Law Schools and work experience.

<p>I know GPA and LSAT are huge in admissions for law school but how much weight does a top law school put in work experience? Would it be better to major in business for undergrad in order to get a good job out of college so I have some work experience to put on an application? Are internships considered to be "work experience"? Any help would be great.</p>

<p>Depends on the school, the work experience, and the internship quality. </p>

<p>I always advocate work experience because it makes dealing with the stress of law school a lot easier. You get a lot of perspective by leaving academia. Now, to answer your question...</p>

<p>*don't major in business if you don't like it. You won't be movitated to study, you'll be miserable, waste four years of your life, and work experience pales in comparison to LSAT and GPA for l.s. admissions.
*other majors might get you good working experience - you don't have to be on Wall Street or whatever for it to be good experience. I know people whose work experience involved social work, engineering, chemistry, journalism, and working in a hospital office. Any of those are fine - they are careers - basically, if you are doing something more substantial than busing a table, it will work in your favour.</p>

<p>Anyone else can chime in.</p>

<p>I don't think anyone could have answered the question better. I was wondering about this same topic for a while now too.</p>

<p>I'm glad to see that, as a 2L, AA's experience speaks to what I believe only instinctively. Working is just completely invaluable on many levels - though LSs might not value them (in terms of admissions) as much as I'd like.</p>

<p>Actually, CWhite, I know someone who loaded trucks for a living and got into a top 25. </p>

<p>I'm so much less neurotic after getting out of academia than I was while in it. If you've never known anything else, it's so hard to fathom that you can rationally and calmly deal with the work and the stress. </p>

<p>Expanding upon my previous answer - as always, law schools all have really different ways of looking at things. We know that LSAT and GPA are the most important, but some schools are all about GPA, some are all about LSAT, and some want to see one or the other that is very high. Then, in no particular order (as it varies by school, year, and what the admissions dean ate for breakfast), things like personal statement, work experience, recommendations, major, undergrad school, master's experience, geography, etc.</p>

<p>How much weight do you think diversity carries in law school admissions? And do you think doing bad in school the first time around (I got a ged) and then turning it around later will make a difference? I really want to go to law school...but I am afraid I lost my chance being a stupid kid 10 years ago.</p>

<p>first of all, corinnas: this thread already posed a question. I am a firm believer of opening a new one and not "stealing" somebody's thread.</p>

<p>Having said that:)...Diversity is a valuable thing, and is more valuable by some schools than others. However, diversity means different things; it can go from geographic location, to ethnicity, to type of education, to work experience, etc. I am sure you get the idea.</p>

<p>The GED should make no difference. Positive trends are always that: positive. A GED ten years ago cannot hurt you much if your undergraduate was somewhat solid; especially if you have relevant work experience or an advanced degree. And of course, all of this is relative depending to what kind of LS you apply.</p>

<p>So much for threadjacking...</p>

<p>Sorry about the whole "thread Jacking" thing...but I just started using this website, and I didn't realize...my bad.</p>

<p>bump......</p>

<p>Law school isn't Business school, I would imagine work experience doesn't mean anything. Look on a law school app or website, see if it has anything about work experience on there.</p>

<p>"I would imagine work experience doesn't mean anything."</p>

<p>I love to see advice provided based on imagination -sigh.</p>

<p>Try Northwestern's website, Tpeck.</p>

<p>Looking through the law school books at the book store, apparently work experience is one of the main things that they like to see. Along as its unique and rewarding work experience. Whatever that is supposed to mean...</p>

<p>Doesn't seem like Harvard/Yale Law cares much for it...maybe some schools like Northwestern have an average of 1 year work experience which isn't much work experience. I would Imagine the main criteria for most law school admissions is LSAT/GPA.</p>

<p>Heres a good thread on Lawyers/Law School... <a href="http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=1579995%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=1579995&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>"Doesn't seem like Harvard/Yale Law cares much for it..."</p>

