Having trouble figuring out what you should read to really beef up your LSAT RC skills? Here are some places where you can start:

Editorial and Opinion: The Editorial or Opinion pages of any major US Daily newspaper, such as The New York Times, the Washington Post, or the LA Times.

Law, Politics, and Economics: Magazines such as Legal Affairs, The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Economist.

History: The Journal of American History.

Science: Magazines such as Scientific American and Popular Science.

Want to know what else you can do? Check out this article on our LSAT Free Help Area to find out!  

Want to check out other LSAT tips? Click here.

The PowerScore Law School Spotlight gives you a snapshot of a different law school each week.
For more information about each profiled institution, be sure to check out the school’s website.

UC Irvine School of Law (commonly known as UCI Law) is today’s Law School Spotlight. From LSAC’s Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools:

UC Irvine School of Law, the first new public law school in California in more than 40 years, opened its doors to its first class in August 2009.

UCI Law seeks to create the ideal law school for the twenty-first century by doing the best job in the country of training lawyers for the practice of law at the highest levels of the profession. The Law School’s innovative curriculum stresses hands-on learning, interdisciplinary study, and public service.  Interdisciplinary study is also at the heart of UCI and there are several concurrent degree programs that students may wish to consider.

In June 2011, UC Irvine School of Law was granted provisional accreditation by the American Bar Association. Provisional accreditation means that graduating students can take the bar exam in California without taking a qualifying “baby bar” exam.

“We are extremely pleased to have fielded such a high-caliber student body,” said Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, who is also one of the top constitutional scholars in the nation. “Along with a highly rated faculty, this allows us to be considered among the best law schools in the country from the very start,” he said. 

Type of school: Public

Setting: Suburban, small city

Size: 232 (2011)

Incoming class size: 89 (2011)

Student-to-faculty ratio: 7 to 1

Acceptance percentage: Not available

Tuition and fees: $44,347.50 (CA resident), $54,192.50 (non-resident)

Cost of living (single student): $17,625 – $24,004 (depending on housing choice: on or off-campus)

Address: 401 East Peltason Drive, Suite 1000, Irvine, CA 92697-8000
Phone: 949.824.0066
Email: lawadmit@law.uci.edu 
Website: www.law.uci.edu
Twitter accounts: @UCILaw
Facebook: University of California, Irvine School of Law
Blog: None

All information (except for social networking and blog information) was gathered from the school’s profile on the Law School Admission Council’s Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools and the school’s website. Please consult the school’s website and Office of Admissions with questions regarding this information. 

To see other schools in the Law School Spotlight series, click here.

To listen to our Featured Law Schools podcast on UCI Law, please click the “play” button below.

Test-taking season is upon us! To get in the mood, take a look at this article on Wall Street Journal: Toughest Exam Question: What Is the Best Way to Study? While the article is geared predominantly towards SAT/ACT-takers, most of the suggestions in it can prove useful to someone preparing to take the LSAT. With a month left until the February 2013 examination, here’s how you should tailor the recommendations in the WSJ to your study regimen.

