Academic Performance
Law schools also seek academic excellence from applicants. Typically, the LSAC suggests that a prospective student have a GPA of 3.0 (on a 4-point scale) or an LSAT score of 150. How do law schools evaluate grades and grade-point averages when evaluating prospective students? In law school admissions, transcripts of grades are reviewed thoroughly. To determine how well an applicant has done in school in preparation for the rigors of law school, admissions committees typically look for consistencies and trends. Primarily, they look at the overall GPA. The GPA is taken quite seriously. Law school admissions consider an applicants’ GPA to be the best indicator of their potential to succeed in law school. While the GPA is most telling, it is not the only factor that law school admissions committees consider. When looking at an applicant’s GPA, law school admissions committees consider the UGPA (undergraduate GPA). The UGPA is an applicant’s GPA based upon grades earned in undergraduate-level coursework. It is important to recognize that what constitutes a high or low UGPA varies considerably across undergraduate schools. Therefore, law school admissions personnel will compare the applicant’s GPA with other applicants from the same school. To further ensure that coursework is comparable across schools, the LSAC collects data about undergraduate coursework. The LSAC analyzes such data and regularly publishes a report using codes assigned to all undergraduate courses based upon one of three categories: (1) level of difficulty relative to traditional college classes; (2) whether the assignment is graduate or professional-level; or (3) whether the assignment is advanced undergraduate-level . These coding schemes allow law school admissions personnel to make apples-to-apples comparisons of classes from different schools on the basis of level of difficulty and content. In this way, law schools can compare UGPA’s are more accurate than before the development of the data. Admissions committees also look at how well a student has performed over time. They recognize that first year grades are difficult to obtain for all students. Therefore, students who have gained better grades in their second and third years of school are usually viewed with favor as law school admissions committees recognize that many students take some time to learn to study in a way that leads to better grades. Admissions personnel further consider trends in grades. Such trends will be considered positively when a students’ grades show considerable improvement over time. By the same token, admissions personnel are wary of students who have constant fluctuations in GPA, as this signals academic inconsistency. In addition to looking for trends in grades, admissions committees also put a premium on rigor. To demonstrate rigor, admissions committees will look to see if the applicant has a history of pursuing the most difficult undergraduate classes, including honors, advanced placement, and graduate-level courses. Strong admissions files include transcripts indicating that an applicant has been willing to take difficult classes and has flourished.
LSAT Scores and Importance
One of the most important requirements for your law school application is your LSAT score. Most law schools collect the LSATS of all their first year students so they can come up with an average score that they can give to prospective students to determine their law school competitiveness.
While it’s not a requirement that law schools distribute this information, they do it because they want prospective students to understand what LSAT scores are needed to gain entrance to their school. It is the second most important requirement for acceptance into law school. It is just behind GPA.
So what LSAT score does it take to get into an elite law school like Yale University? The old adage is that the top 10 percent of a particular year’s LSATS generally will be able to go to whatever school they want.
In recent years, that adage has become more and more off as the average LSAT score for a top 10 school has jumped above 170 and most of the top LSAT scores are now above that same 170.
More specifically a good score for a typically highly ranked law school will be around a 165. A 165 score will generally be good enough to allow you to choose the law school of your choice. On the other hand, an average score to get into a top 10 law school is around 177 and up. A greater competitiveness among potential 1Ls means that the LSAT scores for 1L’s at the top 10 law schools in the country are higher than ever.
Year after year, Yale University is said to have a 168-170 average for its first year law school students. Columbia University has a similar average LSAT score of around 170. Stanford University had a similar average in 2014.
In 2014, however, Yale University posted a 170 in its LSAT averages, while Stanford University posted 168. The highest LSAT scores are usually from University of Chicago and Harvard University. This year however, Yale’s first year mean was 170 while Harvard University was top dog at 172.
Your LSAT score will also depend on whether you are part of the hard to fill quota of a certain group or if you have a special skill set that will help the school.
Purpose of the Personal Statement
Take a look around your house right now. What stands out? A favorite piece of art? A bookshelf filled with your most prized possessions? The weathered rocking chair in the corner that has held you through the best and worst of times? These are all things that tell potential visitors about who you are, what matters to you. Treat your personal statement the same way and it will become a vital part of the larger picture that is you.
The personal statement gives you the opportunity to personalize your application, to show the admissions committee additional pieces of your unique self that do not come across in the rest of the application. Make use of this opportunity to communicate who you are outside of test scores and GPA. Consider your interests, your hobbies, your background, experiences, and goals. Think about what you would bring to the law school community and how the school might enrich your future plans. Expand on the information already in the application while bringing new perspectives to the table. The personal statement should be a compelling narrative that paints a picture of you as a future student and professional.
Importantly, your personal statement also allows you to address any concerns that the admissions committee may have when looking over your application as a whole. Remember, the admissions committee cannot sit and have a cup of coffee with you, but your personal statement can help them get to know you in both the professional and personal ways that every applicant hopes to be understood.