<p>Just wondering where you got this from. In an earlier thread titled about the Yale admissions essay, there was a link to an article quoting the admissions person - it said only 1/3 of its admittees come straight from undergrad -- it means those other 2/3 are doing something else between graduating college and going to law school - if so many of its admittees fall in that category (and its certainly not because they don't get enough applications from college seniors), I would think this means that WHAT those 2/3 are doing during that time probably has some influence in the admissions process. Of course I don't know for sure since I am not an admissions officer there, but that's the conclusion I would reach from those facts - not that they don't "care much" for it. If you are presenting a different conclusion, it might be helpful if you explained the basis for your conclusion so that others here can judge whether they would reach that same conclusion.</p>

<p>I agree with the last post. Nevertheless, this goes to show the danger of following advice based on "imagination."</p>

<p>Tpeck: Research a bit more before posting conclusions. It'll serve us all better. Making choices on bogus information can be very detrimental.</p>

<p>Maybe you should try working as a paralegal for a year before going to law school. It seems like a good way to try the career out.</p>

<p>Once again, I suggest people research into the matter.</p>

<p>Paralegal, while not a bad choice, is considered too common -there will be hundreds of them applying.</p>

<p>I'm the one who posted the link to the article about YLS admissions. I think you're reading more into the article than what's there.</p>

<p>Megan Barnett advocates taking time off between college and law school. Based on graduation dates, she took a year between UVa and YLS herself. </p>

<p>But the fact that people take time off doesn't mean work experience helps a lot in getting in. In other words, someone who says, as she did, that it's wise to do something else for a year or two before starting LS, is not necessarily saying that doing so will help you in the admissions process-- they may think that for OTHER reasons, time off can be a good idea.</p>

<p>I can't remember the source, but the actual breakdown is that one-third of YLS comes directly from college; one-third has been out up to two years and one third has been out more than two years. </p>

<p>Remember that a LOT of the people who have been out 1-2 years (or even more) have been in school, NOT working. </p>

<p>In recent years, the number of deferrals has gone as high as 70 in some years. That's more than one-third of the class. Many of those deferrals are by students who were admitted as college seniors, but take a year or two to do other things before starting YLS. You may have seen the publicity surrounding the fact that Seamus Farrow (age 16), only biological son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, will start YLS this fall. He got in LAST year and deferred a year. That's not unusual. </p>

<p>Part of that time, he worked on the Kerry campaign. That's not unusual either. I know one heck of a lot of people who will start LS this fall, not necessarily at Yale--who did the same. They got into LS and deferred to work on a campaign, but they did NOT get into LS BECAUSE they worked on a campaign. I do know that one of the people who deferred and started last year did so to participate in the Olympics. She won a bronze medal in wrestling and the press articles at the time noted that she'd deferred LS a year to do that. Heck, for that matter, I know that a recent Miss America deferred a year too, and then enrolled in Harvard Law. She was admitted BEFORE she won her "crown." </p>

<p>A lot of the Rhodes, Marshall, Fullbright, etc. scholars also got in as college seniors and deferred to accept the scholarships. They rarely have work experience. Even those who applied while studying abroad, rather than deferring, don't have work experince. </p>

<p>Many of those in the middle category who do work between college and LS apply before they have any real work experience. Someone who defers one year may have applied the previous September--3-4 months after finishing college. I seriously doubt that 3-4 months is what's going to get them in. </p>

<p>To me, the fact that only one-third of the students have been more than two years suggests work experience really doesn't matter much, since I'm sure that some of the people even in that category are former Ph.D. students. </p>

<p>Don't misunderstand. I think that work experience CAN really matter. In particular, Teach for America, Peace Corps, VISTA alums do, from what I've seen, boost their chances a bit. </p>

<p>Bottom line: the "word" is that of the top 14, Northwestern is the only one that weighs WE HEAVILY. At YLS, it can help, but not nearly as much as you might think it does if you don't examine the fact that only one-third come directly from college more closely. Below the top 14, WE may matter more--I don't know.</p>

<p>The year I spent between college and law school (playing music professionally overseas, and studying an Asian language) had a profound impact on the subsequent course of my life. There's no way I would go back and trade that year for an extra year in my career as an attorney.</p>

<p>The median age for first-year law students in my class was 24. There were three 19-year-olds, and a couple of people in their fifties.</p>

<p>One of the 19-year-olds in particular (the male one) would have benefited from a little more seasoning before he started law school, judging from his answers in class. (He was one of those people who had his hand in the air the entire time.)</p>