On July 24, 2011 the New York Times ran an interesting education supplement which included (among other things) the admission statistics for a number of U.S. schools. Many of you are interested in law school rankings. You will find the Gospel according to the New York Times here.
Note also that I came across an interesting tool to help you make your law school decision here. This tool recognizes that rankings are one of a number of considerations when choosing a law school.
Opportunities To Study Law
Most people go to law school because they want to become a lawyer. Pre-law students spend much of their time asking the answerable question of: what are the chances of getting into law school? Furthermore, they worry incessantly about Canadian law school rankings. Yet, many pre-law students in Canada are unaware of the range of opportunities available to them. The purpose of this post is to (at the very least) make you aware of the range of opportunities available to you. It is NOT to give specific advice about programs. Remember that the “trend is always your friend”. Think about my predictions. A global legal practice is becoming the rule rather than the exception. Continue reading
I have just finished my personal “March Madness” in which I have presented law school admission and free LSAT preparation and law school admission seminars on Ontario university campuses. I always students to take the LSAT in June or in October at the latest. These are the best LSAT test dates to take advantage of our Toronto LSAT preparation courses. I am amazed at how much pre-law students think about the rankings of various law schools. This (IMHO) is a great mistake.
Rankings are the last thing you should consider when choosing Canadian law schools. Since, this is an opinion and not a statement of fact, let me explain.
Canadian law school rankings – the new kid on the block
Canadian law school rankings are a relatively new phenomenon. For many years:
– The Canadian Lawyer law school rankings were the only game in town – they have been replaced with a survey of Canadian law schools;
– MacLeans started its annual law school rankings a few years ago
Both rankings attempt to differentiate the 16 common law schools from the civil law schools in Quebec.
Assuming the validity of the rankings (and there is no reason to do so), why would the ranking of a law school, matter potentially to a pre-law student?
Let me suggest two possible answers: Continue reading
Two weeks ago I spent a week doing free LSAT
seminars for pre-law students. We spend lots of time talking about law school applications and getting into law school. Many students spend lots of time asking “what are my chances of getting into law school?” Don’t spend your time wondering about your chances. Do spend your time improving your chances.
At the end of this seminar series, I did an email interview about my “Law School Bound”. I found myself thinking: What is the single most important piece of advice that you would give to a pre-law student? Here are my thoughts.
The easiest way to gain admission to law school is to NOT concentrate on getting into law school per se. The primary factor that will determine where you attend law school is your grades. Grading is a competitive and relative evaluation. The people who get the highest grades are the people who like the course the best. If you don’t like your courses you will not get good grades.
The best way to get good grades is to enjoy your courses. Once you find an area of study that you like, you should then make it your goal to get into graduate school in that area of study. If you can get into graduate school you can get into law school. In fact you should carry your undergraduate interests into law school. Not only is there no such thing as a pre-law program, there is no area of study that cannot be carried into law school. For example, if you study economics as an undergraduate student, you can carry that interest into law school. Antitrust law is more about economics than it is about law.
The moral of the story is – be happy and the rest will take care of itself!