<p>I'm a sophomore (technically a first year, but enough credits to be at sophomore rank) at a regular fourth tier university in my hometown due to proximity and cost. I did well at my high school so my hometown university offered me a full ride. I was wondering if you could please give me some advice for preparing to apply to a highly-ranked law school. </p>
<p>Here's some info: I intend on graduating early and I am in the university honors program. I am a double major in political science and philosophy and I hope to do undergraduate research or internships in the next summers. In addition, I have a part-time job on campus with the paralegal studies program that my boss would like me to keep until I graduate, I am a regular columnist for the college newspaper, and I intend to volunteer for a non-profit over the summer as well. My current GPA is a 4.0 and I feel I'm motivated enough to maintain it. And I'm involved in a religious and political organization already at the university and hope to apply to a few honors societies.</p>
<p>I know this sounds like a lot I'm getting into my first year, but I really would not like to spend more time than necessary at this university and want to aim high. I have aspirations to become involved in human rights and international development - I couldn't care less about the money involved in being a lawyer. </p>
<p>I may sound a bit idealistic and like I'm putting too much on my plate, but I can manage my time and enjoy what I do. What else can I do in preparation for applying to a T-14 law school? I plan to start slowly preparing for LSATs soon since I'm not the best test-taker. </p>
<p>Also, as a side, I come from a single parent, low-income family and hope to progress from these circumstances (and make my family proud), so I'm hoping to get financial aid. What can I do to increase my chances of getting significant aid at a top school? I don't expect to get into Harvard or Yale (though I do know someone admitted into Yale from our school), but I'd like very much to attend a school like Michigan, Northwestern, or NYU...I really hope my undergrad institution won't impact my admittance into a good law school...</p>
<p>I said a mouth full, but I really would appreciate any advice/tips. </p>
<p>nice GPA. if you rock the LSAT, you will also be able to go to Yale, Harvard, etc. (with a little luck). </p>
<p>there isn’t much financial aid in law school, since the expectation is you will get a high-paying firm job (which might not be true, depending on the school). your best bet is to apply early so you can get merit aid at a lower-ranked school (if you really want to save the cash). a 4.0/170+ will most likely get a full ride from at least one T20 school.</p>
<p>The very top law schools DO offer need based financial aid. ( Parental income is included in determining eligibility. )The best way to get it? Do what you are doing now and getting a very high LSAT score.</p>
<p>Thank you all. It looks like if I prepare well, especially for the LSAT, I might have a good shot.</p>
<p>About LSAT prep, I want to avoid taking courses unless absolutely necessary (if I’m not satisfied with my first score). So I plan on purchasing prep books. I browsed this board and the consensus about Powerscore books. If I purchased the three powerscore books in addition to the books with the official released tests, would that be sufficient? Are there any other books worth the money? I have about a year to prepare if I take it February of junior year…and I’d like to think I have the self-discipline and motivation to self-study.</p>
<p>Basically, it requires crushing the LSAT. The LSAT is partly a test about preparation and largely a test about internal testtaking ability. The fact is that at this stage you have about 10% of the process well in hand. The remaining 90% (your remaining GPA and your LSAT score) are wildly up in the air.</p>
<p>It’s too early to be looking at specific programs until you have some well-evidenced estimate for an LSAT score.</p>
<p>the 10 real LSAT books are older tests; you will want to buy tests 40-58 from amazon or some other source. The higher the test number, the more accurate of a gauge it is.</p>
<p>Did you do really, really well on the SAT? If so, that is a decent indicator of success on the LSAT. If your choice is a full ride at a lesser school or debt at a T14, take the full ride and don’t look back. If you don’t care about making money, then you cannot graduate with debt. It will limit your choices like nothing else. If you want to be able to choose a job based on something other than salary, cost should be one of your main considerations.</p>
<p>Yes, I understand what you are saying…sounds like my main focus is going to be the LSAT and maintaining the GPA.</p>
<p>Well next week I intend on taking a full length practice test to see how much I’ll need to work. I hear the LSAT is possible to do well on if one learns to use the appropriate strategies. I’ve just always believed that if one puts forth the effort in practicing regularly, he/she could get a higher score, because I’ve seen it happen with a few friends, who have jumped from 150s to 170s and even 180. I took the ACT in high school and did well on that but I don’t have any doubt I could have gotten a higher score if I had spent more time mastering some helpful strategies…It’s not the SAT, but it’s a timed standardized test all the same.</p>
<p>Obviously I don’t intend on graduating with debt, especially considering my career goals and uncertain prospects. So unless I can work for substantial aid at a top school, I probably will choose to attend a lesser school for a full ride. But why not work at getting a high LSAT score if I have nothing to lose doing so? A high score would increase my chances at a full ride to a lower ranked school, too.</p>
<p>Say my goal is to work for a human rights organization. Do you think the law school I attend would affect my chances of getting such a job? I’m just wondering if a top school would offer some flexibility in terms of where I can get a job…again, I know I’m new to this process, so I appreciate the advice and please let me know if I’m wrong about this.</p>
<p>Say it wasn’t even in the top 100. Would a full ride even be worth it? I ask because my university’s law school, while a good school, is not ranked, but I’m told I could get a full ride if I generally did well in undergrad.</p>
