Applying to Law School

In preparing your application to law school, you should be sure to consider all of the following.

Start Early

Applying to law school is a very time-consuming and often frustrating process. Most law schools require applications to be in by January or February. You should therefore start working on your applications as early as possible, perhaps in the summer or fall the year before you plan to attend law school. Starting early allows you to avoid having to rush to get things together in the last minute, which increases the likelihood of mistakes. It also allows you to provide your references with the necessary materials well before applications are due.

Follow Directions

When you begin to fill out applications for various law schools, make sure that you read the materials very carefully, and provide all (but only) the information the school requests. You will be damaging your chances of admission if it shows in your application that you do not read carefully and/or follow directions.

Conduct Research about the best law school for you.

Accredited Schools – You should only apply to law schools that have been accredited by the American Bar Association.

Reputation - Go to the best law school that you can afford and where you will be able to succeed.

Cost – Declaring bankruptcy after you graduate tends to inhibit brilliant legal careers! As a general rule, do not incur more debt through loans than you will make your first year on the job market (For example: if you plan on working in public interest law, the average starting salary is approximately $40,000, which means persons pursuing a career should not allow their total debt burden for all three years to exceed $40K).

Options – Consider applying to several law schools both in-state and out-of-state. While most public law schools (including the University of Texas-Austin) do set aside a number of seats for in-state residents, remember that law schools are looking for geographic diversity as well. Under no circumstances should you apply to a law school that you would not attend in the event you would be accepted. Remember, you will have to spend three years of your life in some geographic location, so be sure to choose one that is compatible with your lifestyle.

I strongly encourage you to visit the law school(s) you are considering. This is the best method of assessment. Before visiting, call the law school’s admissions office to see if the law school has campus orientation for prospective students—such things as a formal tour, attending a class and speaking to current law students and members of the faculty. The Legal Society at TAMU-Commerce will be inviting law admissions officers from area law schools to visit TAMU campus in the immediate future. Visit this website frequently for the latest pre-law news and information.

Taking the Law School Admission Test (LSAT)

The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is a standardized, written examination that must be taken by all those applying to law school.

“The LSAT seeks to measure not what you already know, but rather how well you might respond to training in law; so it goes after your basic skills and abilities along certain lines, testing all of the following: critical and accurate reading; dispassionate, flexible, intelligent inferential thinking; distinguishing fact from opinion, and the relevant from the irrelevant; stability under pressure; tolerance of ambiguity and of abstraction; quick adaptation to unfamiliar procedures and strange circumstances.”

(Homer, Frank X.J> 1992. “The LSAT: Facts, Preparation, Testwiseness” in The Handbook for Pre-Law Advisors, ed. Gerald Lee Wilson. Published by the Southern Association of Pre-Law Advisers).

The exam consists of five 35-minute sections of multiple-choice questions containing a total of approximately 100 questions. Your score is based upon your performance on four of those sections:

one reading comprehensive section,

one analytical reasoning (a.k.a. “games”) section, and

two logical reasoning sections.

There is a fifth “experimental” section which contains news questions that are being pretested for possible inclusion on future exams. Your score is not based on your performance in this fifth section, but then you are not told which section it is.

In addition, you are given 30 minutes to compose a writing sample that addresses a decision problem that is supplied for you. The writing sample does not count toward your LSAT score, but is provided to all law schools to which you apply. To take a practice test, click here.

You will receive your score approximately six weeks after you take the test. However, you can find out your score earlier by contacting the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC).

Most students take the LSAT in June or September/October (I recommend June) and at least a year prior to their admission to law school. While taking the December LSAT is also possible, it means that you will probably not have your scores back before you will need to send in your law school application, and it is preferable to know your score so that you are not wasting application fees on schools where you do not meet the LSAT minimum requirement. My recommendation: take the LSAT in June and apply early to your choices of law schools. Taking the LSAT in June and applying early increase the chance that your application will be given more than a cursory look.

Increasingly law schools are refusing to accept February scores for the following academic year. Be sure to check with the law schools to which you are applying to be sure about when you need to take the LSAT.

