If you decide that you will apply to law school, you should begin the application process at least 18-24 months prior to desired matriculation. Dartmouth's pre-law advisor can help you find the best fit between your interests, credentials, and the range of feasible alternatives. When choosing where to apply, use the many guides and other resources available in the Career Services Resource Center. Take the following factors into consideration:
Numerical Indicators: Undergraduate grade point average (GPA) and your score(s) on the LSAT are two important factors in the admissions process. Each of these numbers should be compared to the median at individual schools and to the grids in The Official Guide to U.S. Law Schools, the Boston College Online Law School Locator. Additionally, the law section in the Career Services Resource Center contains Dartmouth College admissions statistics for the previous two years.
The Academic Program: Many schools offer a wide variety of options for specialization and dual degree programs. Almost every combination is available at some institutions, the most popular being JD/MBA and JD/MA in areas such as history, international relations, economics, and government. Please note clinical programs, law journals, and study abroad options. The annual NAPLA/SAPLA Book of Law School Lists (available in the Career Services Resource Center) contains more information on special programs.
The Law School Environment: Every fall admissions representatives visit Dartmouth to discuss their programs with groups of interested students. Although interviews are usually not a part of the admissions process, you will find visits to law schools very informative. Make an appointment to sit in on a class. Discussions with law students and professors can help you assess the school. The number of excellent law schools is far greater than most people realize. If you are planning an academic career or a judicial clerkship, it is important to select schools which most commonly graduate students who become professors and judicial clerks. For applicants with specific professional objectives, looking at the schools' elective courses, clinical programs, and law journals can be useful. Most schools' web sites and catalogs contain profiles detailing percentages of graduates entering major law firms, corporations, law-related positions, the judiciary, federal and state government, and private practice. When you speak with current law students, ask about placement opportunities, including summer jobs available to first-year students. Consider carefully the following:
The competitiveness of the admissions process varies among schools. Rankings of schools are controversial, especially if the criteria are not defined. There is no optimum number of applications one should file. The application process is not only lengthy and time-consuming it is also costly. Please apply to a range of schools.
Law SchoolAdmission Test (LSAT) - see LSAT and LSDAS Registration/Information Book. These books are available in Career Services early in March for the upcoming academic year. The information contained in the booklet is also available on the web at www.LSAC.org.
The test is offered in June, October, December, and February. Most schools accept scores of tests taken up to five years before application, although some law schools may require more recent test scores. If you are taking the test in the academic year in which you are applying to law school, you should take the test no later than October. Taking the test the previous June, however, gives you the added advantage of knowing your score before the application process begins. It also allows you time to repeat the test in October if your score is unsatisfactory. Do not plan to take the test more than once. Remember that all scores are reported to law schools, and many schools average multiple scores. We highly recommend you not take the test if you are not adequately prepared. The range of possible scores on the LSAT is 120-180. The median score of Dartmouth students and alumni/ae who applied to law school to matriculate in the fall of 2003 was 163.
We recommend using the official Law School Admission Council materials to prepare for the LSAT. Test-taking strategy and sample questions are in the LSAT and LSDAS Registration/Information Book. Additional preparation materials may be ordered from the Law School Admission Council. Commercial test preparation courses are offered in most metropolitan areas. Before you enroll in a course, make sure you really need it. Study carefully the information, advice and sample questions in the LSAT and LSDAS Registration/Information Book, then take the sample test. For best results, time yourself and do the entire test at one sitting. Learn from your mistakes, then try one or more additional tests. If this strategy is not successful, then consider commercial preparation courses.
Law schools require applicants to subscribe to the Law School Data Assembly Service (LSDAS). The LSDAS prepares and provides a report for each law school to which you apply. The report contains information that schools use, along with your application, personal essay, and letters of recommendation to make a decision on your application. Information contained in the report includes an undergraduate academic summary, including copies of all undergraduate, graduate, and law school/professional school transcript(s); and LSAT score(s) and writing sample copies. Complete the LSDAS section of the LSAT/LSDAS subscription form, thereby opening a file at LSDAS. Do this only in the year in which you are applying to law schools. Fees and services are explained in the LSAT and LSDAS Registration/Information Book and at www.lsac.org. LSDAS subscriptions are valid for five years.