Letters of Reference
The letters of recommendation are also critically important in the law school admission decision process. The law schools are looking for letters that are thoughtful, thorough, and personal. The best letters provide vivid descriptions of a candidate’s intellectual and personal qualities that are relevant to law school. Another quality of strong letters of recommendation is that they clearly describe for the law school how the letter writer will be able to gauge the applicant’s performance in law school. For example, a research supervisor would be able to comment on the applicant’s ability to do legal research if the applicant worked as a research assistant for a professor. Every applicant should choose their letter writers with care. While it may appear that the most impressive letter could be from someone with an eye-popping resume, this may not be the case. For example, a more personal letter waxing poetic about the applicant’s personal qualities from a judge or a local politician might be far more useful to the law school than a letter from a well-known U.S. senator that is little more than a boilerplate acknowledgement of a constituent. When you ask someone to write a letter of recommendation for you, be sure to explain your plans, why you are asking that person for a letter, and why the person is qualified to write such a letter. If appropriate, the applicant could provide a copy of their law school application (or resume), a transcript, and a list of the schools to which the applicant is applying. Give the letter writer plenty of time to complete the task. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the applicant should give the person a chance to decline writing a letter. Some professors would rather give no recommendation at all than to give a lukewarm one.
Activity Involvement and Leadership
Extracurricular activities can add depth to an applicant’s profile by showcasing leadership skills and the ability to balance personal interests with academic responsibilities. They are looked upon favorably by law schools as long as they complement academic achievements. And you can have fun while doing them. It’s critical, though, to choose those that speak to your passion and future career goals. A college medical volunteer, who hopes to be a doctor, should highlight his or her interest in the country’s healthcare system, rather than the fact of volunteering. The fact of that experience, however, should be highlighted in the application under "work experience . "
The most competitive applicants often include community service, language skills, and entrepreneurship as key elements of their extra-curricular activities. Community service, especially over time, reveals character and commitment. Proficiency in foreign languages reveals a cultural openness. And finally, entrepreneurship speaks to initiative, creativity and leadership. As with all application materials, the content of the resume is more important than its form. This is not an exercise in writing skills. Keep in mind as you try to extract everything on your resume into a single page that less is more.
What Work Experience Should I Have?
The work experience portion of an application is crucial in showing that you have acquired and applied practical skills that would be an asset to a law school. One of the top qualities that schools look for in applicants is the ability to manage time and handle responsibility: law school requires that students juggle their studies, extracurriculars, and work.
Having previous legal work experience, even if it is limited to an internship, is a key factor that can help you stand out. A law school will see you coming in with a prior understanding of the realities of working in the field, as well as a reasonable expectation of what you will put your academic training towards once you’ve graduated. Legal experience is expected from virtually all top applicants, especially those who have not recently graduated or directly transitioned into an LL.M program. However, even if you lack experience within the legal arena, relevant work in another field can serve to impress an admissions board as long as your application as a whole does a convincing job of displaying your interest in the program.
Embracing Diversity and Individual Skills
The attributes of successful law school candidates, such as academic ability, leadership, and long-term goals, are not the only things that admissions officials care about. Diversity of background, perspective, and experience also play a major role in the decisions of law school admissions committees.
Higher education institutions as a whole have committed to fostering diversity on their campuses. Through holistic review, admissions officials value the learning environments in primary and secondary schools, the rigor of AP courses, extracurricular activities, community involvement, and work experience equally with the institution where the candidate has earned his or her undergraduate degree and the quality and amount of academic achievement.
School officials strive for a varied student body because this diversity has a direct impact on the ability of the institution to provide its students with the most productive and enriching educational experience. Law schools recognize that the students they admit will have a direct impact on the success rates of the school’s graduates. According to lawschooladmissionsguy.com, law school test takers in 2013 alone had an average LSAT score of 151, and test takers with an 81st percentile score of 166. If the schools these candidates attended were strictly academic, it is unlikely that the LSAT and GPAs of the pool would have been so close together.
Because diversity among incoming law school students is an important factor that many law schools evaluate, every successful applicant should strive to frame his or her unique story and experiences as assets in their application materials. Sometimes, the best writing is not about what you have accomplished, but rather about how you have overcome challenges.
Interviewing
If your undergraduate academic performance, LSAT score and your personal statement have created a good impression on the Admissions Committee, your next hurdle may be an interview. Depending on the school, the interview process may or may not be required. Interviewing is more common among law schools that use a rolling admissions process. If your interview is recommended or required, you will likely hear from the school shortly after you submit your application. Some schools require all applicants to interview, such as Yale Law School. Others only require or recommend an interview for in-state students, such as University of California, Davis School of Law. Generally, schools that conduct interviews try to interview all out-of-state applicants. Interviews are another means of determining if an applicant is "fit" for a law school. Interviews are heavily focused on the match between the applicant and his/her interests and/or the school’s programs. At some schools, applicants who are interviewing with the school may meet with a member of the office that matches applicants with faculty members for meeting during the applicant’s visit. At others , a faculty member meeting with the applicant will contact the office and refer the applicant for review by Admissions Committee members. (Applicants might be interested in knowing that they can increase their chances of an on-campus interview by letting the Admissions Committee know that they will be in the area and available for an interview.) Moreover, at some law schools, an applicant might also be interviewed in his/her home state by a committee member. These interviews are typically conducted outside of the law school admissions office staff presence. In preparing for your interview: Interviews are also used as a determining factor for offers or rejections. Schools generally use a scoring rubric that considers grades, test scores and possibly a writing sample. In addition, the Admissions School or an alumnus/a committee member will generally review the applicant’s entire application package and count it among the other factors. The point of an interview is to gain a better understanding of the applicant. An interviewer may use the interview text from the personal statement to generate pertinent questions for the interviewee, sometimes requiring the applicant to explain what he/she meant in the personal statement. You should familiarize yourself with your own personal statement to prepare for these types of questions.