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I want to point out two great blogs by entering 1Ls, with links to their reviews of my law school admission advice book:
Lawlicious (by an entering JD/MBA student at Rutgers)
JD2B (by an entering JD at University of Baltimore)
These are also two of the folks who will be participating in my upcoming (and totally FREE!) Blog Talk Radio Show, “What I Wish I’d Known Before Applying to Law School” so be sure to tune in next week.
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Tags: Blog Talk Radio Show
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Tune in on Monday (August 3rd) at 7:30 p.m. EST/4:30 p.m. PST for my next Law School Expert Blog Talk Radio Show. We’ll be speaking with three entering 1L students about what they know now about the law school application process, and what they wish they’d known a year ago when they began. I’m sure there will be plenty of discussion about the LSAT, choosing law schools, things they spent time worrying about that seem silly now, and what they did to get into their reach schools. If you tune in while we record the show, you’ll have the opportunity to ask questions and chat live with us. Otherwise, you’ll be able to download it after the fact on iTunes (“Ann Levine Blog Talk Radio Feed”) and listen to it on the blog.
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This isn’t my normal kind of blog post, but I spent Wednesday night and Thursday in Los Angeles to attend a conference and I’m inspired by the people I met. I want to share the highlights of what I learned that might be relevant to law school hopefuls (or really to anyone building a career).
Networking Gets You Further
One of my all time favorite clients (Ok, they’re like kids to me and all favorites in their own way, but this one is particularly cool) met me for drinks at the W hotel. I rarely get to meet my clients face to face, but I feel like they become good friends, or at least younger siblings, and we definitely bond during our time working together so actually meeting one is always a treat. Jesse was always fun to work with and always knew what he wanted to do with his career. He chose a great law school, but not one that was particularly known for his chosen specialty. He knew the job he wanted, and he campaigned for it for 5 months. He took every extra step to show this was what he wanted, including refusing a phone interview and instead flying himself down to the interview – and rushing through his Constitutional Law final to get there on time. More than 3,000 people applied for the job. He got it. Is this the end of the story? No way. He’s working hard all day and spending every night at mixers and setting up meetings with people from every angle of the industry, picking people’s brains for advice and career tips. He has already gotten two invitations to apply for jobs for NEXT summer. I love this guy! Learn from him! Take the initiative and don’t stop at building a resume – get to know as many people as possible. People like people, not paper. (Plus, shoutout to Jesse for helping others – he is always the first to volunteer and ask how he can help me, to offer to speak with anyone thinking about attending his law school, and to talk to anyone else who might go into his area of specialization. This is incredibly generous, and what goes around comes around).
Last month, I hosted a BlogTalkRadio show about Last Minute Tips for LSAT Takers. I had three LSAT experts scheduled to participate. Within an hour of the show’s start time, I got a call from a test prep company I was not familiar with but it sounded cool and I mentioned the fortuitous timing. I told the rep that if the director was available for the radio show in the next thirty minutes, I’d love for him to participate. He jumped on the phone, said he was absolutely game, and I was definitely impressed with his contributions to our discussion. He joined Jesse, me and my friend (and financial planner) Dianne for drinks. I really enjoyed speaking with Paul and it turns out we have very similar philosophies regarding helping law school applicants; we definitely understood each other and we’re in a position to help each other’s clients. I found a fantastic option for personal LSAT tutoring in 17 locations around the U.S. and he has a place he can refer his LSAT students when they want advice about the admission process. I dare say we forged a friendship as well. All of this from reaching out, making efforts, and knowing that business is really about people.
Then, the conference. The point of the conference was to motivate career women but the best part was sitting at a table of women (spanning the generations) and learning about their businesses and how they build their businesses. Cards were exchanged and connections were made. The next time I know someone who wants to find a headhunter, I now know a great person to call. I met a woman who wrote a book about time management and calls herself a Branding and Productivity Coach.I recognized her as the planned last speaker of the day and introduced myself, told her I was looking forward to her presentation, and we exchanged cards. When she needed a volunteer from the audience, she chose me.
Go Out of Your Way to Be Nice To Everyone. And yes, I mean everyone!
I met a woman going through a really tough time personally who forgot her checkbook but really wanted the keynote speaker’s autographed book. She looked like a bit of a wreck – the fact that I knew her husband just had an organ transplant before I even knew her name sort of tips you off to that. Despite this, a total stranger gave her a blank check and said, “here’s my card – just send me a check when you get home.” I saw how that simple act of kindness made this woman’s whole day. It was an exceptional moment. Later, I heard the having-a-hard-time woman on the phone with her boss who was the president of a bank. She gave the name of the woman who helped her and told the bank president to send clients to her for financial planning advice. Again, what goes around comes around.
