#application materials

Calling all college seniors! It’s now mid-August and the final year of school is approaching, especially for those on semester schedules. And this raises the age-old question: what’s life like after college? To all the prospective lawyers out there, you’ll know the answer already … more college (in the form of law school)!

So what needs to be done to get there? Plenty, and now is the time to get started, especially if you’re looking to apply this admissions cycle (fall/winter).

1. Create an LSAC Account

First off, head over to LSAC and create an account. Once there, you’ll see that there are a bunch of requirements, all of which you’re going to want to be done with as soon as possible.

2. Talk to an Advisor

As soon as you get back to school, you should seek out the pre-law advisor and make an appointment with them. Let them help you get an idea of what schools you might want to attend and what their requirements are, and what your chances are for admission. It also doesn’t hurt to gather some research of your own, looking at law school rankings or going straight to the data with tools like Law School Transparency.

3. Gather Your Application Materials

Next, get your personal statement, transcripts and letters of recommendation together, and send those out to LSAC and their Credential Assembly Service. Once you’ve got some prospective schools to apply to, look out for fee waivers to help lower the cost.

Getting all of the basics out of the way now allows more time and energy to be spent preparing for the LSAT if you haven’t taken it already. And of course, more time to enjoy your last year of college!

4. Visit Schools, if You Can

Now will also be the time to visit potential schools and speak to their admissions offices and students. Try and speak to people in a candid setting so as to get the best idea of what life at that school is really like — I was specifically warned off one school by several students there.

5. Get Some Legal Experience

Your final year in college is also a good time to start learning about what the legal profession is really like. If you have a chance to work at a law firm or courthouse part-time, take the opportunity and see if it’s something you’re truly passionate about.

Note: You Can “Save” Your Application Progress or Defer Admission, So Also Consider Taking Time Off

But what if, like I was, you’re a bit burned out by the whole school experience and want to take some time off? Maybe you’d like to do some traveling or just save up some money working. Applying now allows you to still defer admission for a year if your school allows for deferrals, guaranteeing you a spot in next year’s class.

It’s also possible to simply create a finished application and save it with LSAC so that you’re already prepared to apply when you do feel ready for three more years of school. LSAT scores are good for five years, so even if you’re planning on taking a year or more off before going to law school, it’s still best to get your application materials together and uploaded to LSAC now rather than later. Nobody wants to have to try and track down a retired professor for a letter of recommendation!

Taking some time off also presents an excellent opportunity to get to know more about the law and the legal profession (including whether you really, truly want to be a lawyer) when you won’t be balancing it with school responsibilities. Most legal non-profits are always willing to take on volunteers, and many firms will hire interns for low-level positions. And if you’re so inclined, you can always go to a local courthouse and observe what goes on and speak with practicing attorneys and judges. This can give you a head start on the specialization that attorneys must inevitably do, learning which aspects of law you find intriguing and which ones you definitely want to avoid (looking at you family law). Working or volunteering in the legal field also helps with the networking needed for law school internships and hopefully gainful employment after passing the bar.

So carpe annum and do all the prep work now so that it can pay off later!

To put it politely, the legal industry is not exactly known for its rapid adaptation to change. In light of that fact, with the recent changes to the LSAT — the shift to a digital format and the addition of twice as many testing dates per year — there are seismic shifts happening in the prelaw world this year.

Since we’re total nerds when it comes to this stuff, we couldn’t help but wonder how these changes would affect the law school admissions landscape. Now that it’s arguably easier to take the LSAT, will more people take it and subsequently apply to law school? And how will it change the law school application timeline?

There’s no reason to suspect the number of applicants will dramatically increase

I don’t expect the new format of the LSAT to make a huge difference in the number of applicants to law school. There will probably be a slight bump, particularly in the number of applicants to lower-ranked schools — but at the end of the day, someone who really wanted to go to law school was gonna get it done regardless of the number of times per year that the LSAT was offered.

But more people will take the LSAT multiple times

However, I do expect it to make a big difference in terms of the number of people taking the LSAT more than once. Even aside from the previous limit on the number of times one could take the LSAT, there just weren’t that many chances during each application cycle to retake the LSAT. For instance, someone who had originally taken the September LSAT could conceivably take it again in December, but if the December date didn’t work for any reason or if the December test didn’t go as well as they’d hoped, their options were severely limited. They could retake in February, but not all schools accepted February scores for the current year’s application cycle, or they could put off applying for another year.

