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I am currently 24 years old with a BS in neuroscience. I was initially interested in going to medical school however I have changed my mind. One of my good friends is currently in law school, and seeing what he studies has sparked my interest in law. Moreover, I’ve always had interest in law but never thought i would be wanting to make it a career.

I graduated college with a 3.89 cGPA. After graduating, I have served as a project manager for a research company and have worked with a non-profit serving as VP. I am an URM.

What would be my next steps? I am not completely sure how law school cycles work but I would want to start law school fall 22.

Some very general advice - other people can probably provide more specific advice on your situation and questions.

1) Figure out if you really want to be a lawyer. Law school and the practice of law can be quite different, so find lawyers in the areas you're interested in.
a) Go to https://chambers.com/, find the type of law you're interested in and the market where you would like to practice. Then go to the websites of the top firms in those categories, find associates or partners in those practice areas and ask for an informational interview. Lawyers love to talk about themselves and their practice, so you probably find a few to indulge you.
b) With your educational background, you would probably be highly qualified for the patent bar and some type of intellectual property practice or a life sciences/regulatory practice.
c) Law school is a massive investment in terms of tuition and fees, as well as the economic cost of taking yourself out of the job market for 3+ years. If you enjoy your current work and have a path to advance up the ladder, then why bother with law school? Alternatively, MBA or MPH programs that can be done part-time may be better suited to the type of career/management/advocacy that you're seeking.

2) You have great "softs" - but softs don't really matter nearly as much as LSAT/GPA. Your GPA is great, so now you just need to get the best score you can the LSAT. You should be aiming for somewhere in the 165-170 range to get good scholarship offers and admissions at the T13 (national-reach) and T20 (super-regional) schools. https://mylsn.info/6q53j3/ The LSAT forums here can provide you plenty of advice on test-taking, tutors, etc. Take the LSAT multiple times. Almost everyone improves their scores during the second and third takes and there is no penalty from an admissions standpoint for multiple retakes.

3) Try to get a final LSAT score in the 165-170 range by September 2021. There is a huge advantage to applying early in terms of admissions outcomes and scholarship offers. Start reaching out to professors and supervisors next spring for letters of recommendation. Submit you applications as soon as the application windows open in September/October. There are plenty of people on this forum who would be happy to read over your personal statement, diversity statement, "Why UVA/Penn/UT" etc.

If you decide to go to law school, you have just over a year to get everything ready. Good luck!

Therro95 wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 05, 2020 10:13 pm

I am currently 24 years old with a BS in neuroscience. I was initially interested in going to medical school however I have changed my mind. One of my good friends is currently in law school, and seeing what he studies has sparked my interest in law. Moreover, I’ve always had interest in law but never thought i would be wanting to make it a career.

I graduated college with a 3.89 cGPA. After graduating, I have served as a project manager for a research company and have worked with a non-profit serving as VP. I am an URM.

What would be my next steps? I am not completely sure how law school cycles work but I would want to start law school fall 22.

It really comes down to the LSAT. Start buy taking a few diagnostics and figure out how much of a battle it will be. Some people can waltz in unstudied and get a 175, others can get that score with hundreds of hours of studying, others will have a much lower ceiling no matter how much they study. Figure out where you land on that spectrum. Once you are either consistently hitting timed practice tests over 170 or have put in hundreds of hours to the point you are maxed out, take the LSAT. Once you have a real score, you will know where you stand on admissions. Law school is mostly a numbers game.

Do not go to law school unless you have a specific reason for attending. You are entering an entirely different academic environment of which, your background will not make you more employable than anyone else vying for the same post-graduate positions. Those said $$ post-graduate positions are (as you probably know) extremely competitive to obtain.