Advice Sought: How to spend the year before applying Forum

[Alaska]

I'm fairly certain this has not been answered before, as I've searched through the forum pretty extensively; I apologize if I missed it somewhere.
My question is simple, but I hope it will generate some discussion. I'll put in some specifics for my case, but also feel free to contribute more general suggestions, as I would like for this to be as helpful to as many people as possible.

I'm three years out of undergrad and work full time, but I'm looking for ideas on what I can do, over the next year, to make my resume more competitive. LSAT/GPA are set (176/3.59) but I'm shooting for Harvard or Stanford. Obviously the GPA is a weakness. My undergrad was Electrical Engineering and Criminal Justice, and my goal is administrative law/regulatory work for the Department of Energy. Specifically, balancing energy needs with environmental concerns.

So, any specific things I should be doing to bump my chances of getting selected? Learning languages, volunteering for relevant nonprofit or lobbying organizations, and trying to get published in a trade magazine are the first things that come to mind.

Once again, if you have ideas that don't necessarily apply to my situation, feel free to post them as well, as they may benefit other working professionals looking to make themselves more competitive.

Thank you for your time, and if there is any other data that would be helpful, feel free to ask.

-Ken

[thebestwes]

I know you generally shouldn't trust admissions advice from people just because they're practicing attorneys, but one very accomplished individual I know who was pretty friendly with a couple admissions deans once told me not to do projects that sound good but don't really seem to come from any personal passion. Law schools aren't going to be nearly as impressed by things that appear to have been done just so that they'll be impressed.

Basically the advice I got was that it's better to do a less-impressive things that fit into a narrative of who you are and what you want to do with your life than it is to do more impressive things that just seem like prestigious resume filler. If someone wanted to do corporate work and majored in economics or business, for example, it might raise an eyebrow if they suddenly developed an interest in teaching inner-city kids right around the same time they decided to apply to law school. Which is not to say that the soft would count against them or anything, but it probably wouldn't improve their chances by any meaningful amount, particularly in comparison to an applicant with the same teaching experience who was interested in more social-justice-related work or something.

I'm far from an expert, but I guess what I would be doing in your shoes is looking for ways to further your relevant experience or improve yourself in ways that both stem from and add to your personal narrative. Hoarding unrelated softs isn't really going to help you much at all. So maybe not learning a language (unless it's something you want to do anyway for other reasons), but volunteering for relevant organizations or getting published in that field both seem like worthwhile things to pursue if they do indeed inform and further your goals.

[PeanutsNJam]

I don't think doing any of those things would give an admissions bump proportional to the cost. You're very competitive for Harvard, will likely get a near full scholarship at CCN, and will certainly get a full scholarship further down the rankings list. Unfortunately, that GPA is likely going to preclude you from Yale and possibly Stanford, but it's not like it's impossible for you to get into those schools.

Any soft that would have a real impact would take much longer than one year (join the military, hold public office, etc.).

Keep working, save $$ (you will need it if you go to Harvard), and good luck.