Categories: Advice, Law School Admission Deadlines, Law School Admission Trends, Rolling Admissions
Tags: law school discussion forum, top law schools, waiting for law school admission decisions
 34 Comments »
I’m hearing from a lot of my law school admission consulting clients today about their aggravation with the waiting game. They’ve applied to law school and they just want me to tell them where they’ll get into law school, to devise a mathematical calculation that proves where they’ll be admitted and where they won’t.
I am happy to spend time talking with these clients and to let them know that there are good days and bad days in this process, that one school’s rejection doesn’t mean that every other school ranked higher will also result in a rejection, to tell people they are strong enough to handle this. One of my most professional, business-oriented clients today told me today that this lack of predictability meant the system was messed up, and since I know he reads this blog (he often quotes my own advice back to me) I wanted to share what I didn’t get to say – or think to say – during our conversation:
The unpredictable nature of getting into law school, the fact that your index alone does not dictate your end result, is the reason to LOVE the system. For those of you with a split – high GPA/low LSAT or low LSAT/high GPA, or just those who apply to reach schools, the fact that there isn’t a numerical calculation that mandates your response means you have a SHOT. It means you get the opportunity to show who you are beyond the numbers, it means the hard work you put into your essays, resume, letters of rec, addenda, etc. have the possibility of paying off.
This is the time of year when people start hearing from law schools, and when you start by hearing a rejection it can be deflating, or at least feel deflating. But remember, this is just a bad day. That’s all it is. Use it as an excuse to treat yourself to a movie or mocha mint latte, but don’t start applying to law schools furiously out of fear. Be confident in the fact that you put serious thought into your schools list and hold tight. Thanks to the Internet and cell phone age, you could hear any minute that you’ve been admitted to law school. Just hang tight. And, when that happens, please do celebrate! Another movie! Another mocha mint latte! Don’t just say, “ok, Next????” or “Where’s my scholarship???”
If you let yourself get psyched out during this process, how will you be strong when you’re a 1L surrounded by competitive people who all seem to be more brilliant, more on top of things, and more likely to succeed than you because they claim to know all the secrets of success? How will you deal with waiting for law school exam grades, job offers, bar examination results? Use this time as your dress rehearsal for those future waiting games. You can do this.
Categories: Uncategorized
6 Comments »
I have a GREAT Blog Talk Radio Show about Choosing the Right Law School for You coming up on Monday. I’ll be interviewing 5 successful lawyers, all approximately 10 years out of law school, about why they chose their law schools and how that choice impacted their career trajectories. It’s an incredibly diverse crew:
Tad Dee, who runs a Legal Recruiting Firm and graduated from the University of Miami School of Law where he was the Editor of the Law Review. (a former classmate of mine at UM Law).
Anita Presser, a graduate of Yale Law School who has worked in many legal settings including running her own prestigious family law firm. (a good friend of mine).
Gene Kowel, an NYU Law graduate who works for the Department of Justice. (my younger brother)
Julianna Makler, a graduate of University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law who runs her own Consumer Law firm. (another good friend of mine)
Brent Levine, a graduate of California Western School of Law who works for a mid-size insurance defense firm with 6 offices in California. (my husband)
I feel so fortunate that my friends and family members have agreed to spend 45-minutes sharing their insights about choosing a law school. The career paths of each demonstrate the diversity of our profession and of a legal education. Please plan to spend 45 minutes tuning in on Monday. I will be answering questions via chat room simultaneously. If you are not available to listen live on Monday at 11 a.m. PST/2 p.m. EST, you’ll be able to hear it anytime on Blog Talk Radio-Ann Levine and by downloading it on iTunes: BTR Show-Ann Levine.
Until then, have a great weekend. If you’re on the West Coast, stay dry!