1. Practice Tests.
1. Assuming you have a solid conceptual understanding of the material (i.e. you have taken an LSAT class or read the Bible trilogy books and workbooks published by PowerScore), take enough practice tests. As the article points, out, “testing yourself repeatedly […] teaches the brain to retrieve and apply knowledge from memory.” What is “enough” varies from person to person, but you want to take at least 10 practice tests, thoroughly reviewing each and every question that you had a hard time understanding.
2. If you keep struggling with some of the most difficult questions in each section, you may have hit a “ceiling.” When this happens, try to review each of these questions by explaining them to yourself as if you are teaching a class. All of our instructors have scored in the top-1% of the LSAT before they start teaching, but many tend to develop an even better grasp of the idiosyncrasies that dominate the test by reviewing challenging questions in a classroom setting. You may also find the Advanced LSAT Logical Reasoning Course or the Advanced LSAT Logic Games Course extremely helpful: they both delve into the most difficult LR questions and Logic Games we have encountered, and provide a clear, systematic way of breaking these games and arguments down.
2. Sleep.
1. Since the December 2011 test begins at 8:30 AM, make sure you develop a solid regimen of going to bed at a specified time every day for at least one week prior to the test, and allow for at least 7 hours of sleep each night. The point is not to wake up earlier than usual on the morning of the test. Make sure you leave enough time for breakfast, some moderate exercise, commuting, and warming up. Plan accordingly: if you need to wake up at 6:00 AM on the day of the test, make sure you go to bed by 11:00 PM the night before. Follow this regimen the entire week prior to the test day.
2. Make a list of the hardest LR questions and Games with which you struggled over the past month or so. Look at these questions the evening before the test: are you better equipped to handle them now than you were a month ago? You can be sure that some of the most difficult questions on the real test will be quite similar to them. Reviewing the toughest material the night before “makes it easier to recall the material later,” says Dan Taylor, director of a sleep-and-health-research lab at the University of North Texas in Denton. There is an additional benefit you can derive from this exercise: confidence. If you can conquer the questions responsible for lowering your score a month ago, that will give you an enormous boost of confidence on the day of the test.
3. Needless to say, don’t pull an all-nighter: it will have a terrible effect on your focus and stamina and is virtually guaranteed to lower your score.
3. Food.
1. The morning of the test: eat a solid breakfast containing complex carbohydrates and fiber. For example, a meal such as Bob’s Red Mill Organic Steel Cut Oats with raisins and toasted pecans would be close to ideal. Consuming a moderate amount of coffee is fine, as long as you don’t overdo it.
2. Research has shown that what you eat the week before matters as well. According to the WSJ article, “When 16 college students were tested on attention and thinking speed, then fed a five-day high-fat, low-carb diet heavy on meat, eggs, cheese and cream and tested again, their performance declined. The students who ate a balanced diet that included fruit and vegetables, however, held steady,” says Cameron Holloway, a senior clinical researcher at the University of Oxford. “The brain requires a constant supply of energy and ‘has only a limited backup battery,’ he says.”

4. Exercise.
1. I would never take a practice test without a moderate amount of cardiovascular exercise in the 1-2 hours before the test. Multiple well-controlled studies have shown a significant correlation between fitness scores and test scores. The California Department of Education, for instance, found that kids who were deemed “fit” scored twice as well on academic tests as those who were unfit. The fit kids’ brains also showed more activity in the prefrontal cortex measured by an EEG test. Of course, as a well-trained LSAT test-taker, you know better than to assume that any correlation automatically means causation. Exercise is unlikely to make you smarter. But the correlation is strong enough to provide some evidence that it does improve learning capacity, memory retention, and focus.
2. Get into the habit of performing 30 minutes of moderate cardiovascular exercise two-three times a week, ideally before you take each practice test. Go running, biking, swimming, or play a round of tennis. Do the same the morning of the test, right before breakfast.

If you’re applying this fall, you should already be thinking about your applications. And, if you’re already thinking about your law school applications, you may already be researching schools, and quickly becoming overwhelmed with the many, many different websites and publications out there that give out (sometimes not-so-reliable) information.

For that reason, I thought it wise to give you my list of law school applicant “must-have” resources. These are the sites that I regularly visit as I help students with their applications and they are also the sites I recommend that students become familiar with as they consider their law school path. It is not an exhaustive list by any means, but it is a great starting point for those of you considering applying to law school.

LSAC’s Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools

This is a fantastic starting point for anyone interested in applying to law school. It gives you all the numerical information you could want about all ABA-approved law schools, and then some. Start here when you’ve got a broad list of schools you’re considering, and get information on GPA and LSAT percentiles, law school deadlines, application fees, class sizes, locations…the list goes on. In addition to the data in the tables, each school also has a PDF with additional information. A great, very useful (and FREE!) resource put out by the Law School Admissions Council.

U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings

Yes, everyone loves to hate them, but rankings should play some part in your law school search. This is a good place to start (although it should not, by any means, be your only determining factor, or be the only rankings-centric website you consult).

The Leiter Law School Rankings

Once you’ve taken a look at the USN rankings, go to the Leiter Rankings and get the real deal. This is a great and slightly more objective compilation of information, and provides a few really interesting lists (such as how many SCOTUS clerks have come out of which schools over the past 10 years). Prof. Leiter is the John P. Wilson Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Law, Philosophy, and Human Values at the University of Chicago Law School. His rankings focus more on “intangibles” such as faculty quality and job placement (which should arguably be more important to law applicants than where a school falls on the USN rankings).

The PowerScore Guide to Law School Admissions

Available on the PowerScore YouTube channel, this 9-part series I recorded with our founder and CEO (and author of our very popular LSAT Bible series) Dave Killoran is a great starter guide for students considering applying to law school. It covers everything, from personal statement and résumés, to diversity statements and addenda.

