What is law school like?

<p>I'm still in high school and thinking of law school as a possibility after I graduate. Can a person of moderate intelligence suceed through hardwork or are typical law students above average?</p>

<p>You need at least your bachelors first.</p>

<p>Law students are usually above average in critical reading & analytical skills. However, there are about 200 law schools in the US and only the top 100 would be largely comprised of well above average students in terms of intellectual abilities when compared to the average college graduate.
It is important to note that the comparison is to the typical college graduate & not to the population in general.</p>

<p>Alright thanks, what gpa would indicate this type of student?</p>

<p>Are you referring to high school GPA or college GPA? Either way, class rank is a better indicator as I know of many high school students with very high GPAs who would have a difficult time in a top 100 law school. Also different mature & get academically motivated at different times in their lives, thus a high school GPA is less reliable than a standardized test such as an IQ test, the SAT I or the ACT.</p>

<p>college GPA.</p>

<p>why do you think they have a tough time in law school?</p>

<p>To respond to your original question, rent "Paper Chase." It's an old movie, but will still give you an idea about many law schools. </p>

<p>There is also a DVD about the law school experience. I don't remember where I found it for my kid (probably Amazon...that's where I find everything!), but you can probably find it by searching on-line. This DVD contains numerous chapters about the law school experience, with numerous interviews of actual law students expressing their opinions (on topics such as competition, the Socratic method, speaking up in class, briefing cases, the amount of time needed to study, etc.).</p>

<p>thanks ill look it up asap</p>

<p>Read "One L."</p>

<p>Another question:</p>

<p>My friend said math is big in the law field and was just wondering how true this is</p>

<p>did your friend say why? because i don't know how math would be big in law..</p>

<p>he didn't say how, hes interested in engineering, but I figured I would just come here and ask</p>

<p>Business math might be used fairly frequently. It can be necessary when negotiating settlements, particularly if dealing with structured settlements. </p>

<p>Math can be needed to understand damage claims (for example, if you have an unsophisticated corporate client you may need to suggest to the client that the client calculate its unabsorbed overhead for a claim and may need to know enough accounting and math to determine whether it was done correctly). It is a good idea to be able to read corporate balance sheets, which can be relevant to your practice in several ways if you're either representing a company or involved in litigation with companies. </p>

<p>Other math requirements are fairly simple. Count 20 days to file an Answer to a Complaint, or make sure that a Court document doesn't exceed a specified page limit. Keep track of your billable hours. If you're a partner or sole practitioner, keep track of money in and money out. Keep track of hours charged against a budget established for a project, and develop a budget for a client. </p>

<p>At least that's been my experience....some practices might use a lot more math?</p>

<p>Thanks, after watching A Civil Action, I figured thats probably what it boils down too</p>

<p>the math/engineering thing might be in reference to how exam questions are structured and how you're supposed to find your way through it. some people have said that it actually more closely resembles math/engineering problems than english/history essay prompts, and that a major in the former fields will help you more than one in the latter. i have no basis on which to tell you whether this is true or not though.</p>

<p>I see, i'll look into it more since math is my weakest subject.</p>