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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:
- Likelihood of admission
- Quality and accessibility of faculty
- Reputation
- Method of instruction
- Enrollment and class size
- Overall cost and the availability of financial aid
- Special programs and clinical opportunities
- Size and diversity of the student body
- Location, housing, and kinds of recreation available
- Facilities, especially the library
- Ambiance of the law school
- Extracurricular programs
- Career placement
- "Bar pass-rate" (percentage of graduates who pass the bar)
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.
- Law School Data Assembly Service (LSDAS) Report
- Official Transcript(s)
- Law school application forms or LSACD and catalogs
- Letters of recommendation, citations, and dean's certification
- Personal statement
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:
- Download the LSAC Letter of Recommendation Form (LSAC I-9) from LEO or from www.lsac.org
- Complete the top portion of the LSAC I-9 form and mail it or drop it off to
Career Services, 63 South Main Street, Suite 200, Hanover, NH 03755-2091
- Career Services will fill out the bottom portion of the form and send it to
LSAC with your letter(s) at your request.
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 does not forward citations to law schools. If you want the law schools
to receive a copy of your citation report, include copies with your credential
file in LEO. Career Services will then forward this information to all
law schools to which we send recommendations. Please submit a formal
request to the Registrar asking that it be sent to Career Services. Once we
receive the citation report, you may request that Career Services send copies
to law schools. The Registrar will ordinarily send citations with your
transcript. Contact the Registrar
(http://www.dartmouth.edu/~reg/services/transcripts.html) for more
information.
Many law schools require certification of the applicant's undergraduate
record. At Dartmouth, one of the deans from the Upperclass Deans Office
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.
College Discipline, Suspension, or Separation or Academic Probation or
Suspension); 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 Upperclass 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 Rovana Popoff, Dean of Upperclass 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:
- What is important to me?
- What am I interested in?
- What am I proud of?
- What significant experiences have I had?
- What kinds of qualities are necessary for the professions I wish to
pursue?
- Why do I think I possess these qualities?
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?
Writing Your Personal Statement
- Start early, plan on writing and revising several drafts. Schedule
specific times for this important and time consuming task.
- Understand the questions thoroughly.
- Brainstorm your achievements, career goals, leadership, and personal
interests.
- Narrow your emphasis to one specific theme or point. Begin your essay
with this theme and the following paragraphs should logically develop and
illustrate it.
- Work towards a rough draft. Then revise it. Have others read
it.
- Continue to revise the draft until you have a clear, concise, error-free
essay.
Interesting and Distinctive Topics
- Significant travel, work or volunteer experience
- Loss of a family member or friend
- Personal triumph, achievement or revelation
- Overcoming or understanding a hardship, disease, injury or loss
- Significant personal influence in your life
- Significant piece of learning, text, reading or painting
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.
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