Stanford

This summer I visited Stanford University as prospective law school student. I feel what I saw there is helpful for any prospective student or professor. The campus was really large (they actually have a gas station on campus.) There are many grassy areas and lots of trees. However, it is not actually located in Sanfrancisco like I orginally thought (it's quite a drive there.) There are so many more advantages for law school students in a large city (where there is not a long commute for internships.) I also felt like it would be a great place to attend for undergrad, but the setting I was looking for for graduate school. Even though they have what is generally ranked the second best law school in the country, I didn't think it had the right feel. Student also had to bike across campus because it was so large (they have two zip codes!) I don't think I want to attend law school there as a student or as a professor.

Law School Confidential

Law School Confidentail: A Complete Guide to the Law School Experience
By: Robert H. Miller

This book was recommended to me by someone who applied to law school (and is now a student there) last year. It covers the application process and the first year of law school. There are interviews with law school admissions officers and tips that aren't normally published. One tip for the first year was for students to buy several colors of highlights to highlight the readings so they could quickly answer questions in class. I strongly recommend this book to anyone considering to go to law school or people considering instructing law students. Professors who read this book will know what law students are expecting which can help them out.

Right Now

Just want to let everyone know where I currently am in my law school search. This past summer I visited several law schools in California including Stanford, UC Berkley, Hastings, UCLA, USC, and Pepperdine. I am hoping to visit the University of Michigan this quarter, Ohio State, and some other area schools. I hope to visit the East Coast schools this summer. I am a junior, but plan on graduating in December of my fifth year. So I will be delaying law school and taking the LSAT a year later than normal.

I will write more about each college I visited later, but I definately decided to apply to UCLA and USC. They are a lot like Ohio State and I love it here. I feel like I will be able to suceed at another college similar to Ohio State. I was surprised that I actually didn't like Stanford, which was my first choice for undergrad.

I have also several books on getting into law school and LSAT prep. I will discuss each one in more detail later, but I strongy encourage anyone thinking about Law School to check a few books out of the library for a feel of what you're getting into. I know law school is going to be challenging, tiring, and even boring at times, but I at least I am going in prepared, knowing this. I have also learned that the LSAT is the most important factor in law school admissions because it helps predict how you will do on the bar exam. So while I'm working hard to raise my GPA from a shaky start freshman, I will spend the better part of next year studying for the LSAT. There are many tools available to help you study for the LSAT from classes, to pratice tests, to books on "unique" techniques. Hopefully I can do well enough to get into the university of my choice (which ever one that ends up being.)

Econ is a fairly common major for pre-law students. However, I feel like I have a slight twist because I'm in econ through the Fisher, so I actually take more business classes than I do econ classes.I also feel like my professional writing minor will help prepare for the massive amount of writing I will do in law school. I want to be as prepared as I can in law school because once you graduate that's real life.