International Law Admissions

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>Currently an undergraduate junior with a 3.8 political science gpa, 3.8-3.9 overall by the time I graduate, and Im taking the LSAT in November. Im the Editorial page editor at my university newspaper (top 30 research institution, you can guess by my username). I spent the past Summer interning in the United Kingdom's House of Lords (part of UK Parliament) as a research assistant to a member of the House who I hope to receive a letter of rec from. I also attended courses at the London School of Economics and wrote a dissertation which Im currently submitting to journals. This Spring Im studying at the University of Sydney and participating in an internship (the nature of which I won't know til I get there an interview). </p>

<p>Any advice on my chances to gain admissions to law school, specifically international law? I hope to pursue a joint JD program with a Masters in Public Policy specializing in IR or a pure IR program like John Hopkin's SAIS in DC. </p>

<p>The law schools that participate in the joint programs I'm humbly looking at are Berkeley, University of Virginia, Harvard, Princeton, Georgetown, George Washington and Stanford. I have to be accepted to both a masters program and law school (can be different school) simultaneously to gain acceptance. A bit of a tall order...</p>

<p>Anyways I haven't started practicing for the LSAT, too busy studying for the damn GRE, but am I going to have to stress and get an incredible score to have a chance at these schools? Standardized tests disgust me, so im dreading both the GRE and LSAT and hoping that other parts of my application could make up for a not-so-stellar score </p>

<p>Thanks</p>

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<li><p>Your GPA is adequate for any law school in the country. But your LSAT score is more important than anything else–than a letter from a Lord, than your GPA, than your school newspaper, etc. So start studying. Take a baseline test, so you know what you need to work on. </p></li>
<li><p>What do you really want to do in “international law”? Do you really know what training is required? Do you speak the languages/have the cultural fluency needed for the parts of the world in which you want to work? I think people often think this is an interesting field and don’t understand the kind of jobs that are available, how scarce they are, and how a law degree isn’t always the best way of getting there. Most attorneys who do “international law” are helping large companies operate internationally. </p></li>
<li><p>You have no way of knowing if the places you’re “humbly looking at” are appropriate until you get your LSAT score. The school I went to had a TWO-POINT spread between its 25th and 75th percentile the year I went. And even the 25th percentile among students that year was above the 90th percentile of all test-takers. And it’s gotten more competitive since then (I applied in fall 2005…geez it makes me feel old to type that). So your LSAT score can take a school from a likely admit to a huge reach.</p></li>
<li><p>But even if you get a perfect score, you won’t get into Princeton. They don’t have a law school ;)</p></li>
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