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  • Welcome to LearnLawBetter.

  • Wondering how the law school admissions process works?

  • Want to learn more about the process from an insider.

  • Stay to the end as I explain what you need to apply to law school and then how your application

  • is handled by law school admissions.

  • Now don’t forget to hit the like button if you enjoy the episode and click the subscribe

  • button and bell if you don’t want to miss any future episodes.

  • Also, let me know in the comments what additional admissions questions you have.

  • Hi, this is Beau Baez, and today I want to discuss law school admissions.

  • Having served on a faculty admissions committee for several years, I’ve seen lots of student

  • files and talked to many law school applicants.

  • Documents.

  • Law schools use the services of the Law School Admissions Council, or LSAC for short, to

  • compile most of the required admissions documents into a standardized report.

  • You will send LSAC your official transcripts from all colleges, graduate schools, and professional

  • schools youve attended.

  • Some law schools require letters of recommendation, which you will also send to LSAC.

  • Finally, if youve taken the Law School Admissions Test, or LSAT as its generally

  • referred to, the LSAC report will provide all LSAT data from the previous five years.

  • Though the vast majority of applicants take the LSAT, more and more law schools are accepting

  • the GRE as an alternative to the LSAT.

  • Though unless you are a math whiz, I recommend you take the LSAT.

  • In addition, law schools will want the following documents sent to them directly rather

  • than through LSAC: an application, a personal statement, resume, and an application fee.

  • Once your file is complete, then the law school will review your application.

  • Sorting.

  • Because of the large numbers of applicants, law schools sort students into three groups

  • based on LSAT and GPA.

  • There are the presumptive admits, the presumptive denies, and then the maybes in between.

  • The presumptive admits get admitted, unless there are any red flags in their files, such

  • as a serious crime or academic dishonesty issues.

  • The presumptive denies are rejected quickly.

  • When I review the presumptive deny files I glance through them in less than a minute.

  • So don’t expect your volunteer service or work experience to overcome a low LSAT and

  • GPA.

  • Admissions Work.

  • Most of the work by the admissions are those applications in the middle and the presumptive

  • admits with the irregularities.

  • The law school wants to admit the most qualified group it can get but they also need to fill a

  • certain number of seats for its entering class.

  • This is where the game of cat and mouse begins.

  • If you are in this nether world, you might not hear back from the law school until April

  • or May.

  • Also, the law school knows from prior experience that not everyone it accepts chooses to attend,

  • That’s where the waitlist comes into play.

  • The waitlisted applicants are kept in reserve so that the law school can fill in

  • vacancies as the occur

  • throughout the summer, and even through the

  • first week of classes.

  • When I attended Georgetown, someone in my section left during the first week of classes

  • when Harvard pulled him from the waitlist.

  • Letters of Recommendation.

  • Make sure you get a letter from a trusted source.

  • This person needs to speak about your knowledge, skills, and abilities.

  • Some students will find a Senator or a Congressman to write a letter as a favor to a relative.

  • But these letters are practically worthless, as they don’t address the applicant’s

  • knowledge, skills, and abilities.

  • In other words, a letter from the President of the United States in your application file isn’t going to

  • make up for a low LSAT and GPA.

  • One of the oddest letters I’ve read involved an applicant’s next-door neighbor.

  • The letter mentioned that the applicant was a nice person, and did a great job mowing the lawn.

  • Now, in law school, mowing the lawn is just not one of the skills and abilities we're looking for.

  • Interviews.

  • Some law schools will ask you for an interview, while at other law schools you can get an

  • informal interview by just showing up at the law school.

  • This is your chance to shine, especially if you are in the waitlist group.

  • For those of you that are in the presumptive admit category, the key is to just not say anything

  • that's going to cause the interviewer to have concerns about you.

  • Follow the process.

  • When you apply, work with the admissions department.

  • Don’t go outside of the process unless your parents have a special connection with

  • someone at the university.

  • For example, if your parent was the roommate of the college president, then your parent may make

  • a call to that person and try to get you admitted.

  • Now law school admissions departments are used to these kind of admissions and

  • they always reserve a few spots for these applicants.

  • I know someone who decided the day before classes began that she wanted to attend, so

  • her father made a call and was admitted without any documentation in her file.

  • The documentation came in after classes had already begun.

  • Even though I was on the faculty admissions committee, I was not the point person for

  • applicants.

  • Yet each year I would get emails from applicants, explaining to me their special circumstances.

  • Even worse, a couple of times an applicant’s parent would call me on the phone and plead their adult

  • child’s case to me.

  • That’s just never a good thing to do.

  • As you make plans to attend law school, I wish you well.

  • Make sure to watch my other video on law school rankings, which will help you understand how

  • to use the rankings to get you into a better school.

  • If you enjoyed this material, hit the like button.

  • Also, to avoid missing any future episodes, hit the subscribe and bell buttons.

  • For more resources to help you get ahead, including my blog and newsletter, check out

  • LearnLawBetter.com.

  • Thanks for watching.

Welcome to LearnLawBetter.

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