizational Psychology.

Taylor Yochum: So it seems like that work prepared you well for spearheading the Admissions Ambassador program. Can you share a bit about the program and what types of work our students do for the admissions department?

Peyton Cope: Absolutely. So, we try to keep them as front-facing as possible. They are definitely the stars of the show. Our prospective students and applicants really want to hear about the current law school experience. They love to hear from us, too, but it’s definitely those students who can provide insight into what’s actually happening, and what it’s actually like to be a future attorney.

A lot of what they do is meeting with those prospective applicants and students. They will do Zoom pop-ins. They are part of our virtual events. They help host our visitors when they come to campus. And honestly, anything we can do to get them engaged with that population, we do.

Taylor Yochum: Amazing. And in particular, we’re looking to highlight our consultation program. Can you let our listeners know what those are?

Peyton Cope: Absolutely. Our consultations are a really incredible resource for absolutely anybody, regardless of where they are in the application process. In the specialist consultations, I have met with people as young as high school seniors and undergraduate freshmen.

But our Admissions Ambassadors actually do consultations as well. They can do just about anything — including a lot that we can’t do as administrators in the law admissions process. They can do mock interviews, they can review application documents, they can go through an application strategy — even if that means discussing schools outside of WashU.

They really are just there as a resource and as a support system for people who are going through the process, maybe without any knowledge or without any support outside of that.

Taylor Yochum: Yeah, that’s great. So if a prospective student is brand new to the application process and it’s overwhelming — they don’t know anyone else who has gone through it, they just want to hear about law school from a student’s perspective — that would be a great person to book a consultation with.

Peyton Cope: Exactly.

Taylor Yochum: Is there anything else you would like to share about our consultation program?

Peyton Cope: Absolutely. There are open slots just about every single day — sometimes after 5 p.m. or early in the morning. So if you have questions about anything relating to the admissions process, not just at WashU but in general, our Admissions Ambassadors went through it. They’re very knowledgeable about the subject and they can really help prepare you for the application cycle.

Taylor Yochum: Thank you. And we’d love to wrap up our episode asking the same question: what’s your favorite thing to do, or eat, or see in St. Louis?

Peyton Cope: Oh, my goodness. Okay — so to do: I love all of the free stuff in St. Louis. I think the art museum is absolutely incredible. I could spend days in there. And Forest Park as well — I could spend days just exploring Forest Park.

And to eat — there’s this little bar restaurant right around the corner from my house, and I can’t stop eating there. And I’m not going to tell the name on air, because I want to gatekeep that a little bit. It’s truly a hidden gem.

Taylor Yochum: Thank you. Thank you so much, Peyton, for joining us. For our listeners — you can reach out to us at applylaw@wustl.edu, and you can visit our website to book a consultation with our current students or with one of us.

Peyton Cope: Thank you.

Taylor Yochum: Thank you.