The Tables Have Now Turned

            By now you should have heard a decision from most of the law schools you applied to, and hopefully most have made the right decision to admit you. Although they may have made their decision on you, you have not necessarily reciprocated this decision and now it is your turn to transform from a nervous wreck to a dominant decision maker. As the famous philosopher Friendrich Nietzshe argued, domination is the one innate trait that all men share and enjoy.  So enjoy letting the law schools anxiously await your decision as you did for theirs, after all its in our human nature. However, this decision may not come as easily as you may have thought because of the many mitigating factors that may have presented themselves.

            The first and often times most determinate factor is what schools have guaranteed you a scholarship. Law school is by no means cheap; the average law school, after three years of enrollment, will cost anywhere between 100 and 200 thousand dollars. Now, in this economic recession that is enough money to purchase a mansion in many Midwest states. But you are making a life long investment by placing that money towards law school tuition, instead of a much desired immediate satisfaction such as a house or nice car. Don't worry, saying your a lawyer champions the same respect as a new Maserati. When a school offers an admitted student a guaranteed scholarship, not only is that a huge honor, but it is also something not to take lightly. A scholarship for many people can be the deciding factor to which law school they attend, and that is often times a valid justification, but not always.

            To give an example, a good friend of mine was recently accepted to Boalt Law School (UC Berkeley). Boalt is among the most highly acclaimed law schools in the world, ranking between fifth and seventh consistently on the US Ranks. In addition to their acceptance to Boalt, he also received full scholarships to both UC Davis and USD law school. Both of these schools are good law schools, ranking between fortieth and sixtieth. Normally this would be an easy decision, Boalt being the victor, but the immense total tuition of 170 thousand to attend Boalt complicates the matter considerably. In this case however, the ranking difference between these schools is so large that nothing less than UCD or USD offering to pay you to attend their school will not change your decision. My friend had chosen to attend Boalt. His fundamental justification for this decision was the future opportunities that accompany such a highly ranked law school. Estimates provided by the Princeton Review predict that a law student graduating from Boalt will be offered a corporate associate job that has a starting salary of fifty thousand dollars more a year on average than that of a graduating student from UCD or USD. In the long run, that money quickly accumulates and will surpass the loans you may have incurred in law school. Additionally, the money made on Summer Associate externships during law school is far more than it would be at a lower tier 1 school. Although my friend’s decision was not too difficult, it was not over because of a little letter they received one day.

            One day before he was to send his intent to attend letter to Boalt, he received a letter from USC Gould School of Law offering a guaranteed scholarship of thirty thousand dollars a year. Now, this little white letter made his decision a lot more nitty gritty, as Gould is also among the best law schools in the country. Although it is not ranked as highly as Boalt, Gould is well within the top twenty law schools in the country. When you are faced with a decision as difficult as this, an answer is in no way universal. One must evaluate their personal preferences, while weighting those against the pros and cons of each school: location, ranking, cost, career placement, size, etc. Because of this unending list of factors, my friend has failed to make a final decision and plans to wait until the last minute to do so.  Please let me know if you have any inklings as to what school he will choose or what school you would choose if you were in his predicament, if we can call this very fortunate situation a predicament.

            There is one strategy that many people overlook the relates back to the concept that after you are accepted, you have the leverage. With two very competitive schools such as Boalt and Gould, my friend should approach Boalt asking for a scholarship in light of the immense one offered to him by Gould. Although this approach sounds awfully forward and blunt, this is the reality of the world. At its core, law school is a business. If they have accepted you in this insanely competitive admissions cycle, you possess something that they desire in their incoming class. Therefore, use that to your advantage. Worst-case scenario they tell you no, best case scenario you receive some type of scholarship. It never hurts to ask and after all the painstaking work you have put into this process, you deserve nothing less than the law school’s complete and undivided attention. Use this as your first practice with negotiating and self promotion, two traits imperative to being a successful lawyer

The Early Bird Gets the Worm

            To all my fellow juniors in college out there that are witnessing their friends getting accepted to law school and celebrating the conclusion of this daunting process, take some solace in that our turn will come soon. Let their successes and failures motivate you to be the best applicant you can when our turn comes around in less than a year. While a year doesn’t seem like a long time, it is plenty to give your application a complete makeover. At the base of this highly cosmetic process is preparation. Being prepared is rarely, if ever, a disservice. In the law school admissions process, this is especially true as many attribute their admission successes to their extensive preparation for this grueling process. There are many facets to being “prepared” that extend across almost every aspect of the admissions process. One interpretation of the word is to have all necessary forms, essays, recommendations, and additional materials completed far in advance of when they are due. Not only does this alleviate the last minute nervousness that accompanies lack of preparation, but more importantly it allows an applicant to have the statistically greatest chance to being admitted to the school of their choice.

            Now, most of you reading this I’m sure immediately think I am building up to advocate applying under an Early Program, and to some extent I am. While Early Decision Programs are binding and somewhat intimidating, they do offer the best chance of acceptance. Placing a guarantee of attendance on your application screams dedication and a true passion for the school to which you are applying. However, it is extremely important that I dispel the most common flawed logic that is associated with Early Decision Programs. If you are an applicant that is no where near the class profile medians and doesn’t have some Mother Theresaesque program that independently funds medical treatment for thousands of impoverished Africans, then applying Early Decision will most likely not benefit you. It is really aimed to benefit the solid applicants that are willing to devote themselves to that institution regardless of any other acceptances they may receive. The other early option is the Early Action Programs, which is a non-binding version of the Early Decision Program. The most notable attraction to applying early is that you will receive a decision far sooner than if you were to apply in the regular admissions applicant pool. But there is one very important statistical advantage to applying early that is not as commonly mentioned: when you apply early there are more seats available in the incoming class. This concept is derived from the Rolling Admissions process that nearly every accredited American Law School uses, accepting applicants as their applications arrive instead of waiting for all of the applications and then evaluating them in comparison to the entire applicant pool. If you are to wait until the end of the admissions process to apply and all of the seats are filled, no matter how qualified you are there, there will be no room for you and you will be denied.

            This incredibly beneficial logic is also applicable to schools that don’t have Early Admissions Programs. It is the exact same idea, admissions departments use rolling admissions and seats fill up as time passes; the later it is in the process the less seats are available. So all you juniors, get your application requirements completed before Summer ends and make sure they are perfect, then when the process begins you will be among the very prepared that applies when the most seats are available, giving yourself the best chance to succeed. And at the end of the day, law school admissions are a crapshoot and we need every bit of help we can get. So be that early bird that is awake, alert and able to snag the worm while the other birdies are fast asleep in their nests.