Hello All, this is my first post here, so I'm sorry if there are rules that I mess up in this post.
I am an undergraduate student in my second year at a state school looking to go to law school. I completed a large amount of my course work before coming here through AP and transfer credits, as such, I was planning on graduating in three years. My graduation timeline is due to financial reasons, but I am aware that applying too early and only having two years of grades from my undergraduate would hurt me when applying to more selective law programs, so I am planning on taking a gap year to work before applying.
Currently, I am double majored in Spanish and Political Science. I am taking upper level courses in both of these subjects which are primarily focused on the field of Spanish Literature and International Relations. My GPA is a 4.0 at this point, and I believe that it will stay that way for the foreseeable future. Additionally, I work 20 hours a week for the University that I am attending and I plan on being an RA next year. I have leadership positions in two relatively large student organizations, for which I write grant applications. One of the major issues that I see in my extracurricular set up is that I lack relevant experience in political and legal fields, which I plan to fix in my next year of undergraduate study and the gap year I am going to take.
The questions I have are as follows:
1. If I were to take a lighter course schedule (4 classes out of a maximum of 6) in the next three semesters I am enrolled in undergrad, would it substantially hurt my admission chances at top law schools?
2. Is there anything else that I can do to improve my chances at getting into a top law school?
3. Should I write a senior thesis, even if I don't want to, to demonstrate competency in Spanish or knowledge of Political Science?
4. Are there any free diagnostic exams that I can take prior to studying in order to determine my natural aptitude for Law School or the LSAT?
I'm sorry that I am asking so many questions, and I know that I should probably ask an adviser, but my general adviser can't answer the questions that I've been asking and our Pre-Law adviser is booked solid for the next month.
Thank you for any help you can offer.
Early Undergraduate Completion Questions Forum
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Re: Early Undergraduate Completion Questions
I certainly think it's a good idea to take a gap year, although I don't think law schools care how many years applicants spend in college. They care about your GPA, they care that you graduated, you'll get a boost for having a STEM major, you'll get a boost for any extraordinary extracurricular activities/accomplishments, but they won't care about whether you graduated in 4 years or 3 (and also graduating college in 3 years is not all that unusual).WorseBerceo wrote:Hello All, this is my first post here, so I'm sorry if there are rules that I mess up in this post.
I am an undergraduate student in my second year at a state school looking to go to law school. I completed a large amount of my course work before coming here through AP and transfer credits, as such, I was planning on graduating in three years. My graduation timeline is due to financial reasons, but I am aware that applying too early and only having two years of grades from my undergraduate would hurt me when applying to more selective law programs, so I am planning on taking a gap year to work before applying.
You do not need to have "relevant experience in political and legal fields" to be a successful law school applicant - although if you are able to land a good political/legal position, you might be able to leverage that in your PS.WorseBerceo wrote:Currently, I am double majored in Spanish and Political Science. I am taking upper level courses in both of these subjects which are primarily focused on the field of Spanish Literature and International Relations. My GPA is a 4.0 at this point, and I believe that it will stay that way for the foreseeable future. Additionally, I work 20 hours a week for the University that I am attending and I plan on being an RA next year. I have leadership positions in two relatively large student organizations, for which I write grant applications. One of the major issues that I see in my extracurricular set up is that I lack relevant experience in political and legal fields, which I plan to fix in my next year of undergraduate study and the gap year I am going to take.
No.WorseBerceo wrote:1. If I were to take a lighter course schedule (4 classes out of a maximum of 6) in the next three semesters I am enrolled in undergrad, would it substantially hurt my admission chances at top law schools?
No. GPA and LSAT score are king, and softs matter around the margins. It sounds like you have a plan of action for all of this.WorseBerceo wrote:2. Is there anything else that I can do to improve my chances at getting into a top law school?
Law schools won't care.WorseBerceo wrote:3. Should I write a senior thesis, even if I don't want to, to demonstrate competency in Spanish or knowledge of Political Science?
LSAC offers a free sample LSAT online at https://www.lsac.org/lsat/lsat-prep/sample-testsWorseBerceo wrote:4. Are there any free diagnostic exams that I can take prior to studying in order to determine my natural aptitude for Law School or the LSAT?
Law school grades are not reliably predictable ex ante. Due to the fact that law students are graded almost exclusively "on a curve" relative to each other (as opposed to against an objective standard), you should assume that you'll be a median student at whichever law school you attend.
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Re: Early Undergraduate Completion Questions
Hi again,
I am sorry that I am so late in responding to your post, but I just wanted to say thank you for your response. I have been stressing about this a lot recently, and your response really put my mind at ease.
I am sorry that I am so late in responding to your post, but I just wanted to say thank you for your response. I have been stressing about this a lot recently, and your response really put my mind at ease.
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Re: Early Undergraduate Completion Questions
Happy to help. Good luck!
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