Categories: LSAC Forums
Tags: Bay Area Forum, Campus visit for law school, Houston Forum, Law School Forum, Los Angeles Forum, visiting a law school
11 Comments »
One of my favorite clients asked me about how to use a campus visit effectively. I thought to myself, “Surely I covered this in my book!” I looked at the chapter called “Launching Your Campaign to Get In” and arranging campus visits is suggested, but not really explained. My bad.
Campus visits are important for one really big reason – it’s a great way to demonstrate sincere interest in attending. It also puts you face to face with contacts at the school, people you can follow up with throughout the cycle if you are waitlisted or updating your application.
Here are some tips for your Law School Visit:
1. Dress in business casual. No club wear, no gym clothes, but you also don’t need to wear a suit.
2. Don’t bring your parents. Under any circumstances. Ever. Yes, even YOU. (If your mom insists on going with you, show her this post and tell her she will be forever ruining your chances of becoming an adult). Of course, there’s always an exception to every rule, like if your mom is a graduate of that law school and coming with you so she can introduce you to the Dean and personally deliver a big fat donation to the scholarship endowment : ) — wow, that’s very cynical of me, not at all like me to say such a thing … I blame the hour – it’s 6 p.m. on a Friday.
3. Study the website before you go and ask some questions – what would students say is the thing most in need of improvement at the school (at my law school, it was the parking situation – another great reason to be a night student)? Are there alums who live where you live now whom you could talk to? What would students say the best things about the school are? Totally fine to ask about scholarships and loan repayment. Totally fine to ask how many students find employment on campus versus through their own efforts. Of course, the admission counselor probably won’t be able to give you real answers to these questions unless he/she is a graduate of the school and/or used to work in Career Placement, but these are good starts for questions.
4. It’s a good thing to show sincere interest, that you’ve done your research. You don’t have to swear on your life that you want to participate in the Immigration Law Clinic just because they advertise it – show you are serious about the location, show ties to the area, friends and family nearby, that you made the trip out just to see the school.
5. Get contact info for everyone you meet- when you write a thank-you letter after your visit, mention by name the 2L who told you about the great social atmosphere, the 1L who took time to talk to you about the moot court experience.
6. Sit in on a class, and take the initiative to meet the professor. Follow up with a thank-you to the professor.
If you don’t have the deep pockets to visit schools, consider booking one trip and hitting all the schools at once at the Houston, Los Angeles or Bay Area LSAC Law School Forums in February. I’m even thinking about going to LA. Anyone want to meet for a drink?
Categories: Low LSAT, LSAT, LSAT Prep
Tags: LSAT help, LSAT tutor
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People learn in different ways, and nothing makes that more obvious than LSAT preparation.
Whether you’re attacking the test for the first time or you’re unhappy with past performance, an LSAT tutor might be the answer for you. Big prep companies often take college kids with high LSAT scores and make them tutors. They are pretty much given a script and told what to do, but that doesn’t make them necessarily good teachers. You need to know who you’re getting before you sign on the dotted line. An effective LSAT tutor needs to be someone who respects your learning style and who knows how to get ideas and concepts across to you in a way you can relate to.
I have some suggestions for where to find an LSAT tutor, and I’ve broken them down into 3 categories: Companies that specialize in private tutoring and who hire high quality teachers, LSAT prep companies who also offer private tutoring, individuals who are known LSAT tutors, and websites where tutors advertise their services. Thanks to the wonders of Skype, you don’t even need a tutor in the same city where you live so you can shop around.
Tutoring Companies – My clients have been incredibly happy with these two options for private tutoring. Inspirica offers tutors in Boston, Philadelphia and NY in person, and “Inspirica Anywhere” via skype. Advantage Testing is in 17 locations and I’ve had several clients work with the Los Angeles office and see big payoffs- from high 140s/low 150s on their first LSAT attempts to high 150s after using Advantage. The director of the Los Angeles office and a Master Tutor for Inspirica participated in my Blog Talk Radio show last June on Last Minute Tips for LSAT Takers.
LSAT Prep Companies – I’ve been really impressed with the operations at AtlasLSAT and they do offer private tutoring. Those tutors go through a crazy screening process by prep company standards.
