Month: October 2013

Post LSAT Results Suggestions and Fee Waivers

October LSAT takers should now have their scores.  For those of you applying Early Decision, deadlines are coming up in November and December.  Make sure you have your applications submitted by the stated deadlines!  For those of you applying in the general cycle, Fall Break is a month away, which is a perfect time to submit your applications.  So, one more time, here is your to-do list:

1. Finish your personal statement and optional essays!  Need help? The next PLAS Personal Statement and Resume Workshop is set for Monday, November 11, Noon-1pm, Room 514, IUB. Please go to the PLAS Event Calendar to register for this program, http://illinois.edu/calendar/list/2508, so we have enough seating and materials for all participants. Do you have a strong draft and feel ready to discuss it? Call the Pre-Law Advising Services office at 333-9669 and schedule an appointment.  Remember to send you personal statement, essay or any other document, such as your resume, 2 business days prior to your appointment.

2. Submit your transcript(s) to LSAC.  For more information on LSAC’s transcript request policies, go here: http://www.lsac.org/jd/applying-to-law-school/cas/requesting-transcripts.

3. Check to make sure your Letters of Recommendation have been posted to your Credential Assembly Services account. If not, now is a good time to check in with your recommenders to inquire (respectfully) and see when they will be able to submit them.  If you haven’t requested your LORs, do so ASAP! Check out our October 1 PLAS posting for more information on how to secure good LORs.

4. Check out some of our previous blog posts for more information about staying on track with your applications.

5. For those of you disappointed with your October results, now is the time to consider next steps and to ask yourself if re-taking the LSAT is the right decision. In the alternative, maybe it makes sense for you to consider other non-law school options for next year.  If you want to discuss your concerns, you can always schedule an appointment with a pre-law advisor by calling 333-9669.

Fee Waivers Available at PLAS!

Pre-Law Advising Services has a limited number of fee waivers for the following law schools: (1) University of Maryland; (2) University of Missouri; (3) St. Louis University; and (4) Tulane University. If you are interested in receiving a fee waiver, please contact Judy Argentieri, jargenti@illinois.edu.  These fee waivers will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.

Public Service Fellows Program – Deadline to Apply: Nov. 1

The Public Service Fellows Program at the Partnership for Public Service is an opportunity for undergraduate students, graduate students and recent graduates to participate directly in transforming the way government works while developing valuable professional skills.

At the Partnership, fellows are integral to the day-to-day operations, programs and activities of our organization. We value the contributions of fellows and work to provide relevant and useful experiences in return. That’s why fellows are assigned substantive and meaningful work to support our wide variety of programs, events, and projects to help revitalize the federal government by focusing on the people working in it. Fellows’ duties vary across the Partnership’s internal teams, but often include event planning and execution, conducting research, writing and preparing correspondence, and conducting outreach to external partners, such as government agencies and colleges and universities.

True to the Partnership’s emphasis on people, the fellows program incorporates opportunities for professional and personal growth through workshops and trainings specifically geared toward students and young professionals. We also strive to ensure a quality experience in terms of work and personal relationships throughout the fellowship term. Fellows also receive the following stipends:

  • Full time fellows with an undergraduate or graduate degree will receive a $1000 per month stipend.
  • Full time fellows who are currently undergraduate students will receive an $800 per month stipend.
  • Part time fellow stipends will be pro-rated accordingly.

Who Should Apply

We seek extraordinary undergraduate students, graduate students and recent graduates with:

  • A commitment to public service
  • Strong written and oral communication
  • Analytical thinking
  • An ability to work well in teams

There is no single academic major or background we prefer over another—if you share our passion and are committed to developing your skills while gaining valuable experience, we want to hear from you!

The application for the Spring 2014 term closes on November, 1. Apply today!

 

 

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An Unbeatable Opportunity for Pre-Law Students

Northwestern. Boston University. Illinois. Duke. NYU. UChicago. George Washington. Chicago-Kent. Michigan. Marquette. Texas. Notre Dame.

Are you interested in any of these law schools? Good news! All of these law schools and many, many more will be here on Tuesday, October 22. We’ll be hosting over 100 law schools in all, who are here to meet you. Why should you attend?

Freshmen/Sophomores: What a great opportunity to practice your networking skills, find out more about what law schools are looking for, and get some freebies.

Juniors/Seniors: You’ll be applying in the next couple of years. This is a great opportunity for you to make an impression on the people reading your applications! Get to know some schools better and find out about schools you’ve never heard of.  Plus, you can get some fee waivers for those applications!

All pre-law students should come to this event. You can stay the whole time or stop by anytime between 10:00 and 2:00 on Tuesday, Oct. 22 at the ARC! Visit our website here for more details.

See you at the fair!

CLEO pre-law programs next Saturday!

