I’m new to College Confidential, and I am interested in applying to law school immediately following my graduation from college. Unfortunately, though, I don’t really know too many people who have applied to law school, and no one in my family has gone to graduate school before. I am therefore a little lost and kind of overwhelmed. I plan to talk to the pre-law advisor at my college in the fall, but was hoping to gain some insight before meeting with her. I have a few questions I was hoping you might be able to answer:
-How do you decide where to apply to law school? Is it similar to college–as in, are you looking for fit? or is there something else? Is it just based on numbers?
-How does one determine their top choice law school? Is it based on the programs there?
-How do you figure out the programs each school offers? Does it even matter?
-What are journals? How do you guarantee getting one once you’re in law school? Why are they important?
-What should I be doing to get ready?
-How do you know what to write your personal essay about?
-Are you supposed to have an internship while studying for the LSAT?
-Is there any other guidance, advice, etc. you could give me? I am registered with the LSAC, but have not registered with CAS or anything.
Just a little background about me: I am a rising junior with a 3.91 from a top 10 LAC. I am a Hispanic woman, and I will not be applying for financial aid. I have not taken the LSAT nor have I really started studying, and intend to take it in October of my senior year, as this is what I was previously advised to do. I plan on taking a course to do that. I am involved in 5 campus organizations (two dedicated to writing, Admissions tour guide, peer tutor, first year academic resource person) and also served on other committees / as a teaching assistant throughout my freshmen and sophomore years. In the summer after my first year, I worked, and this summer, I was asked by my professor to stay on campus and do research which involves designing a class, studying history, and editing a book as a member of the intended audience of undergraduate students (i.e., "With what little info I have, I do not understand this… Can you extrapolate and put in more detail to make it clearer for me?)
It’s professional school, so fit should be a really low consideration. Even if you fit in better to say, Georgetown, you should go to Harvard if you get in. And yes, based primarily on two numbers: GPA+LSAT. URM is a plus factor.
Apply to a range where your numbers are above the law school’s medians and below.
In general, no it does not matter as the critical courses are all the same.
LS EC’s. If you are planning to clerk, judges like to see a journal membership. Some Big Law firms like to see journal membership.
Keep earning A’s. Graduate. Take a year off to prep for the LSAT. Score a 17x on the LSAT and earn merit money at the T14.
Tough one since it should be individualized, but when the time is right, search some law school forums to get some ideas.
Anything from a legal internship to working retail in a gap year is favored.
Keep the grades up for two more years. Enjoy college. Get involved with something that you are passionate about. You might consider an internship with a law firm, but if you are passionate about the marching band, do that instead.
You look at your numbers (GPA and LSAT), look at the medians of the schools, and apply appropriately. There's no such thing as "fit" in law school.
Your top choice law school is based on two factors: employment numbers and location.You want a job coming out, and usually you'd like that job to be in a certain place.
All 1L curricula are the same, with minor variations that don't matter. 2Ls and 3Ls don't really matter.
Journals, or law reviews, are compilations of articles usually written by law professors, edited by students, and not read by anyone. Law schools often have a dozen. The "main" law review (e.g., the Yale Law Journal) also functions as a kind of honor society within the law school. Usually admission to law review depends on your 1L grades, a writing competition, or some combination of these. Most major employers/judges like to see a person on a main journal.
You need experience. I looked over your background and noted with concern the lack of a line reading "spent time interning at a law office." Law on paper (or on TV) and law in practice are very different. You need experience with the latter before committing hundreds of thousands of dollars into law school. Legal employers also like to see work experience, though most law schools don't care (exception being Northwestern).
It doesn't really matter. Most people write some garbage about wanting to make the world a better place. I'm not convinced anyone actually reads them.
I would study for the LSAT full time and get your interning done while in undergrad. The LSAT is too important (worth on average 65% of your application) to try to double up.
Relaxing a bit would be a good idea. Law school is stressful enough on its own.
-How do you decide where to apply to law school? Is it similar to college–as in, are you looking for fit? or is there something else? Is it just based on numbers?
Apply to the highest-ranked schools where you think you may be admitted, based on your GPA/LSAT numbers and the schools’ GPA/LSAT numbers.
-How does one determine their top choice law school? Is it based on the programs there?
Job placement, job placement, job placement. Good job placement is often correlated with a high US News overall ranking (or similar ranking, such as Above the Law). The specific programs at the law school don’t matter; for example, US News has sub-rankings for law schools (i.e., Environmental Law, International Law, etc.), but those sub-rankings don’t matter and should be ignored. Ignore “fit” and intangible criteria about law schools.
-How do you figure out the programs each school offers? Does it even matter?
In the league of school that I expect you’ll be admitted to, they don’t matter. Specific programs only matter if you’re headed only to a middling law school and you want some standout thing on a resume, such as a specific field of study, to make you more marketable to employers. You should be heading to a top-10 school, and the school name alone matters; it doesn’t matter what you study there.
-What are journals? How do you guarantee getting one once you’re in law school? Why are they important?
They are professional publications that law school students publish. Nobody much reads them. They’re important to the extent that they are competitive to get onto; if they are, then being on one is a mark of success that will make you more desirable to employers. Law Review everywhere is very desirable, but the better the school, the less a journal position matters. If you can just sign up for a law journal and it’s not competitive to get on the journal, it’s not really helpful in getting a job.
-What should I be doing to get ready?
Keep up your amazing grades, have plenty of time to study for the LSAT and, these days, plan to spend a year or two after college, in the workforce, before going to law school. Dean Minow of HLS is constantly talking about the importance of doing that (for admissions purposes and otherwise), and more and more applicants take time off.
-How do you know what to write your personal essay about?
Your life’s passions and how a J.D. from the school you’re applying to will sync with those passions.
-Are you supposed to have an internship while studying for the LSAT?
No.
-Is there any other guidance, advice, etc. you could give me? I am registered with the LSAC, but have not registered with CAS or anything.
What’s CAS? If it was around when I was applying to law schools (mid-90s), I never registered for it.
Also, GPA and LSAT alone are NOT the only things that law schools consider. It’s important to have a life where you’ve pursued your passions (which can be via studying abroad, a job, an extracurricular activity, etc.), as top law schools still have more applicants than open spots, and the high-end law student job market is picking up, so competition is increasing; to be a sure-fire applicant at a top school, you should have neat things that you’ve done in life that you can write about in your personal essays.
Your GPA is higher than mine was in college so you should get in lots of amazing schools. I expect that you’ll do very well on the LSAT, and be sure to have amazing life experiences that will tie into use of a JD degree, when it comes time to write those personal essays.