Law School Applicant Guide

2010 Application Cycle

LAW SCHOOL ADVISING

OFFICE OF THE DEAN OF

THE COLLEGE
 LAW SCHOOL ADVISING
AT BROWN UNIVERSITY

The Office of Dean of the College provides support to students and alumni
interested in and/or applying to law school. We offer many resources, including
information sessions, campus recruiting events, forums on law school and the
field of law, guidebooks, admissions data, and direct advising. Advising
consultations with Dean Dunleavy and Dean Simmons are available on a walk-
in basis several times a week. Please check our website or call the office for the
open office hours schedule. Alumni not near campus are welcome to call in
during these times. When you meet with Dean Dunleavy or Dean Simmons,
please bring your resume, a draft of your personal statement, and a copy of your
unofficial transcript. Check our website for upcoming information sessions, law
school visits, and other law-related events.

L aw S cho o l A dv is i ng
O f fi ce o f t he D e a n o f t he C o l leg e
D ea n L i nda D unle av y
D ea n A nd rew S i mmo ns
2 1 3 U niv ers it y H a ll
P h: ( 4 0 1 ) 8 6 3 - 2 5 3 9
F ax : ( 4 0 1 ) 8 6 3 - 1 96 1
www. b ro wn . ed u / co l l e ge/ p re la w

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
3 Self Assessment
4 Law School Admissions Timeline
5 Law School Admission Council
Law School Data Assembly Service
6 Application Components
 Individual School Applications
 LSAT
 Transcripts
 GPA
 Resumé
 Letters of Recommendation
 Personal Statement
 Institutional Action and Dean Certifications
12 Deciding Where to Apply
14 Financing a Legal Education
14 Application Fee Waivers
14 Deferring Admission
15 International Applicants

2
Self Assessment
Before embarking on the law school Do you think that some work ex-
admission process, you should take perience might help clarify your
a moment to ask yourself: Is this the reasons for going to law school?
right choice for me at this time? Have you been trying without suc-
This might sound like a trite ques- cess to write your admissions essay?
tion, but given the major commit- Are your credentials strong enough
ment of time, effort, and money it for admission to the schools that
will take to get through law school, interest you the most?
it is a question well worth asking
yourself.
If you wish to discuss any of these
or other questions, feel free to drop
So how do you know that you are in during the law school advising
ready? A good place to start might deans’ open hours The open hours
be the websites for some of the law schedule can be found on the Law
schools that interest you. Are you Advising Website at
excited about the course descrip-
www.brown.edu/college/prelaw
tions, clinical opportunities, and
special academic programs? You
might also ask yourself: Are you
feeling a bit burned out on school?
Are there some things you would
like to try before beginning law
school and embarking on a legal
career?

3
Law School Admissions Timeline

SUMMER FALL WINTER- SUMMER-

FALL
SPRING
 LSAT (June)  LSAT (Sept)  Complete  Matriculate to
financial aid law school
 Register with  Write Essay
applications
Law School
 Gather
Data Assembly  Schools make
recommen-
Service their decisions
dations
(LSDAS)
 When admit-
 Determine
 Research po- ted, pay seat
where to
tential schools deposits
apply
 Attend ac-
 Complete
cepted student
school
open houses
applications
at law schools

