non-traditional student question Forum

[mimi82]

Does anyone know what the usual guidelines are to be labeled 'non traditional student'

I'm trying to figure out if I should consider myself non traditional. I keep reading that someone should be out of undergrad at least 6 years with a well established career. Well I was out of high school for around 5 years before I decided to go to undergrad. I was switching careers or more so trying to figure out what career I'd rather do. I took Cisco Networking in high school so I came out working in the IT field making good money and then after a few years of doing this I decided it wasn't something I couldn't see myself doing until retirement. So anyways I completed my undergrad working fulltime and going to school fulltime and finished at 27, I'm now 28. No I don't have kids, no I'm not married. I'm in the field I want to be in now but to get to the next level I need the law degree.

Okay what do you all think?

[09042014]

It doesn't really matter if you are or not.

Though I'd say you are half a nontrad. On one hand you are 27 and just out of undergrad, but you worked full time for a decade.

[ahduth]

It doesn't really matter either way, there's no strict definition or need for one.

But sure you are, you have loads of work/life experience compared with someone who's coming straight from undergrad or had only 1-2 years of work experience.

[mimi82]

Thanks. I was thinking with the work experience yeah but my age no. So I was confused. I don't see how it really matters either except if it gives me more 'softs' cause I need all the help I can get with my low LSAT score.

[ItsMyTimeBoston]

Thanks. I was thinking with the work experience yeah but my age no. So I was confused. I don't see how it really matters either except if it gives me more 'softs' cause I need all the help I can get with my low LSAT score.

You definitely qualify as a nontraditional applicant and you should maximize the impact of your work experience and the fact that you’ve worked and finished your undergraduate degree while working. That said, I feel that your nontraditional experience would help explain a low GPA, but not a low LSAT.

[LurkerNoMore]

Doesn't matter what you call it.

The value of softs (other than URM) is limited to your ability to show that they matter. It doesn't matter if you are 22 or 52. Plunking things down on a resume won't do a thing. Writing in such a way as to show that you will bring a perspective to the classroom and the community that will contribute to the school environment is how you get softs to count. When law schools look beyond the numbers (which is generally just in the case of borderline applicants -- don't expect miracles) they want to find people that will be interesting -- people that are open to learning from others and will also bring something to the table themselves.