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Hello all, I was hoping some of you may be able to help me out with some questions I have as I begin to prepare for my acceptance into law school. I took my undergraduate degree in 2008 with concentrations in Psychology and Communications with no intent on ever applying for law school. However, the past two years have made it clear to me that this would be a good route for me to take. I feel as though I have the ability to eventually land at a "top" law school, however, I don't feel as though I have the resume to pull that off quite yet. I'm looking at doing either a one or two year Masters program first in the social sciences. Two programs I've been looking at with great interest are in Demography and Urban Planning. I'm rather naive though to the selection criteria, would either of these two programs help to improve my chances at getting into a better law school than I could now? Do you have suggestions for similar Masters programs that I could pursue other than these two? I can provide any further details if they're needed and I appreciate any help you guys can offer. Thanks.

If you know you want to go to law school, I would forgo the master's programs. They will not increase your chances of admissions for law school. Instead, focus your time on studying hard for the LSAT, rock the test, and you will be well on your way. Good luck!

I doubt a masters in either of those areas would really help you in admissions but what kind of law are planning on concentrating on? A high masters GPA might help you out though but the LSAT would make the majority of the decision.

I would say it depends.

If you have a great GPA (3.85+) and think you can do well on the LSAT (170+) then a Master's could help you cement yourself for a spot at Yale, Harvard, or Stanford, though none of those three is EVER really a sure thing. (Still, those stats WITH a Master's would be about the best chance you could have at one of those schools.)

If you really aren't concerned with HYS, then just focus on the LSAT. Getting over a 172+ can get you into just about any school outside of HYS so long as you have a solid application and a non-abysmal (higher than 3.0) GPA.

Wouldn't a solid year or two of quality WE help more than a master's? We're discussing soft factors but I was always under the impression that WE counted for a little and a master's counted for next to nil.

Depends on the school. Northwestern is like a dog in heat for WE but other schools don't favor it as much. It depends on where you want to go.