Top Law Schools

How much does work experience help when applying to law school? T14 in particular. I've heard people on here recommending to others to get a year or two of work experience to increase admittance chances, so how important really is work experience as a factor?

For example, I have 2.5 years of w/e as a software engineer for a large defense contractor. Is that considered a significant soft?

It'll help, but it's not a gamechanger.

There are some schools that practically require work experience (meaning it's a binary stat rather than something that would give you an edge). Harvard and NU come to mind.

bk187 wrote:There are some schools that practically require work experience (meaning it's a binary stat rather than something that would give you an edge). Harvard and NU come to mind.

This.

It's an advantage, but mainly just puts you ahead of people with similar numbers and no WE. There are a lot of people with significant WE applying to T14 these days. It sure won't hold you back, but don't expect a huge extra boost from it. At the T14 level, substantive WE is "keeping up with the Joneses".

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Work experience at the best schools seems to be becoming a necessary rather than sufficient condition (for most incoming students). At YHS, upwards of 70% of the incoming classes have at least a year off from undergrad. The trend is apparent at other T-14 schools, but to a lesser degree (except Northwestern).