Considering a Gap Year?

There are lots of reasons to take a gap year, or 2, or 5 before law school. Some are overwhelmed with the idea of going right into Law School after finishing undergrad. Others want to make their application stronger and more competitive before they apply to law school. A gap year can serve as a time to reflect and figure out whether or not law school is really for you. Here are some of the biggest things to consider when deciding whether or not you should take a gap year or not:

• Are you 100% sure you want to go to Law School? Not that you are forever stuck in Law School if you decide to go, in fact a lot of people do not make the cut or figure out it isn’t for them and drop out. But before you spend a lot of money, effort, and time starting law school without being totally committed to the future that law school entails, maybe take some time out and spend it in the real world working on figuring that out.

• Are your GPA and LSAT score where you want them to be or not? A big deciding factor for a lot of people when determining whether or not they take a gap year is based on their numbers. Those 2 numbers will ALWAYS be the biggest determining factor for admission. If you have your heart set on a particular school but you do not think that one of those numbers (or both) is up to par to make you a competitive candidate then maybe taking some time off to focus on your LSAT is exactly what you need. Also, if you go straight through to Law School that means you are applying while you are a Senior. That means grades from your entire semester, or at least your second semester as a Senior, will not be seen by schools at all (at least for determining admissions). If you want to get your GPA up, an entire extra year of grades can go a long way.

• What are you going to do during this Gap year? You need to make sure that a gap year is spent doing something worthwhile that can strengthen your application. It can be a job, an internship, working with a charity organization, traveling, etc. as long as you show worth in what you did so that you don’t have to admit you spent an entire year doing nothing, which really won’t impress anybody. It is important to note that having work experience can strongly enhance your application, if you do not feel that your GPA and LSAT score make you competitive enough for a particular school.

Interviewing Tips

Some Law Schools will interview candidates. Often times this will be optional (but really this is NOT optional because if a school is asking to interview you, you need to take them up on that offer!) If a school does ask for an interview it will likely be with an Alumni of the school and here are some basic tips for succeeding in the interview:

Dress conservatively. Wear a suit. For girls, wear nylons if you are wearing a skirt. Wear shoes that are professional but that you can walk in case the interview is in a different location from where you are meeting.

Research the school. Hopefully you already know a good amount about the school if you spent the time and money to apply there but make sure to know about the law school in particular. Know what areas they specialize in, what types of clubs or clinics they have that you may be interested in, etc.

Research the interviewer. The person interviewing you is likely a practicing lawyer (and if they are not you should know that too) and you want to know what type of law they practice, where they work, etc. The best interviews involve a dialogue so you want to be able to know something about who is interviewing so you have questions to ask them as well.

Why you are applying to Law School. Have an answer and “I don’t want to get a real job” or “I didn’t know what else to do” are not acceptable answers. This does not mean that you have to know exactly what type of lawyer you want to be but you should have some reason for going to law school, even if it just is “I want to be a lawyer and I have to go to law school to be a lawyer.”

Any specific questions about interviews can be directed to prelaw@usc.edu