The CLEO College Scholars Program will be hosting workshops for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors next Saturday, Oct. 26 at DePaul University College of Law. This is a great opportunity for pre-law students at all levels to learn more about the law school application process!

This program was designed to identify, motivate, and prepare students for a career in the legal profession. The following workshops will all be offered:

Freshmen: The Road to Law School
Sophomores: Sophomore Super Saturday Seminar
Juniors: Jumpstart the LSAT

All three workshops are free and will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 26 at DePaul University College of Law. Find out more and register here.

After the LSAT: What do I do now?

You did it! The LSAT is over! Take a deep breath.

Right about now, most people want to take the next few weeks off before thinking about their applications. Smart applicants will really maximize these next few weeks by focusing on the remaining elements of their application so that they can get those applications out early, qualifying them for the most aid.

Now it’s time to dive in to the rest of your applications. What’s your time frame for completing them? A good time frame to submit your applications is anytime between Halloween and Thanksgiving. But you will need to consider some of these elements:

Deciding whether and where you’re going to apply early decision. You can only apply to one school through a binding early decision program. It’s time to consider whether you want to choose this option, in which case your early decision application will be due (depending on the school) on November 1, November 15, or December 1–in any case, a deadline you need to know. Applicants should carefully consider this option. In the case of binding early decision programs, you need to decide: how committed are you to this school? How important is aid to you? Would you go there even if you had to pay full price? Would you be willing to withdraw all of your other applications if X school admitted you? That is the level of commitment that binding early decision requires. Take some time to research and consider this big decision.

Letters of recommendation. We’ve been talking about these for ages. Hopefully, you’ve already got your letter writers lined up. If not, RUN, don’t walk, to your recommenders and get them lined up. You should expect at least 6-8 weeks for your recommender to write the letter, submit it, and for the LSAC to process it. That means if you want to apply by November 15, you need to get your recommendations lined up NOW!

Personal statement. Yep, it’s time to take that energy and time you were focusing on the LSAT and devote it to your personal statement. In addition to our personal statement workshops (which you can find on our event calendar here), we also have some tips and suggestions for the personal statement on our website. Spend some time thinking about your values, your goals, and what makes you stand out from the crowd. Then write a draft, set it aside for a few days, and revisit it. Don’t worry if you don’t love the first draft–no one does. Start now so that you can spend 3-4 weeks thinking, writing, and editing. When you are ready for some feedback, you can make an appointment for a Pre-Law Advisor to review your personal statement and discuss it with you. (Call 333-9669 to set up a personal statement review appointment. Please email us your statement and resume two business days prior to your appointment so that we have time to review them.)

Transcripts. You’ll want to order a transcript from each undergraduate institution you attended. Visit the LSAC here, http://www.lsac.org/jd/applying-to-law-school/cas/requesting-transcripts, for more information on the transcript ordering process.

Take a look at our earlier post called “The Application Process: LSAC Tips”, http://publish.illinois.edu/prelawadvising/2013/09/18/the-application-process-lsac-tips/, for even more application details.

 

Are you ruining your chances of getting a great letter of recommendation?

“Regardless of what stage of the [law school] application process you are at, if you haven’t started to think about who you will want to write your letters of recommendation – you’re late.”

There is an abundance of fantastic guidance on getting great letters of recommendation for the law school application process.  Anna Ivey, the former Dean of Admissions at the University of Chicago Law School, has given specific instruction on how to avoid the “generic” letters that most frequently reach the admissions committees.  You can find some of her smart and practical advice here, and also on her website found here.

But in thinking of putting together a quick list to serve as a reminder for the strategies to get letters of recommendation that mean something and stand out, the article that I’ve stolen the title from for this very post stood out above the rest.  Sometimes when things are written in the positive it is too easy to believe that some watered-down version of what we are doing is actually meeting a bare minimum.  But this article smacks you across the face for doing five, likely very common, things.  It is written towards pre-med students, and if there weren’t more effective uses of time I would cut and paste and replace all those with pre-law, because it is so relevant.  Check out this article (linked above), and be certain that you aren’t ruining your chances of securing what should be your first priority after LSAT and GPA in the admissions scheme.

5 Easy Ways Students Ruin Their Chances at Great Letters of Recommendation:

1.  CHOOSE THE WRONG PEOPLE TO WRITE YOUR LETTERS

2.  PERFORM POORLY IN CLASS OR AT WORK

3.  TALK ABOUT EVERYTHING BUT WANTING TO BECOME A [LAWYER]

4.  ALLOW FOR ONLY A LITTLE BIT OF TIME TO WRITE YOUR LETTERS

5.  HOLD BACK ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT YOURSELF

Wherever you are on your timeline for applying to law school, be certain you are not falling into these common traps that will ruin your chance of securing a strong letter of recommendation.