Registering with LSAT is necessary. Avoid taking the LSAT at the last minute, as well as having to take the test over. Most students prefer to sign up for the “unlimited score reporting” provided by the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC). If you are applying to less than three schools and feel confident that you will be admitted to one of these, then you will probably want to use the less costly reporting process. LSAT review courses are available at Kaplan Educational Centers and Princeton Review.

Personal Statement

Most law schools require a short essay (a.k.a. “personal statement”). Different schools ask for different information, but the essay is generally designed to help law school admissions officials get a sense of who you are as an individual.

Your personal statement (a.k.a. application essay) is the first document that you will write as an advocate. Writing it can be extremely difficult. The most important thing to remember is that admissions officers are bombarded by hundreds of these statements every admissions period, and their task is to separate the wheat from the shaft, figuratively speaking. You must therefore figure out some way to separate yourself from the others. How do you do that? Here are some suggestions:

You should advocate why it is that your choice of law school should also choose you! The most important thing to consider in your personal statement is to think about what it is that distinguishes you from the other thousands of persons who are also applying to law school. You want to give them a reason to remember you, so tell them why you would be a contributing member to their academic community. Telling the committee that you have “always wanted to be a lawyer” will not distinguish you from the other candidates.

Your statement should illustrate why you have had an interesting life, how it is that you have overcome obstacles, and why your experiences will add to the unique group of individuals that decided to study at any particular law school. Remember that the committee will be looking closely at your ability to be imaginative, informative, creative, and coherent. This is the one opportunity you have in your application to give yourself human form beyond the numbers and statistics that typify the application process! Be sure to be enthusiastic and positive about the experiences that you have had in your life. Even in difficult and troubled times, there are lessons that you have learned about yourself which contribute to why you are the person that you are.

The statement should have some sort of theme that ties each of your key points together. Do not duplicate information that appears somewhere else in your application. Your personal statement is an opportunity to expand on some interesting part of your life. It may also give you the chance to clarify details about your application that you want to bring to the committee’s attention. Be sure to talk to your friends and family about ideas for your personal statement themes. To start thinking about potential themes for your personal statement, click here.

If you had a semester in which your grade point average was uncharacteristically low, be sure to address the reason(s) for that in your application, perhaps in the personal statement. Many law schools check for improvement in grades over the course of an applicant’s college education.

Letters of Recommendation

Schools vary in terms of their requirements on this. The most important thing to do is follow the guidelines the law schools provide. If a school does NOT require letters of recommendation, do NOT send letters! If a school indicates that letters of recommendation are optional, you will want to send at one letter. Note: if the law school sets a limit, stay under that limit. Remember, if you do not rely on guidelines, you look like someone who cannot follow directions!

Most schools require at least two, sometimes three, and the application will specify if there are particular types of persons that the law school would prefer to write your letter (dean, employer, professor, pre-law advisor, etc.). Increasingly schools are using the letter of referral available through the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC). Again, be sure to follow what the law school wants.

Law schools are most interested in your ability to handle the intellectual rigor of a legal education. Therefore, your professors are the best choice for recommendations. Choose persons who have some idea about your work ability and your intellectual capacity. If you are not sure whether a professor or an employer will remember who you are, you should not ask them for a letter! It is unwise to choose “long-time friends of the family,” as they will not be able to speak to your academic capabilities.

Most persons who write letters of recommendation will request that you sign the confidentiality waiver (which means that you will never be able to see your letter of recommendation). If you have any qualms about whether one of your references will write you a supportive letter, you should not be asking them to do so! Also remember that law schools look with a suspicious eye on letters where a confidentiality waiver has not been signed. It looks like the person writing the letter might be cautious about providing negative commentary because you (the applicant) will have access to the file. Likewise, a short or form letter is of absolutely no value at all; it will be ignored.

When the Application is Complete

I suggest that you call each law school after you have mailed your application materials and before the application deadline to ensure that your file is incomplete. Also, note that different schools have different reply time. Therefore, you may have to wait 2-3 months following the application deadline before you will hear any news from some schools regarding your application.

If you need additional information, go to FINDLAW website, or click here