My regular readers may recall my post last week, when I talked about Law School Fairs. Well, over the weekend, I had a chance to go to one, and now I'm here to give you the scoop.
You have to register for the official LSAC (Law School Admissions Council) forums on their website, which means making an account with them. Fortunately, this is the website where you register for the LSAT as well, so it's not a wasted effort.
Once you've registered, print off the ticket that they send you. I don't know if they'd turn you away for not having a ticket, or if it's simply a longer process to be allowed in, but regardless, your morning will be much easier if you have a hard copy.
In the informative post I made last week, I mentioned that you should dress nicely. Let me reiterate that here. I was in khakis and a button-up, and while I wasn't underdressed, I certainly wasn't the most smartly dressed person in the room. There were a lot of suits.
Once I'd arrived, had my ticket checked, and got my itinerary, I saw that the forum "What Do Lawyers Do?" was beginning in one of the reserved conference rooms. I made my way there, and although it had only just begun, the room was already full. I had to stand in the back, until midway through, when a few people began to trickle out, and I was able to grab a seat.
The main point of the forum was that goals and plans will change during law school, and over the course of your career. You have to be flexible. The best way to figure out where you're hoping to go in life is to do as many internships and clinical programs as possible while you're still in school. That way, you've at least got a feel for what you like, and what you hate. Also, talk to your school's career services department; they may be able to point you towards opportunities that you didn't even know existed.
The Q&A portion of the forum can be worth sticking around for, if you've got the time. However, I did not. I left to go to the section where the different law schools have their tables set up. My first thought, upon seeing the room, was that this was like club fair. You know, club fair, where you go as a freshman, take flyers from everyone, and put your name on all the email lists, just in case you might be interested in that club.
Upon approaching the table of the first school I was really interested in, I was struck with my second thought, that this was absolutely nothing like club fair. There was a 20 minute wait to get to the table, as there was for nearly every school that ranked higher than #25 on the US News law school rankings. Other tables were empty.
As I said in my post last week, prioritization is key. Know which schools you want to hit. You won't have time to dawdle at other tables. Furthermore, know exactly what you want to ask, ask it, and get out of the way. It might not matter to the schools, but there is nothing more annoying to other students than someone who steps up to the table and spends half an hour spouting their life story to the school's representative, as the woman in front of me in line at the Georgetown table did.
I didn't get to hit all the tables that I wanted to, because the next forum that I really wanted to see, "About the LSAT" was starting, and I wasn't in the mood to stand in the back again. Luckily, this time, I was able to snag a seat near the middle.
Most of what I heard from the speaker was recap for me; I've taken nearly half a dozen practice LSATs and thought that I didn't really need to be there. But I am so glad that I was. The speaker started talking about prepping for the test, and mentioned that LSAC has just released a program with Khan Academy, to provide free LSAT prep. I'll be setting up my account, and letting you all know what I think about it, soon.
After the "About the LSAT" forum ended, I went back to visit more tables. Because of the lines, I still didn't have a chance to stop at every table I was really interested in, but I managed to snag some literature from them all. Those little pamphlets and brochures might seem pointless, particularly with most of the information already available online, but if you're like me, the visual representation can help you focus your thinking.
Before I knew it, the tables were being packed up, and the crowd of suit-wearers had narrowed down to a few stragglers.
I know it may seem like there's no point in going to something like this, when there's such a wealth of information available online, but although I don't have a word-for-word transcription of all I heard, I guarantee that if you attend a Law School Forum, you'll get quite a wealth of new information.
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