Stetson Law Admissions Blog

If you are planning to apply to law school, you will need to prepare and take the Law School Admission Test. The LSAT is administered to prospective law students by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC). 

This is a milestone moment in your life. You have decided that you will become a lawyer! You’ve done your research on the profession and on law schools. You’ve taken or begun to prepare for the LSAT. You have a list of schools where you will apply. Perhaps you have visited schools or even attended a Pre-Law program to learn more about law school itself. Congratulations! Now it is time to apply.

In over 10 years of working with law school admissions, I always appreciate getting a chance to respond to a question regarding, “what courses should I take before law school?” It is a great question and it can often help guide a student through an undergraduate program as well as greatly prepare them for a successful law school academic experience.  

The LSAT is required for any student applying to one of the over 200 ABA-accredited law schools in the United States, but other standardized tests are now under consideration, too. In 2020, the LSAT, an acronym for the Law School Admission Test, will increase its test offerings to nine times per year. This change will allow students to prepare and take the LSAT at a time most convenient for their schedule. This gives many opportunities to take the LSAT, but you can only take it five times within the current and five past testing years, or seven times in a lifetime.

The LSAT is over, and it's time to send out applications. You thought the rest would be easy, didn't you? Then you sat down to write your personal statement — and you're still sitting there. How much should you share about yourself?  What will the admissions counselors think is important or worthy of acceptance? What makes my story unique, powerful, and interesting?  We know. It's tough.

We see a lot of personal statements done both well and poorly.  Here are a few mistakes we don't want you to make.

Attending law school is a serious commitment. Every student considering law school must be ready to invest time and money into this endeavor, and have realistic expectations about post-graduation returns. While some people attend law school immediately after graduating from college, many  people wait a few years and gain valuable work and life experiences.

For most, the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is the most challenging part of the application process. When you consider the fees and preparation needed to successfully take the exam, it’s ideal to only have to take it once. However, as a large number of law school applicants have come to realize, there can be several advantages to retaking the exam.

Many applicants wonder how they can stand out from the crowd and get noticed—in a good way—by an admission committee. Candidates often try to write creative personal statements, find extra special VIPs to write letters on their behalf, or obtain impressive-sounding internships. Law school admission committees have received videos, photo albums, portfolios, resumes on pretty paper, poems, thesis submissions, and more. People are very creative!

I am sure if you are contemplating law school you are wondering if it is really worth the financial investment. You hear and read stories about the debt graduates face and how hard it is to get a good-paying job. You also hear success stories about lawyers who help make a difference in the lives of others.

We don’t have to tell you that choosing a law school is a big decision. The school you choose drives your future success, so it’s important to attend a school that you not only enjoy, but one that will give you opportunities to flourish.

Transferring to another school may be an option, but it comes with its own challenges and setbacks. For this reason, make sure the school you choose to attend is a school you would want to graduate from.