How does this apply to law school applicants?
As you go through the application process, remember that this is a means to an end and not an end in itself. Remember that there is more than one way to work an angle. Be nice to everyone you meet, even a rep from the school you think you’ll never apply to because you’re expecting a 168 on the September LSAT, and even the person sitting next to you in your prep course who you think would never in a million years also end up sitting next to you in law school. Your career starts now.
On August 3rd, three entering 1Ls will join me for my next Blog Talk Radio Show entitled “What I Wish I’d Known Before Applying to Law School.” (I also have a chapter by this title in my law school admission guide book). Two of these folks are already blogging and joining the network of law students and lawyers who blog. They are networking starting now, and one of them got the idea after hearing my Blog Talk Radio Show with Kevin Houchin, Esq. about Secrets to Success in Law School & Beyond.
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On Tuesday morning, I’m going to film a video for a major test prep company about how to choose a law school. In preparation, I’ve been doing a bit of research and wanted to share my results with you.
When you’re deciding how much debt is reasonable to take on in order to obtain your J.D., consider the following:
Median Salary by Years of Experience as an Attorney (remember – this information is only valuable if you understand what “median” means)
Law School Rankings by Median starting Salary (separated by public and private sector, but I don’t know how outdated this information might be)
The National Assocaition for Legal Career Professions released a comprehensive report last week on the job prospects, salaries and hiring trends for thos who graduated from law school in 2008.
An interesting analysis of the legal profession in the U.S. can be found on Harvard Law’s Program for the Legal Profession’s website.
This info from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is outdated, but we’re in a recession so perhaps dollars from 2005 are actually more fair to look at than dollars from 2007 (I’m not an economist, remember…)
I don’t want to overwhelm you, but I do want you to think about what you’re getting yourself into. Understand that a career where you’ll probably top out at making $150,000 a year is still a good career, but not a way to get weathly. Lawyers are, in most cases, simply highly paid hourly workers. You make more if you have good business sense and bring business to your firm through relationships with clients. (This, of course, is a whole other discussion for a lot of other blogs). Spend some time doing your research and developing reasonable career goals and expectations so that you’re not one of the disgruntled and indebted lawyers when you obtain your law degree.
For additional insights, please see Chapter 17 of “The Law School Admission Game: Play Like an Expert” and the section entitled “A Realistic Look at Taking on Debt.”
Categories: Law School Admission Trends
Tags: competitive cycle for law school applications
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LSAC just released some numbers about LSAT and application trends. Here are the numbers that prove this is going to be a very competitive year for law school admission:
The 2008-09 testing year had 151,398 test takers, an increase of 6.4% over last year. The 2008-09 year was the second highest in the history of the LSAT behind the 152,685 test takers in 1990-91
The June 2009 test had approximately 32,500 test takers, an increase of 12.3% over June 2008. (—-WOW!!!!! – My comment, not LSAC’s!)
(The June 2009 LSAT had new test date change and refund policy updates but we are still speculating that the large number of 20-24 year olds, the general un-employment and the economy played a large part in the increase number of test takers.)
There are approximately 85,069 ABA applicants for the Fall 2009, a 5.2% increase over last year. Those 85,069 applicants produced 562,104 applications, a 6.5% increase over last year. (I’ve personally noticed people applying to more schools in the last year)
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I’m just off the red-eye from my annual vacation in Maui and slowly getting through e-mails so this will be a quick post to get you (and me!) motivated again:
1. By now you’ve decided whether to retake the LSAT in September or stick with your June score. With this important decision behind you, its time to get things underway with your transcripts, LORs, resume, addenda and essays.
2. If you have decided to retake the LSAT, please prep differently this time (assuming insufficient/inadequate prep was the problem and not test day anxiety or situational issues). Don’t do the same thing again and expect different results.
2. Thanks so much to Tests.com who posted an interview with me about preparation for the LSAT.
I hope everyone had a great Fourth of July weekend. Oh, and many thanks to my hometown independent bookstore for putting my book on the shelf while I was in Maui, and to Amazon for ordering another 50 copies! I truly appreciate those of you who have e-mailed, FB-ed and Tweeted to me about how much the book has helped you. I appreciate each and every Amazon review too! Thank you!
Ann K. Levine, Esq., former director of law school admissions for two ABA approved law schools, is a law school admission consultant and owner of Law School Expert,
