Law School Requirements and the Enfeebled Job Markets.
Why have law school requirements been toughenned up? Unemployment rates are the highest in decades. Law schools graduate numbers in America far exceed the current demand in the economy. How much of that reducing pie (of legal work) you can get your hands on will depend on whether you get admitted to a top rank law school.
This brings about two things: more and more prospective students wanting to enroll in top law schools and harder pre-requirements in order to be admitted.
The kind of law school you get admitted to will be determined by how well you perform in relation to law school admission requirements. In most known cases, these are:
* Undergraduate GPA and
* LSAT score
* Racial origins
* WHO you know and the strings they can pull for you.
* Resume or C.V. (this means everything else not mentioned above)
Some of these are under your total control. Some others can be made to look good. Try and focus on the ones you can shape and adjust.
So, which of the admission requirements above I can adjust or control? The heavy weights are without a doubt:
*LSAT score
*UGPA
*Racial origins
As a matter of fact, the Law School Admissions Counsil, or LSAC, can offer you information on the probabilites of a particular profile of getting admitted to this or that law school. They base these predictions solely on the LSAT and UGPA numbers and they leave the racial origin part for schools to assess. Educational Institutions can be rather sensitive about this topic.
If your LSAT and UGPA come just about short in giving you the leverage you need to enroll in the school that you want, then the rest of factors may come into play and tip the balance for you, but not at the expense of those who do meet the LSAT and UGPA requirements for entrance into law school.
Freshmen, and probably sophomores, in the midts of the admission process may be able to change their UGPA drastically, if they change their study habits or select an easier major. Try and take easy “GPA booster” summer courses for instance, and pick liberal studies in fields that come easy for you. There is no need to over complicate your undergraduate experience. Your objectives lie beyond that point.
If you are a senior or have already graduated, then your chances rest solely on your LSAT score.
Some law schools give more importance to your UGPA and some others give it to your LSAT. You may want to base your school selection process depending on which factor (UGPA or LSAT) pulls more weight in your case. Or, If you are a senior with an excellent UGPA and move on to get a great LSAT score, then the world is yours.
In conclusion, there are three law school pre-requisites that really matter. If in the early process, you can control two of them. If a senior or graduate, you then control one of them. The third factor: Race, lies beyond your control, but you can of course approach institutions where, depending on your racial origins, you stand the more chances of getting admitted.
Please, think about this: Only ONE of the three heavy weights can be enough in many cases to get you admitted. So, focus only on the factor(s) you can control as of today, and go for it!
