HYS and T14: Gap Year? Forum

[oatmilk]

Hi all,

I'm a senior at a t10 university with a strong humanities/English background but no polisci/law background. (I haven't been in political clubs or anything.) I am graduating in Dec., so I can either apply this round while in school and then have an 8mo gap "year," or apply next cycle with a 20mo gap. My ideas for working in the meanwhile incl. editing or doing English/writing work in either NYC or Europe. (Either way, I will be working and trying out my other possible career path of writing/editing to make sure I want to go into law.)

I want to get into HYS or a t14 with a scholarship. I have a 3.85 and am consistently getting 172-177 on my practice LSATs. I have decent softs but as I said, they are mostly humanities-related. Should I ditch my editing plan and try to get some sort of legal experience instead? And, which application cycle would give me the best shot, or does it not matter? I'm not rich, so either getting a scholarship or going to a school with good low-income protection is important to me.

Tyia <3

[nixy]

Getting legal experience won't make any difference for admissions purposes. I know tons of people (me included) who didn't have any legal experience before applying, and everyone's results were in line with their numbers. And the level of legal experience you can get in 8 or 20 months isn't going to make you stand out to adcomms, because a lot of people do get that experience.

It can make a difference to you, personally, in that it helps you determine whether you want to be a lawyer. And it might, on the margins, help you write a more informed personal statement if you're focusing on "why law" (but you don't have to focus on "why law" and you can write a stellar PS without getting legal experience, you just need to not claim you have some great insight into what being a lawyer is about).

I think going for the 20 month gap makes more sense, because you will be able to get more experience working/not being in school before you actually apply. I think this can help with self-knowledge/awareness and maturity and having a better idea of what you want to do, which will overall help your app if you do apply. You may also find that the writing/editing thing works out fine and you don't actually want to go to law school, but if you have pending applications/get acceptances you may convince yourself that you should take them. So I think you're better off applying after (or partway through) learning what working will teach you, rather than before. But that's a pretty subjective choice.

[decimalsanddollars]

Agree with nixy's take that you should do the year not to increase your chances but to work and make sure you want to do law school. The students at my law school who worked for at least a year were more mature and had more clarity about what they were doing and why. I worked for a year between, and I sometimes wish I'd worked for 2 or 3.

[The Lsat Airbender]

Agree with the above, and want to add that a 20-month gap will make studying/taking the LSAT much more chill than if you set an unnecessary deadline for yourself. The 170-176 delta matters a lot for the HYS/scholarship outcomes you want.