Categories: Letters of Rec, Pre-law
No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome!
I confess, I have a stereotype of pre-law advisors at colleges. This involves an old guy who used to practice law and now teaches a class or two and feels he is doing a good service for students by looking over personal statements. He is well-intentioned but off-base in the advice he gives.
Last night, while speaking to an undergraduate law society, I met a good kind of pre-law advisor. The kind who not only cares, but really knows what he’s talking about and who really wants to go to bat for his students. We had a great talk, especially about letters of recommendation.
Most of his students take 2-4 of his pre-law/political science courses and he is asked to write many, many letters of recommendation for law school. Sometimes it’s a pure pleasure to do so: the student is bright, inquisitive, takes initiative, demonstrates responsibility and maturity, and will almost assuredly succeed in law school and in the legal profession. But, unfortunately, many times the student asking for a letter has done one or more of the following:
- Surfs Facebook or texts while in class. Quote from Pre-law advisor: “You’re not as smart as you think you are, and I’m not as dumb as you think I am.”
- Has excuses for not doing work on one or more occasions. Yes, this includes food poisoning (when you’ve really been out drinking), flat tire (he knows you ride a bike and live on campus), and the vague but ever-present “family emergency” (boyfriend dumped you – it’s all over Facebook).
- Fails to show up consistently for class – or, even worse – for an internship (especially if arranged through the Department) making the pre-law advisor look foolish for recommending you for the internship in the first place.
Because this is a good pre-law advisor, when you ask him for a letter of recommendation, he will say something along the lines of, “I don’t feel I can write you a strong letter.” If you are a smart law school applicant, you will smile, nod, thank him for his time, and run as quickly as you can from his office. But what most law school applicants do instead is say, “But I really need an academic letter and you’re the only professor I took more than one class with.” He will then say, “Well, you asked me for extensions twice and you missed at least five classes per term, and that kind of behavior doesn’t leave me confident that you’ll succeed in law school. But, if you really have no other options, I will write you a letter.” The smart applicant will recognize that he/she hasn’t been that great of a student and acknowledge that a fresh start would be beneficial with a new professor, a new class, a new school, a new program …. However, since this person isn’t that great a student to begin with, he or she will probably say, “Yes, that would be great. Thanks.” And of course, this is the same person who wants the letter done within two weeks.
Those readers of this blog who are proactive, on top of things, and really great law school applicants will chuckle at this. Those for whom it hits a bit too close to home may feel sheepish, or may be unable to recognize themselves in the scenario. The most important thing in putting together your law school application materials is to candidly assess yourself. The response you get from a professor when asking for a letter of recommendation may be your first chance to zero in on your weaknesses and think about how you can grow, change, and improve in the future.
Categories: Picking a Major, Pre-law
245 Comments »
How do law school admission committees evaluate people with different undergraduate majors? Are there good majors and bad majors for law school applications? I wouldn’t quite say there are bad majors – I think there are good things about most areas of study, and if you have good grades then you’re absolutely set.
Law schools do not want to fill their classes with political science majors. Where is the diversity in that? Law schools want people from different backgrounds, and from different schools for that matter. Here is a rundown of the major groupings and how law schools are apt to evaluate you based on your undergraduate major area of study:
1. Majors with scientific fields: You often risk having a lower GPA, but it can be excused because of the difficult curriculum and lab hours. Of course, it also helps to make the case that you want to be a patent/IP lawyer if your have a science/math background. However, it can also risk looking like you really would have preferred to go to med school but you just didn’t have the GPA. If you did well in a science major, you will find that law schools like that and it will help you in the admissions process generally.
2. Pre-Law Majors: Law and Society, Pre-Law, Political Science, and Criminal Justice studies show you have a sincere interest in the subject matter. It’s especially helpful if you do a thesis and/or significant academic or internship work to supplement the curriculum. However, lackluster grades in these subjects will not impress an admission office. A 3.3 GPA in poli sci is not the same as a 3.3 in biomedical engineering or physics.
3. Art/Music Majors: A BFA makes things tricky, but if you do well academically and do a thesis or have something to show for yourself other than being an unemployed actor, then this absolutely works. Actually, I think Art History is one of the best majors for preparing you for law school because it teaches you to look at something you’ve never seen before and apply the facts you’ve learned to determine what you’re looking at. That’s pretty much a law school exam in a nutshell. Anything that shows you’ve done some serious writing will help. Music composition shows you’re a thinking person.
4. Business Majors: Marketing, not so impressive but if you have strong grades and showed a sincere interest in serious things then it’s fine. Economics is better – shows more analysis and academic inclination.
5. Philosophy: Again, writing and analysis. Great stuff.
The question is this – knowing how law schools view your major, what can you do to make up for that weakness? If you haven’t had much writing in your curriculum, how about writing for your school paper or trying to get research published? This is just one example of a way you can use your weaknesses to build your law school applications.
Recap:
1. Pick a major that sincerely interests you.
2. Get the best possible grades in that major.
Law schools want to see people who are serious about their goals, but not singularly minded. Have a hobby too, and if that hobby demonstrates your thinking skills, cultural interests, passions – all the better. Do well at the things you do.
(For those of you worried that your physics degree will be competing against people who studied history, I would say that if your grades are solid and you have strong academic letters and perhaps someone who can attest to your writing ability, then you’ll be absolutely fine.)
Categories: Pre-law
No Comments yet, your thoughts are welcome!
I came across this posting today by a current law school applicant who talks about why she feels majoring in journalism has prepared her for a law degree. You don’t have to major in pre-law or law and society to prepare yourself for law school. In fact, I felt (as an law student) that the undergraduate courses that best prepared me for law school exams was actually art history. In art history, we looked at slides and applied knowledge to determine a period/artist/movement and wrote an essay defending our conclusions. Sounds like law school, doesn’t it?
For more pre-law information about choosing a college major that law schools will respect, see this.
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,
