I had the most fabulous undergrad intern this summer. She is an upcoming junior in college and very curious about law school. Throughout our time together, I gave her advice about applying to law school and being a law student. I thought it would be wise to pass this advice on to anyone that is curious about law school.
#1: LSAT
It is okay to not to do so well on the LSAT your first time. Take a deep breath and study harder for the second time. And yes, you can take it a third time if needed. If I remember correctly, schools vary on how they look at more than one LSAT score. Some may look at all of the scores, some may just look at the best scores, and some may only look at the recent score.
#2: Study early
I suggested to my intern that she buy a book on the logic games and start getting familiar with them now. Another law clerk and I advised her to start studying logic games and then start studying for the LSATs (preferably with a tutor) in March. That will give her enough time to master everything and work on her weak areas before she takes the June test.
#3: Schools
Take a deep breath and do not feel pressure to go to a big name school. I told her it is more important for her to go to a law school where she will thrive in, not which one has the better name. For example, I do better in small schools so I stuck with going to a smaller school. Why waste money on trying to go to a better name school if its bigger if you are not going to do well?
#4: Law School Admissions Consultants
I wish I saw this before applying to law schools. There are people out there like Ann Levine who will help with personal statements and the overall application process. I was blown away with her reviews. If Ann is too expensive for you, there is a cheaper consulting firm that has also has great reviews. In my opinion, if you have some cash to throw around, then consider investing in one because all of the reviews say that the scholarships that they received outweighed the cost of hiring a consultant.
#5: LSAC
I am sure most of you already know this, but if you are interested in applying to law schools then sign up on LSAC ASAP! This is the site where you will sign up for the LSATS and apply to law schools. Plus, you can play around on the site and see the chances of you getting accepted into certain schools. Pretty cool, huh?