<p>(I know this has probably been done to death, sorry)</p>
<p>Not that it may even be possible to get great experience right out of undergrad in this economy, but will having a year under your belt help your application at all. If two people have very similar gpa/lsat numbers, but one has a year of professional experience and the other has none, will the guy with the experience have a sizable leg up?</p>
<p>In my experience, one year of work experience may give you a slight edge over someone who is similarly situated but who does not have that work experience. If you want to really make yourself stand out when applying, I would recommend that you have two or more years of work experience under your belt (even if you apply after one year of experience). </p>
<p>Remember, if you wish to begin law school after working for only one year, than you are actually applying to law school soon after you even begin working. At that point, the work experience would have done little to make you stand out – and you certainly would have had very little opportunity to obtain recommendations from colleagues who know you well. </p>
<p>The bonus of two or more years of work experience, assuming that you do reasonably well in law school, is that you will also look very good in the interviewing and hiring process later on in law school.</p>
<p>My d graduated 5/08, has been working almost 1 year and plans to apply in the fall. (I think). What I can say is that her experiences over the past year should enable her to produce a better “application package”. My kid has learned alot, matured and had many new experiences which should let her write a more compelling personal statement- maybe add to diversity of the studentbody as she is in the workforce and might just make her a more interesting candidate than someone right out of UG.</p>
<p>I still feel the deciding factor for admittance is LSAT/GPA- but once you gather all the candidates with similar stats together, someone is going to be on top of that heap. I do think those added soft factors like work experience, diversity (geographic too) can make the difference as to which kids with similar stats get accepted and which do not.</p>
<p>I also agree with sally- if you are applying in the fall after you graduate, you really won’t have more than a few months work experience. That may not be long enough to set your application apart from other candidates with similar stats.</p>
<p>Relevant work experience for a year or two helps (meaning relevant to being a college grad not that it relates to the law, e.g., if you work as a lifeguard for a year after college so you can hang out at the beach a lot it is probably not going to mean much). Moreover, some law schools, such as Northwestern, highly prefer those who have waited a couple years after college before applying and worked (or pursued another graduate degree).</p>
<p>Watching the results over the past several years both on this board and in real life, my conclusion is that work experience of 2 years or less (at the time you enter LS) matters not one iota in admissions at the top 14 UNLESS it’s something like Peace Corps or Teach for America or other community service of some sort or something unusual.</p>
<p>The only way in which it helps is if the candidate attended a CC or had lower grades freshman year, so that counting senior year grades “bumped up” the gpa–especially if the bump was across some “great divide,” e.g., 3.0, 3.5 or 3.75, or if courses taken senior year allow the applicant to get more impressive LORs. </p>
<p>Obviously, my observation is anecdotal. I am NOT saying that taking off a year or two between college and law school isn’t a good idea–it MOST DEFINITELY is. It’s just not going to change results much, except perhaps at Northwestern from what I’ve seen.</p>
<p>I do agree with Sally that it can be useful later on in the hiring process–but that’s a different issue.</p>
<p>For those who decide to apply during their senior year, I am going to suggest you stay disciplined and focused and get your applications in by November. The timing of the application also seems to be extremely important factor and it can make the difference in getting an acceptance to a T-14 vs a T-30 school.<br>
Following some kids on LSN who had similar stats to my own d, I noticed that those with work experience and who applied early in the cycle had much better outcomes than those who were still in college who typically sent their applications in dec/january.<br>
I think it is more typical for the college student to “bang out” their application during the semester break when they have a bit more time. As they may also be taking the LSAT in october of their senior year, that might also delay sending out the applications. </p>
<p>Maybe it’s the combo of having the work experience and the ability to get the application in early in the cycle- but I did see those with grad degrees, work experience and sending the applications in early in the cycle more succesful in the admission process than college seniors with similar stats. My kid decided not to apply her senior year as she did want some work experience and she didn’t want her senior year to be overshawdowed with the law school application process.</p>
<p>As a parent, I am so proud of the life experiences my kid has had in the year since she has graduated college- from setting up an apartment in the city-to her work- and to her growth as an individual.
It’s just a no brainer to me that these experiences will make her a more interesting person and better applicant for law school.</p>
<p>drubsa- guess you were never at the beach during a rescue- being a lifeguard is an extremely responsible and important job.</p>