Pre-Law Summer Institute – Worth it?

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Tags: summer pre law institute
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One of my clients asked me about a one week pre-law summer institute that promised a “certificate of completion” that would WOW law schools. She wanted to know my thoughts on whether she should participate.

What is a reason to participate in this kind of program?  To spend a week talking about and studying law in order to see if you like talking about and studying law.

Any other reason is totally lame. I would discourage a client from listing this program on a resume. It’s a one-week thing and hardly significant in the scheme of your entire college career. A last ditch effort to show an interest in law despite majoring in studio art will not fool a jaded Adcom member. If you have to put this on your resume just to have something on your resume,  you have bigger problems than this course can solve for you. And, lastly, since there is no honor or selectivity in getting in to the class, or any grades or exams where your performance is evaluated, a certificate that you completed the program is hardly impressive. It’s really, really desperate.

I know my readers love it when I provide responses that do not begin with “It depends” so I hope you all eat this one right up! I look forward to your comments on it.

Oh! And one last thing -

For my blog readers who sat at the booth next to me at Denny’s at Sunset and the 101 on Friday afternoon, I wish you’d introduced yourselves and said hello even though I was with my kids. My au pair told me later that you were staring and pointing and whispering and talking about personal statements. She later facebooked all her friends to tell them her host mom is some kind of book writing, law school guru “Web-Celeb.” But, sincerely, next time please say hello. I love to hear readers’ thoughts on the blog and book and to put faces on the people out in Internet-land. I just hope the next time you see me I’m not at Denny’s. I hope it’s somewhere much more glamorous.