Have dreams of going to law school? Well this is the thread for you!
A lot of the information here is pulled from this thread of DF member Mysonx3 who earned a perfect 4.0 GPA, 176 on the LSAT, and attended a T14 law school with a near full-ride scholarship.
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ool-Thread
BASIC LAW SCHOOL INFORMATION
https://www.lsac.org/choosing-law-school...d-programs
LAW SCHOOL RANKINGS
https://www.ilrg.com/rankings/law/1/desc...ame=&state
LAW SCHOOL TUITION SEARCH
https://www.ilrg.com/rankings/law/tuition
GETTING ACCEPTED INTO A LAW SCHOOL
A law school will look at undergrad GPA, LSAT, and possibly a few other factors in determining acceptance.
LAW ACCEPTANCE PROBABILITY SEARCH ENGINE
There is a search tool that will give a general idea of which schools will accept you based on a variety of factors.
https://mylsn.info/k66mkk/
WHICH LAW SCHOOL SHOULD I ATTEND?
There are some factors to look at such as ranking, cost, and location. A T14 law degree might be nice to have in New York city though it may not matter as much if you practice in a more rural area.
ADVICE FROM DF MEMBER THAT ATTENDED LAW SCHOOL
Don't consider any law schools where you'll have to borrow large sums of money to afford. AVOID student loan debt as much as possible. Lawyers are leaving the field every day and, last I heard, BigLaw firms weren't hiring the way they used to hire. Going to the Harvards and Yales is great ONLY if you can graduate without significant debt. Barring that, your best bet is to get a full ride to a solid law school, even if it's not in the top 50. The thing you should be most concerned about is a school's first time bar passage rate. Compare it with the state's first time bar passage rate. If it's close to, equal to, or exceeds the state's rate, it's a decent school.
MINIMUM NUMBER OF GRADED CREDITS
In order to have a GPA included in your application for law schools, the Law School Admissions Council requires you to earn at least 60 graded semester credits before your bachelor's degree is conferred.
There are law schools that will accept less than 60 graded semester credits though you take the risk of not getting into some law schools if you only have a few semester credits.
UNDERGRAD COST
UMPI would be the cheapest place to gather lots of semester credits with the total cost likely being below 6k. TESU, SNHU, and PUG would cost up to 20k for 60 semester credits.
DOES THE UNDERGRAD MAJOR MATTER?
According to past acceptance data, your major isn't going to matter. Some lawyers end up going into business careers or working with business clients so a business major wouldn't be a bad idea. If you like other things such as history or psychology then do those majors. Doing a political science degree won't help you get into law school.
GPA
If you go to one of our recommended colleges, then your GPA should at a minimum be 3.0 with a 3.5+ being most likely. In order not to be discriminated against, you should strive to get a 3.7+ GPA.
Basic things like following the rubic, knowing APA format, and not turning in assignments late is mostly what you need to know in order to get a high GPA.
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...in-College
LSAT
Earning a high LSAT score can make up for a low GPA. A high LSAT score is also key to law school admission and earning a scholarship.
LSAT PREP
Be prepared to spend a minimum of 200 hours or 2-3 months doing LSAT prep. Using a prep service is key to earning a high score. DF member mysonx3 used Logic Games Bible (book) and 7Sage (service) and scored 176/180 on the LSAT on the 1st attempt.
https://www.intelligent.com/best-lsat-pr...PowerScore
APPLICATION ESSAYS
That will consist of a personal statement (which can be recycled with only minor changes for each school), a total of 2-3 school-specific essays (most schools don't have any, but a few do), and probably a few short "why such and such a school" essays (I'm told most schools don't care, but a few do)
WRAP UP
If there are any things to add or errors, please feel free to make suggestions.
A lot of the information here is pulled from this thread of DF member Mysonx3 who earned a perfect 4.0 GPA, 176 on the LSAT, and attended a T14 law school with a near full-ride scholarship.
