<p>I was just reviewing Harvard Law School's admissions website. After reading all of the outstanding students profiles, I came away with the impression that every one of them had been involved in some kind of legal activity before attending HLS. (working at clinics, volunteering for non-profits in the legal field etc.) Do you think that this kind of stuff is necessary to demonstrate to an admissions panel in the top tier that law is is the next logical step in one's career? Or are there other ways? I want to apply next fall for the fall of '07, does anyone have any ideas of how to become more competitive before then? Do people get into Harvard with high gpa and high LSAT or does it always take that esoteric something else?</p>
<p>I havn't taken the LSAT, but have a 3.9 GPA, extracurriculars like debate team and Model UN, research assistants positions and published poli sci articles, but no volunteer experience. Any ideas?</p>
<p>Based on your other posts, you're out of school and working. ..so, you'll have work experience too. HLS doesn't require anything esoteric. If you have published poli sci articles, debate, model UN and research assistantships, you're in good shape. Add in work experience, and you're in even better shape.</p>
<p>i hear that its the growing trend nowadays. that law schools want students that have work experiance. Especially for the top schools. For instance i dont know ne1 who is going to stanford without a few years of work experiance.</p>
<p>I agree with PrimeTime21 about work experience. At the top law schools, a significant percentage of the students have worked prior to law school. I would even venure to say that the quality of your work experience will matter to the admissions officers more than your ECs, though both will certainly be noticed.</p>
<p>work experience probably matters more than ECs because you spend 40 hours a week at work (at least!) but likely less than that on an extracurricular done while in school. i bet if you played a sport or had a job or leadership role during school that took up 40+ hours of your week, admissions committees would consider that.</p>
<p>but really, it's all about GPA and LSAT. I'm going straight from college to law school, and was admitted to 3 of the top 14 schools (waitlisted at 2, and denied at 2 others). when i went to the admitted students days, i definitely wasn't the only college senior there.</p>
<p>Some school value work experience (whether law-related or not) more than others. I got the impression that Stanford and University of Chicago looked favorably on it, but that isn't to say that you don't have a very good chance of admission if you get the right GPA/LSAT. My take on Harvard was that it was more numbers-based.</p>
<p>Ok, I am wondering the same sort of think. I am a current journalism major and will be graduating next year. I never considered law until I took an undergraduate media law-type class and loved it. Now I am seriously thinking of law school, and still researching options hoping to pursue something with law and media, intellectual property, etc. I have lots of journalism experience, but no law or political science experience, whatsoever, and am not sure I am in the right position to get any by the time I apply. I am also graduating in three years, meaning I will be a young 20 when I apply for schools. Would it be better to wait and get more experience, from an admissions perspective, or just go ahead and try my luck this upcoming Fall?</p>