<p>OK–I know I’m being redundant but I’m not sure the OP understands. </p>
<p>HYS do NOT give merit $. They DO give need-based financial aid. So do some other law schools near the top. If you are really from a low income family, you may get just as good or almost as good a “deal” from YHS based on need than you will from lower-ranked schools based on merit money. </p>
<p>My own hunch is that merit money isn’t going to be as plentiful these next few cycles as it has been in the past. That’s pure speculation on my part, and I admit that. However, with the weakness of the job market, I suspect that applilcants who would have passed up the Levy, Root-Tilden-Kern, Furman, etc. for HYS in the past may take the money now. The “yield” on offers is likely to be substantially greater. That means that these full ride scholarships are going to be harder to get. Fewer folks will be offered them. Additionally, more students are applying to law schools and with more applicants with the same number of slots at top schools, there’s less need to entice students with merit money to bolster GPA/LSAT scores for the incoming class. Finally, law schools are part of universities that are cutting budgets. Merit aid and loan forgiveness programs will be on the chopping block at least some schools.</p>
<p>If you are aiming for the most prestigious NGOs, where you attend law school is, if anything, MORE important than where you go if you are aiming for biglaw. Part of the reason for this is that these organizations don’t have the budgets for recruiting. They often just go to a few top law schools and do OCIs (on campus interviews) there. If you go to another school, they may be willing to interview you, but in some cases, that will require that you pay the fare to visit them. </p>
<p>A friend of my kid’s works for a top public defender’s office only on the worst crimes. Indeed, she specializes in death penalty cases. She got interviewed at her top law school. She got a callback. The organization paid for her to fly to its headquarters and put her up in a hotel. One of my neighbors tried for a job in the same organization. He had to pay his own airfare and hotel bill for the initial interview. He didn’t get a call back and was out quite a bit of money. </p>
<p>The top law schools have good loan forgiveness programs. They will, iMO, survive the recession. So, many students at these schools are willing to go work for such organizations. At lower ranked schools, it may be that the few students who went through on merit money are the only ones who can afford to entertain the option. NGOs are less likely to be willing to spend the money to go visit campus to interview a handful of people.</p>
<p>Start doing some research now about places you would like to work. Talk to lawyers there. Look at the backgrounds of board members. Find out where they went to law school and which schools offer special opportunities within the human rights law area - a human rights law journal for example. Find out if there are particular professors known in this area - where do they teach - get in touch with them. Start by Googling “human rights law school” and you’ll find law schools with human rights institutes, clinics, well known professors and other programs. They will range from Columbia, Harvard to CUNY and they will be plentiful but you will be better informed about what they offer.</p>
<p>The named scholarships at NYU are not used primarily to attract people who would otherwise go to higher-ranked schools. They are specific scholarships offering specific programs that are oriented toward recipients’ goals. From what I know, the yield on these scholarships has always been extremely high, if not perfect.</p>
<p>Flowerhead…I respectfully disagree…and I base my disagreement on personal knowledge. Yield only tells part of the story, BTW. There are students who drop out of contention along the way and NYU does definitely court them to pass up the chance to go to YHS.</p>
<p>Yes, see, that’s what I thought, regarding the NGOs’ recruitment from top law schools. I’m interested in working in a global NGO. I’m glad you aren’t viewing the aspiration to become a human rights lawyer with pessimism as a few of my acquaintances have. I personally have not given up on the prospect. But like jonri said, I doubt attending a regular state law school would attract the attention of a global organization, simply because they would probably seek lawyers who attended a school with a strong international or human rights program. And I would like a bit more flexibility in terms of where I can travel and for whom I can work that a well-known law school can provide.</p>
<p>I looked into some profiles yesterday from organizations, and many of them seem to have attended very good law schools and a few of them are professors. So I will try to start getting in touch with them for questions. That was very helpful advice, cartera45, so thanks.</p>
<p>If I obtained the necessary high grades and LSAT score, I’m pretty sure my level of income would warrant need based grants/scholarships. I work but it’s not nearly enough to make a dent in law school tuition and neither is my mother’s income. So it’s pretty much going to depend on my grades in order to receive aid. And I will look into those loan forgiveness programs, but if I can manage to avoid loans entirely (I know that won’t be easy), that would be even better. But if necessary, those loan forgiveness programs would help immensely.</p>
<p>So then it would not be too early to begin preparing for the LSAT now even though I’m taking it next February?</p>
<p>Some (and often, a signifiant) portion of need-based financial aid at most law schools will consist of student loans. </p>
<p>For example, many law schools will give prospective students with financial need subsidized Stafford Loans, on which interest will not accrue during law school, but which will still need to be paid upon graduation.</p>
<p>That’s really interesting. I was given the impression that the NYU scholarships are very specialized, such that students who are targeted are those who had a substantial interest in the first place.</p>
<p>Back when I was applying, the Furman would have been a dealmaker for me over one of the T3s I got into. I ended up taking my T5 anyways, but for substantially different reasons.</p>