How much do extracurriculars matter? Forum

[Realestatelaw2332]

Hey everyone, I just graduated from Ohio State this month with an undergraduate degree in History. My undergraduate GPA was 3.6. My problem is that I didn't participate in any extracurriculars in college. I was in a bunch of clubs and NHS in high school but didn't see the point of joining clubs in college because I wasn't originally planning on going to grad school and was very busy with work and school. I worked part time at a retail store all through my college years. I worked anywhere from 12-20 hours a week. Law school was always in the back of my head but my plan all through college was to graduate, get my teaching license from a 1 year licensure program and then go into teaching. However, over the course of my senior year, a lot of things happened in my life and I realized that I didn't actually want to be a teacher. I came to the conclusion that I think that my true calling is to go in to law. I was wondering how much not having any college extracurriculars would affect my chances of getting in to law school. I am planning on taking the LSAT in October and applying to schools in October or November. My current plan is to get a job as a legal assistant to get some experience and to also start volunteering at several local organizations. I look forward to seeing the feedback that I get.

Also, I'm not sure if this is all that relavant to the question per se, but these are the schools that I'm currently looking at:

Notre Dame
Indiana
Ohio State
North Carolina
Wake Forest
Tennessee
Florida
Kentucky
Georgia
Alabama
Cincinnati

[malleus discentium]

Hey everyone, I just graduated from Ohio State this month with an undergraduate degree in History. My undergraduate GPA was 3.6. My problem is that I didn't participate in any extracurriculars in college. I was in a bunch of clubs and NHS in high school but didn't see the point of joining clubs in college because I wasn't originally planning on going to grad school and was very busy with work and school. I worked part time at a retail store all through my college years. I worked anywhere from 12-20 hours a week. Law school was always in the back of my head but my plan all through college was to graduate, get my teaching license from a 1 year licensure program and then go into teaching. However, over the course of my senior year, a lot of things happened in my life and I realized that I didn't actually want to be a teacher. I came to the conclusion that I think that my true calling is to go in to law. I was wondering how much not having any college extracurriculars would affect my chances of getting in to law school. I am planning on taking the LSAT in October and applying to schools in October or November. My current plan is to get a job as a legal assistant to get some experience and to also start volunteering at several local organizations. I look forward to seeing the feedback that I get.

Also, I'm not sure if this is all that relavant to the question per se, but these are the schools that I'm currently looking at:

Notre Dame
Indiana
Ohio State
North Carolina
Wake Forest
Tennessee
Florida
Kentucky
Georgia
Alabama
Cincinnati

People who did nothing during undergrad tend to underperform their numbers, but since you were working that probably won't hurt you. You'll do about as well as your numbers suggest.
How did you put that list of schools together? Beyond the T14, schools are regional and you should go to school where you want to practice. Don't just go to Alabama unless you would be fine spending your life there.

[CanadianWolf]

Law school admission offices tend to focus on an applicant's numbers (LSAT score & GPA as determined by LSDAS--law school data assembly service). Extracurriculars typically have little weight in the law school admission process.

Notre Dame might give some weight to extracurricular activities, however. Also, post undergraduate work experience tends to help at many law schools. Northwestern seems to prefer students with a year or two of post undergraduate work experience. NU also seems to like Teach For America alumni.

Getting published might be an extracurricular type achievement worthy of extra consideration at many law schools.

In short, the best extracurricular is a high LSAT score, followed by a high GPA.

[Realestatelaw2332]

[/quote]
People who did nothing during undergrad tend to underperform their numbers, but since you were working that probably won't hurt you. You'll do about as well as your numbers suggest.
How did you put that list of schools together? Beyond the T14, schools are regional and you should go to school where you want to practice. Don't just go to Alabama unless you would be fine spending your life there.[/quote]


Okay, good. I was worried that that might hurt my chances of getting in.

But I put that list together based off of where I want to practice law after law school. I currently live in Ohio and don't plan on staying here after law school unless I get a lot of scholarship money from an Ohio school. So I'm looking at a lot of southern schools because I've wanted to move south for as long as I can remember. Alabama is probably out of the question; I've just been looking at it because it is a highly ranked school. I've visited all of the states represented in my list and wouldn't mind living and practicing in any of them with the exception of maybe Alabama.

[Realestatelaw2332]

Law school admission offices tend to focus on an applicant's numbers (LSAT score & GPA as determined by LSDAS--law school data assembly service). Extracurriculars typically have little weight in the law school admission process.

Notre Dame might give some weight to extracurricular activities, however. Also, post undergraduate work experience tends to help at many law schools. Northwestern seems to prefer students with a year or two of post undergraduate work experience. NU also seems to like Teach For America alumni.

Getting published might be an extracurricular type achievement worthy of extra consideration at many law schools.

In short, the best extracurricular is a high LSAT score, followed by a high GPA.

Okay, that is good news. I most likely won't end up at Notre Dame. I'm just looking at it because I always thought that it would be cool to go there as my family are all Notre Dame fans.

But yeah, my plan is to take a year or two off of school to get some work and volunteer experience and to prepare me for the grind of law school.

[Mack.Hambleton]

Beyond the T14, schools are regional and you should go to school where you want to practice. Don't just go to Alabama unless you would be fine spending your life there.

retake, figure out your goals, do more research etc etc

having any WE >>> being in the anime club in college

[adil91]

Beyond the T14, schools are regional and you should go to school where you want to practice. Don't just go to Alabama unless you would be fine spending your life there.

retake, figure out your goals, do more research etc etc

having any WE >>> being in the anime club in college

But he hasn't even taken the LSAT once yet..

[Mack.Hambleton]

DOESNT MATTER