Law School...
 

anyone here in/graduated from a Law School...I need some ideas of ways to possibly improve my chances of getting into Law School

There are a TON of current/former law students on GC. What specifically do you want to know?

Also, if you do a search you might find some old threads on this - I know we've had a few.

Yeah, that's a HUGE question. You gotta be a hell of a lot more specific.

First piece of advice- learn to be self-sufficient and resourceful. I.e. use the "search" feature.

eta: here's a thread with good advice for someone who is underqualified for law school: http://greekchat.com/gcforums/showth...=&pagenumber=1

I was not aware the board had a search feature but thanks for pointing that out...and as far as my question goes...I meant are there any sorts of activities or groups that I could join that are likely to help my chances to get accepted...I know a lot of the law firms in Columbia hire students as "runners" and whatnot due to my schedule this semester I was unable to even look into a job such as that but I am trying to find one for next semester

Factors that will get you into law school.

1) LSAT
2) Grades

<huge cut off>

3) Extracurricular stuff

Unless you have a really unique circumstance, it's pretty much all GPA and LSAT. Extra stuff can't hurt, but it doesn't always help.

Agreed. LSAT and grades are pretty much all that matters. If you are borderline to a school's desired numbers, they may consider other stuff. But usually that's, as GP says, unique circumstances- like a life-changing illness, taking care of your orphaned brothers and sisters, etc.

There are a ton of websites out there that talk about law school.

But I think before you get into this whole thing, it's best to figure out if it's something you want to do. There's a TON of people going to law school right now. The economy sucks, therefore the job market sucks, and there is an absolute glut of new attorneys everywhere.

One of the perks of working at a law firm in undergrad is that you can ask lawyers to write letters of recommendation for you. It would help if they are alumni of the school you want to apply to. Of course, you probably would want to work there for a few months before asking.

Ditto to Dani and GeekyPenguin though, try to improve your GPA as much as possible and do the best you can on the LSAT. Good luck!

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You forgot to mention law school sucks. ;)

Or at least sucks out your soul.

well yeah, that's a given, since us lawyers don't have souls ;)

I really don't know if there is that much of a perk, admissions-wise, of working for a law firm while an undergrad. Nor is there necessarily a lot of opportunities for part time work in law firms.

You'd likely be a fileclerk/gopher- grunt work. Benefits would be getting somewhat of a chance to see how a law firm works and see if it might be the sort of thing you'd want to do with your life. Unless you work at a firm where one of the attorneys has some big time pull (i.e. is an adjunct there or donates lots of $$$) at your desired school, I don't think a letter of rec from an attorney will make that much of a difference.

Get your grades and your LSAT up. That's what counts. Some people say it's unfair, blah blah blah, but that's life. Unless you have an exceptional life story, no one gives a isht about the rest.

To answer your question- no. They most likely won't even look at your extracirriculars unless you're below their "magic number" (i.e. the composite number, calculated from your LSAT and GPA). And if they do, they likely just want to see actual INVOLVEMENT in something, not just a "paper" member in something like an undergraduate chapter of Phi Alpha Delta (a law fraternity). How involved are you in your TKE chapter? Showing actual leadership skills. Your ability to fill out an application and pay some fees to join a club doesn't matter. It's what you do with it.

And again, being a "runner" won't really do squat for you when it comes to getting into law school. As I said, it may expose you to some things and influence whether you want to get into this crazy profession, but a law school isn't going to care that you were a gopher for Dewey, Screwum & Hard.

My brief credentials for giving advice on this:
Pitt Law '05, admitted to practice in PA (and hopefully WV & OH within the next year), and an actual EMPLOYED attorney.

is law school really that bad?? It seems like EVERYONE I have talked to has tried to talk me out of going to law school including my parents (who on the other hand tell me they will disown me if I ever get involved in politics...Im a Political Science major by the way). I am currently working on getting my GPA up (had a rough semester last semester and an equally rough one this semester...so my GPA is a little lower than what I would like it to be)...I havent yet started really studying for the LSAT (Im in my first semester of my sophomore year right now) but I plan on beginning over Christmas break, when I actually have some time on my hands. I have wanted to go to law school since I was in about 4th grade...and really cant imagine what kind of work I would get into if it was not the law. As far as the reasons I want to go to law school...it isnt for the money, although it would be nice, but I actually do have a passion for the law and besides I think I need to do something in life that will really challenge me...I tend to get bored (especially with academics) when the material really isnt that hard to grasp.

Yes, it is that bad. And it's very competitive, both getting in and once you're there. Especially right now when there's an absolutel glut of young lawyers.

Really, no offense to you, but it cracks me up when I hear people say that they "have a passion for the law" when they have absolutely no exposure to what the law REALLY is- when they've never been through law school or worked in the field, etc.. You don't mention any real exposure to what it is to be a lawyer, so I wouldn't go around saying you have a passion for the law- especially don't say it on a law school application or something! It's a meaningless, B.S. statement unless you have something to back it up.

Poli Sci isn't a bad major to have, but if it's like at my school, it was a small major credits-wise, so you may want to find something to supplement it academically. Poli Sci majors are a dime a dozen (at least!) in law school. Especially if you don't have high grades, find some way to academically set yourself apart. As a side note, if you have any constitutional law classes in your poli sci major, I would probably recommend taking at least one to get some exposure.

If you get bored with academic material easily, especially that that isn't hard to grasp- then why aren't your grades up to par? It seems like a silly statement to make when your grades aren't as high as they should be.

USCTKE, you sound a lot like me. And yes, law school really really is that bad. You are immersed in a subject. If you have any friends who are engineers, think about how much time they spend in labs, on problem sets, all that crap - that's how much time it takes. If you really really want to do it, by all means, go for it - but I would strongly recommend taking a year off, and halfway through my 1L year, wish that I would have.

I used to not think law school was bad at all, because I dated a guy who was in law school and all he did was sit around on his a$$ and 1) play video games, and 2) surf the internet. I never saw him doing any actual work! Guess that's why he graduated at the bottom of his class and is, the last I heard, unemployed.

ok passion was the wrong word...but the only thing I could think of at the time...should have said very strong interest I guess, even spent a lot of time around the county courthouse the summer after my senior year just trying to get a feel for some of the things that lawyers had to do. My general education classes are the ones that drag my GPA down...because they just arent interesting to me and sometimes I do not devote as much time to them as I should...my philosophy (Intro to Logic) class this semester for example, my professor spent almost a month going over the simpliest material (mostly just common sense stuff (like if a=b and b=c then a=c very simple stuff)...I ended up getting bored in class because she went over the same thing day after day. I was half paying attention in class by the end of September when she started moving on and then she went through the rest of the class (the harder part) spending only one class (on average) per topic...I am not doing that bad in the class (I should be able to pull out a B if I get a good grade on my final)...it seems like the easier the material taught is the less time I spend studying...which is completly my fault...next semester I am taking a Constitutional law class and the Judicial process class that USC offers.