Applying to law school: Advice from an expert

The time between deciding to apply to law school and getting admitted can be confusing, and quite frankly exhausting. The process can take years, and between letters of recommendation, studying for the LSAT and writing a personal statement, it’s hard to know where to start.

Fortunately for Virginia Tech students, there are resources that are meant to guide students through this journey, including pre-law advisers Luke Plotica and Wayne Moore of the political science department.

The Collegiate Times spoke to Plotica to gain insight into the law school admission and application process. This discussion was lightly edited for content and clarity.

Collegiate Times: When is the right time to start thinking about law school?

Luke Plotica: I guess it's never too early if one is seriously interested. I would say about a year out is the safe point ... With the way that the LSAT cycle works and everything else that an applicant needs to worry about ... the applicant benefits from having months and months on their side. You can do it on a shorter time frame and people have done it well that I've seen here at Tech, but if someone wants to apply in the spring then hopefully getting things moving pretty well, the previous spring would be good. We see people who get started in the fall ... and that's enough time for people to prepare for the LSAT to have perhaps a fallback date. Probably having ideally about a year or nine months lead time is good. 

CT: What are the different aspects of the application process?

LP: One of the first things is to sign (in) with the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC). That's the portal through which the requests for letters of recommendations and then the clearinghouse through which those are delivered to the universities. It's also a great place because there are a lot of "frequently asked questions" and other information for someone who is not yet committed to applying.

GPA and LSAT score

CT:How important is an applicant’s GPA? 

LP: It depends on which law school you want to go to. The median GPA numbers are frequently changing with U.S. News & World Report. If someone sees the median GPA for the law school is 3.5 and they have a 3.3, that doesn't mean that they are in trouble, especially if you have a robust resume or you do quite well on the LSAT or you just present yourself really well. Someone can have a below median GPA and a below median LSAT and still get into a law school that they really want provided that their entire profile is something that the law school finds compelling.

CT: How common is it for someone with a low GPA and a low LSAT score to get into law school?

LP: Unfortunately, with all of these things, it also depends on who the other applicants were at the school you're talking about. These are not the kinds of things that law schools end up releasing data about. They don't blindly match LSAT scores and GPAs of incoming students.

CT: What advice do you have when it comes to the LSAT?

LP: This is probably what most people lose the most sleep over, and understandably so. It's a very grueling thing to prepare for and it's very stressful and nerve wracking to take. There just aren't a lot of people who are naturally good at that kind of exam. A lot of people struggle not because they're not smart, but because it's a particularly challenging task. The LSAT is inevitable, so the best advice I have is to allow yourself proper time to prepare.

Letters of recommendation

CT: Where should applicants start when it comes to letters of recommendation? 

LP: Figuring out who exactly you want to be your letter writers is good to lay the groundwork for months before you really need it. That's so you can be sure to choose someone who is in a position to write you a strong letter, but also if you have someone who tends to procrastinate on these things, you can politely nudge them without being too insistent. 

CT: How should applicants ‘lay the groundwork’? 

LP: You want it to be someone who knows you reasonably well. For academic references, which are what most people get for most of their letters, it should be someone you have taken at least one class with. I think applicants should really ask themselves, 'Who are the faculty who have the best impression of me as a student?' I'll see occasionally students request letters from people, sometimes from myself, where they got a B in the course. If the professor is completely honest, they're going to say that this person is a B student. If possible, that's not what you want. If you can have a letter that describes things differently, that describes you as an A student or puts your work in context, that really plays up your strengths.

Ideally someone you have taken several courses with satisfying results or someone you have done some kind of work for, such as research work. The more experience you have with the person writing the letter, the more experience they have with you and the more that they can say. You don't want to set yourself up to get a one paragraph letter from someone that says you were a B student, you want something that is substantial that describes who you are.

If you are two or three years away from this, then you might want to start thinking about who are the faculty who you've already encountered ... and try to get to know them a little bit better, try to take more courses with them, ask them if they have any research opportunities available.

The most important thing is be very, very honest with yourself about how well you did in the courses or the other contexts in which you dealt with the faculty member. Be very realistic. Some faculty members will just turn away students who only got B grades in their course.  

Addenda

CT:When is it appropriate to include an addenda?

LP: I see often someone who has started off as, say, a biology major their freshman year and decides that's really not for them. They take some really challenging courses and receive some C’s and low B’s, and then transfer to something in the social sciences and humanities and do much better, but their cumulative GPA is still lower than what it ought to be, given how they’re performing now. Students will include an addendum that says the explanation for the discrepancy.

