Law School Admissions
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As a college student considering applying to law school, you have a lot on your plate: taking pre-law classes, preparing for the LSAT, gaining relevant professional experience, and much more. During this process, one central question will inform all your other choices: whether you will “go straight through” to law school after graduating from ...
Applying for law school can be a daunting task. From taking the LSAT, to writing your personal statement, to reaching out to recommenders, preparing your law school application is an extensive process.
Your personal statement is a critical component of your law school application. Here are the top five pitfalls to avoid when writing your personal statement:
Deciding to go to any grad school is a big deal. Apart from a PhD, law school specifically is one of the single longest grad school commitments you can make – not to mention one of the most expensive! Before jumping into LSAT studies or sending off your T-14 law school applications (read: “Top 14 law schools” shorthand – fun, right?), you should ...
Last fall, I was working as a full time analyst at Barclays Capital Inc. and trying to apply to law school. I struggled trying to organize enough time to devote to studying for the LSAT, applying to law school, and applying for scholarships. Below are a few life lessons that I learned throughout the way:
Everyone seems to have a story about how long they studied for the LSAT. The test has a reputation for being tough, and for the most part, that reputation holds true; it is definitely one of the hardest standardized tests ever created. But preparing for the LSAT doesn’t have to be as daunting as it’s made out to be. There are a few tips and tricks ...
Diversity statements for law school are optional. No really, they truly are optional! The purpose of a diversity statement is to explain to admissions how your past diverse experiences have contributed to your personal and professional growth. A diversity statement is not a personal statement. Personal statement focuses on why you want a law ...
Maybe you underperformed on the LSAT. Maybe you feel you did not push yourself enough. Or maybe your resume and personal statement were not as impressive as they needed to be. For whatever reason, you did not get accepted to your dream law school. You did, however, do well enough to earn acceptance to a different law school. Rather than waiting ...
A perhaps unwelcome truth of the LSAT is that it takes most people multiple attempts to crack it. These days, it’s more common for applicants to even the highest tier law schools to have taken the LSAT two or three times as opposed to just once. While this means more work and time for LSAT takers, it also means a second, or even a third, chance ...
You have been studying for months, day in and day out, pushing to get your goal score. Finally, in just another week you’ll be done with the LSAT. However, before you find yourself on your dream vacation to Niagara Falls, you still must get through this final week of studying and the actual LSAT test day.
I am a golf nut, and without a doubt the greatest golfer of modern time (perhaps ever) is Tiger Woods.
So you got your score back from the standardized test you need to apply to graduate school, and you’re not thrilled. What now?
All of your acceptances have come in and it’s time for the fun part – deciding where to go. Though there are many variables to making this determination – like where your partner is located, your hatred of Boston winters, the reputation of the law school – for many people, money is the biggest determinant. It is important to pause and take stock ...
Very few law schools require interviews, or even make them optional, with some notable exceptions like Harvard and Northwestern. Interview prep is (comparatively) fun, especially stacked against the LSAT and personal statement. Too often, students spend too much time thinking about interview questions and avoid studying for the LSAT.
For some people (like me), the path to law school isn’t a straight shot. There are those who begin as premedical students, but then learn about how important malpractice law is to the medical profession. There are others who realize that develop long-term business goals that you believe an MBA will further. And finally, for people like me who ...
Your recommendations are crucial because they are the only component of your application that is contributed by a second-party. When choosing recommenders, consider the following:
It’s a funny thing – law schools are pretty much all the same, but they think of themselves so differently. All 1L students (pretty much) take the same courses: contracts, torts, civil procedure, constitutional law, property, and criminal law. Almost all law school students graduate with debt. All law schools produce a similar variety of lawyers – ...
Logic games are the best. If you’re reading this, chances are they’re currently the bane of your existence but hear me out.
The first step for any successful law school list is to go to this website. This tool is incredibly helpful and managed by LSAC – you input your LSAT score and GPA, and it shows you the 25/75 percentile range for various schools, and basically how you stack up. Private companies have their own tools – do not trust them! The LSAC collects all of ...
The personal statement – that famous, infamous even, stress-inducing 500-750 words. What separates you from the law school of your dreams. Pages of scribbled down notes and back of the napkin insights into who you really are. Here are a few pieces of advice to help get you through it.
Ah, the LSAT. That dreaded rite of passage. The most important piece in the law school puzzle. And those Logic Games! Who cares if Train C pulled in at 1pm before Train D! But, alas, it is the kicker for securing top law school admissions, so it must be taken seriously. Here are some questions to ask yourself when deciding whether to retake:
Law school applicants typically see an opportunity for more – another essay, another letter of recommendation, a supplemental report – and jump at it. The more the better, right? Another opportunity to show off writing skill, or have a professor brag about your Greek mythology paper from junior year.
So you’ve asked your professors and supervisors to write you a letter of recommendation for law school. Your work is done, right? Not quite!
Perhaps the most common question I am asked these days is, “Is law school right for me?” While I would love to be able to provide an earnest yes or a definitive no to all those who ask, the reality is that there is seldom a quick or easy answer. But, above all, it is a question to which each of us has to come to our own answer. What I and other ...
