By India Madsen
When I read my acceptance letter from Osgoode Hall Law School last school year, it felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
As a LA&PS student who has gone through the law school application process, I know that submitting all the required materials for your applications can feel like an insurmountable task.
Taking the LSAT (Law School Admissions Test) and crafting your law school application is almost like a second job, which you need to balance with school, work, and extracurriculars. However, as someone who has come out on the other side of this process, I am here to tell all of you LA&PS students interested in law school that there is an end in sight! Here is my advice to ensure that your efforts to create a strong application pay off.
Realize that it's not all a numbers game.
Who makes a better lawyer: a person who has a great LSAT score, or a person who has an average score who has the rhetorical skills to convince the acceptance panel that they're the right candidate? Of course, the combination of a great score and a great essay is the ideal scenario, but many students underestimate the power of a persuasive essay, and as a result, do not all themselves adequate time to write it. Make sure that you give yourself one to two months to work on your essays and to edit them with the help of the Writing Centre.
Ask for references far in advance.
A professor who I had a good relationship with, and who had given me an A in her class, did not respond to any of my persistent emails asking for a brief law school reference letter. I had to ask someone else for a letter and ended up getting the letter the day before my application was due. The lesson I learned – when you have to rely on other people to submit aspects of your application, tell them that your deadline is a week in advance of what it really is.
Don’t obsess over law-related extracurriculars.
When I applied to law school, it seemed that all of my peers had completed summer internships with law firms, had won moot court competitions, or had majored in Law and Society. I had no law experience beyond a high school elective. However, I had professional experience in writing and artificial intelligence, so I wrote about how both interests would be an asset to a person working in intellectual property law. If you're passionate about nature, write about how you could contribute to the field of environmental law. If you love the performing arts, write about how you would make a great talent lawyer. Since everyone who applies is interested in the law, I think that it is beneficial to highlight interests that would make your contributions to the legal field unique.
Create a pre-test routine that calms you.
You can be the smartest person in the world, but still freeze under the pressure of the LSAT. There are lots of ways that you can prevent this scary hypothetical coming to life. I suggest that every time you are about to write a practice test, create a memorable routine for yourself. For example, listening to a specific song, eating a specific snack, or doing a breathing exercise. This way, you have a psychological trigger that tells your brain that test day is no different from your practice tests
Don't get discouraged along the way.
Most importantly, remember that you will reach your goal eventually! You have a lot of work in front of you but remind yourself that you have the skills and the work to get through it. In no time, you will be stepping into your first day of law school!