Many future law school applicants look to build a strong foundation for their application. If you are an aspiring law student, it is never too early to start crafting your application. Even if you are more than a year away from applying to law school, you can take numerous steps today to make yourself a strong applicant:
1. Consider your undergraduate major.
Although you should not select your major solely based on the possibility of applying to law school, it is a good idea to consider how your choice of major could affect your GPA. The strength of your GPA will impact your law school application as well as other opportunities. Of course, you should focus on your interests and passions—but if you are undecided on a major or are deciding between two majors, your confidence in your ability to excel in a particular major might help you determine which one to choose. That being said, you should also consider fields of interest outside of law—because if you ultimately decide not to attend law school and you have majored in an area that is unrelated to the work you want to do, it could put you in a difficult situation when looking for employment.
2. Optimize your GPA.
Your grades should be your central focus, and maintaining a solid GPA will pay off when you apply to law school. Undergraduate GPA and LSAT/GRE scores account for 20% of a law school’s U.S. News & World Report ranking. You do not want to be in a position where you must get a perfect score on the LSAT to have a shot at a top law school; a strong GPA will give you more flexibility in your LSAT score.
To maximize your GPA, you should study hard while in college. This does not mean you should not have any social life, but you should avoid letting your grades fall by the wayside. If you want to be a lawyer, you will need to balance your work and social life, so starting now can help you be successful in the long term.
3. Be active inside and outside of school.
In addition to working on your GPA, building a strong portfolio of professional and personal experiences is something else you can do now. These experiences can help you craft your application essays. Additionally, law schools want to see a strong resume—and they are open minded in terms of whether your experience is in, say, religion, politics, sports, community service, entertainment, or whatever else. They want to see that you pursued your passions and interests and learned tangible skills.
On campus, you can take leadership positions in clubs, participate in a work-study program, be a research assistant, or take a position as a residential advisor. On-campus programs such as academic centers that conduct research and hold events might offer opportunities for you to get involved as well. Your college may also organize trips for educational or community service purposes.
Off campus, you can volunteer with a community service organization or a political campaign. You could also intern at a government agency, a nonprofit, a company, or another organization related to your interests. Finding a part-time job in an area of interest is another option. For example, if you are interested in family law, you could work as an assistant at a local preschool.
Although gaining conventional work experience is helpful, you should also take chances. For instance, if you have a startup idea, it could be worth trying. Even if it does not work out, the experience you gain can provide a good story for one of your application essays.
4. Perfect and guard your reputation.
Reputation is vital in the legal world. Before you can even become a lawyer, your reputation will be evaluated numerous times. Law schools take your reputation into account when reviewing your application, and it also factors into your bar admission application. Therefore, you should start building a strong reputation now.
You should also avoid actions that will have a negative effect on your reputation. For example, having a run-in with the law or facing disciplinary actions at your college will come up in your application to both law school and the bar. In addition, admissions officers have said that they review students’ social media during the application process. Making controversial statements or posing inappropriate photos on your profile can negatively impact your application.
5. Learn how to think like an attorney.
The point of the LSAT is to project how likely you are to academically succeed in law school. Even if you do not want to take an LSAT prep class yet, you can engage in games that use similar logic to the LSAT. If you are planning to take the GRE, you can start doing math problems and reading material with a more sophisticated vocabulary.
6. Decide LSAT versus GRE versus GMAT.
More schools are starting to accept the GRE and GMAT. The LSAT is a good default test because every law school accepts it, but some applicants score better on other tests. If you are considering taking the GRE or GMAT, first check to see if your schools of interest accept those exams. You can generally find this information on the schools’ application web pages.
From there, it is best to take a practice exam for each test. If you earn a substantially higher score (generally different by 5 to 10%) on one, then that is the best exam to take. Alternatively, you could try studying for the LSAT for one to three months—and if your scores do not improve, you could try studying for one of the other exams for a similar amount of time.
It is important to know that if you take the LSAT, you must submit your score. Law schools must report their LSAT numbers to help determine their rankings, so you will be evaluated based on your LSAT score—even if you get a strong GRE or GMAT score.
7. Think about what kind of lawyer you want to be.
Try to get a general sense of what kind of law you want to practice and where you’d like to work. If you attend law school and later decide that you’d rather practice a different type of law or work somewhere else, law schools only offer so much portability. It is best to attend law school near the region where you want to work. Similarly, many areas of the law are regionally based. For example, if you want to work in tech, it is generally best to go to school in the Bay Area. Alternatively, if you want to work in public interest, it is a good idea to consider schools where you’d have a strong chance of receiving merit aid and/or those that offer a loan repayment program.
The best way to research this is by looking up employment reports by school, as every law school must report certain statistics. If you search online for “x school employment report,” you can see the school’s employment rate, the percentage of its graduates who work at law firms, and a breakdown of the percentage of graduates who work in each region.
Additionally, you can try to intern for firms and organizations in areas of the law that are of interest to you as well as conduct networking calls with people who work in those areas. You can reach out over LinkedIn or find their emails on firm websites.
8. Start planning today!
Stratus offers the JD Early Edge program, which provides law school hopefuls with the tools to create a solid foundation for their applications. Our admissions counselors have unique experience with the law school application process, and they all successfully navigated the process themselves before building successful careers. To learn more about how Stratus can help you navigate your law school application journey, reach out today for a free consultation! We look forward to hearing from you.
As always, if you would like our expert help on your law school applications, sign up for a free consultation!