Tuesday, February 24

Getting Into Law School: Putting Together Your Application (Session 2)

Suggested Resources
* BC Law school locator / advising program -- plug in LSAT score, GPA, it will generate a list of schools that it thinks you're in the acceptance range of.

Personal statements.

It's the most personal part of your statement. This is your opportunity to talk to the Admissions Committees ("ACs") want to see that you can offer an interesting perspective or get really excited about your statement. directly. It shows them what kind of person you are and what kind of contribution you can make to their law school. Think about conveying a message that is not illustrated in your admissions package. The statement should be personal, concise and convey something about you that they couldn't infer from the rest of your application.

Key Suggestions:
-Be authentic, genuine and the writer. No one should be supplying the substantive text of the statement but yourself.
-Talk the topic through with a few people. Look it over through the eyes of a good writer so you can get good editorial comments.
-Most should be no more than 2 pages double spaced.
-Give yourself plenty of time to think about writing this. Ruminate on this over the next three months... something will click. --Describe how how he or she felt in that moment and translate that into a direction or path that is relevant to law school.
-Don't leave yourself too little time to prepare the personal statement. It will take you at least two months to write two pages.
-Don't have your personal statement be about why you will be great in law school; they will make that determination.


Letters of Recommendations

Choose a recommender that is the best candidate at assessing your abilities and project your successes in law school. It's recommended that if you choose a professor, try to take more than one class with them. Take writing classes with emphasis on strong writing and analytical exercises. The problem with large classes is that a professor may not remember your individual papers or you personally.

-Do not send an email to a professor asking for a letter of recommendation and not extend an invitation to a face-to-face meeting.
-You will benefit by giving them as much information about you as possible. Share your transcript, resume, and a copy of your personal statement with them.
-Consider the timing of requesting them to write a statement about you. Don't ask in September or November. Great times to ask are during the summer when both your schedule and theirs is less busy.
-Write a than you letter, and a followup letter on how the application went. They wonder where the people went. They actually care and want to know what happened.


Feedback from a NU School of Law 1L
-Letters or recommendations can make or break about you. If there's even a chance that a professor can write a marginal recommendation about you, don't ask them.
-Make at as easy as possible for recommenders to do this favor for you. Provide self-addressed envelopes with postage so sending it will be effortless.

When submitting documents or forms online at different schools, make sure you read every single line. Though many schools use the LSAC website which has forms similar to the common app, but each will very slightly.
-Consider writing optional essays.
-Don't get bogged down on the app process. (Blogs, calculators, etc.). These can overwhelming and take things out of perspective. It's a stressful time. Try to get away from it.

-Don't thinking rankings are the Bible of where you should go. There are flaws in the numbers, and there are other intricacies that the numbers overlook or don't discuss that you may find relevant to your choice.
-Think about where you wanna be, the people you want to be around.
-Look for student blogs or Student Ambassadors listed on the admissions websites. Email students. Students are more than happy to answer your emails.
-Look into faculty and their resumes. See what they're researching!
-Research the cities you're in. You'll be getting away from the law school often. The law school is not the population.
-LSAT practice exams are different than the actual test day! You will get nervous and there will be distractions.

"A JD is one of the safest degrees to get in this economy."


Moderators

Assistant Professor, Hillary B. Farber, is the Chief Pre-law Advisor for Northeastern University. She holds a joint appointment in the College of Criminal Justice and the School of Law. Professor Farber teaches in the areas of criminal law & procedure, juvenile justice, and legal ethics. Ms. Farber earned a B.A. in political science with high honors from the University of Michigan, and received her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law. Prior to joining the faculty, Farber was a criminal defense attorney representing indigent clients on behalf of the New Hampshire Public Defender. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Suffolk Lawyers for Justice and the Massachusetts Chapter of the National Lawyers’ Guild. She is a founding member of the New England Innocence Project.

Susan Loffredo, Associate Director at Career Services.
s.loffredo@neu.edu
617-373-7703

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VIew the post from the first event here.

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Jim Parker