4
 LAW SCHOOL ADMISSION
COUNCIL
The LSAC is a non-profit
organization that coordinates the
admission process for law schools in
the United States and Canada. The
LSAC is responsible for developing
and administering the LSAT and runs
the Law School Data Assembly
Service (LSDAS). In addition, the
LSAC provides information and data
related to law school admission and
legal careers. Information about the
LSAC and related programs can be
found on their web site at
www.lsac.org.
5
LAW SCHOOL DATA ASSEMBALY
SERVICE
The LSDAS is a centralized
application service for all law
schools. In order to apply to law
school, you must register with
LSDAS. You will then submit all of
your undergraduate transcripts to
LSDAS along with other information
about yourself. Letters of
recommendation can also be
submitted through LSDAS (though it
is also possible to submit letters to the
Career Development Center, which
works with an external electronic
dossier service to hold letters for
students and alumni) LSDAS then
distributes all of this information,
including your LSAT scores, to the
law schools to which you apply.
Subscribe to LSDAS in the summer
before you apply or early in the fall
semester. For more information, visit
the LSAC website at www.lsac.org.
 APPLICATION COMPONENTS
INDIVIDUAL SCHOOL
APPLICATIONS
In addition to LSDAS, each law school will
also have its own application form. You
are responsible for reading these forms
and their instructions and understanding
the admission policies and procedures
for the schools to which you are
applying.
LSAT
Applicants to law school must take the Law
School Admission Test (LSAT). This
exam is offered four times per year, usually
in June, late September/early October,
December, and February. The latest exam
that we recommend for 2010 admission is
September 29, 2009. Your scores are sent
to law schools as part of your LSDAS
report. The LSAT consists of four sections:
reading comprehension, analytical
reasoning (or logic games), logical
reasoning, and a writing sample. In
addition, there is an unscored section to
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pre-test items for use in future LSATs.
Registration booklets for the LSAT are
available in 213 University Hall and
registration information can also be found
at www.lsac.org.
TRANSCRIPTS
You will need to order transcripts from the
Registrar’s Office at Brown University and
from the registrar at any other
postsecondary school at which you have
taken courses or earned either an
undergraduate or graduate degree. Your
transcripts must be submitted to LSDAS.
Study Abroad or Foreign Transcripts
Transcripts from academic work abroad are
required if (a) your foreign academic work
is equivalent to a year of undergraduate
study in the United States or Canada or (b)
you have a degree from a foreign
institution. In such cases you may need to
participate in the JD Credential Assembly
Service for Foreign-Educated Applicants
(JD CAS). More information about JD
CAS is available on the LSAC website.
GPA the GPA by LSAC, though individual law
schools may have different policies.
Brown’s Office of the Registrar reports our
All applicants to law school are encouraged
grading standards each year to LSAC,
to educate themselves about the various
including the fact that letter grades at
admission policies regarding grades, grade
Brown do not bear numerical equivalents.
point averages, and transcripts. More
LSAC nonetheless will calculate a GPA for
information is available from LSAC and
law school applicants based on the
from the various law school admission
transcript. Brown does not validate
offices.
LSAC’s computation of the GPA; however,
experience has shown that LSAC uses the RESUME
following rubric in assigning quality points:
You will need to have a polished and up-to-
A=4.0, B=3.0, and C=2.0. We do not know
date resume, to submit with your law
how they interpret grades of S, but believe
school applications. For help preparing
that these are left out of the calculation of
your resume consult the Career
GPA.
Development Center website or meet with
a counselor at the Career Development
Grades in courses taken at other U.S. Center.
universities or colleges will be calculated http://careerdevelopment.brown.edu/resour
into the overall Grade Point Average by ces/resumeprep.php
LSAC. Brown students should be aware
that if they take courses at RISD and select
the S/NC option at Brown, the letter grades
assigned at RISD will appear on the RISD
transcript they are required to submit to
LSAC. These grades will be calculated into
their GPA. Grades in courses taken at non-
U.S. institutions will not be calculated into

7
LETTERS OF
RECOMMENDATION
Before requesting letters of
recommendation, consult the application
instructions for the law schools to which
you will apply. Letters of recommendation
should address the quality of your
academic work in your concentration and
other areas of interest. If you are a graduate
with work experience, you should consider
submitting a recommendation from your
employer. Most schools require a
minimum of two academic
recommendations, though some allow for
as many as three. Law schools prefer that
you not send more than the number of
letters they request.
8
PERSONAL STATEMENT
Most law schools require you to submit a
“personal statement,” usually limited to
500 words or fewer. Do not tailor your
essay to specific schools; rather, write a
general statement that you can submit to all
of the schools to which you apply. The
instructions are generally quite broad:
“Write a statement about yourself,” or “Tell
us something about yourself.” Though the
vagueness of the prompt can be daunting,
the personal essay offers an opportunity for
you to introduce yourself to a committee on
a more personal level, allowing them to
learn about you beyond the information
presented in other parts of your application.
It gives you the chance to show a
committee that you are more than your
LSAT score, GPA, and list of activities and
experiences. An effective personal
statement offers a clear and memorable
portrait of you—your interests,
experiences, personality, skills, and
ambitions. Because personal statements are
personal, there is no one format or
approach that will work well for everyone;
however, we do offer a few tips.
Tips on Writing the Personal as your personal statement; do not write in
stream-of-consciousness style; and do not
Statement
write a short story in which you're on trial
Be Original. Guess the top 3 most com- and the admissions committee is the jury.
mon personal statement topics and avoid
Keep it personal. It's called a "personal"
them. In particular, skip the "Why I want to
statement for a reason! Many, many stu-
be a lawyer" dissertation; instead, tell an
dents try to impress admissions officers
original story or relate an original experi-
with essays on philosophy, Russian poli-
ence that is not inconsistent with a desire to
tics, or the need for prison reform. Avoid
attend law school. In other words, "Show
this tactic. An extremely well-written essay
don't tell." Law schools receive hundreds of
on current events or an academic subject
personal statements about how the appli-
might win awards, but it will NOT get you
cant wants to go to law school because law
into law school. Stick to subjects that are
is a force for change, law can make a dif-
personal to you.
ference in people's lives, underserved com-
munities need lawyers as champions, pub- Do not recycle your resume. Some stu-
lic interest law is a noble form of service, dents make the mistake of devoting their
etc., etc. Do not write one of these state- personal statement to summarizing their
ments. The only exception to this rule is accomplishments. Your personal statement
alumni/ae who have been away from aca- can certainly concern something impressive
demia for many years and may wish to you've done, but should not just recycle
address the "why law?" question directly. your resume. Think of your personal state-
ment as an opportunity to add something
Avoid corny or flashy tricks. Some candi-
new to your application file. Use your per-
dates will try to be clever in order to make
sonal statement to give the admissions
their application stand out, but this is a
committee an idea of who you are beyond
strategy to assiduously avoid. Do not write
your resume.
an epic poem about your quest to enter law
school; do not draw a picture
9
Contribute to the law school community.
Remember: Law school admissions officers
are looking for interesting students who Some questions that might be helpful to

