Law school reqs....

[mantasm]

It depends on what your goals are. You're only almost definitely out at the harvard/yale/stanford. If you get the lsat up into the 170's you'll have a good shot at making it into the lower ranked top schools. As long as you're above 160 you'll get in at an ok school. There are law schools that will take just about anyone but you wouldn't want to go to them.

People's College of Law

[Matty]

Notre Dame maybe? =D

(it's something like 20th ranked)

[mantasm]

You can mess around with the calculator at http://chiashu.com/lsat.html

It says you have a 70% shot at ND with a 172, 50% with a 169. It should still be pretty accurate, but admissions are probably a little more competitive than in fall 2003. You can pm me if you have any questions about anything, I'll be a 1L at texas in the fall.

[webmonarch]

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I don't recommend law school if you're just doing it cause you don't know what else to do with your life. Which seems the case as you don't know the answers to the questions you're posing.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know how many people here are actually lawyers or law school graduates. I am a recent law school graduate who just sat for the bar. Let my share the folowing advice which is free, accurate, and really ought to be followed:

If you go to law school without working in a legal setting for several years you are a complete fool.

I worked for DOJ for a little under two years before I wnt to school. I went to a good school (Top 20) and I can't tell you how many people who went spent $100k to do something they had no idea whether they'd like or not. Keep in mind that these are near the cream of the crop people. Many can't wait to get out of it.

Furthermore, 90% of the people who hate it now could have avoided the whole thing but just thinking it through in advance.

You may like it, and think its cool. Many do. Then, they have to work in it on a day to day basis. Then its not so cool. Liking an academic discussion about copyright law is one thing, and working on it is quite another.

Finally, the assumption that all lawyers wear suits and make a lot of money is about as ignorant an assumption I have ever heard. This statement alone makes your sitatuion very clear to me.

I don't mean to be harsh, but you seriously need to think this through very carefully. GET A JOB in the legal field before you even THINK about going to law school.

Maybe you'll be lucky and like it through and through, but a little due diligence will save you a TON of time, money, and agony.

Finally, remember that NO ONE thinks that they'll be the person that doesn't like it, or that won't succeed in school, or who won't pass the bar, or whatever. Don't be that person. Be one of the smart ones.

[webmonarch]

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I went to law school with a lot of engineers and they always has the most job offers (as patent attorneys). In fact, they were often paid a premium starting salary.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is correct. Patent attorneys are significantly better off long term (as long as you love patent law, cause that's all you'll do or be hired for).

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If you go to a first-tier law school, you can often get a summer job making $30K+ for the summer for doing next to nothing.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is absolutely not correct. I was at a Top 20 (so, significantly higher than the general top tier) and about 30% of our school had such jobs (so not "often"). This would obviously be lower for lower ranked schools, and higher for higher ranked. Unless you're at Harvard, Yale, Stanford or another Top 5 these types of jobs are most certainly not guranteed.

I don't mean to be the law school Nazi or anything, but the misinformation for new applicants is really outlandish sometimes.

[Matty]

For a polisci and psych double major living in Indiana- what types of jobs would you recommend to get a good feel for the legal profession? I know I should probably ask an advisor about this, but here you are and my advisors are idiots.

how about if I was looking to get a good feel for what a patent attorney does?

[Patrick del Poker Grande]

[ QUOTE ]
For a polisci and psych double major living in Indiana- what types of jobs would you recommend to get a good feel for the legal profession? I know I should probably ask an advisor about this, but here you are and my advisors are idiots.

how about if I was looking to get a good feel for what a patent attorney does?

[/ QUOTE ]
I'll pile on here too... how about if you're already out of school and working full-time as a civil engineer and can't really go get some law internship type job for a couple years to check it out first?

[peachy]

some law schools actually look to take other people who did well on the LSAT with majors besides law over those who majored in law...this is what i was told by a number of law advisors when i was looking into law school

[hotsauce615]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I don't recommend law school if you're just doing it cause you don't know what else to do with your life. Which seems the case as you don't know the answers to the questions you're posing.

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't know how many people here are actually lawyers or law school graduates. I am a recent law school graduate who just sat for the bar. Let my share the folowing advice which is free, accurate, and really ought to be followed:

If you go to law school without working in a legal setting for several years you are a complete fool.

I worked for DOJ for a little under two years before I wnt to school. I went to a good school (Top 20) and I can't tell you how many people who went spent $100k to do something they had no idea whether they'd like or not. Keep in mind that these are near the cream of the crop people. Many can't wait to get out of it.

Furthermore, 90% of the people who hate it now could have avoided the whole thing but just thinking it through in advance.

You may like it, and think its cool. Many do. Then, they have to work in it on a day to day basis. Then its not so cool. Liking an academic discussion about copyright law is one thing, and working on it is quite another.

Finally, the assumption that all lawyers wear suits and make a lot of money is about as ignorant an assumption I have ever heard. This statement alone makes your sitatuion very clear to me.

I don't mean to be harsh, but you seriously need to think this through very carefully. GET A JOB in the legal field before you even THINK about going to law school.

Maybe you'll be lucky and like it through and through, but a little due diligence will save you a TON of time, money, and agony.

Finally, remember that NO ONE thinks that they'll be the person that doesn't like it, or that won't succeed in school, or who won't pass the bar, or whatever. Don't be that person. Be one of the smart ones.

[/ QUOTE ]


Definitely, awesomes advice. I'm going to spend the next few months really learning about the different fields and talking to friends involved in them. I didn't wake up this morning and go, "Oh snap I wanna be a Lawyer" My major has bottlenecked my intelligence greatly. I work at a news station now and make roughl 15$ an hour to do extreme amounts of stressful work that I don't even find enjoyable anymore. News and media is one of those fields that sounds real exciting on paper, but the reality is that it's a business that happens to revolve around television. I can make more money playing poker than what's happening now. I have 3 friends who have graduated similar to me and are stuck in ruts, honestly I'm afraid and it seems that law would be a great way to better use my head and reap better rewards.

Great advice though, definitely important to know how cold the water is before you jump right in.

[Lazymeatball]

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some law schools actually look to take other people who did well on the LSAT with majors besides law over those who majored in law...this is what i was told by a number of law advisors when i was looking into law school

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you mean they majored in Law in undergrad? I didn't know such a major existed, is it similar to majoring in Government or PoliSci?