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...ool-Thread
BASIC LAW SCHOOL INFORMATION
https://www.lsac.org/choosing-law-school...d-programs
LAW SCHOOL RANKINGS
https://www.ilrg.com/rankings/law/1/desc...ame=&state
LAW SCHOOL TUITION SEARCH
https://www.ilrg.com/rankings/law/tuition
GETTING ACCEPTED INTO A LAW SCHOOL
A law school will look at undergrad GPA, LSAT, and possibly a few other factors in determining acceptance.
LAW ACCEPTANCE PROBABILITY SEARCH ENGINE
There is a search tool that will give a general idea of which schools will accept you based on a variety of factors.
https://mylsn.info/k66mkk/
WHICH LAW SCHOOL SHOULD I ATTEND?
There are some factors to look at such as ranking, cost, and location. A T14 law degree might be nice to have in New York city though it may not matter as much if you practice in a more rural area.
ADVICE FROM DF MEMBER THAT ATTENDED LAW SCHOOL
Don't consider any law schools where you'll have to borrow large sums of money to afford. AVOID student loan debt as much as possible. Lawyers are leaving the field every day and, last I heard, BigLaw firms weren't hiring the way they used to hire. Going to the Harvards and Yales is great ONLY if you can graduate without significant debt. Barring that, your best bet is to get a full ride to a solid law school, even if it's not in the top 50. The thing you should be most concerned about is a school's first time bar passage rate. Compare it with the state's first time bar passage rate. If it's close to, equal to, or exceeds the state's rate, it's a decent school.
MINIMUM NUMBER OF GRADED CREDITS
In order to have a GPA included in your application for law schools, the Law School Admissions Council requires you to earn at least 60 graded semester credits before your bachelor's degree is conferred.
There are law schools that will accept less than 60 graded semester credits though you take the risk of not getting into some law schools if you only have a few semester credits.
UNDERGRAD COST
UMPI would be the cheapest place to gather lots of semester credits with the total cost likely being below 6k. TESU, SNHU, and PUG would cost up to 20k for 60 semester credits.
DOES THE UNDERGRAD MAJOR MATTER?
According to past acceptance data, your major isn't going to matter. Some lawyers end up going into business careers or working with business clients so a business major wouldn't be a bad idea. If you like other things such as history or psychology then do those majors. Doing a political science degree won't help you get into law school.
GPA
If you go to one of our recommended colleges, then your GPA should at a minimum be 3.0 with a 3.5+ being most likely. In order not to be discriminated against, you should strive to get a 3.7+ GPA.
Basic things like following the rubic, knowing APA format, and not turning in assignments late is mostly what you need to know in order to get a high GPA.
https://www.degreeforum.net/mybb/Thread-...in-College
LSAT
Earning a high LSAT score can make up for a low GPA. A high LSAT score is also key to law school admission and earning a scholarship.
LSAT PREP
Be prepared to spend a minimum of 200 hours or 2-3 months doing LSAT prep. Using a prep service is key to earning a high score. DF member mysonx3 used Logic Games Bible (book) and 7Sage (service) and scored 176/180 on the LSAT on the 1st attempt.
https://www.intelligent.com/best-lsat-pr...PowerScore
APPLICATION ESSAYS
That will consist of a personal statement (which can be recycled with only minor changes for each school), a total of 2-3 school-specific essays (most schools don't have any, but a few do), and probably a few short "why such and such a school" essays (I'm told most schools don't care, but a few do)
WRAP UP
If there are any things to add or errors, please feel free to make suggestions.
Degrees: BA Computer Science, BS Business Administration with a concentration in CIS, AS Natural Science & Math, TESU. 4.0 GPA 2022.
Course Experience: CLEP, Instantcert, Sophia.org, Study.com, Straighterline.com, Onlinedegree.org, Saylor.org, Csmlearn.com, and TEL Learning.
Certifications: W3Schools PHP, Google IT Support, Google Digital Marketing, Google Project Management
Course Experience: CLEP, Instantcert, Sophia.org, Study.com, Straighterline.com, Onlinedegree.org, Saylor.org, Csmlearn.com, and TEL Learning.
Certifications: W3Schools PHP, Google IT Support, Google Digital Marketing, Google Project Management
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