needing follow-up help relevant to my last post

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>hey guys,
this link is from my last post inquiring if i should triple major or graduate in two years..</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=291592%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=291592&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>and since that last post, in consideration of all of your much appreciated input, i've decided NOT to triple major or graduate in two years.</p>

<p>okay, so here's the situation as of now. i am still a freshman into my spring quarter and all is going well, high gpa and everything. i will be finishing up my honors political science major by winter of sophomore year. could you guys recommend to me which would be more beneficial:</p>

<p>1) graduate in 3 years, spend third year working on clearing breadth in a light load of classes/stress (which will allow me to join clubs, become active, take a leadership role and stand out somewhere, enjoy my time more on-campus). GRADUATE, then move back home and spend the 4th year that i won't be in school to strictly study for the LSAT and tackle it, have a bunch of time to prepare for law school applications.</p>

<p>2) or graduate in 4 years, spend the third and fourth year working on clearing breadth while picking up a sociology major as a double in a medium load of classes (which won't allow me to become too active in something), study for the LSAT and while attending classes my 4th year.</p>

<p>i bring up these two alternatives because i hear that a double major won't be preferred by adcoms. if i choose to graduate in three years, i can specialize and show a great depth in one field (which is appealing like according to other posters). most of all.. being that an excellent lsat and gpa is the most emphasized criteria above all else, if i graduate in 3 years (assuming that i still have an impressive gpa by then and won't need to take any extra elective classes just to inflate it), then i can have an extra year off to study insanely for the LSAT.</p>

<p>how does that sound? how important is it to stay all 4 years in undergrad as opposed to only 3 in the eyes of adcoms, in your opinion?</p>

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<p>When I was applying to law school way back when, most law schools asked for an essay on some variation on the question, "why do you want to go to law school?" I spent a fair amount of time mulling over that question while brushing my teeth, or waiting for the bus. Once I had a workable version of that essay, the applications themselves took no more than a couple of hours each. </p>

<p>I also found that three months of studying ten hours a week was sufficient preparation for the LSAT.</p>

<p>The time it takes to apply to law school is more like the time you would spend on a hobby than the time you would spent on a job. There's no need to structure your whole life around it for any period of time. That leaves you free to structure your life around what will make you happy, rather than worrying about what might please law school admissions committees.</p>

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<p>In any event, you certainly don't need a year to study for the LSAT, particularly if that is all you plan on doing during that year. </p>

<p>Please don't make the mistake of making your entire life for the next few years about taking the LSAT and going to law school. Enjoy college. Try classes outside of your comfort zone. Learn something new and challenging. Meet people. Volunteer to teach literacy skills to those in your community who may need help -- you may change a life! Don't waste the next three years studying for the LSAT and planning your law school applications. I promise you that you will likely regret all of the things you had to forego to do so.</p>