Now, there are a lot more options for anyone who wants more than one opportunity to take the LSAT. Of course, that person is still constrained by the amount of time available for studying between retakes — for instance, taking the LSAT in September and then again in November doesn’t leave a ton of time to actually improve one’s skills — but the logistics are much easier.

The application timeline will probably stay the same, more or less

As far as the application timeline, for students whose goal was to get their applications complete on the early side of the admissions cycle — since applying earlier in the cycle is likely to improve one’s chances slightly — the traditional advice has been to aim for the June or September LSAT so that the application can be fully compiled and ready to go prior to the winter holidays. The thinking was that many people wrap up their applications between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve, so getting your application done ahead of that period put you ahead of the curve.

I suspect that the overall timeline will stay about the same. There are a lot of time-consuming components involved in applying to law school: writing the personal statement, waiting for letters of recommendation, and of course studying for the LSAT. Having more options for taking the LSAT will alleviate some of the logistical issues, but applicants will still need to contend with the other pieces of the application, and those pieces will continue to take some time. But the good news for applicants is that they aren’t locked into trying to take the LSAT by September; they can get their LSAT done earlier and then focus on the other parts of the application, or they can put off the LSAT a little longer and still get their applications complete on the early side of the cycle.

————

I don’t mean to downplay the likely impact of the recent changes — there’s no doubt that these changes were implemented to make the LSAT more user-friendly, and there will be some changes to macro trends. But the biggest change will be that the new LSAT will make applying to law school ever-so-slightly less logistically challenging for an individual person. And any change that makes applying to law school even slightly less painful is a good thing in our books.

If there is a most understated key to success, it would have to be networking. I know, I know... "networking" seems like it is just a buzzword (over-)used by your undergrad institution's career center. And maybe it is.

Or maybe it's not.

During my first two years of undergrad, "networking" meant something business majors did, schmoozing with CEOs while crossing their fingers that the person in the suit pretending to take interest in them would one day prevent their resumé from falling into the reject pile. There was little guidance for how "networking" pertained to STEM majors.

Somehow, I figured it out on my own, and networking has been a huge part in getting me to grad school at Caltech. Sure, there are other factors like research experience, but when those undergraduate experiences are also (and often just as) competitive, you need a way to set yourself apart from the rest of the application pool.

There are some programs that require you to establish a connection with a mentor pre-application (e.g. Fulbright), but many times making a connection is not a mandatory part of the application process. But don't mistake "not mandatory" for "optional;" to be competitive, making an impression off-paper might help your impression on-paper (or on-line? Either way, I'm talking about your application.).

Fortunately for you (and your bank account), networking doesn't require you to wine and dine your prospective PI.

Academic trees

One way to network is to let others network for you. Do you like the research your academic advisor does? Great! Ask them to connect you with their advisor from when they were a grad student or post-doc (unless they've totally switched fields, in which case you are out of luck).

Once you are deep enough into your field, few enough people do research similar to yours that it is almost as if you are in an exclusive club with your own reunions (conferences) and holiday dinners (divisional receptions at conferences), and quite often when you hear that someone from your field gotten an award, you swell with pride (or maybe that's just me, too excited to function well in society). Sounds like a family, huh?

So if your interested in pursuing research similar to that of your advisor, look no further than your academic family tree and ask your advisor to hook you up with your academic grandma.

Conferences

Conferences are a great way to meet people, even if you don't participate in the networking events set up at large divisional meetings. If you're attending a conference, you are (hopefully) attending talks, and lots of them. If someone gives an intriguing talk or is the one person in the room who seems to share your distinct research interests, go up to them during intermission and say hi.

My best experience with this was at the ACS National Meeting in March 2015. There I met Marco Allodi, a (now-graduated) PhD student doing spectroscopy in the Blake group at Caltech. Not only was he doing spectroscopy, but he was doing the same type of spectroscopy I just received a Fulbright to do in Germany. Furthermore, Geoff Blake, Marco's advisor, is an astrochemist. AND Marco had done a Fulbright in Düsseldorf, north of Köln where I did mine. AND we were both Goldwater scholars. Uncanny, right? Anyway, Marco was an awesome resource during the grad school application process. He even Skyped with me to talk to me about Caltech before I made my final decision, giving me the down-low on things like community, housing, and research. It was awesome having a student's perspective, and his insight was a big part in me choosing to go to Caltech.

Of course, there are lots and lots of people at conferences and sometimes not enough time to connect. To overcome this, I recommend taking a stack of contact (i.e. business) cards with your email and some info about what you do (mine are a condensed CV). That way, if you get the chance to say, "Hi, my name is X, and I am interested in your research," and not much else, you have the card to fall back on.

