Are you wondering how to get into law school? There are many times during a student’s time at college where the decisions they make will affect their future choices. Getting into law school depends on many factors that are much easier to manage while you are starting college than learn when you are getting ready to start applying at schools. Read on for some steps you can take when you start making your college choices as well as steps you can take when you are starting the law school application process to make getting in a little bit easier.
Challenge Yourself In College
When you spend all your time in college concentrating on taking classes that will give you a great GPA no matter what, you miss out on learning the thinking skills you need to perform well on the tests that will get you into law school. Choose classes that you know will be a challenge, and actively seek out classes with professors that have a history of challenging their students to think critically and think well. A great GPA may look good on paper, but the admissions committee at most law schools know that a 4.0 GPA from some schools and some programs doesn’t mean nearly as much as a 3.5 from others. You will stand a better chance of getting into law school and succeeding once you are there if you make sure that you seek out the learning experiences you need in college to develop the thinking skills you will need later on.
Write Well And Prove It
If you are going to be successful in law school and in a career as a lawyer, you need to know how to write. Consider a major or minor in English while you are in college, and make sure you internalize everything you need to know to write well. Writing a great personal statement may not make you stand out much from a ton of other students who also wrote great personal statements, but poorly written work will get you excluded without a glance at the rest of your application.
Know The LSAT
Most of the students applying for law school will have a high GPA, a great personal statement, and solid letters of recommendation. Because of this, none of these factors will help one student stand out significantly from the pack. The one statistic that will vary greatly from one student to the next that is generally considered to be a good sign of how well someone will do in law school is the LSAT.
You can’t memorize a set of questions for the LSAT since the test is primarily designed to measure critical thinking and analysis skills. One thing you can do in order to study and prepare for the test is make yourself as familiar as possible with the format. Find an LSAT book that contains past tests or take an LSAT prep course to make sure you are as familiar as possible with exactly what taking the LSAT will be like. Knowing the framework that the LSAT provides will allow you to let your critical thinking and analysis skills show at their best and greatly improve your chances of getting into law school.
With entrance to law school becoming more and more competitive, the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is playing a large role in determining the fate of the candidates. It’s not enough to just pass the test, successful applicants need to ace it. Students with a 3.5 GPA are a dime a dozen, but LSAT scores of 165 and higher show your analytical thinking ability in it’s best light.
The LSAT is offered by the Law School Admission Council and is necessary for admission to the more than 200 law schools who are members of the LSAC. Though there are hundreds of test locations, not all test dates are available at all test centers. Check the LSAC website for exam schedules and sites. You can register for the LSAT either online, by telephone or by mail. But do yourself a favor and signup on time. There is a late registration period available, but you will pay an extra $64 for the privilege. For those students who celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday, alternative exams are usually given on the Monday following the regular Saturday tests or the June exam is given on a Monday.
The LSAT is given four times a year in February, June, October and December and includes five 35 minute multiple choice sections and a 35 minute writing sample at the end. Four of the five multiple choice sections are scored…the non-scored one is used to check new test questions. You may not know which is which, so be prepared to give full attention to all sections. The four scored sections will fall into the following categories: reading comprehension, analytical reasoning and two of logical reasoning. The writing sample is not scored either, but a copy of it is sent to all law schools to which you apply, so you want to put forth your best effort.
Once you’ve decided to take the LSAT, your next step is preparation. You can find sample questions and tests on the LSAC website, as well as on various LSAT test preparation sites such as Kaplan. Question categories are consistent from test to test, so once you’ve completed a few sample exams, you will have a good idea of what’s coming. If the sample tests aren’t sufficient to make you feel comfortable, there are courses available both online and in a classroom setting. The online courses have the advantage of being accessible 24 hours per day, important for someone who may be juggling a busy work and school schedule. Taking the course in the classroom allows direct interaction with the teacher, as well as forcing you to focus to be prepared for class.
Scoring is based on the number of correct answers given. If you find yourself coming down to the end of a section and you have several blanks, make sure you get some answer marked. Even guessing, you’ll have a 20% chance of a correct answer and if you could eliminate any definitely wrong answers, your percentage goes up.