The PowerScore Law School Research Center

The Center contains a wealth of information on the top law schools in America, and is a perfect way to gain an overview of each school. It also includes PDF version of our Applying to Law School Primer, International Student Law School Application Guide, and Canadian Law School Guide.

U.S. News Law School Admissions Q&As

Students often ask me the same questions: How does XYZ Law School view multiple LSAT scores? What does XYZ Law School want me to write about on the personal statement? What sets XYZ Law School apart? This Q&A compilation answers a lot of these questions, via interviews conducted with the Deans of Admission for various ABA-approved schools (although, unfortunately, not for all ABA-approved schools). Still, it is a great place to get specific info on different law schools, straight from the horse’s mouth.

Internet Legal Research Group

A lot of the same info that the LSAC Official Guide has, but sortable (and you have no idea how useful this sorting is until you’ve actually tried it. I am officially addicted to it). It also has a ton more information that can help you with your search (e.g., additional rankings, cost-benefit analyses, employment data, etc).

The American Bar Association (ABA)

You’ll eventually be a part of it, so why not start looking at it now? Of particular interest to prospective law school applicants will be the Section of Legal Education and Admission to the Bar, which will outline the requirements you must have to be admitted to practice law in each state, and Loan Repayment Assistance Program page, which outlines the programs each school and the ABA has to help those students practicing public interest or pro bono law pay back their law school loans.

Law School Interactive

A great source for podcasts from everything dealing with selecting a law school all the way to choosing a legal specialization. A very solid resource that I recommend students subscribe to in order to get timely information right from experts in each field.

PowerScore’s Law School Admissions Free Help Area

Answers a lot of commonly-asked questions about applying to law school, and the law school application process.

PowerScore’s list of ABA-accredited U.S. and Canadian law schools

Useful because it’s essentially a list of all law school websites, and prevents you from having to Google them each individually.

The National Association of Law Placement’s Official Guide to Legal Specialties

Although (unfortunately) not free, this is a great book for students that are particularly interested in certain fields within the law, and want additional information (including perspectives from attorneys in the field) about them.

The NAPLA Pre-Law Resource List

The Northeast Association of Pre-Law Advisors has a great list of resources available on their site. Some of it may already be listed above, but others (such as the part-time program locator and financial aid resources) are not listed above, and can be incredibly useful.

There are many more resources out there, but these are a few of my favorites. If you’ve got some of your own, share them in the comments!

______________________

Have a question about applying to law school you’d like me to answer? Send me an email.

Check out the Admissions Tip of the Week archives!

Like PowerScore Admissions Counseling on Facebook, and follow PowerScore on Twitter and Facebook.

Subscribe to our Admissions Tip Of The Week via email

When answering Logical Reasoning questions, should you read the question stem before reading the stimulus? No! Understanding the stimulus is the key to answering any question, and reading the question stem first tends to undermine the ability of students to fully comprehend the information in the stimulus. On easy questions this distraction tends not to have a significant negative impact, but on more difficult questions the student often is forced to read the stimulus twice in order to get full comprehension, thus wasting valuable time. Literally, by reading the question stem first, students are forced to juggle two things at once: the question stem and the information in the stimulus. That is a difficult task when under time pressure.

There are other reasons for why you should read the stimulus first. What are they? Check out this article on our LSAT Free Help Area to find out!  

Want to check out other LSAT tips? Click here.

The PowerScore Law School Spotlight gives you a snapshot of a different law school each week.
For more information about each profiled institution, be sure to check out the school’s website.

UC Davis School of Law (King Hall) is today’s Law School Spotlight. From LSAC’s Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools:

The School of Law at the University of California, Davis, is a national center of legal learning characterized by the scholarly excellence and ambition of its faculty and student body, as well as an abiding commitment to being a diverse community serving the welfare of its constituents and the world around it. It is fully accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. The school is housed in a newly expanded state-of-the-art building, King Hall, named for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in honor of his efforts to bring social and political justice to disadvantaged peoples.

The Davis campus, a major research university consistently among the country’s top 20 in research funding, is a little over an hour from San Francisco, and 15 minutes from Sacramento, within easy reach of major recreational areas such as Napa, Carmel, and Lake Tahoe. The campus occupies 3,600 acres within the bike-friendly and charming college town of Davis.

The law school’s idyllic surroundings and close proximity to the Bay Area and the state capital create abundant opportunities for a well-rounded educational and professional experience. The campus offers a full range of excellent graduate and professional programs.

