Prepare a list of the law schools in which you are interested, using the materials on the prelaw reading list. Fill out a Request for Information Card contained in the Law Services booklet for each school.
Do not mail the cards until August since most law schools do not have their application materials ready until September. Be sure, though, that you do mail the cards before returning to Clark for your senior year.
- If you take the June LSAT, and are unhappy with your performance on that exam, study all summer. Be sure to register for the September/October test date using the forms available in the Law Services booklet.
- Summer is the time to visit each law school of interest and to talk with an admissions officer. The law school representatives have probably heard every conceivable question many times while traveling to college campuses.
The best questions to ask are those that are truly most important to you. Think through your criteria for choosing a law school. There are many possibilities — job prospects upon graduation, size and reputation of the faculty, camaraderie within the student body, level of competition among students, curricular strengths, clinical programs, and others — but each student will rank these factors differently in terms of importance.
The following questions are offered as examples, but add some of your own as well.
- Please describe your review process for applicants’ folders.
- How did your applicant pool change last year and what projections are you making for this year?
- With my grades and LSAT (tell them specifically), what would be my chances of gaining admission to your school?
- How do you evaluate the more subjective factors of an application and how important are they?
- What advantages exist for applicants who apply early? What do you consider “early?”
- When do you typically let applicants know your admissions decisions?
- (If a state-supported school) How do you treat residency status in the admissions process?
- Do applicants with post-college work experience have an advantage over new college graduates in your admissions process?
- What do you look for in the personal statement or essay to accompany the application?
- Can you give me examples of the kinds of recommendations that can make a difference?
- What should I anticipate that it would cost over three years to attend your law school?
- How do most of your students pay for law school?
- How does your office handle financial aid awards? Can I expect to know your aid award before I’m required to pay a deposit?
- What merit scholarships do you offer to incoming students?
- What are the curricular strengths of your faculty?
- How much (or what kind of) contact with faculty would the typical law student have outside of class?
- How many students are typically enrolled in each entering class?
- How are first-year classes organized and taught?
- How many graduates practice law in your state or region after graduation?
- What factors shape the career interests and options available to your graduates?
- What complaints do your students have about your law school?
- What is the atmosphere within your student body concerning competition?
- How are students selected for your law school journals/reviews?
- Can students leave their books and notes in a study carrel without fear of theft?
- When your students say what they like about your law school, what things are frequently mentioned?
- When students turn down your school in favor of another, what reasons do they cite for doing so?
- What features do you believe set your school apart from “comparable” schools?
- What is the job search experience like for your law school’s graduates who want to work here or any specific place?
- How many (what percentage) of your graduates have their jobs lined up before December of their final year?
- To what extent do your students get their summer jobs through your on-campus recruiting program?
- What kinds of jobs do your first-year students line up for their first summer?
- To what extent does rank in class effect your students’ job search success?