Sarah Zearfoss on Law School Admissions: Michigan Law Application Advice

^{Last Updated: September 2026}

Law school admissions can appear numbers-driven from the outside, but an application contains far more than a GPA and standardized test score. Personal statements, recommendations, employment history, academic choices, extracurricular activities, and the way applicants explain their experiences can all contribute to how an admissions reader understands a candidate.

Sarah Zearfoss has spent decades evaluating applicants to the University of Michigan Law School. In this Top-Law-Schools.com interview, she explains how an experienced admissions reader approaches applications, what can make a personal statement memorable, how employment and undergraduate choices can strengthen an applicant's story, and what prospective students should think about when choosing a law school.

Applicants beginning the process can also explore the Top-Law-Schools.com Law School Admissions resources for additional guidance on preparing a competitive application.

Editor's Note: This interview was originally conducted in 2009 and has been reorganized as an evergreen resource. Admissions practices, LSAT policies, financial-aid procedures, waitlist practices, and school-specific requirements change over time. Applicants should always verify current requirements directly with the law schools and the Law School Admission Council.

How Law School Admissions Committees Evaluate Applicants

A recurring theme in Zearfoss's discussion of admissions is that applicants should not think of themselves as nothing more than a combination of an LSAT score and undergraduate GPA.

Selective law schools receive many applications from candidates with strong academic credentials. Numbers are important, but admissions officers may also examine the broader context of an applicant's education, experiences, writing, recommendations, employment history, and personal qualities.

For applicants, the practical lesson is straightforward: every part of the application contributes information.

A strong academic record may demonstrate preparation for demanding coursework. A résumé may show responsibility, persistence, leadership, or exposure to professional environments. A personal statement can reveal judgment and communication ability. Recommendations can offer perspectives unavailable elsewhere in the application.

Rather than treating these components as isolated requirements, applicants should think about the overall picture their materials create.

For a broader overview of how applications are evaluated, see LawCrossing's inside look at how law schools determine whom to admit.

LSAT Scores Matter, but Context Matters Too

Zearfoss's original discussion illustrates an important principle about multiple LSAT scores: a score history may raise different questions depending on the pattern.

A dramatic difference between test results may naturally lead an admissions reader to wonder what changed. A smaller progression across several administrations may tell a different story.

The larger point is not that applicants should follow a universal formula about when to retake the LSAT. Testing policies and admissions practices evolve. Instead, applicants should make retake decisions deliberately.

Before retaking the LSAT, consider:

Whether your existing score accurately reflects your preparation and ability;
Whether there is a realistic reason to believe another attempt will produce a meaningfully stronger result;
Whether you have enough time to prepare differently;
How the schools on your list currently treat multiple scores; and
Whether delaying your application could have other consequences.

Students preparing for the current exam should consult Top-Law-Schools.com's LSAT Preparation Resources, particularly because the LSAT format has changed substantially since the original interview.

Does Graduate School Strengthen a Law School Application?

Graduate education can add useful evidence to an application, particularly when it demonstrates that an applicant can handle challenging academic work.

At the same time, undergraduate performance and graduate performance are not necessarily evaluated in exactly the same way. Graduate programs differ widely in grading standards, academic expectations, and selectivity.

Applicants with graduate degrees should therefore avoid assuming that an advanced degree automatically compensates for every weakness elsewhere in an application.

Instead, use graduate experience to demonstrate what it genuinely adds:

Advanced academic work;
Research or writing experience;
Intellectual development;
Specialized expertise;
Improved academic discipline; or
A clearer professional direction.

The strongest application explains the significance of graduate study rather than merely listing the credential.

Does Work Experience Matter for Law School Admissions?

One of the most useful elements of Zearfoss's advice concerns employment.

Applicants sometimes worry that their jobs will look unimpressive because they worked in restaurants, stores, offices, service businesses, or other ordinary workplaces rather than completing prestigious internships.

Zearfoss challenges that assumption.

Holding a real job can provide evidence of maturity, reliability, accountability, and the ability to function in a workplace. An applicant who balanced employment with school may have developed skills that cannot easily be measured by grades.

Prestigious internships can certainly be valuable. But they are not the only experiences that matter.

A waiter, retail employee, bank teller, administrative assistant, technician, or other employee may have learned how to:

Deal professionally with difficult people;
Meet deadlines;
Take direction;
Manage competing responsibilities;
Work as part of a team;
Handle pressure;
Communicate with customers or colleagues; and
Remain accountable to an employer.

Those experiences can be meaningful when presented thoughtfully.

Applicants should therefore focus less on whether a job sounds prestigious and more on what the experience demonstrates about them.

What Should You Major in Before Law School?

