Your PreLaw and Admissions Questions, Answered

You all submitted your prelaw and admissions questions to my Instagram stories, and I am here to answer!

---

Any advice for people who don’t have a strong GPA when applying? I’m at a 3.2 rn. I definitely feel you on this! I had an undergraduate GPA of 3.38 when I applied to law school and was stressed seeing that it was below a lot of median accepted GPAs of law schools I wanted to apply to. I’m not sure what your major is, but environmental policy was a bachelor of science and the grades that lowered my GPA were things like calculus, biology, and intro environmental engineering. I tried to remind myself that admissions officers will likely be willing to forgive a lower GPA because those are obviously difficult courses, and statistics don’t tell the whole story of what GPAs are getting accepted to law school! My main tip is to put everything you’ve got into getting a good LSAT score if you haven’t taken it yet! Those two stats are what matter most, the LSAT score being the most important part of your application (in my opinion). My other piece of advice is to just make sure you have a well-rounded application in all other aspects as much as you can 🙂

What is a rundown of everything I should have ready for apps? This definitely varies by application! In general, you should expect to have an LSAT score, college transcripts with your GPA, letters of recommendation (academic and professional), a resume, a personal statement, and possibly supplemental essays which vary by law school.

Are letters of recommendation required for admissions? Yup! usually 2 to 4 of them are required on your application.

What type of letters of recommendation should I be looking to get? It depends on the application! Most want academic references, which means professors/lecturers (TAs should be fine too, but as a last resort option). For other applications, your letters can be from professional references, or a mix of professional and academic.

What year of undergrad did you take the LSAT? Since I wasn’t planning on a gap year and wanted to have the opportunity to take the LSAT twice if I needed to, I took the LSAT during the end of spring quarter of my junior year of college (June), only took it once, and then sent in my applications in December of my senior year.

Any advice for those taking it soon? (2 months!) Ahhh good luck! I would say try to limit your social time hanging out with friends/family, to really focus on studying since you’re two months out. If you are feeling burnt out or unproductive while studying, take a break. Try to take practice tests in as close to real test day conditions as possible, aka have a friend proctor a practice exam for you and take the full length thing. It really helps to know what score you will likely end up with, and also helps to build stamina for sitting in such a long exam! and definitely treat yourself after the exam 🙂

Did you give yourself a set score for if you would or wouldn’t retake the LSAT? Good Q! I didn’t really give much thought as to what score would definitely make me want to retake it. I did have an expectation of what score I would get on the exam though, because I had taken full length practice tests in my prep course, and seen my score each time as I prepped. I ended up getting the same score on the LSAT as my highest practice test score, and I knew that was the best I could do so I didn’t retake it. The advice my prep course instructor gave us was that you should only retake the LSAT if you are confident you will end up raising your score by at least a few points, because it won’t look great to have retaken it and not improved or got a lower score.

LSAT study resources/tips? Look at 2 questions up for tips, and for resources I am not the best to answer this since I used a Testmasters prep course but Khan Academy has a ton of free practice questions for the LSAT! The PowerScore LSAT books are supposed to be pretty good too. Also if your college has a prelaw club of some sort, they may host free practice LSATs sometimes, mind did.

Affordable prep courses? I know some of them range into the thousands. Yup, the Testmasters live course was about $1650 which I know a lot of folks cannot afford. The online version was around one thousand I want to say. I don’t really have any other prep course recommendations, but the PowerScore prep book series is under 200 and highly recommended by others!

Admissions essay tips? / Personal Statement advice? Ah I wish I could help more on this one! I don’t really have too many tips. Obviously make sure to proofread proofread proofread. have a friend or multiple friends proofread and provide feedback. Don’t spit out everything on your resume, only mention your past experiences if it’s relevant to what you’re writing about. I would also see if you can get your hands on examples of essays. I had a few friends in law school at the time I was applying so I was able to read their essays and get some inspiration. I have my personal statement posted here, in an attempt to be a resource for anyone applying to law school!

Anything to avoid in personal statements? Definitely don’t spit out your entire resume. Avoid typos and grammatical errors. Also avoid using big flowery vocabulary, and try to write naturally!

Is the prestige of your undergrad university considered when applying? I am not an admissions officer, so I don’t have an exact answer to this but I am inclined to say yes. As part of your application, law schools look at your GPA and LSAT score. For your GPA, they are going to look at your academic record (what classes you took, where you went to school, the academic rigor of the university, etc). I don’t think it is the most important thing per se, but it definitely weighs in the decision. I think your GPA itself and your LSAT score matter much more though.

If you had to do the admissions cycle again, would you do anything differently? I would ask for my letters of recommendation about two weeks earlier than I did. My references submitted them right at the end of the deadline I gave them for when I wanted to turn in my applications and I wish I had asked a bit sooner in order to not pester anybody to turn the letters in!

Did you do any extra curricular or volunteer work? Absolutely, I did a ton! I was in a few clubs, and I volunteered for a neighborhood court panel in college for a bit. I also did internships with a public defender’s office and the California Environmental Protection Agency.

Are extracurricular and volunteering really important to get into law school? I am not an expert, but I would say as long as you have something on your resume, you’re good. It could be a paid job, a club, or volunteer work. There isn’t really an expectation that everyone is supposed to do volunteering or a certain extracurricular before applying to law school. Pick things outside of school that you enjoy, and show that you are committed to them! Quality over quantity!

Which schools did you apply to? UC Davis, UC Irvine, UCLA, UC Berkeley, ASU, Santa Clara Univ., UC Hastings, McGeorge, Univ. of San Diego, and probably a few others I can’t remember at the moment, haha.

Any schools that were out of your LSAT range but you applied to anyway? Yup, a couple of them had median lsat scores above mine! I didn’t get in. Overall, the median LSAT score was a very accurate predictor for whether I would get in or not, the median GPA not so much just because I was a bachelor of science and the bad grades I got were in hard math and science courses which they are more forgiving about.

Is Business a good major before law school? Any major is a good major before law school! Major in something you are interested in. There is no one good or best major for law school.

Does major matter in law school? Your undergraduate major definitely matters! Obviously what courses you take in undergrad for your major will contribute to your GPA, and demonstrate what you’re interested in. I don’t think there is one right or best major for law school though, definitely study something you enjoy.

Do you have any advice on where to look for scholarships? At my law school, they send out emails with scholarship opportunities and compile a giant list of them so that is mainly where I look aside from the law school’s own scholarships and grants. LSAC also has a website where you can find and apply to scholarships. Other than that, some law school bloggers/tiktokers post scholarship opportunities.

For someone who is not interested in reading novels very much, can you still do law? It’s possible, but I think you’re going to have a hard time reading court cases (not novels) for multiple hours every day for the entirety of law school.

Would it be helpful to know what kind of law you want to practice before going into law? Sure! Knowing what area of law you want to practice can help you pick a law school more tailored to your interests. But I want to stress that most law students do NOT firmly know what area of law they want to practice in when they begin law school, and that is completely normal!

If I missed your question or you want to chat, feel free to message me on Insta!