Type of school: Public

Setting: Suburban, small city

Size: 589 (2011)

Incoming class size: 196 (2011)

Student-to-faculty ratio: 11.3 to 1

Acceptance percentage: 23.5% (943 of 4,020 admitted)

Tuition and fees: $41,763 (CA resident), $50,595 (non-resident)

Cost of living (single student): $16,700

Address: Admission Office, 400 Mrak Hall Drive, Davis, CA 95616-5201
Phone: 530.752.6477
Email: admissions@law.ucdavis.edu 
Website: www.law.ucdavis.edu
Twitter accounts: @UCDavisLaw
Facebook: UC Davis School of Law
Blog: Index of all UC Davis Law blogs

All information (except for social networking and blog information) was gathered from the school’s profile on the Law School Admission Council’s Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools and the school’s website. Please consult the school’s website and Office of Admissions with questions regarding this information. 

To see other schools in the Law School Spotlight series, click here.

To listen to our Featured Law Schools podcast on UC Davis Law, please click the “play” button below.

We’re coming up on that time of the year: LSAC Law Forum time! Don’t know what an LSAC Law Forum is? You should! Law forums are events held in various major cities around the country and Canada where prospective law students have an opportunity to talk personally with representatives from ABA-approved law schools. Almost every ABA-approved law school sends representatives to these events, which are held in hotels and conference centers. These reps have information and documentation about their schools, and are also available to talk to students and answer questions.

If you’re a prospective law applicant, law forums are a great opportunity to get your questions answered, and get information on the schools you’re interested in. They are an incredibly useful tool. However, they are most useful if you take the time to think about what you’ll do at the forum, and how you’ll approach the experience.

Here are some tips.

Read the LSAC Law Forum page on the LSAC website.

It may seem a little obvious, but you’d be surprised at the number of students who sign up for a forum without any idea of what it actually is, or what they can do there. Get informed! Be proactive! Know about the different programs and schools that will be at your specific forum, know where the event is being held, and be familiar with what time the doors open (and close). The LSAC Law Forum webpage has a wealth of information: A video, a listing of all the cities where forums are being held (along with links to register for each), a PDF of what you can do on the day of the forum, a listing of all the workshops you can attend, and a list of other law fairs being held around the country and in Canada.

Much like your law school applications, “winging it” doesn’t really work with Law Forums. Know what’s being offered, and you’ll be better able to take advantage of it.

Dress to impress.

I have been to many a law forum where students are walking around in cut-off jean shorts or swim trunks, tank tops, and sandals. I want you to stop and think about this for a moment: Who is at the law forum? It’s not just LSAC reps. It’s also representatives from all the different law schools you’re going to be applying to. Many times, it’s not just any old law school rep, it’s the actual Director or Dean of Admissions for the school! Would you visit a law school, ask for a meeting with the Dean of Admissions, and then show up in beach wear? I certainly hope your answer to that is a resounding NO. In the same way that you would dress up to meet with the Dean in their office, dress up to meet them at the forum. If nothing else, think of it as returning the favor: They’re dressing up for you, so you dress up for them. Remember this: You never know who’s taking notes on whom they’re meeting, and the last thing you want is a scribbled note next to your name talking about how you looked you were going to a pool party. Business casual is your friend.

Know where you’re going.

You don’t want to be running around the forum like a chicken with its head cut off. You also don’t want to get overwhelmed (and law forums are definitely a place where you can get easily overwhelmed). Come with a list of schools you want to talk to and get information on. You’ll get a map of where each school is when you check in at the forum–go right to each school on your list, and don’t get distracted. It’s easy to waste time and miss out on talking to schools when you’re unprepared.

Come prepared.

Just like it’s important to know where you’re going, it’s also important to come prepared with specific questions you want answers to. And, please, make sure they’re not questions you can easily find the answers to on the school’s website. The last thing you want a school rep wondering is why you can’t use Google. If you have specific questions about classes, professors, or offerings, now is the time to ask. Asking about their particular application review process, or how much weight they place on the personal statement, letters of rec, or transcript is also good. However, don’t make the mistake of assuming that whoever is at the schools table can answer this question: “What are my chances at your school?” Not only is that a question that would take much more than 5 minutes of conversation to answer, it is also impossible for the rep, who has no idea what your qualifications are, to answer with any degree of accuracy. It also serves to uncomfortably put them on the spot–and the last thing you want is to make them uncomfortable (and, side note: Giving them your LSAT score and GPA won’t make the question any easier to answer, so try to refrain, if you can).