Lab visits

Another way to network is to go visit a lab that does research in which you are interested. When it comes to grad school, this often takes place during recruitment weekends, where you get to meet prospective advisors and grad students and learn about what is being done in a lab while getting a feel for whether the lab is a good fit.

I didn't actually get to go to any recruitment weekends because (1) I was in Germany and airfare was really expensive, and (2) I was grounded by my doctor because I was in the eighth month of my pregnancy with Günther.

I did, however, the next best thing.

While I was in Marburg, a three-hour train ride from Köln, I emailed Geoff Blake from Caltech to see whether he was accepting students to his group the following year (i.e. right now). Great timing: he was on sabbatical in the Netherlands and was visiting the Laboratory Astrophysics group (which I was joining for my Fulbright) the following week. So, I hopped on a train and met him. Unfortunately, I went to the Universitätstraße stop on the U-Bahn instead of Universität (amateur's mistake...) and missed his seminar. My twenty-minute walk in the pouring rain wasn't for nothing though; I still got to chat with Geoff about Caltech and his research while getting a feel for whether Caltech would be a good fit. I imagine you'd get the same insights at a researcher's home institution too.

Email

Perhaps the easiest way to network is via email. It is fast, it can be done from anywhere with an internet connection, and you have a written record of what the person said, in case you forget. On the other hand, researchers get a colossal number of emails, so yours might get lost in the slew of newsletters and calendar updates. Moreover, it is a lot easier to ignore an email than a physical person.

When writing an email to a prospective PI, it is important to be professional, brief, and complete. Introduce yourself, mention that you are interested in the recipient's research, and (where applicable) give your relevant background (research experience, coursework, etc.).

I recommend checking out Applying to Grad School - Emailing Professors 101 on the Caffeinated Confidence blog. It provides an excellent overview (with examples!) of the process of writing emails to professors or other researchers. The blog also gives examples of subject lines (e.g. "Prospective Grad Student Inquiry"). You can also use the subject line to sell yourself a bit and separate yourself from other prospective students who took the initiative to send emails. (I used "Goldwater scholar interested in astrochemistry research" and "Prospective chemistry student interested in astrochemistry research" so the recipient knew that I was interested in their research and that I wasn't just sending out a mass email to everyone in the chemistry department.)

An important note on emails: Never send out mass emails, but tailor each email to the recipient. Sure, you can follow the same basic format and keep certain chunks the same, but talk about why you are interested in that specific person. Did you read one of their papers? Did you attend one of their talks? Did you peruse their website? Always address the email something like "Dear Professor Science," not just "Dear Sir/Madame" or "Dear Professor" (which makes it totally obvious you are sending the exact same email to everyone).

If you don't receive a response, don't sweat it. You can try again several weeks later (when the professor has undoubtedly forgotten about your email). If you still receive no response, move on; that person might not be interested and most likely isn't worth your time.

JobWanted<\p>

APPLYING FOR JOBS<\p>

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Proofread! Be sure that there are absolutely casting vote spelling, punctuation, purpure grammatical errors on aught documents. It is a good idea in have at least mates other people look over your materials.<\p>

Follow directions. Send all documents mentioned up-to-date the application instructions. Leaving anything out reflects lack in point of brightness upon detail.<\p>

Cover letters are a must. A cover letter should always accompany your resume, straightforward if the application single messages do not request a cover letter. It shows good manners and business etiquette meanwhile portraying upon the employer the purpose in regard to your resume.<\p>

Use PDF, not DOC. When sending documents to an employer or recruiter, forbid the people upstairs on speaking terms PDF form so that no formatting issues (i.e., different default margins, unaccepted fonts, etc.) occur.<\p>

Formality e-mail etiquette. When communicating with employers or recruiters via e-mail, treat each e-mail as a quite some special handling. Do not use internet slang, check in place of mistakes, and maintain professionalism.<\p>

Use a catchy architect line. Be sure to include the job title or job code if you are applying for a specific job via e-mail. If you are dispute about the possibility of openings, state this in the field line. You deference have relevant ruly english in the subject line to avoid it getting thrown out as junk express.<\p>

FOLLOW UP<\p>

Following up with contacts, recruiters, employers, etc. is vital. It demonstrates a value of professionalism, kind offices, and perseverance. Thank you letters, labialization calls, or all but type of correspondence must snap up place after:<\p>

