When to start applying to law school
5 TIPS FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS PLANNING FOR LAW SCHOOL
okay so in this video I just wanted to
talk about some tips for college
students in undergrad who are planning
on going to law school or even just
considering going to law school just
some things that you can do as an
undergraduate student that'll make your
law school application process and your
first year of law school a lot easier so
yeah we will dive in I've got five tips
and quick little disclaimer I'm not an
expert or anything I am literally just a
girl who was in her second year of law
school and just sharing things that I
have learned along the way some of these
tips I feel like I did and they worked
for me others I wish I had done okay so
my first tip is to clean up your writing
so what I mean by that is just get rid
of typos grammatical errors misspellings
stop forgetting words proofread
everything more times than you already
do and I just say that because in law
school and in the legal profession all
of those things matter a lot more than
they do anywhere else and if you can
already sort of train your eyes and your
brain to read things really thoroughly
for stuff like that you're doing
yourself such a huge service for law
school you'll have such a leg up in your
legal writing classes because if you
think about your audience's mindset the
minute they read a typo or a grammatical
error especially if it's a judge or
something once you're a lawyer you have
lost so much credibility that you had
when you started writing the minute they
see an error you know so and the same
goes for your professors they will think
you know they're reading it and all of a
sudden a paper that was great it's like
thank you they obviously didn't care
that much there's a typo just don't do
it so become a stickler about that in
undergrad because then you'll just build
habits that you won't even really have
to think about it that hard of course
you'll have to proofread a lot in law
school but you won't be like refreshing
your memory on grammar rules things like
that and when you're an undergrad the
ways to do that would just simply be in
your papers and things you have to write
obviously proofread them and start to
make sure that they're perfect and I do
mean perfect you know and start to
proofread your emails your text messages
like things that may not matter just get
really make it regular that
writing is flawless legal writing is old
another skillset to learn so it lets not
have to relearn grammar and spelling
while we're at it so my second tip is to
know and really understand your personal
process for different things so that's
note-taking studying test taking things
like that because while law school is a
different setting and the material
you're learning like is really different
than stuff you would have learned as an
undergrad you're not gonna be that
different of a student so for
note-taking as an undergrad figure out
how you like to best take notes do you
like OneNote Microsoft Word to take
notes by hand I personally take notes by
hand unless the professor talks too fast
then I will type them I just use word
but I've known that since undergrad and
I tried out different methods and
realize that I process information and
like digest it a lot better if I write
it down by hand but I learned that as an
undergrad and carried it right into law
school unless the professor talks too
fast then I have to have to take notes
on my computer that's something I
learned to figure out like what kind of
a note-taker you are test taking know if
you're someone that gets test anxiety
how do you handle that are the things
you like to do day of you know caffeine
how does that affect your test taking
things like that just get your processes
really in order because it's not gonna
be that different in law school so you
and you have all of undergrad to figure
out what works for you come to law
school putting your best foot forward
doing what works for you because you
already know that okay my third tip if
you are a college student and you're
planning on going to law school is just
to start talking to people who are
either in law school have been if you
have any law ish classes talk to those
professors that'll be super helpful for
a couple of reasons
you will need letters of recommendation
when you apply for law school talk to
your professors talk to lawyers around
the area your recommenders don't have to
come from professors I don't think it's
been a while since I've applied but so
it could come from just like a lawyer
or someone in the field but just start
talking to people and tell them that
that's something you're considering on
going to law school yet you're just
considering it tell people that they can
so help you make the decision apply do
all the right things I don't know I just
found that the more people I told I
wanted to go to
school the more doors just kind of
opened up for me because people were so
willing to help but tell me about their
experience and things like that so I
don't know talk to your professors talk
to people in your community it'll help
with rec letters it'll help you plan
your law school experience and who knows
it might even open a career opportunity
down the line so don't be secretive
about your law school plans my fourth
tip is to consider taking some time off
between undergrad and law school
this is totally personal to use I'm not
even advocating taking time off or not
I'm just saying recognize that both are
pretty valid choices and I don't think
depending on your circumstances if you
do have the choice it is a choice you
know I took two years off between
undergrad in law school and I was just
working like different jobs and while I
don't think that I learned anything like
directly related to law school I wasn't
working at a law firm or anything I did
grow up a lot I think the years you're
like first few years out of college you
do grow up a lot so I do feel like I was
more mature by the time I started law
school that probably sounds dumb and I'm
still not that mature but I took two
years off and I thought it was really
beneficial
I have classmates you went straight
through and are super big advocates of
that and this is very personal your
circumstances might mandate that you
take time off or that you don't it just
depends all I'm saying is that you have
the option consider it because I think
there's pluses and minuses on both sides
depending on your situation and it's
worth you know a quick pro/con list
about doing it I also think there's
something to be said depending on your
undergrad experience I also think
there's something to be said about
burnout like I know for me I had just
gone because I had two majors and a
minor as an undergrad I was in school
winter term summer terms like I was
always in school at least in online
classes so I hadn't really had a break
ever from school so I was really burnt
out and so I do think there's something
to be said about sort of recharging and
sort of reinvigorating maybe your love
for school if that is something that can
cuz that's something that can get lost
in undergrad and I needed two years to
like remember that I liked school was
excited to go to law school things like
that okay and then my fifth and final
tip is to
it's funny but like relearn how to read
and what I mean by that is that reading
in law school in my experience is very
different than reading in undergrad
because just getting like the bottom
line while that may still be the goal in
a lot of the things you're reading in
law school you will need to understand
it's so much more deeply and just
reteach yourself how to read things
thoroughly
I feel like an undergrad you just get so
used to like you have so much work you
need to fire off assignments you read
something quickly get the gist and
honestly like in the law practice that's
probably what a lot of lawyers are doing
too but in law school you know you might
be cold-called about like and what was
the second cousin's name in this case
you're like I don't know I didn't read
it that closely so learn to read it that
closely because it'll help you in law
school and it really does like when
you're reading something like a Supreme
Court opinion or something it's the
supreme every line there writing matters
you know so you really want to reteach
yourself to read closely and take it
from me who I feel like I did not do a
great job of that and so my first
semester at Law School was like kind of
jarring because I read something go to
class and be like oh I don't know I
don't know the answer to that question I
didn't have any embarrassing like cold
calls or anything necessarily but I
quickly learned when I got there like
okay there's reading and then there's
reading so the latter being what we want
to go for in law school so if you can
teach yourself or someone like reteach
yourself how to do that in undergrad
just whether that's books for pleasure
or reading you have to do for undergrad
just teach yourself to read it closely
it kind of goes back to what I was
saying my first tip about your writing
build those habits now so that you don't
have to think about them later on and
reading means that second option already
I don't know learn to read okay so those
are my five tips if you were in college
and planning on going to law school just
sort of some habits to put in place
before you go to law school and again
I'm not an expert I am just a girl most
so thanks for watching and I will see
you guys my next video
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