Using the LSDAS Transcript Request Form contained in your Information Book, ask the College Registrar (105 McNutt Hall, www.dartmouth.edu/~reg/services/transcripts.html) to forward your transcript to LSDAS. Transcripts must be ordered at least one week in advance of the required mailing date. Undergraduates usually send transcripts during the summer before senior fall unless they are taking courses in the summer. You must order transcripts from every academic institution in which you have been enrolled. Although credit for coursework completed elsewhere is recorded on your Dartmouth transcript, grades are not; consequently, transcripts from all institutions you attended must be sent to LSDAS.
Application materials are usually available from law schools near the end of the summer. If you want to begin your applications before Fall Term, consult the catalogs and sample applications from the previous year. Get a head start on the essay or personal statement section. Note the application and financial aid deadlines so that you can organize your individual timetable. The LSACD, available from LSAC, allows applicants to complete application forms for all of the ABA-accredited schools using their personal computers.
Before requesting letters of recommendation, consult the law school catalogs for specific instructions. Most schools require at least two academic recommendations. Applicants usually request one letter from a major professor and one from a professor in a second discipline. In addition, letters from employers are often relevant. There are no absolute rules, but as a guideline, three academic letters are not too many, provided they present different information and describe substantively your skills and accomplishments. More than five letters, however, may be excessive. Since recommendations are weighed heavily in the admissions decisions, make your choices carefully, gathering strong evaluations from persons who have had an opportunity to observe your academic strengths and your personal qualities.
Contact your professors early. Make an appointment with each of your recommenders to discuss your course work and other interests as well as your plans for law school. Many writers appreciate having a draft of your law school essay; some might like a copy of a paper you wrote for their class or a current resume. Specify a reasonable deadline; professors are busy, and they write letters out of interest in you and in your future. Given the Dartmouth calendar, they may be on leave when you need to have your recommendations, so check their schedules early. It may take more than one reminder and a longer time than you might expect, so allow at least four weeks from the time of request. Aim to have your file complete by November 1.
Although many law school applications include recommendation forms with their applications, these forms are usually not required. Dartmouth professors and administrators prefer to write recommendations on their letterhead stationary and send them to your file in Career Services, to LSAC's letter of recommendation service, or directly to the schools you apply to.
Dartmouth students and recent graduates may establish a file with Letters of Evaluation Online (LEO) to assemble letters of recommendation from faculty and employers.
If you choose to store your letters in your Career Services credential file, we then mail copies to law schools or LSAC at your direction. Career Services will mail letters only to schools or LSAC, and will never release confidential letters directly to the applicant. All files will be maintained for ten years following graduation. It is your responsibility to check online through LEO that letters you have requested have arrived in Career Services. Allow 3-5 days for processing of your requests.
LSAC offers the Letter of Recommendation Service as a convenience to LSDAS registrants, evaluation letter writers, and LSDAS-participating law schools. Use of this service is optional unless a law school to which you are applying states that it is required. Be sure to check the letter of recommendation requirements for each law school.
To use LEO and the LSAC Letter of Recommendation Service:
Any letter sent to LSAC with an incomplete I-9 form or without a form will be returned to Career Services or the recommender. LSAC will not accept letters sent by the candidate.
LSAC will send copies of up to three letters to the LSDAS-participating law schools to which you apply. LSAC will not send more than three letters. LSAC must receive your letters at least two weeks prior to a school’s application deadline to ensure that the school receives your letters before its deadline. Be sure to inform your recommenders of the importance of sending their letters promptly.
You are encouraged to have your letters sent to LSAC as soon as possible after you have registered for the LSDAS. This will help ensure that they are received by the schools in a timely manner. Remember that you can have letters sent to LSAC before you decide on the law schools to which you apply.
Reminders: Any letter sent with an incomplete form, without a form, or without the recommenders signature will be returned to the recommender.
