Top Law Schools

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.

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.

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: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.

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: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.

WorseBerceo wrote:2. Is there anything else that I can do to improve my chances at getting into a top law school?

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:3. Should I write a senior thesis, even if I don't want to, to demonstrate competency in Spanish or knowledge of Political Science?

Law schools won't care.

WorseBerceo 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?

LSAC offers a free sample LSAT online at https://www.lsac.org/lsat/lsat-prep/sample-tests

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.

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.

Happy to help. Good luck!