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Educational
Preparation
Law schools are looking for bright
articulate students with strong writing and research skills.
The major or specific courses that are taken are irrelevant.
Law schools primarily rely on your
LSAT score and your GPA. In order to be accepted at an
accredited law school, you should have about a 3.0 GPA (preferably
higher) and an LSAT score of at least in the low 150s.
Take demanding courses that develop
writing and research skills, logical thinking, and which look at
an issue from a variety of perspectives. However, keep in
mind that your GPA is important and that the courses you take
should be courses that you are interested in and in which you will
do well.
LSAT Scores and GPA
A law school with a good regional
reputation will expect a 3.2 to 3.5 GPA and a 155-158 LSAT.
A law school with a strong national reputation will expect a 3.7+
GPA and a 160+ LSAT. Obviously you should apply to more than
one law school since admissions are very competitive.
Consider applying to 7 or 8 schools. When you apply to law
school, it is best to take the LSAT by early in your senior year
for admission the following September. If you do poorly on
the LSAT, wou will still have time to retake it in December of
your senior year. Some law schools will average your LSAT
scores; others will take the highest score. Do not under any
circumstances take the LSAT without preparing for it. There
are private study courses for the LSAT, such as Kaplan and
Princeton Review. Princeton Review also publishes an
excellent study guide for the LSAT. Old LSAT's are useful
study tools and may be purchased from LSAT.
The LSDAS
When you sign up for the LSAT, also
sign up for the LSDAS which is necessary to evaluate your college
transcript. Law school admissions committees require LSDAS
evaluations of all your college grades.
If there is some unusual problem
with your grades that explains an exceptionally bad semester or
year, explain it to the law school in your personal
statement. While law schools tend to be very unforgiving
places, they are not completely rigid and inflexible.
Letters of
Recommendation
Most law schools will want three letters of
recommendation and almost all law schools will want you to use the
credential referral service that you can sign up for with the LSAT.
Try to use letters from professors or
employers--either 3 letters from professors or 2 letters from
professors and one from an employer. Often people think that a
letter from an influential politician will help. Unless you know
this person very well, it probably will not help at all. Such
letters are almost invariably form letters which have no weight in
law school admissions decisions. Additionally, sometimes people
think they need a letter from a lawyer. Again, unless that lawyer
knows you very well and can write a substantive letter, these
letters have no value.
When you seek a letter from someone, don't
just drop the form in the mail. Make an appointment with that
person. Bring them a resume and
(ideally) the personal statement that you
are going to have to write when you apply. If you are asking a
professor to write for you, you might also bring in tests or
research papers that you wrote for his/her class. And, tell the
prospective recommender about yourself and what you think is
important information that might be useful in a letter.
Do not get angry if the person says they
can't write you a letter or can't write you a strong letter. That
person is actually doing you a great favor by telling you
that--far better than writing a negative letter!
Let the prospective recommender know when
the recommendation is due. Try to give the recommender at least
two weeks notice before it is due. People do not look with favor
on the statement, "The letter is due tomorrow."
Usually, the best professors to write for
you will be full-time faculty that you have taken two or more
courses with and have done well in those courses. The courses the
professors teach are not really important. Ideally, the letter
will be about you writing ability, your critical thinking, you
verbal skills, and your work habits. |
