University of Kansas School of Law Dean of Admissions - 2012 Forum

[IrwinM.Fletcher]

@cooldude

Sorry for the delay. We had 47 employers come for on-campus interviewes plus 10 employers who collected resumes. Of the 47 who came for on-campus interviews, 33 were law firms, 3 were businesses and 11 were government organizations. Of the 10 resume collecting firms, 7 were law firms and 3 were government organizations.

Were these 33 unique law firms, or do firms who were interviewing for multiple offices count separately?

For example, if Snell and Wilmer were interviewing for its Phoenix, Denver and Las Vegas offices, did you count that as 1 firm or 3 firms on your list? Thanks for the info.

[Aeroneous]

Dean,

Thank you for taking questions. I haven't posted on TLS for a long time, but this is one thread I had to jump on as I have been interested in KU law for a while. I realize this might be hard to describe, but could you discuss how much weight your admissions team places on "soft" factors? Specifically, how heavily would you value an applicant with an MBA from a KU equivalent school or an applicant who is a veteran?

I'd also like to add that in addition to the obvious benefits of attending KU, it would be great to go to KU if for no other reason than to bug my wife's die hard K-State family!

[JayhawkLaw]

@irwinfletcher

That's 33 unique law firms. For example, Snell and Wilmer is listed as a Phoenix law firm.

Although I should update my post to make one correction. I had accidentally double-counted the U.S. Army JAG Corps in my list of government organizations. So we had ten government organizations interview on-campus, not the eleven I had posted. Similarly, we had forty-six total employers come to campus.

[JayhawkLaw]

@aeroneous

Soft factors can definitely be important. What I tell folks is we're looking for two things: academic talent and impact. We generally judge the first category by looking at gpa, lsat, strength of school, what types of classes you took, etc. The second part comes down to this: we are looking for folks who will make an impact when they're on our campus, and when they leave our campus. What will tell us that you are this kind of person? Leadership, volunteer, professional or other experience, any one of which can play a factor in getting into KU Law. We're not going to ignore the LSAT and GPA, but you can absolutely help your cause if you present strong evidence that you are someone who is leading from the front instead of hiding in the pack.

There are other factors that can help too. We're looking to build a diverse class, by which we mean small 'd' diversity. That includes not just racial and ethnic diversity, but also geography, life experience, economic background, etc. We value anything that will add different perspectives to the class.

Hope this helps.

p.s. If the Jayhawks don't get out of their funk by 8:00 p.m. tonight, your wife's K-State family might get the last laugh this year.

[JayhawkLaw]

Will the Supreme Court declare humans unpatentable? I dunno, but Professor Andrew Torrance who heads our IP program has a pretty cool posting about this topic on the prestigious SCOTUS blog. You can read it at http://www.scotusblog.com/2013/02/nothi ... ade-of-man.

[JayhawkLaw]

KU Law is one of the leaders in preparing students for a career in health law, including our innovative Medical-Legal Partnership Clinic. Law students in the Clinic partner with medical, pharma and nursing students to help patients experiencing medical and legal issues. We just expanded the program even further, which you can read about at http://www.news.ku.edu/2013/02/08/ku-me ... n-expanded.

[JayhawkLaw]

On to the international round...congrats to our Jessup Moot Court team who finished second out of nineteen teams to earn a trip to the international competition in D.C.!

http://news.ku.edu/2013/02/25/ku-law-sc ... ompetition

[JayhawkLaw]

I think one way to gain insight into what a law school is doing is to check out the recent news section on the website. For KU Law, we've had a number of events, publications and other happenings take place over the past year. From new relationships with overseas law schools to the latest triumphs of our moot court teams, come take a look on the website at http://www.law.ku.edu/news.

[lawguyjake]

Hi, all,

KU Law 1L here.

I realize that there might be some people (I hope not many!) in this group who are still deciding on their plans for the fall. If you are one of those people, I want you to do 3 things, if practicable:

1. Take a tour of Green Hall ASAP. This could very well make the decision for you. If you can't do this, give Steve or Tonda a call; they're great folks and have lots of helpful information for you.

2. Read the KU Law blog (linked below). Students and faculty frequently provide good perspective of what KU can offer. Your law school decision should not be based solely on "numbers"; indeed, your law school experience sure as heck won't be.

3. Shoot me a message here. Believe it or not, I was you a year ago. On June 15 at 2:30 AM, I still didn't know where I was going. I understand what you're feeling. In short, I chose KU and have never once regretted that decision. I have finals until Friday, so I might not message back until the weekend, but I would love to talk to any of you about anything you might have on your mind. Seriously: don't be shy.

Good luck!

http://kuschooloflaw.blogspot.com/