<p>I understand that EC's only serve as secondary admissions factor, but I'm becoming more and more concerned that my lack of passion (and involvement) in my school's EC activities will get me rejected from school that I would otherwise be a good match for.</p>
<p>It's my Junior year at the University of Texas. I worked my way into the business school's honor program here and transferred into it as a Sophomore. Technically I'm a double major, though about 50% of my finance major overlaps with the honors major.</p>
<p>I expect to have around a 3.9 (currently 3.95) when I apply to law school. I also (hope) to do well on the LSAT. I'm pretty analytical and scored a 1550 (V+M) with much formal preperation, so I'm hoping that if I take an LSAT prep course I will be able to score at least a 170.</p>
<p>However the problem lies in that I'm very much an underachiever. I get around to studying for tests the day (night) before, I have an unimpressive resume, and as someone who loathes having to spend nearly an hour roundtrip on the bus for each trip to campus I've managed to avoid EC's almost entirely. I'm the kind of guy who wakes up, plays video games, decides if going to class is necessary (honors classes usually are), goes to class for 2-4 hours, comes back to the apartment, eats whatever's in the fridge, and then gets back to those video games.</p>
<p>Now with less than a year until law school application season I have nothing good in terms of work experience. I originally wrote like a paragraph here about me and EC's... but just suffice it to say that I've got a very "limited" involvement in two of them and have grown very tired of trying to earn leadership positions within these groups. </p>
<p>I feel like any attempt to "get involved" for the next 2 semesters would be perceived (and perhaps rightly so) as insincere, especially since an executive position within any organization would be virtually impossible. </p>
<p>So when I apply to many of the T-14 law schools (I'm trying to keep my options open) I'm worried that even with a polished personal statement and a solid GPA and LSAT that having unremarkable recommendations and virtually non-existent ECs is going to be my downfall. There will be plenty of applicants from better schools and probably with better LSATs.</p>
<p>I have no idea how I'm supposed to make my application remarkable when my last 2.5 years have been anything but.</p>
<p>i had pretty crappy numbers (way below 25 GPA and not-too-impressive LSAT)
NO extracurrics outside fraternity</p>
<p>and am now in a T10. I don't think it hurts.</p>
<p>SAT =/= LSAT. I suggest you prep. At least by taking practice exams. Especially if you're borderline illiterate, like I am. One of the reasons why I didn't do any work in college was because I am a poor reader and reading stuff frustrated the hell out of me (and laziness = didn't want to do weekly PSets in math/science classes). I walked into the LSAT and realized I didn't understand a single thing. I aced the games section but got my butt kicked on the other two sections. Ouch.</p>
<p>But even if you end up getting my subpar butt-kicked score, you'll be fine at some of the T14s with that GPA. If you are not illiterate and/or prep a bit, you'll be more than fine at some of the top schools.</p>
<p>As for stuff to do, meh, take the summer to do something interesting. Legal related stuff means nothing to adcoms. And if you're not getting a job, you won't need internships anyways. Go to Aruba and catch some sandcrabs and sell it to the tourists to raise money for an orphanage in Syria, or something like that.</p>
<p>What I've been told is that law school is generally a numbers game. And if you keep the GPA up and get the LSAT that you expect to get, I wouldn't be too worried.</p>
<p>To the first reply, I'm glad to hear that and I do plan on starting some intense LSAT prep next semester (despite being very lazy I know when to put on the gloves and get to work).</p>
<p>I'm really worried about some potential "match" schools that I might fall within the middle 50% but would be rejected due to my unremarkable background and subpar ECs. I can't focus on any given school yet as location could turn out to be a huge (yet currently unknowable) factor for me.</p>
<p>I truly get butterflies everytime I look at one of those apps and see the space allocated for ECs and imagine the reaction on the adcoms face when he sees my pitiful excuse for "involvement".</p>
<p>Do law schools even really check into the validity of their applicants EC's?</p>
<p>I know for a fact most of my friend ********ted the EC section when they applied to college and they managed to make it into USC. Not all of us can cure HIV and save orphans in our spare time.</p>
<p>as others have said, law schools really couldn't give two poops whether you spent your free time in college writing for the newspaper, joining a pre-law society, or getting high and playing halo with your roommate for four years often in lieu of going to classes. Not that, you know, any of this applies to me.</p>
<p>Your summers once you enter law school will not be free. SO spend it doing something fun. And spin it however the hell you'd want it. If they ever look beyond numbers, it'll be for "experiences" not necessarily "good use of free time by joining random clubs"</p>
<p>On-campus EC's are not a big deal - internships might matter more since it gives you something to write about, and law schools may like some work experience.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Do law schools even really check into the validity of their applicants EC's?</p>
<p>I know for a fact most of my friend ********ted the EC section when they applied to college and they managed to make it into USC. Not all of us can cure HIV and save orphans in our spare time.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If the law school doesn't, when it is time to apply for the bar certainly will ;)</p>