Congrats!!! You Got Accepted Into Law School!!! Now What?
Congratulations!!!! All of your hard work and dedication has paid off. You spent many sleepless nights studying to get a high GPA, many months of non-stop studying to do well on the LSAT, build relationships with your professors, join as many extracurricular activities as possible, and craft a stellar application. After all of that you receive your first acceptance, and then maybe a few more. You’ve now completed the hard part of the pre-law journey. Now comes the more fun part which is deciding where to go. As fun as this is it can be a little stressful too. In this blog post I will walk you through on how to pick the right law school for you. I too have gone through this process, and I can help you decide which school is best for your future.
When you complete your application, it typically takes anywhere from just a few days to possibly multiple months for schools to get back to you. Law schools will give you one of three decisions which are a rejection, and acceptance or a waitlist. If you are rejected, then that is unfortunate but there are other schools out there. You can try to appeal if you think it will help the school change their mind. If you get on the waitlist, then this means that the law school is holding out on making a decision for the time being. Now for the best answer which is getting accepted. When you get accepted the school will contact you by email, phone or both. The school should also let you know of any scholarship that you may have earned.
Now that you have gotten accepted, it is time to pick the school that best fits you. The first thing that I would suggest is to visit any of the prospective law schools that you would want to attend. It is best to see the school in person first to make sure it is a right fit. You can request to have a tour by going on the schools, website and communicating with their admissions department. When going on the tour make sure to take note of things such as the student body, clubs and extracurriculars, job placement, and certain programs that the school offers that will help you get the job that you want. Also take note of the city that the law school is in and ask yourself if you would want to practice in that city. You don’t have to practice in the city of the law school that you go to, but it is something to keep in mind because that is where most of your connections and network will be.
The second thing to look at is finances. Keep in mind that a lot of attorneys come out with six-figures worth of debt that is combined from both undergraduate and law school. Tuition and cost of living can be expensive so receiving free money where possible is important. Check to see if any of the schools that you have applied to have given you a scholarship. If they have, see which one gives you the most money. You can also try to negotiate your scholarship amount with law schools by comparing them to some of the other offers you have seen. On top of this you can also look for external grants and scholarships for law students to help fund your education. I will talk about funding law school in a separate post if you want more information, but this is a good place to start when looking for the right law school.
Deciding which law school to go to can be stressful but it is also an exciting time because your future awaits you. So don’t stress too hard and enjoy the process. Once you have made your decision then congrats you have completed the pre-law process and can now move onto the next steps of your journey, law school!!!
