1 More Year Undergrad or Teach For America?

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>I'm in an interesting position, and was hoping you might be able to give me some advice about which route to take before heading off to law school. To give a little background of myself:</p>

<p>-3rd year student at Arizona State (Full National Merit Scholarship)
-4.0 GPA, Classics Major
-730/730 SATs (800 SAT II Writing, 780 SAT II US History)
-Extras: Employed by local middle school as a tutor, twice a week for 8 hrs
-Tutor college kids in Latin, Greek, and work in Honors College Writing Center
-Co-Founder of Classics Club on campus
-Teach a private latin class to 7 high schoolers in the area (employed by the parents of these kids)
- Worked at a golf course in the prop shop in the area during the summers
- Also volunteered as a soccer referee in spare time.
- LSAT practice tests have been in the 170-175 range, so i hear i might expect a little lower than that on the actual test.</p>

<p>So here is my dilemma: I could graduate this year (after 6 semesters), and I am confident from my meetings and interviews that I could get selected for Teach For America, do that for two years, and then apply to law schools. The other option is to defer my graduation for a year (since i have 22,000 in scholarship money coming anyway), continue to take classes and prep for LSATs, and just apply for law school straight out of undergrad.</p>

<p>What I'm wondering is what kind of a candidate would I be for law schools straight out of undergrad. I've heard they really only look at GPA and LSATs, but are my extracurriculars sufficient to be competitive at some top schools? Would going to do Teach For America be a bigtime hook in applying, since some top schools have a relationship w/ the TfA program? And yes, I know I shouldn't just do TfA to get into law school, and I wouldn't be at all (after all, I wouldn't spend so much time teaching and tutoring in my undergrad if I wasn't attracted to it), but its not a bad thing to keep an eye on the future. To put it frankly, staying in school the extra year is the much easier path in my mind, as i am already situated here, it will give me more free time to prep for LSATs than would TfA, I'd obviously start Law School a year earlier, etc etc. If anyone has any suggestions or just helpful advice, I'd love to hear it. Thanks!</p>

<ul>
<li>Oh, and if I stayed in school, I would need to look again for something to do over the summer that would boost my resume...any suggestions?</li>
</ul>

2

<p>OK- I'm only going to give you some quick info- cause I am tired.
My kid applied to TFA this cycle. And she will be going for her final interview soon. The program has a tight timeframe. </p>

<p>The LAST application deadline for this year is February 15th and if you make it as far as the final interview, you will know by April 18th whether you are in the program or not.
TFA is quite competitive, so I do not think it is wise to assume you will get into the program. They accept less than 20 %.
If you can definitely graduate this spring, and you make it into TFA, that is certainly a reasonable way to go.
but you gotta take alot of actions pretty quickly including the application and getting recommendations- so my gut feeling is for you to continue with your UG studies for another year- unless you can get the application in by the deadline which is fast approaching.<br>
It may be wiser to prep for the LSAT and take it this spring or fall.
Your LSAT score will be the best indicator as to what law school you will get into.</p>

<p>Will TFA help with law school admissions? It will probably give a bit of a boost. But I have no clue wheather the boost is comparable to 1 or 2 points on the lsat or whether it is just seen as a very solid EC.
My guess is that it can't hurt either way.
Good luck.</p>

3

<p>How top are you interested in? TFA will help if your numbers are borderline.</p>

4

<p>If you end up with 4.0 175 you don't have to worry about anything. Those numbers plus TFA would probably be very competitive for Yale.</p>

5

<p>To 1st Poster: I am in that process already, the nice thing about TFA being that it is entirely nonbinding throughout the admission process. Best of luck to your d as well.</p>

<p>2nd: Somewhere in the T14, obviously I'd spread my applications throughout this range and depending on preferences when that time comes. Obviously the best school/best fit combination.</p>

<p>It seems to be that law schools really do want to see GPA and LSATs, and the soft factors are just that, in the sense that they will more likely keep you out than help you get in, even as something as major as TFA. I seem to be leaning towards staying in undergrad one year (oh, forgot to mention this, there will be 2 major research opportunities that I will have if i return next year, so that's a plus), then making my decision after LSAT score comes back etc, to see where I stand. Any other opinions are certainly welcome.</p>

6

<p>4.0 classics major with a 169 LSAT will probably get you a T-14 admission with or without TFA.
obviously the higher the LSAT, the higher up the T-14 you can anticipate acceptances.
again- the LSAT score will be the overriding factor re: acceptances.
2 research opportunities and the time to prepare and take the LSAT--
I think I would opt for that path.</p>

<p>either way- you sound like you are in good shape- assuming your actual LSAT score is within your practice range. (even a 168- should be ok too with a 4.0 GPA)
Good luck.</p>