Volume 67, Issue 7

Pre-Law
by Eli Feldblum

This past year, only a few survivors escaped unscathed from the tumultuous bear market.  A select few even benefited; but an undisputed corollary of the market’s plunge has been the precipitous rise in graduate school enrollment.  It seems almost that for each point the stock market drops, another thousand students apply to law schools.  Harvard, Yale, Columbia, NYU, Cardozo, and Fordham law schools all reported a record number of applications last year, with each school averaging around 8000 applicants.  So what, in this increasingly fierce competition, can applicants do to assure themselves one of these coveted spots?

The Application Process

Most of the preparation for admittance into the law school of your choice occurs during the application process.  Nearly every reputable law school requires the prospective student to take the LSATs, a standardized test of “the mental and academic skills that are needed for successful law study” that is published by the Law School Admission Committee.

Because many students believe that this test is the only criterion required by law schools, the LSAC strongly states that the scores “provide at best a partial measure of an applicant’s ability” and that the schools should not give them “undue weight.”  Another large part of the application is the prospective student’s personal statement.  Because of the incredible amount of applications, law schools simply cannot afford the time to grant individual interviews and instead use the personal statement to, according to Columbia Law School’s admissions board, obtain “a more personal sense of the individual qualities of the applicant.”

In addition, this statement allows the prospective student to provide any special information he thinks the application boards may find useful in their deliberations.  The schools also request at least one letter of recommendation for each student; favorable letters from respected persons are also heavily considered in the admission decision.

The Pre-Application Process

Though schools seem to focus profoundly on the application process, they all maintain that previous academic excellence and collegial records are integral to the decision-making course.  The American Bar Association, the ABA, publishes for each law school a list of median GPAs and LSAT scores for that school, as well as the statistics of both for 75th percentile and 25th percentile of the student body.  Rather than grade applicants on LSATs or GPAs alone, the schools usually create a combined index of those two numbers, though most schools claim that such an index alone does not determine admittance.

Still this gradient serves to tier law schools; Harvard Law School’s median LSAT score of 170 and median GPA of 3.85 is better than Columbia’s of 169 and 3.64.  A member of N.Y.U. Law’s admission board maintains, “There is no ‘formula’ used in the admission process.  Both GPA and LSAT are important quantitative components of your application, but qualitative components are also very important.”

Impressive extra-curricular activities and employment can often tip a border-line student into the school of his choice.  Still, the admission process of these schools remains fairly secretive, and everything known about a student is supposedly taken into consideration.

Undergraduate Preparation

To ensure your position in the school of your choice, you should begin preparing as an undergraduate.  While law schools do not require any specific major to be considered for admission, the Association of American Law School’s “Statements on Prelegal Education” recommends a program which involves “comprehension and expression in words, a critical understanding of the human institutions and values with which the law deals, and creative power in thinking.”

Toward this end, most pre-law students have majored in political science, English language and literature, history, and economics.  Many students often aim to include appropriate activities on their applications, such as the writing center, the debate team, public speaking teams and contests, peer and other tutoring, and editing or contributing to college publications like the newspaper and literary journals.

Law School Expectations

More than 200 schools are certified by the LSAC, each offering a slightly different educational experience and each with a different admissions policy.  Fordham Law School, used as a “safety school” by many Yeshiva students, has an admission procedure that relies heavily on such quantitative elements as the LSAT score and the GPA.  From the statistics published on their web site, nearly 100 percent of all students with at least a 3.0 GPA and a 167 on the LSAT obtain admittance.

Cardozo Law School, which is pushed and fed heavily by Yeshiva’s undergraduate programs, accepts many students who score in the mid-160s and have at least a 3.0 GPA.  Both are excellent schools; Cardozo is well-known for its intellectual law program.

N.Y.U. Law School is known as one of the best law schools in the New York area, and boasts statistics to support that claim; it’s 75/25 is a staggering 172/167 and 3.8/3.6.

Columbia Law School is also a very distinguished NY law school that is known for a more innovative admissions policy.  Because they often substantially count the qualitative aspects of a student’s application, including a personal statement, activities and employment, and letters of recommendation, their 75/25 is broader, with a 172/166 LSAT and a 3.80/3.49 GPA.

Pre-Law at Yeshiva

When talking with  of both Yeshiva College, Stern College for Woman, and the Sy syms School for Business, this reporter was often met with eerily congruous comments.  In this order: There’s a pre-law program?  Dean Hecht did nothing to help me!  Please don’t quote me.

There seems to be merit to their arguments.  Students from other colleges spoke at length about the extent their advisors and deans went to in order to help them get into their choice schools.  Such an endorsement seems absent at Yeshiva.  Most believe the problem stems from a lack of resources; Dean Hecht has no time to spearhead the “pre-law department” and act as dean of The Marsha Stern Talmudical Academy, Yeshiva’s high school.

Because of this lack of “extra push,” most pre-law Yeshiva students believe that their admission to law schools depends solely on their performance on the LSAT.  Consequently, it is usually the border-line students, those with above-average, but not excellent, LSAT scores, GPAs and extra-curricular, who are the most affected, as they most need the extra prodding to obtain admission to their choice schools, and often end up resorting to their “safety school.”

At a recent forum given by the LSAC, a presenter was confronted with the question of what, exactly, do lawyers do.  “Well,” she hesitantly replied, “everything.”  While the road to becoming a lawyer may not be easy, it is assuredly rewarding.  However, motivated students who know what lies ahead and begin preparing early have a significant jump-start on their fellow applicants in this increasingly competitive race.♦

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