Students often wonder whether there is a particular undergraduate major that improves their chances of admission.

Zearfoss's advice is refreshingly simple: choose a field that genuinely interests you, challenge yourself, and perform well.

There is no need to major in political science simply because law school is your long-term goal. Students enter law school after studying history, economics, engineering, philosophy, business, mathematics, science, languages, anthropology, and countless other disciplines.

A good undergraduate education should help you develop intellectual curiosity and the ability to think seriously about difficult questions.

Applicants can strengthen their preparation by pursuing challenging coursework both within and outside their major.

Law schools are training lawyers, not simply selecting students who have completed a predetermined collection of undergraduate courses.

How Should Pre-Law Students Spend Their Summers?

Summer does not necessarily need to mean a prestigious legal internship.

Employment, research, volunteer work, internships, academic programs, and other productive activities can all contribute to an applicant's development.

If you need to work during the summer to earn money, work. There is no reason to treat legitimate employment as an admissions disadvantage.

If possible, students can also look for modest ways to explore the legal profession. That might mean volunteering with a nonprofit organization, working in a law office, attending legal programs, talking with practicing attorneys, or taking on a part-time opportunity that provides exposure to legal work.

The objective is not to manufacture a résumé designed exclusively to impress admissions officers. It is to use your undergraduate years productively while learning more about your own interests.

Extracurricular Activities Can Show More Than Leadership Titles

Extracurricular involvement can also contribute useful information.

The value is not simply in accumulating titles.

Meaningful involvement may demonstrate that an applicant can manage competing responsibilities while remaining engaged outside the classroom. That ability becomes increasingly important in law school and legal practice.

Applicants should generally favor sustained, genuine involvement over joining numerous organizations solely to add lines to a résumé.

Quality, responsibility, and genuine engagement usually tell a more coherent story than sheer quantity.

What Makes a Law School Personal Statement Stand Out?

Zearfoss describes the personal statement as one of the most interesting components of an application because it allows applicants to communicate in a way that grades and test scores cannot.

A memorable personal statement does not necessarily require an extraordinary life story.

What matters is how effectively the applicant tells the story.

Strong statements often combine:

Clear, polished writing;
A compelling narrative or central idea;
Specific details;
Self-awareness;
Genuine reflection;
A distinctive but natural voice; and
A connection between the story and the person presented elsewhere in the application.

An applicant can write effectively about a relatively ordinary experience if the essay reveals something meaningful.

The goal is not simply to entertain the reader. The essay should help the admissions committee understand the person behind the application.

For detailed guidance and examples, see Top-Law-Schools.com's Law School Personal Statements: Guides, Examples & Writing Tips.

Applicants can also review LawCrossing's complete guide to preparing for law school, which covers personal statements, recommendations, résumés, and other parts of the application process.

Avoid Personal Statement Topics That Feel Forced

Almost any personal statement subject can work if handled skillfully.

The danger lies in choosing a topic because you think it sounds like what a law school wants to hear.

Applicants frequently fall into predictable patterns: dramatic declarations about changing the world, generic stories about wanting to become a lawyer from childhood, essays built around legal television programs, or statements filled with language copied from a school's website.

A familiar topic is not automatically bad. The question is whether the applicant brings substance and individual perspective to it.

Before settling on a topic, ask:

Does this reveal something meaningful about me?
Could almost any law school applicant have written this?
Am I telling a specific story or making broad claims?
Does the essay sound like my natural voice?
Am I demonstrating qualities rather than simply claiming them?
Does the essay add something that is not already obvious from my résumé?

Top-Law-Schools.com's personal statement resources emphasize that applicants do not need extraordinary hardship or dramatic accomplishments to produce an effective essay. A thoughtful discussion of an ordinary experience can often reveal more than a dramatic story lacking reflection.

Should You Write a "Why This Law School?" Essay?

When a law school offers an optional essay asking why you are interested in the school, authenticity is more valuable than imitation.

Applicants sometimes assume they must mention a professor, clinic, journal, or academic specialty to sound serious.

Those can be excellent reasons when they are genuinely important to you. But they are not the only legitimate reasons for preferring a school.

Location, family connections, student culture, professional opportunities, institutional values, campus experience, curriculum, and other personal considerations may all influence a decision.

The key is specificity.

An essay should explain why a particular consideration genuinely matters to you rather than simply repeating promotional language from the school's website.

Optional essays can also provide another opportunity to show an admissions committee something that did not come through clearly in the personal statement.

Character and Fitness: Candor Matters

The original interview also addressed how applicants explain disciplinary or legal issues.

The enduring lesson is that candor and responsibility matter.