Have a business card handy.

Although every school’s table will likely have a sign-up sheet where you can enter your name and contact information, it doesn’t hurt to have a card with your name, your phone number, and your email that you can give out. You would be surprised at how often reps ask for this information (particularly if they don’t have an immediate answer to your question and said they would email you). Plus, it lets you ask for their card in return, which can come in handy down the road. It will also make you look much more professional than the kid at the next table who is rummaging in his knapsack for a pen and a scrap of paper to scribble his name and email on. Don’t force it on anyone, but have it available in the event that an opportunity arises where you can hand it out. On top of being efficient and neat, it will make you look professional, which is exactly the right kind of impression you want to have.

Bring copies of your résumé.

Although certainly not mandatory (or even a necessity), this is one that is nice to have available. Much like a business card, a copy of your résumé can definitely come in handy. Just like a business card, though, don’t force it on anyone. Some reps will ask if you have one (particularly if you get into a conversation detailing what kinds of activities their law school likes to see an applicant be involved in, for example), and it looks good on you if you have an actual one to hand out. Think about investing in some nice résumé paper, too.

Don’t hog the rep.

Yes, reps are nice, and they will talk to you as long as you want them to, but keep in mind that you’re not the only person at the forum, and that others would like to have their questions answered, too. And it’s not just about common courtesy–the last thing you want is a rep wondering why you’re still talking when there’s a line of ten people behind you waiting to have their say.

Take advantage of all the offerings.

As I noted at the beginning of the this post, forums are about much more than just the school reps (although that’s certainly the meat of it!). There are workshops you can attend, and LSAC reps you can speak to. Make a day of it! The more information you can gather about law school, the LSAT, and the law school admissions process, the better!

______________________

Have a question about applying to law school you’d like me to answer? Send me an email.

Check out the Admissions Tip of the Week archives!

Like PowerScore Admissions Counseling on Facebook, and follow PowerScore on Twitter and Facebook.

Subscribe to our Admissions Tip Of The Week via email

How do you register for the LSAT? To register for the test, visit Law Services, the administrators of the test. While registering for the LSAT, you will come acorss CAS, the Credential Assembly Service. This data collection and standardization service is required for application to most schools, and more information can be found here.

Want to get a good grasp on the basics of the LSAT? Check out our Getting Started with the LSAT guide.  

Want to check out other LSAT tips? Click here.

With approximately six weeks left until the June 2012 LSAT, you might want to start thinking about a study plan if you’re planning to take that administration. Six weeks is a bit on the shorter side as far as study plans go, but it’s doable provided you can devote at least 15-20 hours/week towards LSAT prep. Be realistic – if you are a full-time student or work full time, chances are you cannot spend every waking hour doing logic games or logical reasoning questions. Nor should you have to; although the number of hours you spend training is surely important, what matters even more is how you train.

So here’s what you should be doing, assuming that (1) you aren’t taking a prep course; and (2) you have no prior exposure to the test.

To Do Now (or yesterday):

1. Register to take the LSAT, if you haven’t already done so. The registration deadline for the June 11, 2012 LSAT administration is May 8, 2012.
2. Get a hold of at least 20 practice tests, ideally released no earlier than 2005. (Having a hard time figuring out which tests are from when? Check out our Comprehensive Law Services LSAT Publication Identifier List)
3. Take a practice test under real test-taking conditions (i.e. 5 sections of 35 min each, with one break between Sections 3 and 4). It’s important to add a fifth, “experimental” section to the test you’re taking, even if it means “borrowing” a section from another (older) test. Not only will that help you become familiar with the LSAT format and content, but it will also provide you with a baseline against which to measure your progress. You can use our Virtual LSAT Proctor to time yourself.
4. Purchase the following publications, which we believe are the best self-study LSAT prep guides you will find on the market today:
   1. PowerScore LSAT Logic Games Bible (2008)
   2. PowerScore LSAT Logical Reasoning Bible (2009)
   3. PowerScore LSAT Reading Comprehension Bible (2010)

.

Week 1:

1. Read the Logic Games, Logical Reasoning, and Reading Comprehension Bibles cover-to-cover. Do not take any practice tests yet.

.

