I took the LSAT twice. I paid over $1000 to be told how to improve my score, and didn't. I applied to the top 10 law schools, sending them each personalized admissions essays and checks for $100 that I would much rather have spent at Judie's Restaurant on a Saturday night. I applied to a few Boston-area law schools as back-up. And all but two schools rejected me.
I chose Northeastern University School of Law in Boston by default-the other law school that accepted me was in Minnesota and there was no way I was running home to mom with my tail between my legs. The crazy thing is that Northeastern has been the perfect law school for my interests, personality and aspirations in the study of the law. And after a year and one month of law school, I have learned a lot about what makes a law school experience worth the $40,000 a year that you, or your parents, or your trust fund, will spend to make you a lawyer.
Undoubtedly, the four hardest things about law school are:
1. Understanding your classes, especially Civil Procedure;
2. Making law school friends;
3. Balancing school work and your home or family life; and
4. Maintaining your mental health and dealing with the inevitable insecurities and drop in your self esteem.
Now don't get me wrong, these four things do NOT mean that you should not go to law school. Law school can be an enlightening, exciting, intellectually affirming and even fun experience. I got lucky-I didn't ask the right questions and still walked blindly into a great school. But there are three key questions you should ask, and satisfactorily answer, for each law school you are looking at before you apply.
1. What academic supports are available to help me survive and thrive in each of my first year of law school classes? A friend of mine at a Minnesota law school is panicking in her first year because her professor is unavailable for questions, and none of her classes have teaching assistants holding office hours and review sessions to help students make sense of the material (and the professor's grading style).
2. Will the school help me develop law school friends? I know this may sound funny, but law school is confusing and overwhelming. Even if you have friends, or family or a spouse/significant other outside of law school, you'll want law school buddies for studying, outline-sharing, and daily commiseration about professors and law school travails.
3. How are students graded/ranked/evaluated? Do students share outlines, or hog their notes for fear that their law school classmates will beat them in the rankings race? If you can't find answers to these questions on the law school's Web site, read student blogs, e-mail Amherst College alumni who are studying or have studied at the law school, talk to the prelaw advisor at the Career Center, professors, or friends and family who are lawyers.
Ignore your friends who are also applying to law school when they tell you that you MUST apply to X, Y and Z law schools because their rankings are so high on U.S. News & World Report. Apply to schools that are the perfect fit for you, regardless of what the rankings say, and you'll be a happier law student. Northeastern University School of Law barely appears on the U.S. News & World Report radar, but it has evaluations instead of grades, no rankings, public interest focused classes, small group pro bono projects during the first year, and a practical legal skills internship program. That latter program has helped me get internships with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a Federal District Judge, a top Twin Cities law firm and a County Attorney's office.
Law school is definitely one of the hardest things you'll ever do, but that doesn't mean it has to be painful. After you take the LSAT, take a deep breath, grab a few drinks and think about the type of lawyer you want to be. Let that answer inform your search for a law school that is right for you. But don't worry-it'll be much more fun than drilling logic problems.