The law school admissions process might seem pretty straightforward—submit LSAT scores and write a killer personal statement. Easy enough, right? Well, in many ways, it is actually that simple. But there are actually numerous “behind-the-scenes” factors to consider in formulating the basic requirements of an application.
The law school admissions application cycle doesn’t really start until October, but now is the time to start the process in earnest. Whether you’re applying to a T14 or otherwise, summer is truly the best time to hit the ground running.
For many, fall means cozy sweaters, hot apple cider, and watching the leaves turn brilliant hues. Unfortunately, for some fall can also signify the beginning of application season, which means anxiety and re-writing essays are more likely than pumpkin spice lattes. Here are some tips on how to survive the application cycle, specifically geared ...
Do not apply to law schools that you do not actually want to attend. It is particularly important for you to have non-reach schools that you are excited about. Sometimes students get so focused on their dream school that they don’t give enough thought to the schools to which they will probably be admitted. Relatedly, students should ideally go ...
The LSAT and GPA The LSAT, along with the GPA, are by far the most important elements of your profile. The good news (and bad news) about the GPA is that it’s usually outside of your control – you got the grades you got, and now you have to calibrate your admissions process based on those grades. Of course, if you’re still in college, make sure to ...
Applying to law school is scary – there’s no way around it. The process is arduous, the LSAT is a behemoth, and the end-game is expensive and rigorous. But law school is wonderful – challenging, meaningful, and exciting. Reminding yourself of why you are applying, what is motivating you to apply, can help you get through the year(s)-long process. ...
By far the most common error I see on law school personal statements? Forgetting to tell the reader why you want to go to law school—emphasis on law! Often, students write personal statements as though they’re still applying to college. They tell a flattering anecdote about themselves, but they could just as easily be applying to an MFA or ...
No two ways about it: getting into one of the top 5 law schools in the United States is extremely challenging. Your candidacy is a culmination of the hard work you put forward for academics (aka GPA), the hours you dedicated to preparing for the LSAT, and the most salient experiences that pushed you to want to be a lawyer. Though the top 5 law ...
In addition to a personal statement, many law schools also encourage applicants to submit a supplementary “diversity” statement. Applicants are often confused about how to approach a diversity essay, as law schools provide significantly more leeway and less guidelines in terms of the type of content they are looking for. Often, applicants forgo ...
In this blog post, Jimmy (one of our Harvard JDs) answers four frequently asked questions about the process for acquiring your letters of recommendation for a JD application.
LSAT grouping games, where we’re given a set of variables and asked to sort them into different groups, can be some of the toughest questions on the LSAT’s Analytical Reasoning section. The Recycling Centers game from the June 2007 test (Section 1, Qs 18-23) is no exception.
Harry Campell, New York Times Eliana is a student at New York University School of Law. She holds a B.A. with high honors in Sociology from Wesleyan University, and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Before law school, Eliana worked for several years at a national women’s rights impact litigation organization. She recently co-authored a chapter in the ...
I’m not a huge movie buff, and I only went to one law school (Harvard). Fortunately, though, there have been iconic movies made about my alma mater, including The Paper Chase in 1973, and Legally Blonde in 2001. Creative as those films may have been -- I can’t say for sure; when they were written I wasn’t even thinking about law school yet! -- ...
One of the biggest cultural divides at any top law school is likely to be the divide between the warm-hearted, caring public-interest law community, and the soulless, greedy, cold-blooded big-law-firm crowd. Or, it might be the divide between the naïve, holier-than-thou do-gooders and the realistic, well-trained, practical law-firm hires. It’s all ...
Or something like that. Uncertainty of career path I'll let you in on something. Almost no one who graduates from law school ends up doing exactly what he or she intended on doing back on that infamous first day of 1L. (I graduated from Harvard Law School in May, and now I'm a high school math tutor and law school application consultant!) Ask most ...
Does X school makes you wanna dance like Hugh Grant in Love Actually? Picture yourself at a law school interview for your top pick school. You’ve already discussed (with fluency and charm) your talents and abilities, but then comes the dreaded question: “Why do you want to attend this school?” Cricket. Cricket. So what do you say? Rankings, ...
So you’ve decided you’re going to apply to law school for Fall 2014. The good news is you’re starting nice and early and have plenty of time for law school application help. However, it can still be an overwhelming process. This post will guide you through the nitty-gritty of an ideal law school application timeline.
If you are planning to apply for law school this year, it is a good idea to figure out when you are going to take the LSAT test now so that you can plan accordingly. The LSAT test is given four times a year: February, June, October, and December. The February test date for 2013 has already passed, so if you are applying for law school admission in ...
It’s that time of year when we all resolve to eat better, exercise more, or otherwise improve ourselves. For those of you who have decided to apply to law school in 2013, here are a few helpful resolutions you can make.
One of the most important decisions you’ll make in the law school application process is to which schools to apply. Here are some tips to help you.
With the law school application season in full swing, I thought I’d go through some common mistakes people make. Don’t let yourself fall into one of these traps!