Week 2:

1. Take three full practice tests (ideally from 2006), making sure you take them under timed conditions.
2. Create a Word document or a spreadsheet in which you will list every question you miss on a practice test. Thoroughly review each test and enter any mistakes you make in your Word document or spreadsheet. Identify the type of question it was, and explain, in a few sentences, what made you choose the wrong answer. An entry should look like something like this:

• December 2006, LR 1, Q1: Main. The correct answer is (D), I chose (A). Chose the opposite answer due to competing viewpoints. In the future, pay attention to competing viewpoints in Main Point questions.

.

Week 3:

1. Based on your performance in Week 2, consider purchasing the Workbooks that accompany the LR and LG Bibles: the Logic Games Bible Workbook, and the Logical Reasoning Bible Workbook. The Workbooks are designed to test and reinforce the concepts and strategies in the Bibles. It’s (almost) like having a tutor walk you through the explanations of hundreds of difficult questions and games.
2. Take three full practice tests, from 2007.
3. Thoroughly review each test and enter any mistakes you make in your Word document or spreadsheet.

.

Week 4:

1. Take three full practice tests, from 2008.
2. Thoroughly review each test and enter any mistakes you make in your Word document or spreadsheet.
3. Examine all the mistakes you’ve made up to this point. Do you see any patterns? Are you missing a lot of questions with conditional reasoning stimuli? Numbers and percentages? How about Undefined Grouping Games? Or Science passages? Keeping track of where you constantly trip up will help you streamline your studies.
4. Return to the Bible trilogy and Workbooks and re-read the chapters that highlight the types of questions and games you are having trouble with.

.

Week 5:

1. Take three full practice tests, from 2009.
2. Thoroughly review each test and enter any mistakes you make in your Word document or spreadsheet.
3. If you notice persistent patterns of mistakes that you cannot fix with the self-study guides, consider purchasing a few hours of LSAT tutoring. A tutor should not only be able to explain what you are doing wrong, but also help you fix the problem. Tutoring is not cheap, but the benefit usually far outweighs the cost, given the enormous value in salary potential of even a 3 or 4-point increase in your LSAT score.

.

Week 6:

1. Take three full practice tests, from 2010.
2. Thoroughly review each test and enter any mistakes you make in your Word document or spreadsheet.
3. In the 3-4 days before the exam, review your Word document or spreadsheet and re-do every question in it, paying particular attention to the flawed logic that led you to choose an incorrect answer the first time around.
4. The day before the test, relax! Do something that makes you happy and don’t worry about the LSAT.

.

The day of the test, eat a wholesome breakfast, do a few logic games to get your brain revved up, and get to the testing center early. And kick some butt!

The PowerScore Law School Spotlight gives you a snapshot of a different law school each week.
For more information about each profiled institution, be sure to check out the school’s website.

The Pennsylvania State University Dickinson School of Law (commonly known as Penn State Law) is today’s Law School Spotlight. From LSAC’s Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools:

Founded in 1834, Penn State Law is the oldest law school in Pennsylvania and the fifth oldest in the nation. The law school embraces the university’s mission to improve the lives of the people of Pennsylvania, the nation, and the world through legal teaching, scholarship, and service.

Our law school is an engaged, diverse, and multidisciplinary intellectual community that challenges students to research, think, and act like lawyers—and to ascend to new heights of academic excellence. Through an intensive and comprehensive program of study that includes both classroom-based and experiential learning, our students are prepared to practice law at the highest level in an increasingly global world. As part of a world-class research university, Penn State Law students have access to extensive academic and programmatic resources to enhance their learning experience. Courses are offered at Penn State’s University Park campus in State College, Pennsylvania, and at the law school’s traditional home in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Type of school: Private

Setting: Suburban, large town

Size: 618 (2011)

Incoming class size: 228 (2011)

Student-to-faculty ratio: 9.4 to 1

Acceptance percentage: 29.1% (1,551 of 5,326 admitted)

Tuition and fees: $36,816

Cost of living (single student): $22,300

Address: Lewis Katz Building, University Park, PA 16802-1017 and 333 West South Street, Carlisle, PA 17013-2899
Phone: 800.840.1122
Email: admissions@law.psu.edu
Website: www.law.psu.edu
Twitter accounts: @PennStateLaw
Facebook: Penn State Law
Blog: None

All information (except for social networking and blog information) was gathered from the school’s profile on the Law School Admission Council’s Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools and the school’s website. Please consult the school’s website and Office of Admissions with questions regarding this information. 

To see other schools in the Law School Spotlight series, click here.

To listen to our Featured Law Schools podcast on Penn State Law, please click the “play” button below.