preLaw - Back to School 2007 - (Page 35) etting into law school is a lot like auditioning for American Idol. Prospective students practice, prep and primp to make themselves look as good as possible in the eyes of the judges, or in the case of law school, the admissions committee. And few students make the cut. Most prospective students know that admissions committees focus a lot of attention on grades and LSAT. But what else can applicants do to make themselves look like a star and enhance their chances for admittance? We asked four of the nation’s leading experts to share their secrets on how to get into law school. All of them are authors of best-selling books on the subject. Combined, Richard Montauk, Anna Ivey, Ruth Lammert-Reeves and Susan Estrich have years of experience and knowledge on law schools admissions. (See their biographies on the next page). Below are excerpts from their interviews. You can listen to the longer interviews at www.NationalJurist.com. preLaw: What can applicants do while they are undergrads to improve their academic records? Susan: There are three things. First, get good grades. Sad to say, but your grade point average matters a lot. Second, do well on the law boards. And the good thing about law boards — maybe the only good thing about law boards — is that you can study for them. It’s almost like learning a foreign language. You can figure it out, to a very large extent, by practicing, or taking a course, or doing it on your own, but you’ve got to be disciplined about it. You can figure out how to do better on the law boards. And now I have seen students substantially improve their numbers, if they’re willing to put the time into studying. The third thing you have to do when you’re in college is find a professor or two who knows your name and can write you a good recommendation. Richard: They can do a lot of things. One is, they can go into great depth in whatever their chosen field is. For example, if they’re a history major, take lots of advanced history seminars, and write a thesis in history. On top of that, they can do some advanced work in a second G field that demonstrates intellectual engagement and curiosity — both things that are going to matter to admissions committees. They can get involved in related activities, related to their majors or other intellectual or academic interests. Thus, they could do some writing on the side for whatever kind of publication, they could be involved in campus student organizations related to the field or to some professional outlet for the field; all of those things can be helpful. preLaw: For applicants with academic records that are less than stellar, what can they do through any part of the application process to make themselves seem a little better? Anna: The key is to show that there’s an upward trend. If you’ve had bad grades throughout, you’re going to have some difficulty. But if you just had trouble landing on your feet when you first got to college and you got better as a student over time, then you definitely want to point out that upward trend in your transcripts. If college was more or less a total bust throughout the whole time, you might consider taking some courses — even if it’s just one or two courses a semester — at a local university, and being able to show admissions officers better, more recent grades. Because if you don’t do that, you’re basically saying to the admissions officer, “You know what, I’m a better student than what you’re seeing here on my transcript, but I’m just going to ask you to take my word for it.” And that’s asking a lot of an admissions officer. preLaw: So, students who are concerned their grades aren’t so good, should they just plan to go and work for a couple of years? Ruth: I think they need to be honest about their credentials and how strong they are. And I wouldn’t waste the application fee if my grades are such that the school that I hope to get admitted to admits very few of the people with my credentials. One of the ways that you can find out how competitive your academic record is, is to look at the information that’s provided in a book that comes out every year, called the ABA-LSAC Official Guide to Approved Law Schools. It’s got a lot of really good data that will help the person make an honest estimate of what their chances are for getting into the schools they’re interested in. Back to School 2007 35 http://www.NationalJurist.com
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