How useful is PLUS Pre-Law Programs for law school app? Forum

[ultrafl1ght]

I was just wondering if anyone has attended any of the LSAC sponsored PLUS Pre-Law Programs (Davis, UCLA, UIowa...?) If so, how much of an impact would you say it had on law school apps (in any way such as resume builder or actually preparing to apply for law school)? Any input is appreciated...Thanks in advance.

[allydatndchik]

I would say that it is very useful and if you have the opportunity you should go. I attended the UIowa one. This app cycle I have been accepted at schools like Columbia, Michigan NYU, Cornell, WashU, UChicago etc and waitlisted at harvard and upenn. If youre interested in attending the school at which you attended the program, Im sure it really helped bc i was offered a full ride. I attended a top 20 university and have a great gpa but not the best lsat score so i am certain that the PLUS program was the tiebreaker. also, i still keep in contact with the people from the program so long story short, YES i 100% recommend it.

[ultrafl1ght]

Thanks for your input...has anyone else had a similar story/experience?

[melissa98]

@Ultrafl1ght: have you been accepted into the UIowa program

[gwuorbust]

I would say that it is very useful and if you have the opportunity you should go. I attended the UIowa one. This app cycle I have been accepted at schools like Columbia, Michigan NYU, Cornell, WashU, UChicago etc and waitlisted at harvard and upenn. If youre interested in attending the school at which you attended the program, Im sure it really helped bc i was offered a full ride. I attended a top 20 university and have a great gpa but not the best lsat score so i am certain that the PLUS program was the tiebreaker. also, i still keep in contact with the people from the program so long story short, YES i 100% recommend it.

I'm just going to throw this out there but: either flame, URM or big donor. No applicant w/ a 3.8 160 gets into NYU, Cornell, WashU, UChicago. And no number of LSAC programs is going to change that.

:edit for terrible spelling error

[boss]

URM. It's in her profile. Wipe the egg off your face.

[PDaddy]

URM. It's in her profile. Wipe the egg off your face.

Even whites with numbers like that have gotten into those schools, although probably not all at the same time. I wouldn't say it was impossible to do all of them if your softs were just...KILLER, and you had stellar LOR's. Even better if white and female...single mother. That might do it. Question is, who has all of that?

[gwuorbust]

URM. It's in her profile. Wipe the egg off your face.

not sure if this is suppose to be an insult to me or the poster... but WTFever. Point is, it was not the program that got the poster into Columbia et al. It might have helped the poster, but if I took that program I would still stand 0% chance at Columbia et al.

And to PDaddy: while it is true that there are some non-URMs that have gotten into t-14 w/ very sub 25th #s those are mostly the ppl I talked about before that can build a building for NYU or saved a species of Whales before applying to Boalt.

[rundoxierun]

I attended this program.. it isnt useful in the way of being an especially impressive soft.. but it is useful as far as making you familiar with the law school app process.

[ultrafl1ght]

I attended this program.. it isnt useful in the way of being an especially impressive soft.. but it is useful as far as making you familiar with the law school app process.

tkgrrett: Just wondering which program you attended and why you think it isn't a "very impressive soft"?

[gwuorbust]

I attended this program.. it isnt useful in the way of being an especially impressive soft.. but it is useful as far as making you familiar with the law school app process.

tkgrrett: Just wondering which program you attended and why you think it isn't a "very impressive soft"?

I will let tkgrrett answer, but remember that softs matter exactly 0%. It is all numbers based. Softs do not matter. If you want to learn from this thing go for it but it is not in any way going to change your cycle.

[rundoxierun]

I attended this program.. it isnt useful in the way of being an especially impressive soft.. but it is useful as far as making you familiar with the law school app process.

tkgrrett: Just wondering which program you attended and why you think it isn't a "very impressive soft"?