will help make their school a vibrant com- consider as you begin to draft your es-

munity for other students and staff. They're say:

looking for diversity in interests, back-

 What sorts of things have you done
grounds, and experience. Think about your
outside of the classroom? What have
personal statement as a chance to step out-
you learned from your extracurricular
side of the GPA/LSAT numbers in your
or work experiences and how have
application and illustrate why admitting
those experiences contributed to your
someone with your background and experi-
growth?
ences that will make their school a better
place for other students.  When does time disappear for you?

 Have you had to overcome any un-

Make it easy to read. Write clearly. Use
declarative sentences in the active voice usual obstacles or hardships
(economic, physical, familial, etc) in
wherever possible. Organize each para-
your life? If so, what were these obsta-
graph around a topic theme or idea, as you
would in a closely argued paper. Do not try cles and how did you face them?

to distinguish your essay with its physical  What might be unique, special, or dis-
features -- use a regular font (e.g., Times tinctive about your life story or experi-
New Roman), ordinary margins, white ences?
paper, etc. Note that admissions commit-
tees care about typos, grammar, topic sen-
tences, and transitions. Proofread your es-
says very carefully. Elegant writing meets
rewards while sloppiness earns negative
attention.

10
INSTITUTIONAL ACTION AND In most cases, reporting disciplinary action

DEAN CERTIFICATIONS will not jeopardize your chances of

admission as long as you have taken full
Applications to law school will ask you to responsibility for your actions and
report and explain institutional action, demonstrate self-reflection and personal
including your involvement in infractions growth.
of University codes of conduct as well as
any semesters in which you were not in
Truthfulness is integral to being a
good academic standing or the subject of
successful attorney. It is therefore essential
suspension for unacceptable academic
that you take seriously your responsibility
performance. Deans Dunleavy and
to report institutional action. Failure to
Simmons strongly
report institutional action on your
recommend that you
applications may be regarded by the law
report such
schools as a lapse in ethical judgment.
institutional action
Moreover, you will be asked once again to
when you are asked
report institutional action on applications to
to do so even if it does not appear on your
the bar after you have completed law
academic transcript, did not result in
school.
separation from the University, and/or if
you believe the offenses to be minor.
Failure to report even minor infractions
In addition to asking you to report
on your law school applications could
institutional action, some schools and
later jeopardize your admission to the
programs will require you to have a dean at
bar.
Brown University either certify that you
have not been the subject of disciplinary
action or state in writing the facts of any Deans Dunleavy and Simmons are
procedure and/or sanction against you. available to consult with you about the
process of reporting institutional action.

11
Submitting Your Dean DECIDING WHERE TO
Certifications APPLY
Please submit your dean certification forms
Choosing a Law School
along with a stamped envelope/s to Janice
Many students approach this question by
Rego in University Hall 213. Please antici-
immediately thinking of a few top-rated
pate 1-2 weeks for your certifications to be
schools (e.g Harvard, Stanford, Yale) and
sent to the school requesting it. If you are
then deciding that those schools are the
reporting institutional action, include a
ones they want to attend. Instead, try to
statement describing the incident in ques-
think about what kind of experience you
tion.
actually want from a law school. Small
classes? An urban campus? An emphasis
Mailing Address:
on public interest law? A focus on the law
Pre-Law Advising of a particular state?
Attention: Janice Rego
You might start by determining which
Brown University
schools accept students with GPA’s and
Box 1828
LSAT scores similar to yours since these
Providence, RI 02912
numbers inform much of the admissions
process. You can determine which schools
For FedEx/UPS/DHL Deliveries you might be most qualified for based on
Pre-Law Advising your LSAT score and grade point average
Attention: Janice Rego on-line at:

Brown University http://officialguide.lsac.org/UGPASearch/S

1 Prospect Street University Hall 213 earch3.aspx

Providence, RI 02912 and

http://www.bc.edu/offices/careers/gradscho
ol/law/lawlocator.html

12
Beyond the numbers, you might consider Good printed resources include the
location as well as particular areas of the ABA/LSAC Official Guide to ABA-
law in which you are interested. While all Approved Law Schools and The
law schools teach essentially the same cur- NAPLA/SAPLA Book of Law School Lists.
riculum, some specialize in certain areas of These and other guide books are available
the law (e.g. public interest, government, in University Hall 213.
corporate law, etc.). Some law schools also The LSAC also has a searchable version of
have special clinics or combined degree the Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools
programs that might be of interest. Finally, on their Web site at:
law schools disclose the rates at which their http://officialguide.lsac.org/ONLG_Default
graduates pass the bar and find employ- .aspx
ment. Research these rates before deciding
where to apply.
To how many schools should I
apply?
How can I find out about different
This is obviously a matter of individual
schools?
preference. Some students choose only 2 or
There are several good sources of informa-
3 schools, especially if they are certain of
tion about different schools. The first op-
the geographical area where they want to
tion should be to visit several different
be, while others apply to 12 or more. We
school’s websites. Most of them will have
recommend that students apply to six to ten
extensive information about the school, the
schools across a range of options -typically
faculty, the courses, and special programs
a dream school or two, two good safety
or clinics. Also, the ABA offers an online
schools, and then several solid choices for
searchable database of law schools. You
their GPA/LSAT range.
can search by keywords, geography, aver-
age LSAT, you name it. You can also go
straight to the home pages of law schools
that interest you.

13
FINANCING A LEGAL
EDUCATION
The cost of attending law school (tuition,
fees, books, living expenses, etc.) can be as
much as $50,000 per year. You may qualify
for scholarships at
individual schools based
on need, merit, or other
criteria. However,
financial aid comes mostly
in the form of loans. Therefore you should
expect to borrow money to cover the
majority of your costs (at most schools
$80,000-$100,000). Financial aid and
scholarship information is available on law
school admission websites.
APPLICATION FEE WAIVERS
Applicants with a high level of financial
need may qualify for application and LSAT
fee waivers through LSAC and the law
schools. Information about the LSAC fee
waiver program can be found on the LSAC
website. Schools will have differing
policies about application fee waivers,
though some may apply the same standard
as the LSAC. You should check the policy
for each school to which you are applying.
14
DEFERRING ADMISSION
Generally, deferrals are allowed for
specific reasons such as fellowships,
enriching work, academic opportunities, or
compelling personal circumstances.
Deferrals must be requested in writing
shortly after you have been admitted and
are decided on a case-by-case basis.
Criteria and rules for deferral vary from
school-to-school. Thus, before requesting
a deferral from any law school, be sure you
fully understand their deferral policy.
Deans Dunleavy and Simmons do not
recommend applying to law school with the
intention of asking for a deferral. If you
believe you will need an additional year or
two before attending law school, we
strongly advise you to postpone your
application until you know that you are
ready to start your legal education.
Consult with Deans Dunleavy or Simmons
if you have questions about deferral or
about when you should be applying for
admission to law school.
INTERNATIONAL APPLICANTS of students graduate with some amount of
debt (according to U.S. News & World
Report, often in the range of $80,000-
Law schools vary in their admission
$100,000). Finally, foreign applicants are
policies for international applicants. Check
strongly encouraged to apply as early as
with each of the individual schools in
possible to ensure that visas and other im-
which you are
migration documents are completed prior to
interested to learn
matriculation to law school.
about their policies.
In general, if you are
not a native-speaker of English, you may
be required to take the Test of English as a
Foreign Language (TOEFL). If you have
more than a year’s worth of course-work
from a foreign university, you may be
required to submit a transcript from that
institution. (Your grade point average will
depend upon the particular system used by
the school you attended.) In addition, you
may be required to demonstrate the ability
to pay for your legal education. Note that
legal education in the United States is
financed largely through loans backed by
the federal government. Foreign applicants
are not eligible for these loans. Some
school-based grants and scholarships are
available, though these often do not cover
the entire cost of legal education. At most
schools, 80% or more
15
We hope that this guide will make
the experience of applying to law
school easier. Our office is commit-
ted to providing you with the sup-
port you need to achieve your goals.
Good Luck!
 Law School Advising
Office of the Dean of the College
Dean Linda Dunleavy
Dean Andrew Simmons
213 University Hall
Ph: (401) 863-2539
Fax: (401) 863-1961
www.brown.edu/college/prelaw