However, disclosure requirements differ among law schools and jurisdictions and can change. Applicants should never rely on an old interview—or general online advice—to decide whether something must be disclosed.

Read each application's character-and-fitness questions carefully and answer exactly what is asked.

If an explanation is required, focus on providing accurate facts and relevant context. Where appropriate, explain what you learned or how circumstances changed.

Avoid minimizing, hiding, or inaccurately characterizing information that the application specifically requires you to disclose.

When uncertain about a disclosure obligation, seek appropriate guidance based on the actual wording of the current application.

What Should You Do If You Are Waitlisted?

Being placed on a law school waitlist can create uncertainty, but applicants still have constructive steps available.

First, follow the school's current instructions.

If the school permits updates, meaningful new information may include:

A new semester of grades;
A new LSAT score;
A significant award or accomplishment;
A promotion or meaningful professional development;
An additional recommendation, if permitted; or
A concise letter of continued interest.

Do not assume that a communication frequency suggested years ago remains appropriate today. Some schools actively request updates; others restrict additional materials.

Demonstrating genuine interest can be helpful, but repeatedly contacting an admissions office without new information can become counterproductive.

The school's current instructions should always control.

TLS applicants can discuss their experiences in the Law School Acceptances, Denials, and Waitlists Forum.

Scholarships and Financial Aid Require a Current Strategy

Scholarship practices vary significantly among law schools and from one admissions cycle to another.

Applicants should evaluate much more than the headline amount of a scholarship.

Questions to investigate include:

Is the award renewable for all three years?
Are there GPA or class-rank conditions?
What is the school's total cost of attendance?
How much debt would remain after the scholarship?
Can the scholarship change?
Does the school reconsider aid when presented with competing offers?
What loan repayment assistance is available?
What employment outcomes are relevant to your intended career?

The goal should be to understand the entire financial picture rather than evaluating an award in isolation.

Cost matters because law school is both an educational and financial decision. Applicants should compare offers carefully and use current information from each school.

Choosing the Right Law School: Fit Versus Specialization

Prospective students often become attracted to a particular clinic, professor, concentration, journal, or specialty.

Those opportunities can matter, but Zearfoss encourages applicants to think more broadly about fit.

Most students enter law school without knowing exactly what type of law they will ultimately practice. Even students with strong interests frequently change direction after encountering new subjects, professors, internships, clinics, and employment opportunities.

Before selecting a school primarily because of one specialty, examine the overall institution.

Consider:

Breadth of the curriculum;
Employment outcomes;
Geographic placement;
Clinical and experiential opportunities;
Faculty accessibility;
Student culture;
Cost and debt;
Bar passage;
Alumni network;
Career services; and
Whether you could see yourself succeeding there even if your preferred specialty changes.

A specialized program can be valuable, but a law school education should also provide broad analytical, writing, research, and professional skills that remain useful across practice areas.

Applicants comparing schools can discuss these considerations in the TLS Choosing a Law School Forum.

The Larger Lesson from Sarah Zearfoss: Build an Application That Makes Sense as a Whole

Perhaps the most useful takeaway from Zearfoss's admissions perspective is that applicants should stop thinking of every element of the application as an independent box to check.

Your grades tell part of the story.

Your LSAT tells another part.

Your résumé shows what you have done.

Your personal statement can show how you think.

Recommendations offer outside perspectives.

Employment, extracurricular activities, graduate education, setbacks, interests, and accomplishments add context.

A strong application does not require perfection in every category. It should, however, give admissions readers enough evidence to understand your abilities, judgment, maturity, interests, and potential.

Rather than trying to guess the secret formula an admissions officer wants, concentrate on presenting the strongest, clearest, most accurate version of your own record.

For additional preparation strategies, LawCrossing's guide to developing a strategy for law school applications discusses how the overall presentation of application materials can affect the impression made on an admissions committee.

Related Top-Law-Schools.com Resources

Related LawCrossing Resources

Related Top-Law-Schools.com Forum Discussions

The TLS forums contain years of applicant experiences and community discussion. Forum advice represents individual users' opinions and experiences rather than official admissions policies, so applicants should always confirm current requirements directly with each law school.

Law School Admissions Forum — General application questions, recommendations, admissions strategy, and applicant discussion.
Law School Personal Statements Forum — Personal statement topics, critiques, examples, and writing discussions.
Personal Statement Samples and Discussion — Applicant-submitted personal statement examples and community commentary.
Law School Acceptances, Denials, and Waitlists Forum — Applicant experiences with decisions and waitlists.
Choosing a Law School Forum — Discussions about comparing schools, cost, location, outcomes, and fit.
University of Michigan Law School Forum Discussion — Community discussion from applicants, students, and graduates concerning Michigan Law.