I attended the program at Univ. of Arkansas.. Its not a very impressive soft because its rather irrelevant. The program is essentially just an intro to law school. You attend some classes, meet some lawyers and judges, write some case analysis, do a mock trial, etc. But it really isnt anything super rigorous.

EDIT: Im not sure about the rest of these programs but my program payed me to come. The money I made allowed me to take an unpaid internship for the rest of the summer that has turned out to be a good stepping stone to other good opportunities. Im doing a corporate internship at a large company this summer and they indicated that my prior internship was a big reason for my offer.

[allydatndchik]

Perhaps some of you have missed the purpose of the UIowa program so ill post it here: "The University of Iowa College of Law, with generous support from The University of Iowa, is pleased to offer the Philip G. Hubbard Law School Preparation Program. This program seeks to support diversity in the legal profession by inspiring students from groups historically under-represented in the law to become lawyers and by providing them with the skills and assistance that will strengthen their preparation for law school."
The whole point of the program is to assist URMs with their transition to law school.
Also, not to belittle the Arkansas program, but I think the Iowa program carries more weight because of its top 30 ranking.
Side Note: Some people here make it seem like being a URM is some sort of detriment, as if the person doesn't deserve to attend the school as much as their non-URM counterparts. If that's the case, entering college I had a 4.0 but not the best SAT score but yet I'm graduating in the top 15% of my class. Again, one's "numbers" don't define one's potential. If anyone wants more info on UIowa or my app process, send me a PM.

[boss]

Nobody thinks being URM is a detriment. I was just pointing out that you were a URM to the poster calling you a flame. You know, I got your back.

[rundoxierun]

Perhaps some of you have missed the purpose of the UIowa program so ill post it here: "The University of Iowa College of Law, with generous support from The University of Iowa, is pleased to offer the Philip G. Hubbard Law School Preparation Program. This program seeks to support diversity in the legal profession by inspiring students from groups historically under-represented in the law to become lawyers and by providing them with the skills and assistance that will strengthen their preparation for law school."
The whole point of the program is to assist URMs with their transition to law school.
Also, not to belittle the Arkansas program, but I think the Iowa program carries more weight because of its top 30 ranking.
Side Note: Some people here make it seem like being a URM is some sort of detriment, as if the person doesn't deserve to attend the school as much as their non-URM counterparts. If that's the case, entering college I had a 4.0 but not the best SAT score but yet I'm graduating in the top 15% of my class. Again, one's "numbers" don't define one's potential. If anyone wants more info on UIowa or my app process, send me a PM.

Wow.. umm the ranking of the host school has nothing to do with the perception of the program.. and even if it did, a top 30 school would not be the level where a program gains "more weight".. Please tell me you arent one of those people who refer to there school as the "Harvard/Yale" of *insert region*.

I attended the Arkansas program simply because I didnt know the others existed. The Arkansas program has produced people accepted to Harvard and other top schools. People who attended the program were from schools all over the country (Yale, Emory, Morehouse, Spellman, and Creighton to name a few.) In regards to the whole URM thing, yea the PLUS programs are to promote diversity in the law profession. Im not really seeing where ppl are saying URM is some sort of detriment.

[allydatndchik]

Perhaps some of you have missed the purpose of the UIowa program so ill post it here: "The University of Iowa College of Law, with generous support from The University of Iowa, is pleased to offer the Philip G. Hubbard Law School Preparation Program. This program seeks to support diversity in the legal profession by inspiring students from groups historically under-represented in the law to become lawyers and by providing them with the skills and assistance that will strengthen their preparation for law school."
The whole point of the program is to assist URMs with their transition to law school.
Also, not to belittle the Arkansas program, but I think the Iowa program carries more weight because of its top 30 ranking.
Side Note: Some people here make it seem like being a URM is some sort of detriment, as if the person doesn't deserve to attend the school as much as their non-URM counterparts. If that's the case, entering college I had a 4.0 but not the best SAT score but yet I'm graduating in the top 15% of my class. Again, one's "numbers" don't define one's potential. If anyone wants more info on UIowa or my app process, send me a PM.