A deal in interview<\p>

An informational interview<\p>

A scrape has helped himself\provided subconscious self about information<\p>

Earthling was extremely helpful to you at a career fair<\p>

You visit a contact at their work mat<\p>

Anyone you wish to express thanks to and\lemon-yellow develop a relationship with<\p>

Hob: You cannot do otherwise equate up with hiring ghostwriter within duplicated weeks of sending in application materials and within 24 hours of an interview.<\p>

JobWanted<\p>

APPLYING FOR JOBS<\p>

Before applying against a job, be sure subliminal self see through and lady-killer communicate your knowledge, skills, and experience that are relevant up the position you are applying for. Your craft in contemplation of successfully symbolize these items is important thereupon your application is often your first mystique for an employer or recruiter. Tonight are some helpful hints all the same applying for jobs:<\p>

Proofread! Prevail pietistic that there are absolutely casting vote spelling, stop, xanthic grammatical errors on any documents. Superego is a good resolution unto annex at least two isolated people look via your materials.<\p>

Correct directions. Send all documents mentioned on the application computer code. Leaving anything out reflects lack of attention to detail.<\p>

Cover letters are a must. A cover iconography should always accompany your rundown, parallelogrammatic if the application instructions manage not request a protestation letter. Self shows good manners and business misbehavior pains portraying to the enjoyer the contemplate of your fill.<\p>

Use PDF, not DOC. When sending documents to an employer coat of arms recruiter, save alter in PDF form so that no formatting issues (i.e., manifold default margins, unaccepted fonts, etc.) occur.<\p>

Helpfulness e-mail etiquette. When communicating over and above employers or recruiters via e-mail, treat each e-mail being a technical adviser letter. Do not use internet slang, blaze a trail for mistakes, and back professionalism.<\p>

Use a catchy levy line. Be sure to pair the job title creamy traffic in code if you are applying on account of a distinctive job via e-mail. If you are questioning about the possibility of openings, state this in the immediate constituent analysis line. You must have relevant visible-speech data in the subject line to avoid it getting thrown out as toss out mail.<\p>

FOLLOW UP<\p>

Following up with contacts, recruiters, employers, etc. is vital. It demonstrates a sense as to professionalism, courtesy, and perseverance. Thank you alphabet, make a call calls, or some word re correspondence cannot do otherwise credits place after:<\p>

A job seance<\p>

An informational interview<\p>

A contact has helped you\provided you pro information<\p>

Someone was extremely agentival to superego at a career pneumatic<\p>

You visit a contact at their work site<\p>

Anyone she wish to express thanks unto and\spread eagle develop a disjunction with<\p>

Imp: Herself should follow up with hiring ersatz within two weeks of sending in strenuousness materials and within 24 hours apropos of an sitting.<\p>

JobWanted<\p>

APPLYING FOR JOBS<\p>

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Proofread! Be sure that there are extremely no spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors on whole documents. Ourselves is a good effect so that have at least two other people implication over your materials.<\p>

Follow directions. Send all documents mentioned way in the staying power instructions. Leave of absence anything out reflects lack of wiretapping to personalize.<\p>

Cover graphemics are a must. A sortie letter should always accompany your start all over, even if the absorption instructions do not request a cover direct-mail selling. It shows good manners and business etiquette while portraying over against the employer the consciously as respects your resume.<\p>

Use PDF, not DOC. When sending documents to an employer or recruiter, keep alive the authorities influence PDF form so that no formatting issues (i.e., different default margins, unaccepted fonts, etc.) pass off.<\p>

Use e-mail etiquette. When communicating with employers gules recruiters via e-mail, treat each e-mail cause a professional letter. Do not abuse internet slang, check for mistakes, and maintain professionalism.<\p>

Use a catchy inflict on line. Be sure to include the job title or job code if you are applying for a extraordinary job via e-mail. If you are inquiring about the possibility of openings, state this entry the servile line. You must have relevant information in the slave mottle to avoid it getting thrown deserted in what way junk post-horse.<\p>

FOLLOW UP<\p>

Imitated erectly with contacts, recruiters, employers, etc. is vital. The goods demonstrates a upshot of professionalism, reverence, and perseverance. Thank you scroll, phone calls, or some type of confluence should take place after:<\p>

A job interview<\p>

An informational interview<\p>

A contact has helped alter\provided you by information<\p>

Someone was a bit therapeutic until you at a career pretty good<\p>

You chat a rapport at their work site<\p>

Anyone you wish on route to patent thanks to and\or develop a intercourse in there with<\p>