Hopefully this is not the case, but when someone has some sort of legal infraction on their record, they're asked to disclose all such things. If someone were ever caught with an open container, even if the charges were dropped, you would want to put that in an addendum to explain because if it ever came out that you may have concealed that, it looks very bad. The law school is asking you, and won't necessarily reject you if there is something. But they just want to know.

CT: Will a legal infraction prevent admittance to law school?

LP: Especially with something minor, most likely it will virtually have no effect, especially if it is honestly stated and explained. The kinds of things that law schools are worried about are things that farther down the road could prevent someone from passing the bar or prevent someone from sitting for the bar. These things are often complicated and ambiguous, but if someone has a charge on their record of some sort of sexual misconduct or something similar, that's probably far more severe and more serious than having a couple of open container violations when you were 19. They're looking for something that would reflect very poorly on character in a way that is less likely to have been one moment's indiscretion. This is also not something that just goes through police, non-law enforcement disciplinary action through the university. 

Gap year 

CT: What do law school admission boards think when they see an applicant has taken a gap year?

LP: I think what it mostly depends on is what you do with the year. I don't think that taking the year hurts you ... If one is going to take a gap year, don't let it be a year of sitting on the couch. They will ask you a legitimate question about how you spent your time if you graduate in May 2018 and you apply in February 2019 and there's nothing on your resume. Even if it is just basic employment, but especially if it is something that you care about, something that is meaningful to you, something that can help you present who you are in your application material as someone who is passionate about things, and motivated to work hard when it comes to things that matter to you, that can be a distinct advantage. There's no one right path. You can go straight through, but taking a gap year or several gap years can be to your advantage depending on what you do with your time.

CT: Do admissions boards want to see certain majors or types of extracurricular activities?

LP: I think potential applicants should take seriously the kind of work they would actually be doing. Even though your resume is words on a page, law school admissions deans know how to see behind the way that you present these things. They know that if you were 19 years old and you did a summer internship at a law firm, you weren't arguing cases. You weren't making dramatic decisions about people's legal fate, you were probably helping with paperwork. Maybe (you were) doing things that were interesting, but nothing that gave you profound understanding as to how the law works. Rather than going out of one's way to try to get internships or other experiences that sound lawyer-like, it's probably more important to do things you really care about, because it'll be a heck of a lot easier to explain why those things make you a good candidate for law school. Following your heart is really the most important thing. 

CT: Is law school as competitive as some say?

LP: It can be ... It's in the heads of the students, and it's also in the expectations of the law school faculty. I've definitely heard from students that I've advised ... who have said it's really cutthroat. ... As with anywhere else, if you're in a room of 40 other people your age, chances are they're not all jerks. It's a matter of how you present yourself, how good you are at forming friendships with other people. No matter how cutthroat law school is, the one thing that all those students have in common is they're all under pressure, they all understand, they all know what they're trying to do, they all know how difficult it is to get to the top. You don't have to be at the top to graduate and do well. For the people who want super hard to get clerkships or straight out of law school paid positions at prestigious corporate firms, then yes, whether they've finished first or third in their class makes a heck of a lot of difference because it means they get that job or they don't. If that's not what you want either because it doesn't interest you or you know it'll go to someone else, it's possible to just get a good legal education and not get chewed up as much.

CT: Why should potential applicants talk to a pre-law adviser?

LP: Often we can help with assessing timelines and reminding students of what they ought to be considering. Even when students have a lot of time, but especially when time is of the essence ... One of the things that helps is just having someone to talk to face to face. A website with a Frequently Asked Questions section is just not the same thing as a human being who you can look in the eye. I'm not sure if other advisers do this, but I'll always offer to look over personal statements or anything else. Students don't have to be on their own, that's what we're here for — to help people throughout the process in whatever way we can.

CT: The law school process seems to be extremely strenuous. Why should students still consider law school?

LP: The benefit should really just be that you really want to go to law school and you feel that this is a meaningful thing to do with your life. You feel that studying law is something you are genuinely interested in. You can see yourself spending perhaps the rest of your working life working with the law in some capacity. 

If someone is interested in public policy, they don't necessarily have to have a law degree. In going to law school and studying law, especially in practicing law, you are dealing with certain areas of policy law that there's not really any more direct way to experience it, other than being an elected official. Unless you want to pass the bar and practice law, there's nothing else you have to go to law school for. 

In addition to Plotica and Moore, other resources for those interested in applying to law school include the pre-law website for Virginia Tech and pre-law fraternity Phi Alpha Delta.