Wow.. umm the ranking of the host school has nothing to do with the perception of the program.. and even if it did, a top 30 school would not be the level where a program gains "more weight".. Please tell me you arent one of those people who refer to there school as the "Harvard/Yale" of *insert region*.

I attended the Arkansas program simply because I didnt know the others existed. The Arkansas program has produced people accepted to Harvard and other top schools. People who attended the program were from schools all over the country (Yale, Emory, Morehouse, Spellman, and Creighton to name a few.) In regards to the whole URM thing, yea the PLUS programs are to promote diversity in the law profession. Im not really seeing where ppl are saying URM is some sort of detriment.

O Ok. Again, I meant no harm or offense to the Arkansas program. I don't work in an admissions office so I'm not sure how they would weigh the ranking of the host school. I'm just speaking for my experience, so I apologize if I offended you. If I'm not mistaken, UIowa is the top ranked school that hosts the program. That's all I was saying. No, I'm not one of "those people". I actually really don't care about rankings that much because though I was accepted to top 5 schools I wont be attending one this fall.
Thanks Boss. I was referring to the post where I was considered a "flame" whatever that means, a donor, or a URM as if they all belong in one category. I'm not trying to turn the post into some big controversy. I was just providing advice on the program.

[MSachmorov]

O Ok. Again, I meant no harm or offense to the Arkansas program. I don't work in an admissions office so I'm not sure how they would weigh the ranking of the host school. I'm just speaking for my experience, so I apologize if I offended you. If I'm not mistaken, UIowa is the top ranked school that hosts the program. That's all I was saying. No, I'm not one of "those people". I actually really don't care about rankings that much because though I was accepted to top 5 schools I wont be attending one this fall.
Thanks Boss. I was referring to the post where I was considered a "flame" whatever that means, a donor, or a URM as if they all belong in one category. I'm not trying to turn the post into some big controversy. I was just providing advice on the program.

I don't think the part in bold is quite accurate. I know Harvard shares a similar program with NYU. I am not sure if they are a PLUS program but its aim and content is virtually identical...

[allydatndchik]

O Ok. Again, I meant no harm or offense to the Arkansas program. I don't work in an admissions office so I'm not sure how they would weigh the ranking of the host school. I'm just speaking for my experience, so I apologize if I offended you. If I'm not mistaken, UIowa is the top ranked school that hosts the program. That's all I was saying. No, I'm not one of "those people". I actually really don't care about rankings that much because though I was accepted to top 5 schools I wont be attending one this fall.
Thanks Boss. I was referring to the post where I was considered a "flame" whatever that means, a donor, or a URM as if they all belong in one category. I'm not trying to turn the post into some big controversy. I was just providing advice on the program.

I don't think the part in bold is quite accurate. I know Harvard shares a similar program with NYU. I am not sure if they are a PLUS program but it's aim and content is virtually identical...

I was referring to LSAC-sponsored PLUS programs, but as I said, I could be mistaken. The current list of LSAC-sponsored programs are held at Iowa, Chicago-Kent, Santa Clara, Arkansas at Little Rock, Villanova and I believe Florida State.
http://www.jtbf.org/index.php?src=gendo ... geStudents

[MSachmorov]

I was referring to LSAC-sponsored PLUS programs, but as I said, I could be mistaken. The current list of LSAC-sponsored programs are held at Iowa, Chicago-Kent, Santa Clara, Arkansas at Little Rock, Villanova and I believe Florida State.
http://www.jtbf.org/index.php?src=gendo ... geStudents[/quote]

I've attended the Florida State one; it was an amazing experience! If anyone is interested and gets the opportunity, I highly recommend it. And they even pay you to go!
Anyway, that's where I heard about the one at Harvard but I wasn't sure if it was a PLUS program or not.