How Law and Pre-Law Students Can Prepare For College

If you intend to study law school after earning your bachelor’s degree, you should focus on your academic performance and maintaining a strong GPA. Taking advanced writing courses can help you get acclimated to reading and interpreting dense texts, which will be expected of you in law school. Additionally, courses involving U.S. history, government, and criminal justice can provide you with some foundational knowledge that may prove useful in law school. Participating in extracurricular activities like a debate club or a speech team can also reflect positively on you in admissions.

Majoring in pre-law is not a hard and fast requirement to get into law school, as many law institutions will accept students from all kinds of disciplines. You may find that studying the humanities and social sciences like history, English, and political science will equip you with a good skillset in law school.

During high school, the best thing you can do to prepare for law school is to take classes that test your reading comprehension and writing ability. You could also spend your time in high school researching undergraduate schools with good pre-law programs. Certain extracurriculars can also help you develop skills needed in law school, such as mock trial or debate.

To get into law school, you will typically need a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. For most students, it takes three years to obtain a juris doctor, or JD, from law school.

You can start preparing for law school as early as high school if you know that you want to get a juris doctor. Your school’s career counselor can help you find courses that align with your interests and point you toward schools with good pre-law programs.

Later, as you prepare to enter law school, you will also have to pass the Law School Admission Test, or (LSAT). Many people advise studying for the LSAT a few months in advance, spending at least 250 to 300 hours preparing for the test.

The best pre-law summer programs will give you firsthand insights into what to expect from a law career and provide foundational knowledge that will serve you well in law school. For instance, the Stanford Law and Trial Program offers mock trial activities and helps students refine oral arguments, simulating the experience of trying a case in court. UCLA also offers a Mock Trial Summer Institute for one week, which offers hands-on training from the university’s mock trial team.

If you have received an acceptance letter from a law school, you should review it carefully, as it may contain further instructions about the enrollment process. This step is important, as missing deadlines can jeopardize your admission. You should also start looking into orientation dates and familiarize yourself with the campus ahead of your first day of classes.

Before you start law school, you should look into developing smart study habits. Throughout your studies, you will be expected to read through complicated texts, so learning to take notes and digest the reading will serve you well. You should also consider practicing effective time management, as you will have to balance multiple deadlines along with other obligations like work and family life.

A degree in political science can serve as a basis of foundational knowledge for your legal studies, as there is a significant overlap between government policy decisions and the law. Studying political science can help you understand how legislation is drafted, which is relevant in any legal practice area.

The research and writing involved in obtaining a history degree can help aspiring legal professionals build “soft skills” to prepare them for the rigor of law school. Moreover, studying history may also be helpful when it comes to researching precedent in case law.

As you prepare for law school, you should take measures to minimize debt as much as possible. Be sure to fill out your FAFSA application and apply for grants and scholarships well in advance of the deadlines to ensure that you have done all you can to reduce your financial obligations.