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I did some data entry work in high school for a neighbor with his own business. Really low-key stuff. And then I lifeguarded over the summer in high school. And that's all the work experience I have.

I did not work in college because I focused mostly on academics. Graduated early with a double major and saved my parents a lot more money that way. Since they were paying for my education, I wanted to work hard and save them a year's worth of tuition rather than just working part-time for my own spending money.

I'm taking a year off now before I go to law school, but I'm going to start applying to LS in September. I have tried finding some part-time legal-related work for the summer, but the economy being what it is, it's not turning out well. I'm considering just volunteering during the summer and focusing a lot of my time on studying for the LSAT. I really, really want a good score.

After the October LSAT is over with, I will concentrate on finding an actual job for the remainder of the year. But would law schools (other than Northwestern) look down on me for applying with no real work experience, just volunteer gigs? I know WE doesn't matter that much, but I'm wondering if not having any will count against me.

focus on the lsat first. think about rest later.


if you must think about it now, i don't think volunteering would be a negative at all. the only problem would be... you won't have your own money to spend and you will have a lot of free time...

edit: you can always just do the resume test. if you can be proud to put it on your resume, then you're good to go. regardless, i'm pretty sure you'll find a job once you focus on it.

Do you have any extra-curricular activities you participated in during undergrad? Beyond that, how into it were you with the volunteering?

Like posted above, focus on the LSAT. But the concern is that if the ONLY thing you did for 4 year was work on your bachelor's and a Relay for Life or something here and there, the issue is that you look like a bland applicant without much work with people. For the most part, you can lean on your numbers, but there are some schools (Berkeley comes to mind, obviously) where any lack of something other than school could raise some flags.