[ronmexico]

If you have any questions about law school, fire away!

[WhiteMorningStar]

^ when's the right time to start preparing for LSAT?

[kittinexjj]

^ word!! and what prereqs are needed for law school...i swear my counselor is just whatever...i feel like the classes im taking are too low...but then again im just a freshmen.

[jamba bamba]

is it possible to go to a good and prestigious law school if you graduated from your undergrad college in 2 years?

[WhiteMorningStar]

lol of course! Whoa, how did you manage that???

[ronmexico]

when's the right time to start preparing for LSAT?

I started the summer before my senior year, because I took the October LSAT. The June exam didn't work out with my college schedule (our finals ended two days before it was administered), so that wasn't an option for me. If you take the June exam, you'd probably want to start around February, if not earlier.

word!! and what prereqs are needed for law school?

If you're only a freshman, you don't really need to worry yet. Course selection isn't super-important, although they obviously like to see upper-level courses and a lot of of reading/writing-intensive classes. Getting good grades is the more important thing, though. There aren't any specific courses you need to take, in contrast to med school.

is it possible to go to a good and prestigious law school if you graduated from your undergrad college in 2 years?

Sure, though I probably wouldn't recommend it. Some people are rejected despite their numbers because the adcom felt that they weren't "mature" enough or that they weren't ready for law school. At most schools, only a minority of students come straight from UG and even fewer come straight from an UG they finished in two years.

[HtyPotter]

what are the key areas law school admissions looks at when measuring up an applicant? I go to a good undergrad school, plan on getting some great experiences after I graduate, but my undergrad grades have just been so-so. Is that gonna screw me for getting into a top law school? At least a top 10 law school.

Also, would a law school admissions like for your to earn masters first?

[ronmexico]

^Law schools are going to look primarily at your LSAT and grades. For every school, those two factors are going to mean much more than anything else, with the LSAT typically being the single most important factor. Not all schools weight your LSAT and GPA the same way, with Boalt (Berkeley) and UCLA putting considerably more emphasis on GPA, for example. Once you have those numbers, you can assess your chances with reasonable accuracy. From this page you can find both the ABA guide to law schools and LSAC's calculator (under "Data Search") to help you. You can also look at lawschoolnumbers.com to get a sense of who is getting in where.

Getting a master's generally doesn't help your chances. Plenty of people have them, so it doesn't really set you apart. It would probably just be a waste of time and money if your only purpose in getting the degree was to help your chances.

[HtyPotter]

Well, if I DO get a masters, will the Admissions look at my grad school GPA instead of my undergrad GPA? Jeez, hopefully law schools take into account that some undergrad colleges are simply more difficult than others.

[ronmexico]

If I recall correctly, and I could be wrong because this wasn't an issue for me, your graduate grades won't count for your LSDAS GPA, although law schools will get a copy of your graduate transcript. But again, law schools realize that grades are kind of superfluous in graduate school and that it's not unusual to get straight-A's.

Schools do realize, at least to some extent, that different schools or programs have differing levels of difficulty. It's an open question how much they adjust for this, since they still have to report raw numbers to USNews. Boalt actually used to have a grid that adjusted GPAs based on their calculated difficulty of the institution, but they don't do this anymore. Again, a lot of schools care much more about your LSAT than your GPA, just because it's a standardized test while GPAs are affected by a ton of different variables.

[dark_chancellor]

Let's pin this Law School Thread

[sleepii]

Any recommended majors which would help it in this field?

(besides the obvious prelaw)

[ronmexico]

^Actually, "prelaw," which most schools don't even offer, is probably one of the worst things to major in. Law schools don't have a lot of respect for "prelaw" or criminal justice majors. As I mentioned before, law schools don't require any specific classes to apply (again, in contrast to med schools, which require quite a number of them). Most law school students major in humanities or social sciences (polisci, history, econ, philosophy, etc.), but you can major in anything. If you want to take the patent bar exam, you need to have an undergraduate science degree. If you do major in a math/science, just be sure to have a lot of reading- and writing-intensive courses.

[sleepii]

^Actually, "prelaw," which most schools don't even offer, is probably one of the worst things to major in. Law schools don't have a lot of respect for "prelaw" or criminal justice majors. As I mentioned before, law schools don't require any prerequisite classes to apply. Most law school students major in humanities or social sciences (polisci, history, econ, philosophy, etc.), but you can major in anything. If you want to take the patent bar exam, you need to have an undergraduate science degree. If you do major in a math/science, just be sure to have a lot of reading- and writing-intensive courses.

I was thinking about pre-law but my tutor told me that it didn't really matter and would be an absolute waste of time if I didn't get into a law school ==;

I was thinking History or English, anything to strengthen my writing/reading. Thanks for the headsup ^__^

[ronmexico]

^Either of those majors would be fine. The only things you really want to avoid are pre-law, criminal justice, and probably things like music or art. But your GPA and LSAT will be a lot more important than your major in every case.

Also, there's a better calculator than the LSAC one I mentioned earlier and now it's back up online. It gives you more precise odds, although it's still really just a rough estimate.

http://chiashu.com/lsat.html

[pinkprincess]

Would having a PH.d make a difference when applying to Law School? A friend is thinking about applying and he has a Ph.d in public health and wants to specialize in Environmental Law, just wondering if that would give him any advantage. Thanks for the heads up.

[ronmexico]

^Having a Ph.D. might help. That's pretty unusual, while a master's is not.

[kpop012]

Which college has the shortest JD program? Or are all JD programs 3 years? Any schools offer 2 year programs that include summer classes?

[ronmexico]

^ The JD programs are all three years long. Most people don't take summer classes, except a small number who take classes in another country, but you still have to stay for all three years. There are some direct law programs that only require six years for a BA and JD, but they're probably not a good idea and none of the good schools offer them as far as I know.

[KulSsunG]

What's your educational background ronmexico? Just wondering (: