This month, I traveled to UC Berkeley to speak to members of two pre-law groups. I decided to share with them tips on the five major parts of the law school application that had not already been covered on every blog and forum. I encouraged them to embrace mantras including “Grunt work is good!” and “Surprise the reader.” For these
WHY: A letter of recommendation allows someone else to say things that would be completely inappropriate and arrogant for you to say about yourself. “Jennie is a very bright student and an excellent writer,” sounds a lot better than you saying in your personal statement, “I am very bright and an excellent writer.” It allows the writer to introduce something
Georgetown Law just released their 5 optional essay topics for this year. In my book “The Law School Admission Game,” I refer to these as the “silly” optional essays and I really, truly love them. You have 250 words to let loose, be yourself, make an argument, be memorable, be real, and get it out. It’s my favorite kind of writing.
Should you write an optional essay – in addition to your personal statement – and submit it to law schools? (The following is a brief excerpt from Chapter 11 of The Law School Admission Game, Second Edition, which will be released on Amazon.com on June 11, 2013.) Many law schools provide opportunities to submit a second essay (or even a
Here is a brand new, absolutely FREE 15-minute podcast on Law School Personal Statement Tips. Listen to internet radio with Ann Levine on BlogTalkRadio In this podcast, I read an excerpt from Chapter 10 (“The Personal Statement”) of “The Law School Admission Game: Play Like an Expert” SECOND EDITION! It’s new! Revamped! Re-written! And much more extensive than the original
If you’re sitting down right now, trying to write the most brilliant, persuasive, powerful personal statement ever written, but your fingers are paralyzed on the keys, you’re not alone. “I hate to write about myself,” some tell me. Others say, “my life has been pretty boring/sheltered/standard/privileged.” Still others say, “I went through hard times but I don’t want to write
LAW SCHOOL PERSONAL STATEMENT REQUIREMENTS Do you need a new personal statement for each law school you apply to? Probably not. (Except for the University of Florida Levin College of Law and the University of Colorado-Boulder). But do you need to change your essay slightly for different schools? Probably. To help you figure out what you need to do (because
The best personal statements for law school are not overly dramatic tales of woe. They are clearly and concisely written, they are written in a conversational style that makes you likable and real and relatable, and they provide meaningful insight into your decisions and experiences and perhaps even your future goals. My Personal Statement Plus service helps you with every
3 Guidelines for Whether to Tailor Your Personal Statement to A Law School: 1. Do they ask you to do it? Some do: Santa Clara and Chapman are two examples of law schools that specifically ask you why you are interested in their law school as part of the personal statement prompt. Therefore, it’s pretty lame if you fail to
When thinking about whom to ask for letters of recommendation for your law school applications, please do not – ever – ask family friends to write letters on your behalf. (This post was originally published by Ann Levine five years ago, but was updated on 10/1/2012) First, tell all those well-meaning, successful friends of your parents, “thanks, but no thanks.”
How to Get Into a Top Law School? Top law schools require stellar undergraduate grades, an LSAT score that shows you can compete with their student body, and soft factors which demonstrate experiences that will add to the diversity and knowledge of the law school class. For Top 10 law schools, a ballpark combination would be scoring 170+ on the...
Tips for Law School Applicants with low LSAT scores and low GPAs: Call attention to excellent performance during a portion of your time in college, or in a certain area of study in college. Obtain excellent academic letters of recommendation. Demonstrate that more recent academic accomplishments (in graduate school, or during your later years of college) are a better indication...
If you’ve been considering whether law school is right for you, check out this 15-minute LSAT/Law School podcast interview about what’s important to consider and how to prepare yourself for deciding on a career in law. In the podcast, we discuss: How to explore whether law is the right direction for you; How to choose courses in college to prepare for law...
I am so excited to announce the release today of the 4th edition of my bestselling law school admission guidebook, The Law School Admission Game: Play Like an Expert. This is fully up to date with information on recent changes to the LSAT, LSATFlex, and use of the GRE in law school admissions. It includes even more examples of case studies...
This week, I had the pleasure of being a guest on everyone’s favorite LSAT podcast, ThinkingLSAT with Nathan Fox and Ben Olson of LSATDemon. Both Ben and Nathan lend their expertise to the 4th Edition of The Law School Admission Game, which released last week, and we spent the podcast talking about the book, trends in law school admission given the circumstances surrounding COVID-19....
