Pre-Law Advising Services Blog

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Pursuing opportunities before law school can contribute significantly to an applicant’s success and offer tremendous benefits personally, academically, and professionally. Whether you ultimately decide to pursue an opportunity before law school or go “straight through”, future applicants should consider how a timeline that includes a “gap year(s)” might enhance their application and contribute to their ultimate success as a law student!

Below is a collection of resources to assist in your decision-making!

Continue reading Fall 2024 – Exploring Gap Year Opportunities

Welcome to the inaugural Illinois Pre-Law Wellness Week!

Wellness is an important aspect of success in the legal profession. The American Bar Association has worked to place increasing focus on wellness for attorneys, judges, and law students through various initiatives and resources. The Well-Being Week in Law, hosted annually by the Institute for Well-Being in Law, occurs during the first week of May and is one of these initiatives. Wellness in the legal profession is a very important, therefore making wellness a priority as an undergraduate student is an important part of the pre-law journey. As we enter the heart of the application cycle and approach the busy final weeks of the fall semester, we invite you to join us for a special Wellness Week celebration with a focus on pre-law students!

The idea that wellness is an element of professionalism has received much-needed attention over the last several years. Today, there is a strong focus at many levels on ensuring that those pursuing a legal career have the tools, resources, and support they need to excel in the profession. And, you don’t have to wait until you get to law school to build a strong foundation. Learning how to take care of yourself now will pay dividends in the future. We have created this blog post and Instagram series to highlight some things you can start implementing today to help you achieve your personal wellness goals.

Follow PLAS on Instagram and join us for a week focused on well-being tips and resources for pre-law students!

Continue reading Pre-Law Wellness Week

As the 2024 election day officially arrives, we wanted to focus on how elections and law interrelate in the field of election law. Election law is a branch of public law that governs the democratic process, dealing with everything from the election of representatives and office holders to referendums, and most importantly, safeguarding your voting rights. Election law is a vast area dating back to the earliest points of our democratic history and continuing today. Within these broad areas, there are numerous sub-topics that attorneys in the field handle. 

Continue reading Law in Elections

Law school is an experience that is very difficult to fully explain or to comprehend until you actually experience it. One of the best ways to get better understanding is to hear directly from those who have experienced law school. As we have now reached the mid-part of the fall semester, we recently reached out to Illinois alumni that have just started their first semester to see how their experience at law school has been going during their first few weeks. As new 1Ls, they provided excellent insight as to some of the critical differences between college and law school, when it comes to a new type of workload, classes, and responsibilities. Keep reading to hear from four of our accomplished Illini alums on their experiences over the first couple of weeks of law school!

Continue reading Law School Insider: The First Weeks of Law School – 1L Insights

It’s time to get excited about Spring courses! Each semester we receive many questions from pre-law students regarding courses helpful in preparation for law school..  Pre-Law Advising has made a helpful chart with suggested classes pre-law students might find useful and interesting when planning and exploring a legal education.

In general, students interested in going to law school should take classes that focus on analytical and critical thinking, communication, research and writing, and when possible – legal topics of interest. The recommended course list includes classes from many disciplines that might serve one or more of these goals. Look at the chart to find courses that interest you and will help build the necessary skills for law school.

Continue reading Spring 2025 Course Recommendations