<p>I am a junior transfer at the University of Pennsylvania and will likely graduate in the fall of 2010 or Spring of 2011. I would like to apply to law schools during the fall of 2011. Can someone give me some insight into the basics of law school admissions/application procedures (e.g., weight of LSATs v. GPA, transcript weight, weight of undergrad school's prestige, etc.). I am rather new to this and would love to hear from someone who recently applied or who has some keen insight into the process. Feel free to PM me or email me at <a href="mailto:jwrappaport@gmail.com">jwrappaport@gmail.com</a> with advice/tips. Thank you!</p>
<p>I'm sure somone here will give you some advice, or point you to a thread that's already been started, but there should be at least one pre-law advisor at Penn. If you can't find him/her, contact the Career Services office. (The Pre-Law website section of the Penn Career Services office has lots of info.)</p>
<p>I agree with the advice to seek out the Penn pre-law adviser. </p>
<p>Other things to do: (1) go to LSAC.org</a> Homepage. and read the information there and (2) if you are aiming for a top law school, read Montauk & Klein's "How To Get Into a Top Law School."</p>
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<li><p>Go to a counselor at UPenn that deals with law school applications and get info.</p></li>
<li><p>You will need to register with the LSAC (site given above) because your main essay, transcripts, LSAT score, and recommendations go through it and it provides that info with a report to law schools after you apply to any particular law schools. You should plan on setting up an account by next summer (or earlier if you take the LSAT earlier). The LSAC site has instructions for everything you need to do. You will also prepare a separate application to each law school and some may require something in addition to what you submit to LSAC (for example, possibly an additional essay) although most do not. For most applications you will be required to answer a question similar to the following: "list all convictions for felonies, misdemeanors, and juvenile offenses and the fact that your record may have been expunged or is kept secret is not a grounds for failing to provide the information" ; many even ask for all traffic violations.</p></li>
<li><p>You will, of course, need to take the LSAT. This a test you should devote significant effort toward with the intent of taking it once, i.e., it is not something to take once to see how it is so you can then take it again. The reason: though a number consider highest score, many law schools, if you take multiple LSATs, either average the scores or otherwise consider the fact that one test score is lower than the other so you should try your best to prepare for first one you take. You should probably be looking at taking the June 09 test although you could wait to Fall 09.</p></li>
<li><p>Like colleges, many law schools have early action or early decision. Also, large percentage have rolling admissions meaning it is better to apply earlier rather than later, although usually you won't start seeing any decisions from a law school before December. The application periods are generally different from colleges -- you can start applying about early October and usually end dates for applications are in the Spring, such as March.</p></li>
<li><p>Both GPA and LSAT are very important except that for most law schools LSAT is significantly more important than GPA -- it can be anywhere from 50% to 80% of everything making up the decision for admission. You should assume that a high LSAT may make up for a somewhat lower GPA but a high GPA won't save you with a low LSAT.</p></li>
<li><p>Getting into top law schools (top 14 or top 25) requires very high GPA and LSAT and getting into and graduating from one of those can make a large difference in employment opportunities upon graduation. Those $125-160,000 a year jobs at large firms you hear about go to only about 12% of graduates and those in top law schools represent a large percentage of those who get those jobs. Morever, there is a skewed difference in starting salaries for lawyers. You have the group that gets the $125-160,000 a year jobs out of law school, then you have the majority who get $65,000 and under (and under can be as low as $40,000 or less), and then there is not a large number who get in between those two. Moreover, those with less than stellar grades from lower level law schools can find it diffiucult to find employment.</p></li>
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