You should always check the specific letter of recommendation requirements of each law school to which you are applying by consulting their application materials.
Letters sent to LSAC remain the property of LSAC and will be neither returned to nor copied for the candidate.
In addition to monitoring credential file activity with LEO, you may access your LSAC online file at www.lsac.org to determine the status of letters in your LSAC file.
LSDAS forwards citations to law schools with your Dartmouth transcript. You do not need to send your citations to your Career Services LEO account. Please contact the Registrar’s Office with any questions about citations. (603-646-2246; www.dartmouth.edu/~reg/services/transcripts.html).
Many law schools require certification of the applicant's undergraduate record. At Dartmouth, one of the deans from the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students attests to the applicant's academic and personal record as part of the Dean's Certification. This certification will include notification of any major disciplinary sanctions (i.e. Conduct: Suspension or Separation; Academic: Probation, Suspension, or Separation); it is not College policy to report the specifics of the proceedings. All law schools will accept Dartmouth’s standard Dean’s Certification form, in lieu of their own formats.
To obtain a Dean's Certification, print out the Dean’s Certification form from LEO and submit it to Colleen Murphy in the Undergraduate Deans Office, 6003 Parkhurst, Hanover, NH 03755. The Dean’s Office will forward your Certification to be included in your Credential File in Career Services. When a law school requests a completed Dean’s Certification, please use LEO to request that it be sent.
Dean's Certifications will be signed by your Class Dean (if you are a current student) or by Deborah A. Tyson, Dean of Undergraduate Students, if you are an alumna/us.
Most applications include an open-ended question about your accomplishments and career goals. Even if not required, it is wise to provide one. You should limit your essays to two pages, double spaced. The essay is your opportunity to present your personal attributes, accomplishments, passions, and interests to the admissions committee, since interviews are not part of the process. A good essay might be the deciding factor in an admissions decision; an unconvincing or unremarkable essay can adversely affect your chances of admission. You are competing with hundreds of other applicants who have similar test scores and grades. The personal statement can be the factor that differentiates you from the other candidates. It gives the admissions committee a chance to get a glimpse of you as a person rather than as a set of numbers.
A personal statement is a very different kind of writing than the analytical writing required in many of your college courses. Your personality needs to emerge from the writing. Admissions Officers will evaluate your ability to communicate clearly and concisely. Since the essay is evidence of your writing ability it should be grammatically correct and error-free.
The most effective essays convey a personal dimension. They describe an individual, distinguished by intellectual motivation and accomplishment, social concerns and contributions, and personal values. You may want to develop the essay around an experience, an accomplishment or an interest. You want to leave the reader with a clear understanding of your interest in pursuing a legal education and motivation to potentially practice law. It may help to imagine yourself in an interview situation with the admissions officer, or simply talking to a good friend whom you have not seen for a while. What do you want the admissions officers to know about you? In general, avoid second-guessing what lawyers do or discussing legal issues unless pertinent to your experience. Above all, be sure your essay is interesting and well written.
Think about your life and why you are applying to graduate or professional schools. Ask yourself, “What do I want the admissions committee to know about me that is not already in my application?" To get started, you might want to ask yourself the following questions:
After you have thought about your life and goals, think about the profession you are intending to enter. What are the skills and values of people in that particular profession? How do they match with yours? How can you highlight those values and skills in your personal statement?
It should be clear why you want to enter the field, but avoid writing about why you want to be a lawyer unless specifically asked. In addition, do not waste space telling the admissions committee what the profession is like. Similarly, do not write your life story or concentrate on a high school or earlier experience. Avoid using your statement to provide a laundry list of your accomplishments; this should be found elsewhere in your application. In addition to the content of your personal statement, presentation is also important. Follow writing guidelines and use a font size that is easy to read!
Mail your applications by December 1, well ahead of the deadlines. Most admissions officers begin to read applications in December and schools with rolling admissions begin to announce their decisions in January or February. The earliest deadlines are usually between January 1 and February 1. When fall term grades have been recorded, send an updated transcript to Law Services.
