Tips for Applying to Law School
Lawyers have a bad name. Face it, people don’t like them, but the fact remains that people continue to fight to get into law school. There are a limited number of seats available at law schools across the country, but every year, each American law school turns away many more applicants than they accept. So the question becomes, what can you do to better your chances of being one of those that is accepted when the admission pool is completed? Primarily, you need a more in depth understanding of the American law school admission process and how the typical admission committee thinks.
There are nearly 200 accredited law schools in the . Being accredited means the specific school has been reviewed by the American Bar Association to ensure certain standards have been met. If a school is accredited, then, among other things, a graduate can apply for admission to any state bar in the . Graduates from unaccredited law schools cannot apply for bar membership outside of the state where they attended school and may not be able to apply for admission in their state. Except in rare cases where schools are on the path to accreditation by the time an entering student would graduate, as is the case with some new law schools, little is gained by attending an unaccredited law school.
As to the admissions committees, of the nearly 200 law schools, each particular school has a predetermined size for their first year class. The admissions committee looks for the best and the brightest to complete the class. The better the students perform the better jobs their graduates receive and the better the school looks. For this first year class, the admissions criteria have already been set and there is rarely any variance from these standards, the committees simply look for students that fit and place them in their first year classes. Understanding these standards will allow you to use them to your advantage in gaining admission to a school of your choice.
The application process is long and time consuming, but there are several key elements that you will have to complete which will be the core of your application and the basis for, hopefully, your admission. This core is made up of four different components – your college transcripts, your LSAT (Law School Admission Test) score, letters of recommendation and a writing sample. Of these four factors, though law schools frequently say they do not give any factor greater weight, the most important are your undergraduate academic record and your LSAT score.
The first lesson you can draw from this is that the earlier you begin preparing, the better situated you will be for law school admission. You don’t change your undergraduate record in a single semester. For example, if you have been an average student in college, there is little you can do about the totality of your academic performance your senior year. The better you do as an undergraduate, the better your chances will be when applying to law school. Higher GPA’s translate into a larger choice of schools for you. It is not at all unusual for the majority of the first year class at any law school to have higher than a 3.5 undergraduate GPA. You may not plan on law school from day one of college, but the better you do earlier in your academic career, the better your chances are when you apply.
The second major factor used in determining admission is LSAT performance. The LSAT is a standardized test that every applicant to accredited law schools must take that gauges how you will perform in law school, thereby giving the different admissions committees some predictor before they extend admission invitations. However, don’t worry that you don’t know any law before you take the test. There are no questions about law on the exam; rather, the standardized test measures acquired reading and verbal reasoning skills. The good part of this is that you already have the knowledge and skill to take this test. The bad news is that you already have the knowledge and skills to take this test. Unfortunately, you cannot study for the test in the traditional sense of the word. In other words, you can’t memorize a set of dates or facts. However, rather than memorizing any new information, what you can do is learn how the test writers are thinking and gain a little understanding as to the theory and construction behind the test. There are endless resources available that allow you to review and take sample test. There are also learning centers such as Kaplan that teach LSAT test preparation. These courses offer valuable resources such as exposure to sample test, quantification of sample answers, discussions with study course instructors and other students and, perhaps most importantly, sample test administration in simulated LSAT conditions. Taking a course such as this won’t guarantee your admission to law school, but it will better prepare you for the test and potentially raise your LSAT score. One important benefit of sample test scores is learning a potential score range of your performance on the actual test.
An accepted reality of the law school world is that law schools are ranked into different tiers. The higher a law school is ranked, the more applications they receive, the higher their admission standards, the higher the credentials of their new students and the more difficult acceptance is. There are a variety of resources available that examine historic trends in the admission standards of law schools, with many schools providing such information on their web sites. Once you have an idea of a potential LSAT score range and you know your undergraduate grades, then you can begin to examine where your best chances for admission may be. Schools will break down their total admissions into what GPA and LSAT combinations were offered admission. Knowing your LSAT and GPA will allow you to see where you would have fit in the pack.
From here, you need to begin to target the schools that fall within your GPA and LSAT score range. If you have a GPA and LSAT higher than the standard for a school in which you are interested, your chances of admission are good. Put some time into your application, get it in early and you will be in good shape. If either your GPA or LSAT is higher than the standard, but one is below, do apply as your chances are still good. If you want to go to a school and both LSAT and GPA are below your standards, don’t get your hopes up, chances are not so good. The best approach is to categorize the schools in which you are interested into three groups. The first would be the schools where you exceed both the GPA and LSAT; the second would be where you exceed either the LSAT or the GPA and then the final group where you are below both the LSAT and GPA standards.
From this point, you may want to look at factors such as the schools reputation, curriculum, faculty, and financial aid options, alumni in your area and other factors, perhaps even visiting the school and attending a class or two to get a feel for the environment.
After this, start the applications. However, understand that timing is important. Schools typically have a deadline by which applications have to be received. Many times, by this application date, many offers for admission have already been sent out, so don’t wait until the last minute. The one thing you want to avoid is shot gunning applications without research. All law schools require an admission fee and if you haven’t done your research, all you will be doing is sending the school free a contribution and getting nothing in return. Take Yale Law School for instance. They have some of the highest admission standards in the country, but each year they receive thousands and thousands of applications, accepting only about 750 new students. This leaves many people simply making a contribution to the school and receiving nothing in return but a letter of rejection. While there are instances where the admissions committee looks at an applicant and decides to offer admission in spite of a low LSAT or GPA, these occurrences are few and very far between.
Once your application is completed and ready to go, you then need to register with the LSDAS (Law School Data Assembly Service). Nearly all law schools require registering with LSDAS as part of the application process. The LSDAS assembles your undergraduate transcripts, writing samples and LSAT scores and forwards them to the different schools to which you are applying, relieving you of this task; however, there is a registration fee for this required service. You can find everything you need at http://www.lsac.org. In addition to allowing you to register for the LSAT and LSDAS, the site also provides links to every accredited law school in the . From there you can learn admission criteria and request applications for any law school you desire. There is also a variety of other resources there that will help you better understand and prepare for the application process.
In a nutshell, the process of making yourself more attractive to law schools deals with maximizing your GPA to the extent you can. Preparation for the LSAT is also crucial. Learn how the test writers think to increase your chances of performing at a higher level on the test. Once you have the two main components of the process, compare that to law schools and see where you fit in. Put together a quality application and get them in early.
While there are many more applicants than there are spots for new students and thousands upon thousands of people apply each year, there are also thousands of new students accepted to law school. With a little homework and preparation, you can better yourself and make yourself more attractive to potential law schools and increase your chances of admission.
