One of the aspects of applying to law school that poses the most trouble for older applicants is obtaining letters of recommendation. This is due to two reasons:Schools stress that they prefer academic letters of recommendation. So, letters that come from someone who has worked closely with you in an academic capacity, preferably in a classroom. Older students typically don't keep in touch with their college professors and/or haven't been working in an academic capacity with anyone since their undergraduate years.So what do you do if you're an older applicant that's been out of … [Read more...]
Law School Scholarship Essays: What’s the Right Length?
A student asked me a question recently that I imagine has crossed the minds of many law school applicants before her: exactly how long should a law school scholarship applicant's essay be? Her concern was that, having a lot to say, she would overwhelm or even bore the scholarship committee by writing too much. Here is the response I gave:First, how long your essay should be typically depends on both the topic and the specific instructions. That is, various scholarships tend to ask for essays of different (and sometimes very specific) lengths, in the same way that certain scholarships may … [Read more...]
How Do Law Schools Look at Graduate Work?
Although the majority of law school applicants are coming straight from college, there are many that are just coming out of graduate school or have a graduate degree in addition to their Bachelor's. For those students, their grad school degree and grad school grades can sometimes be a source of discomfiture. How are these grades considered? Are they included in your GPA calculation? Can they make a not-so-great undergraduate GPA better? Do they give you an edge in admissions? Evaluation Let's take a look at how law schools evaluate graduate work. Perhaps the most important thing to keep in … [Read more...]
Why Are the “Top 14” Law Schools Called the “Top 14”?
Although, among law school applicants, there is much talk of the supremacy and excellence of the "top 14" law schools--also known as the "T14"--it seems that many current and would-be law school hopefuls don't really know why the "top 14" is known as the "top 14." They must be the top of something, right? So what are they the top of?The "top 14" are the top 14 law schools in the U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings. The U.S. News rankings are the most widely used (if oftentimes debated) law school rankings available, and most readily accepted of all the different law school … [Read more...]
Law School Personal Statements You SHOULDN’T Write
I've been working with law school applicants for years. Every year I see some absolutely unique essays and I see essays that I swear I've seen before (sometimes many, many times). Some of them are strikingly good, while others are jarringly bad. In an effort to shed some light on essay topics that could quickly go from mundane to radioactive, I've compiled a list of a few of the topics that I wish would go away—or, at least, get done by fewer applicants. A Bad Idea is a Bad Idea I guarantee, at least once during your law school application process, you will be tempted to pen one of these … [Read more...]
Useful Resources for Law School Applicants
If you're thinking about applying to law school, you should also be thinking about your applications. If apps are on your mind, you may also be researching schools and quickly overwhelming yourself with the multitude of websites and publications out there that give out (sometimes not-so-reliable) information. To that end, here's a list of some of the best, "must-have" resources for applicants. We regularly help students with their applications! Among these suggestions are some of the top links we send our students to when they're considering their journey. It's not exhaustive by any means, but … [Read more...]
The Value of Work Experience to a Law School
As most law school applicants know, a student’s LSAT score and GPA are generally the most important factors in most law school admissions decisions. Historically, post-college work experience has not been emphasized, and students often go directly from college into law school. Over the past few years, however, many top law schools have increasingly begun to focus on work experience when making admissions decisions.Dean Martha Minow has helped to bring about such a shift at Harvard Law School: Back in 2009, about 40% of Harvard’s incoming law students were coming into the law school … [Read more...]
Is the LSAT a Perfect Predictor of Law School Success?
The LSAT is intended to measure the skills you will need to do well in the study of law. But how good a test is it? How important are “LSAT skills” once you get to law school? Reading Comprehension is important, which is why it seems to show up on so many different standardized tests. Without question, people who want to go to law school should be able to read and understand complex material. But the ability to read four passage sets and answer close to 30 questions, all within 35 minutes? I’m not convinced that’s crucial—Supreme Court Justices are never put under that kind of time … [Read more...]
How Does the Law School Application Process Work?
Unlike applying to college, which is pretty straight-forward process (at least in retrospect), applying to law school can feel a little labyrinthine. Transcripts, Law School Reports, letters of recommendation, the Credential Assembly service, addenda...after a while, it can all start getting jumbled up.Right around this time of year, I start getting so many "I'm confused. Help!" emails that I find myself there was a quick and easy guide to the process.To do my part to help, here is my Guide to the Basics About Applying to Law School. It is not exhaustive by any means, but it'll give … [Read more...]
Hoping to Apply to Law School Early? What Actually Is Early?
Many people know that law schools use a rolling admissions process, which means that schools consider applicants in batches as the applications arrive. Thus, when an application comes in at the beginning of the application period (in the fall of each year), there are the fewest number of competing applications completed and the greatest number of available spaces in the class.As time goes on, more applications come in. Towards the end, there are the greatest number of applications completed but far fewer spaces remaining in the class. Thus, there is a significant advantage to applying as … [Read more...]
Still Waiting to Hear from Your Dream School? You’re Not Alone
Still waiting to hear back from your dream school? You are not alone. This year, “rolling admissions” can just as well be called “crawling” admissions. We can only speculate as to the reasons why schools are taking longer than usual, but one plausible explanation has to do with the relatively unpredictable size (and qualifications) of the applicant pool. We all know that applications have been dropping since 2010, but there is a strong indication that they bottomed out last year, and are starting to recover from a five-year slide. The rate of decrease slowed in 2015, while the total number of … [Read more...]
What to Do if You’re Waitlisted at Your Top Choice and Accepted at Another
For most, the whirlwind of the law school application process is over. The waiting is over and decisions are in your inboxes. You open those emails, answer those phone calls, and rip open the envelopes. Are you in? Are you out? Or are you waitlisted? If you applied to more than one law school, chances are you'll have a myriad of answers to sort through. If you're reading this, chances are you're in a most beneficial position: you've been accepted at one school and waitlisted at your top choice. What Do You Do? It's a great place to be in! You know you've got a soft landing spot for the … [Read more...]
Do I Have to Wait until After I Take the LSAT to Get My Letters of Recommendation?
One of the biggest misconceptions students have about the law school admissions process is that they have to wait to do anything until after they've taken the LSAT.Now, don't get me wrong: Taking the LSAT before you do anything else is not a bad thing. On the contrary, it's a great starting point, since your LSAT score determines so much when it comes to your application--where you'll have the best chance of admission, what your overall applications strategy needs to be, and if you need to take it again to be a competitive applicant. However, that's not to say that other things that … [Read more...]
What Does My Law School Application Result Mean?
It's law school application decision time. Letters, emails, phone calls--they're all (and have been, for a while) coming out of admissions offices around the nation, letting applicants know of their fate. Of course, everyone knows what the big fat envelope and "Congratulations!" email means. They require no explanation. Although the most desirable result is certainly that of an admission, though, that is not always what you may see.It is important to be familiar with the other admissions results you might receive, so that you know what to do after you receive a … [Read more...]