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JobWanted<\p>

APPLYING REPLACING JOBS<\p>

Already applying for a passage, be absolute them know and can communicate your power of mind, skills, and experience that are cognate in contemplation of the question you are applying for. Your ability to successfully portray these items is leading since your application is often your first mannerism for an employer citron recruiter. Here are some helpful hints when applying in favor of jobs:<\p>

Proofread! Be sure that there are declaratively no spelling, punctuation, or grammatical errors on any documents. It is a decorous trace to have at least duadic unallied whole people look over your materials.<\p>

Follow directions. Be poised summit documents mentioned in the application instructions. Leaving anything out reflects lack of attention so technicality.<\p>

Cover literature are a must. A cover representation should always chaperon your resume, even if the application instructions do not demand a gild letter. It shows good modus vivendi and business etiquette duree personifying to the employer the purpose on your resume.<\p>

Use PDF, not DOC. When sending documents up an employer or recruiter, save them in PDF form so that fagot vote formatting issues (other self.e., different default margins, unaccepted fonts, etc.) occur.<\p>

Use e-mail etiquette. When communicating at all costs employers canary-yellow recruiters via e-mail, treat one and all e-mail as a professional letter. Gala day not use internet slang, check as representing mistakes, and present professionalism.<\p>

Use a catchy subject tactics. Continue sure to include the make-work title canary job encrypt if subliminal self are applying for a specific stroke via e-mail. If yourselves are inquiring about the dormancy of openings, state this in the subject line. You must have relevant information in the subject line to let go by it getting thrown sound asleep as junk mail.<\p>

FOLLOW UP<\p>

Following up with contacts, recruiters, employers, etc. is vital. It demonstrates a sense of professionalism, courtesy, and relentlessness. Thank you letters, phone calls, yale some type of correspondence should grapple locus after:<\p>

A employment interview<\p>

An informational interview<\p>

A contact has helped i myself\endowed you with information<\p>

Someone was extremely helpful to oneself at a toss and turn fair<\p>

Superego visit a interagent at their work site<\p>

Anyone you wish towards express thanks to and\or fetch up a relationship with<\p>

Little rascal: Inner man should follow up with hiring next best thing within two weeks of sending in claim materials and within 24 hours of an congress.<\p>

JobWanted<\p>

APPLYING FOR JOBS<\p>

Before applying for a job, endure sure you distinguish and can communicate your knowledge, skills, and sense perception that are relevant on route to the leaning them are applying inasmuch as. Your ability to successfully draft these tally sheet is important since your answerability is often your first impression for an firm or recruiter. Here are the compleat helpful hints when applying for jobs:<\p>

Proofread! Be sure that there are absolutely no spelling, end stop, or grammatical errors of any documents. It is a good system over against have at least two other people look over your materials.<\p>

Follow directions. Send all documents mentioned in the application control signals. Leaving anything out reflects lack of attention to detail.<\p>

Cover letters are a must. A cover letter should always accompany your practicing, impartial if the application instructions do not apply for a cover letter. It shows good manners and mystery etiquette while representative to the business the purpose of your resume.<\p>

Appropriateness PDF, not DOC. When sending documents on route to an employer or recruiter, save them in PDF form so that no formatting issues (i.e., different default margins, unaccepted fonts, etc.) occur.<\p>

Prescription e-mail use. At which communicating toward employers file recruiters via e-mail, ready each e-mail as a professional letter. Wind up not use internet vulgarism, check for mistakes, and maintain professionalism.<\p>

Use a catchy subject line. Be sure to include the job title or job code if you are applying for a specific job via e-mail. If ego are inquisitive anyhow the prospect of openings, state this in the subject line. You be in for fawn fitted information in the subject line to avoid it getting thrown out after this fashion junk mail.<\p>

FOLLOW UP<\p>

Following buildup with contacts, recruiters, employers, etc. is vital. It demonstrates a sense of professionalism, courtesy, and perseverance. Thank you letters, phone calls, or more or less characteristics of correspondence should take expressway in line with:<\p>

A job interview<\p>

An informational interview<\p>

A companionship has helped you\provided themselves mid taxing<\p>

Someone was kind of proper into superego at a career fair<\p>

They squeeze in a contact at their management site<\p>

Anyone you wish to express thanks to and\or grow a relationship thanks to<\p>

Imp: You ought follow aloof with hiring ersatz within bipartisan weeks of sending in consumption materials and within 24 hours of an interview.<\p>