Posted on 01/07/2011 2:34:07 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
My son is in his last semester at Georgia Tech. He scored in the 99th percentile on his LSAT and his GMAT and he wants to go to law school with a possible double major in business (he said that would take him 1 extra year). He is obviously intelligent and motivated.
Unfortunately he's reached a point where intelligence and motivation doesn't count for much. He's trying to get into a top-tier school and it seems like if you don't have a parent who graduated before you or some incredibly good connections the odds are stacked against you no matter how well qualified you are.
Have any of you who have beat the odds and made it into a graduate program at one of the elite schools any tips to share on how he can increase his chances of getting accepted? Is it the way you write your application letter, or if you can find a judge to clerk for, or some internship that will make you stand out? I don't have money or connections, all I can do is pray for his success. Last I heard he was applying to Stanford, Duke and Emory. TIA for any advice.
I haven’t looked into it in years, but I seem to recall the military had some options to offset the cost of law school. Doesn’t necessarily help get in, but might help offset some of the cost. Of course, you have to serve in the JAG corps for a few years, but IIRC, you go in as an officer, and come out with court experience.
Chances of getting into Stanford or Duke law aren’t good no matter what you do. Might want to expand the list a bit.
If your son wants to be a lawyer, he shouldn’t waste his time and money with a joint MBA. It’s useless and won’t help him land a job with a good firm. If he plans on being a patent attorney, then the MBA is super useless.
If he wants to be a investment banker, on the other hand, a joint degree might be more useful, but, again, I think the JD isn’t going to be worth a whole lot.
Also, and this applies only if he wants to be a lawyer, he should go to the best school that accepts him. Law school is not the place to be cheap. Where you go to law school will effect your employment prospects for the rest of your life; certain doors will be forever closed if you son chooses to go to a lower ranked, cheaper law school.
No tips on getting in. Even amongst the well qualified, it’s a lot of luck. You pays your money, you takes your chances.
My tip, and I am the mom of a high-achieving son in grad school, is to do the hard thing as a parent of a young adult: stand back and let him find his own way. He is a man; you want him to be strong and independent. If he got this far, he can figure out the next steps on his own. Help him with his moves by carrying boxes, keep up with all his news and be supportive, pray for him fervently, welcome him when he can come home on holidays. But stand back (and try to look calm as he drives off).
Look into the relationship of cybersecurity/biometrics and Law, or of nanotech and Law, especially in re International business. I'd say such training/internships will be valuable.
The point is to think about what businesses will be profitable & have opportunities that outlast economic vagaries. Not that you aren't. Just a consideration about where & what the jobs will be in 5 or 10 years.
My daughter went to Richmond Law in Virginia. I don’t know if it is considered “top tier” but I believe it is a fine school.
But who knows in what the numbskulls in the WH, Congress or the
courts will do to screw up that area of achievement in the next
decade or so.
Are you sure you want your son in a top tier school?
http://www.theamericanscholar.org/the-disadvantages-of-an-elite-education/
I vote in favor of the earlier suggestion of letting him find his own way.
Is he a black, female, homosexual, one-legged poll vaulter?
Why doesn’t he transfer to Georgia? The Georgia Alumni is so strong and lots of excellent lawyers came from there.
Why doesn’t he transfer to Georgia? The Georgia Alumni is so strong. Plus there are school here in the south that are excellent. Did he think about Vandy? Duke? UNC? UVA?
Very true. I've been watching what has happened to friends, cousins, and their children who went to top-tier law school and graduated within the past five years. Many of them have not been able to find jobs despite graduating summa cum laude. Some have gotten crappy, sad jobs; others have not been able to work in the law at all and are teachers, telemarketers, or salesclerks. They find that people are actually prejudiced against them in the workplace because of their law training, and they're in real financial trouble. The only two who have done well were people who previously had a LOT of real-world work experience and accomplishments, and combined that experience with the law degree to start their own business or boutique law practice.
Before your son racks up a quarter of a million bucks in academic loans he's going to have to pay back, he had better have a plan for what sort of business he's going to do. The world is not going to improve all that much between now and the time he graduates from law school.
That was 25 years ago.
Oh sure. Back during the first Depression, when business was down,
the then-practitioners of the so-called "legal profession" would
scour the obits and have liens put on the estates to shake down
the legitimate heirs.
“They find that people are actually prejudiced against them in the workplace because of their law training”
Anyone who has had a negative experience with attorneys will likely be hesitant to deal with someone with legal training. I will likely never accept a contract on a house from an attorney unless I am prepared to take him to court when he violates the contract. Most attorneys would probably never contemplate his actions but one bad experience puts one on edge.
I know, you asked about LAW schools. The thing is, I hear that most lawyers today are miserable. My suggestions allow him to be a well paid professional in a strong career, and also get law school if he really wants. Good luck to you and your son.
My hubby got one. And no foot ballplayer or minority was he.
Strictly for getting a high LSAT mark
Good suggestion. Certain niches are worth looking into like tax attorneys/CPA or intellectual property. If this fellows son is an engineer type from GA Tech then intellectual property and technical law is worth consdidering.
He also needs to look around to determine the top 20 to 30 schools not just top 10. Go to a web site and look at the big firms and see where the partners went. It is on their web sites.
There are a lot of great schools like Virginia, Univ of Michigan and others that are not Top 5 but are big names.
The legal profession does suck. His son needs to try to find some attorneys who actually like doing it and find out what niches they are in.
A law degree and MBA or CPA can help in getting a management gig at a bigger company or CPA firm too.
Law schools like to have “geographical diversity”, so apply somewhere that gets few applicants who are Georgia residents. Like out west.
Most of the Northeast schools are flooded with applicants from the Atlanta area. Move to North Dakota and apply to Harvard.
Let’s go outside the box. How about West Point!?
Insert a ‘z’ into his last name. Might even get in-state tuition that way.
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