Individual Tutors – Here are some interesting options that came up when I did a google search for LSAT tutors:
Tutor Nation
Manhattan Review
Find A Tutor
Tutor Match
LSAT Blog (Steve Schwartz – I’ve heard from a number of people who had great experiences with him, and I actually quoted him on LSAT prep in my law school admission guide book. )
LSAT Experts
Of course, this isn’t an exhaustive list, but it’s a great place to start when searching for an LSAT tutor.
Categories: Financing a Legal Education, LRAP Programs, Public Interest/Pro Bono, Uncategorized
Tags: Income Based Repayment, Loan Forgiveness, LRAP, Public Interes
2 Comments »
One thing I urge my law school admission consulting clients to consider is the cost of law school, especially for those who hope to work in public interest law or other low-paying fields upon graduation from law school. One such client was good enough to share some of her research on the subject so that I might share it will readers of my blog.
Here’s a great link to the basic information about the recently enacted legislation to help graduates repay federal student loans.
Here is another link on FinAid.org with information about the Income Based Repayment legislation enacted in 2009.
Also, look into the scholarships offered by law schools specifically for those who plan to practice in the public interest. Here’s a shameless plug for an amazing scholarship program at my alma mater, the University of Miami School of Law’s Miami Law Scholars program. It’s not too late to apply!
Categories: Uncategorized
No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome!
It’s no surprise to anyone that law school applications are up due to the economy. The New York Times is finally reporting about it – see today’s article: “Recession Spurs Interest in Graduate, Law Schools” for the exact numbers and the trends in applications being noted at University of San Francisco, Cornell Law, and the University of Iowa.
The increase in LSAT takers doesn’t necessarily mean more people are going to actually attend law school – law schools aren’t able to take more people this year than in any other year, and many people are experimenting with the LSAT and law school but not really committed to attending. Also, more people are taking the LSAT multiple times now since the June 2006 policy that moved schools away from averaging multiple LSAT scores.
How will this impact you? I know many of my clients who have long had ambitions to go to law school are worried about their timing. How will this increase change the outcomes of their admission decisions? This is their big question. In my mind, it’s a little bit more important this year to show law is something you’ve seriously considered – this can be done through a letter of recommendation or your resume or through your personal statement. Also, I think those who applied early are seeing the same results they would have seen last year, so that’s the good news. Expect a lot of “holds” and a lot of waitlisting, and don’t despair.
Worry about what is still within your control – your applications, your interactions with the law schools – and when the dust settles hopefully you’ll have played your strategy well so you have good decisions to make.
Categories: Uncategorized
2 Comments »
There’s a lot of chatter in the blogosphere about whether a lower ranked law school is worth attending. One of my most controversial blog posts ever was on this very topic, so it’s no secret where I stand on the issue. (Just in case you missed it back in 2007: Why Going to Law School is Worth the Sacrifice)
My next Blog Talk Radio Show is going to deal with this very issue. I’ll be interviewing 5 attorneys who graduated from law school in the last 10-12 years. One went to Yale Law, one went to NYU Law, one to the University of Miami (after getting his undergrad at Harvard), one graduated from Santa Clara Law and one from California Western School of Law. One now owns a legal recruiting company, one works for a 70-lawyer, 8 office firm, one works for the Department of Justice, one owns her own 2 person law firm, and one did own a 12-attorney law firm and is now a private investor and stay at home mom. Tune in to match up which lawyer has which job! You might be very surprised!
Listen in to how they chose their law schools (ranking, location, scholarships), what they think of their choice today, whether they took on debt and whether they feel it was worth it, and learn about the career opportunities available to graduates of such differently ranked law schools.
This is going to be a great show, so mark your calendars for Monday, January 25th 11 a.m. PST/2 p.m. EST for a 45 minute blog talk radio show: Choosing the Right Law School For You. (And thanks to the winner of my contest, Chris, for the great topic idea!)
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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,
