Are law school admissions really a numbers game?

Like it or not, the reality is that the two most important factors in determining your admission
to the law school of your choice are your undergraduate GPA and your score on the Law
School Aptitude Test (LSAT).  All other considerations -- perceived strength of the under-
graduate major, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities, etc. -- are second-
ary.

Because doing well on the LSAT is so important, completing a commercially available
"prep" course (such as those offered by The Princeton Review or Stanley Kaplan), or
purchasing a "do-it-yourself" prep guide to the LSAT (available from your college
bookstore, Barnes and Noble, or Books-a-Million), are excellent ideas. Taking multiple
practice tests under conditions simulating those you'll face when taking the actual LSAT
is a "must do." You should also keep in mind that should you not earn the score you had
hoped, re-taking the LSAT is probably not a good idea.  The level of test-retest reliability
of the LSAT is such that scoring dramatically better the 2nd (or 3rd) time you take the test
is unlikely. Further, many law schools continue the practice of averaging scores, should
you take the test more than once. In such cases, you would need to substantially increase
your score the 2nd time taking the LSAT to make enough of a difference to matter, which
(as described above) is unlikely.

What else is important besides the "numbers?"
While progressing through your undergraduate career, don't neglect extracurricular
activities, since these can help separate you from other applicants with similar LSAT
scores and GPAs. Any responsible leadership position you have taken, such as
serving in student government or an officer in a fraternity or sorority, shows members of
law school admissions committees you have varied talents beyond those shown in
your academic record.  Studying abroad, honors you accumulate, work experiences,
completing an Honors Program or internships -- in a law firm, with a judge, or in an
law-related agency -- also enhance your application.

For students who have been out of undergraduate school for more than a year or two,
your undergraduate GPA will generally be less important in the application process. Law
school admissions committees will instead focus even more on your LSAT score and on
your accomplishments since leaving school. While graduate or professional training and
accomplishments are considerations, community activities, child-rearing, political involve-
ment, etc., will also be considered as important by admissions committees. Note that
purusing an advanced degree in the hope of overcoming a poor undergraduate record will
usually not be a successful strategy. 

Some points to keep in mind when selecting a law school:

As you're thinking about to which school you should apply, keep in mind:

Top-tier law schools such as Harvard, Yale, Chicago, or Michigan are incredibly
competitive.  Beyond the sheer number of applicants, which can often be 5-10 times greater
than the number of available seats for an incoming 1st year class, the median LSAT scores
among applicants to these schools are typically in the 85th+ percentile, combined with
cumulative GPAs of 3.75 or higher;

Law school can be very expensive, in terms of tuition, fees, and cost of living. It is not un-
usual for students graduating from top-tiered law schools to spend on the order of $150K-
$200K on their legal educations. You need to start thinking now about how you intend to
finance your legal education -- student loans? scholarships? some other method? (NOTE:
Most law schools either strongly discourage or explicitly prohibit their 1st year students from
working, so that may not be an option as a way to pay for school);

You should always apply to multiple schools -- do not "put all your eggs in one basket." En-
gage in a realistic self-assessment of your GPA, LSAT score, extracurriculars, etc. For
example, if you have a GPA of 2.0 and a score of 130 on the LSAT, applying to a top-tiered
school like Harvard is not only a waste of your money (some application fees can run more
than $100), but the admission committee's time as well;

If you have an interest in a particular area of the law -- environmental, constitutional, litiga-
tion, public interest, or appellate advocacy -- you should apply to schools whose curricula
and (by extension) faculty members focus on such areas; In general, most people who
attend law school end up practicing either in the general region or specific city in which the
school is located. Thus, if you are interested in practicing law in Atlanta, it would probably
not be wise to apply to law schools outside the State of Georgia, unless there's a good
reason for doing so (e.g., none of the schools in Georgia offer a particular area of special-
ization which you are interested in pursuing);

Once you've settled on a set of schools, check out the placement rate of the schools' recent
graduating classes. Ask the admissions people questions like "What sort of firms come to
your campus to recruit graduates?" "How successful have been their graduates at finding
jobs with these firms?" "Is there a full-time placement office at the school?" Schools that do
not have a full-time placement office or which don't have many major firms recruiting their
graduates should probably be avoided;

You should also ask the school(s) in which you're interested in attending about how recent
classes have fared on the state bar examination. Schools whose graduates have a record
of doing poorly on the state bar exam should probably be avoided;

Believing that becoming a lawyer is an "excellent way to make a lot of money" is not a good
reason to pursue a legal career. Salaries of attorneys vary dramatically according to the type,
size, and location of their employer. Further, lawyers who own their own practices usually
earn much less than those who are partners in large law firms. In fact, lawyers starting their
own practice may need to work part-time in other occupations to supplement their income
until their practice becomes established;

Finally, if you apply to and graduate from a non-ABA-accredited law school, you will likely not
be able to take the bar exam in another state until you fulfill various prerequisites, such as
having practiced law for a set period.

Please address any questions you may have about law school admissions to John W.
Grimes, J.D., Director of the UAB Pre-Law Progam ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; 205-934-2069) 
or  Dr. John Sloan, Chairperson of the UAB Department of Justice Sciences ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ;
205-934-2069).

Sources: University of Notre Dame School of Law; LSDAS; U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics;
University of Michigan School of Law

 
Helpful Web Sites:

The American Bar Association: Information About Careers and Law School

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Analysis of the Legal Profession

American Bar Association Statistics on the Legal Profession

Pre-Law Handbook

Online Guide to ABA Accredited Law Schools

Law School Admissions

Information on the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT)

Financing Law School

American Bar Foundation

Phi Alpha Delta (International Prelaw Fraternity)