What are the Requirements for Law School Admission?

Prospective candidates for law school admission should have a stellar undergraduate record, perform well on a standardized law school admission test and adequately present themselves via personal essays. Law school rankings influence how rigorous a law school’s admissions requirements may be; the higher a school is ranked, the more difficult is being accepted into that school. Prior lawyer training is not a prerequisite for consideration. Furthermore, each law school accepts applications for a limited period of time each school year; applicants must adhere to the established deadline of the school they are applying to.

People seeking a law education will have their undergraduate transcript thoroughly examined. A school may examine the type of courses a student has taken. Law schools like to see a diverse array of courses that challenge a student intellectually while simultaneously allowing him or her to hone writing, analysis, and communication skills. No specific academic discipline is required for admission to law school; students may have degrees as variable as history, music, language, business, or science. A student seeking law school admission must excel academically however, since undergraduate grades are an important factor for admission to law school.

Standardized tests allow law schools to evaluate a large sample of candidates for law school admission based on equal criteria. Some undergraduate schools may have rigorous courses that deflate the grades of their students. Tests like the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) allow admissions officers to evaluate a student’s analytical and qualitative skills and compare them to other students. These types of tests usually have critical reading passages, logic puzzles, and essays on pre-assigned topics related to the legal field. Students may be advised to study several months prior to the test; taking the exam prior to a student’s final year of undergraduate schooling also allows a student ample time to take the test again if he or she falters the first time they take it.

Character is an important quality for a lawyer. Consequently, a candidate for law school admission may be required to write personal essays detailing accomplishments, adversity he or she may have overcome, or simple information about their background. In these essays, law school admission applicants may also be required to divulge prior arrests or legal judgments against them. Lying about this information or failing to reveal it may make a candidate ineligible for admission. These essays also provide applicants with the opportunity to reveal their personalities and bolster their chances for admission by delineating key traits that would enhance a law school’s student body or the legal profession as a whole.