I was accepted into a very selective study abroad program in my school. The program requires 2-3 semesters of studying abroad, the first semester being in China (mandatory) and includes a research and internship component. If I choose to do it it will be included on my diploma. I already have leadership extracurriculars that I will continue the semesters I am not abroad. Will taking part in this program possibly help me get into a top law school or will it hurt my chances?
LSat and GOA are the 2 biggest factors. Your study abroad grades will have to be submitted and will be part of your LSAC transcript
If the study abroad fits into your long-term career plans (do you plan to include Chinese work in your career in some way?), it may help.
Law school admissions is based primarily on one’s LSAT score, then GPA. URM status is also an important factor.
Studying in China may distinguish your application from the others. If you are proficient or fluent in Mandarin or Cantonese dialects of Chinese language–both written & oral–it may help your application in that you will be an attractive candidate for some biglaw firms with Chinese offices & Chinese clients.
I will probably plan to take some Chinese, maybe Mandarin. The other thing is that when I study abroad the classes are pass/fail so they won’t be included in my gpa and I want to graduate in three years and that would mean that law schools would only have 3 semesters to look at for my gpa and I don’t know if this will pose a problem for them.
It will make your LSAT score even more important–if that is even possible–for the top law schools.
Your GPA will be your GPA, just with 3 years going into the calculation instead of 4. Law schools won’t care.
better to graduate and work for a year. Rock the LSAT and prosper.
Thank you everyone!