As you will soon come to find out, I don’t have many black and white answers to things. So if someone asks me how to choose the law school that’s right for them, I will give the annoyingly redundant answer, “it depends.” Unfortunately I cannot give you a step-by-step guide on how to select the place you will spend your next 3 years, but I can give you my own experience, what I wish I did, and what I could have done without.
Step 1: LSAT Scores
I’m going to say something controversial – the LSAT doesn’t matter as much as you think it does. I know, I know, how can that be when everyone and their mother is always telling you it’s the most important test you’ll take until you sit for the Bar? And while I recognize its importance, I genuinely believe it is used a mechanism to instill fear into law students before they step foot into orientation. Not once since I started law school have I told anyone my score nor have I heard people mention theirs. Once you’re in, you’re in.
But of course, to get into law school you still need to have an LSAT score that’s acceptable. I can’t get too specific because your LSAT goal is wholly dependent on where you want to attend. For me, I knew I wanted to stay close to my undergrad and near my family. That left me with only a few options for law schools. I looked at the Top 200 Law School Rankings to see each school’s low, high, and median for LSAT scores, and then set my own goals.
The LSAT is offered 9 times a year, but I recommend taking it in the summer with the option to retake it in the early fall if you didn’t do as well as you hoped. Most law schools give scholarships, but once their money is used up, it’s gone. So the sooner you take your LSAT, the sooner you’ll get your score, and the sooner you can apply and hopefully lock in some scholarship money.
I took the LSAT twice, but I find this extremely unnecessary if you put in the time to study the first time around. Let’s say you take the August LSAT. I’d say if you start studying in May, you’re in good shape. There’s plenty of great books and courses you can buy to help aid your studying, but after doing my research I decided that the best one for me was the LSAT Trainer. I get bored watching videos and I know I’m a good self-studier, so this worked for me! However, you know yourself best. So do your own research to pick the right option.
I read this book cover to cover, and completed probably 15 full practice tests in order to get the score I was happy with. Again, you know yourself better than anyone else. Choose the study path that works for you, however that may look. At the end of the day you only have your score to show for it so don’t waste time watching videos if you know you can’t pay attention to them.
Once you finish your test and get your score, you can narrow down your options even more. I focused on schools where my LSAT score was in the high or median range rather than the low. Scholarship money was important to me (I’m terrified of debt), so I knew I had a better chance of getting more money at those schools. But if going to a T14 is your dream and you don’t care about scholarship money, then go ahead and look at the schools that may be a little tougher to achieve with your LSAT. School’s look at applications holistically, or so they say, so if you have a 170 LSAT with a 4.0 and really great letters of recommendation, chances are you’re in a competitive position for those top schools!
Overall, once you’re done with the LSAT, you can take a breath. The rest of the application process is just a reflection of who you are, what you’ve done in your life the past few years, and what you can contribute to any given law school. You don’t have to worry about the unknown of some test score anymore, you can just focus on painting yourself in the best light possible.
Step II: Scholarships
Okay, now that you have your LSAT score, it’s time to talk scholarships. Personally, I find this to be the most important thing. Yes, going to a top law school is going to increase your chances of finding employment at the higher paying jobs (hellooo Big Law!), but I never wanted to go into Big Law. My passion has always been with public interest work and fighting for the underdogs. But if you’re choosing a job like that, you may end up sacrificing a higher salary, thus the reason scholarships are so important.
First and foremost, I focused on schools that had a locked in scholarship offer; ones that wouldn’t take it away if you got a GPA lower than what they expected from you in the first year. Law school is stressful enough, no one should have to deal with the pressure of maintaining a certain GPA to keep a hard-earned scholarship.
The second thing I would recommend is not something I ever actually ended up doing, although I totally see the appeal. If you get into two schools with two scholarship offers, you can bring the higher scholarship offer to the other school and basically say, “Hey, Law School X is offering me a 75% scholarship, and you’re only offering 50%. I would much rather come to this school. Are you willing to meet Law School X’s offer?” I’m not saying this works every time, but I do know a handful of people who negotiated better scholarships using this method! The worst they can say is no.
Finally, really look towards the future. What kind of law career do you want? If it’s Big Law, maybe focus more on higher ranked schools than scholarships! How do you feel about debt? I hate debt, so a higher scholarship meant more to me than any school’s admission. Do you want to practice in the state you’re going to law school? Some states are really tough to practice in, and it’s smarter to go to a higher ranked school over one that gives you more money if you know you want to move from California to New York after graduation.
Quick reiteration: everything I say is a generalization. I know plenty of students at my smaller law school who are working in the same Big Law firms as the students at the T20 next door to us. I also know plenty of practicing attorneys who didn’t go to a great law school and ended up at a great firm in a big city in a new state. Nothing is guaranteed, but it’s easier for me to give the general idea of how things go in order for you to make a well informed choice!
Step III: Community
When I was applying to law school, I didn’t think community was important. I truly thought I would show up to classes, study alone in the library, go home, and do it all over again the next day. I couldn’t be more off. I have made lifelong friendships with the people at my law school and I’ve only been there a year! I truly look forward to every single day because the community is so welcoming, motivating, and fun! I went to a big college for undergrad and never had the small school feel until I got to law school. There is really something special about knowing the names of all your classmates and getting to know each of them so well in such a short span of time.
If you’re like me and put a law school’s community on the back burner, I urge you to reconsider. I know many students at schools much higher ranked than my own who have not made many friends, compete with their peers endlessly, and feel completely isolated. If you have that competitive spirit, then I’d say go for it! But if you find yourself wanting to build friendships, study with people who are consistently uplifting you rather than viewing you as a threat, and have plans with your classmates outside of school, then I think a smaller school focused less on competition could be your answer.
I never really was into clubs or group projects or anything that involved spending time with my peers more than I needed to when I was in undergrad. But when I got to law school and surrounded myself with such great people who loved getting involved, I found myself doing the same. Going into my second year, I’m so involved that I became a law school tour guide just so I can try to convince people to come to my school because of how much I love it!
When you find a good community, you find your people. Yes law school is centered around building your career as an attorney, but the first step to becoming an attorney is building your circle, your network, whatever you want to call it. So if you’re stuck between two schools with similar stats, go on a tour, talk to the students, and choose the one you feel most at home.
Conclusion
The funniest part about my journey in finding a law school is that I did not want to go to my law school at ALL. I got in and ended up deferring for a year to try to get a higher LSAT to get me into the T20 in the same state. I did better on the LSAT the second try and ended up waitlisted at the T20. I did everything I could to get off that waitlist to no avail, which resulted in me having to suck it up and go to my law school. Now, one year later, I cannot imagine myself anywhere else. Things work out if you let them, and that’s the most important thing to remember in the chaos of choosing a law school.
Law Student Balance 