<p>Ok, I am just a high school senior here, heading to college.</p>
<p>Everyone seems to be just worrying about their GPAs and LSATs.. Does not ECs matter? How about recoms? Or as long as you have off the charts LSAT and GPA, all the rest does not matter?</p>
<p>PS Do law schools expect applicants to take part in ECs like debate? What if one is a science/engineering major and would like to get into patent law and stuffs?</p>
<p>PPS My questions are kinda shallow because I don't really know much about law..</p>
<p>They matter some. LORs also matter some. Specific EC's do not matter (e.g. there is no demand that you do specific things.)</p>
<p>The usual rule of thumb is that LSAT and GPA are about 80% of the admissions process, demographics are about 10%, and soft factors are the last 10%. I think this is a little silly (how on earth do you measure this?) but it might give you a rough idea.</p>
<p>To answer the OP's question, LSAT and GPA matter so much more than anything else. It really is a numbers game, especially at the best (T14) schools.</p>
<p>Does being an international help? I don't think many international students actually choose to study law in the US.. On the other hand, I know it'll be hard to get loans to finance the four years except atprobably HarvardLS..</p>
<p>Could anyone answer my PS in more details? Does every one who wants to get into law schools need to know how to debate.. ECs really do not matter</p>
<p>Do you guys actually mean that if one is 100% certain that he wants to go to law school.. then working 24-7 to get a perfect GPA and LSAT is better than having 5 leadership positions?</p>
<p>Don't write off ECs completely. If you're a competent individual, you should be able to handle college coursework, LSAT preparation, and at least a few ECs. However, you in no way need leadership roles. They're more or less just a box to check on the application so the law schools know you haven't been totally wasting your time in school. GPA and LSAT, however, are paramount. You can have amazing ECs but crap numbers, shutting you out of the top schools. But if you have amazing numbers and crap ECs, you can still get in top schools.</p>
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Do you guys actually mean that if one is 100% certain that he wants to go to law school.. then working 24-7 to get a perfect GPA and LSAT is better than having 5 leadership positions?
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<p>No, and for that matter this is a fairly obvious no. Working 24/7 will not get you a perfect GPA and LSAT. You should get as high a GPA and LSAT as you can, but after a certain point you are going to max out. You should stop there and spend your remaining time on EC's, on personal time, and on pondering why you want to go to law school and then explaining it in an essay.</p>
<p>I note that nobody has answered your question about how being an international will affect things. I am not certain, but my hunch is that it won't help. Many of the top law schools have LLM programs which are filled with foreign students who have in most cases already qualified as attorneys in their home nation. I don't really think such law schools feel the need to admit internationals to JD programs just for the sake of diversity. I think they'd much rather admit students who are able to explain how their nations' legal systems work and a student who is already an attorney in that nation would obviously be better able to do so than one who left after high school and has not studied law in his home nation. </p>
<p>Moreover, there is NO guarantee that if you do get a JD here you would be allowed to remain and practice law in the US. Many LLM candidates do want to remain, but if they aren't able to do so, they at least can get a job in their home nations.</p>
<p>"Does every one who wants to get into law schools need to know how to debate."</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>"Do you guys actually mean that if one is 100% certain that he wants to go to law school.. then working 24-7 to get a perfect GPA and LSAT is better than having 5 leadership positions?"</p>
<p>Yes. Admission to law school is very heavily weighted to your GPA and LSAT score, and a perfect GPA and LSAT score is far better than a good GPA and LSAT score and 5 leadership positions in ECs.</p>
<p>jonri, I'm an international, but I'm going to do my undergrad in the US.. so LLM is out of the question.. just JD, if I were to ever apply to Law school..</p>
<p>The only reason the original poster asked about "Does not ECs matter" is b/c he/she feels the need to emphasize what he/she has and to deemphasize what he/she lacks. In other words, he probably has some ECs that he wasted all this time doing and now has a terrible LSAT score and GPA so he emphasizes his strength. </p>