Opportunities to Enhance Your Law School Application

There are a number of ways to enhance your law school applications to make yourself stand out from the sea of applicants in which you can easily get lost. Getting involved in in extra-curricular activities, studying abroad, holding internships, and gaining valuable work experience are ways to distinguish yourself from another applicant who may have a highly similar academic profile.

Enhancements During Your Time at USC

If you choose to go straight through to law school, it is important to focus on enhancing your application while you are a student at USC. Here are some ways to enhance your application while you are a student at USC:

• Take an active role in a student organization to show your leadership and organizational skills. Being an officer in an organization is much more impressive than simply being a member with no responsibilities. Therefore, if you are truly interested and dedicated to an organization or a cause, pursue that with passion and get involved as much as possible.
• Pursue internships during the school year and/or summer in an area that interests you. You do not have to have a legal internship by any means in order for your internship to be meaningful. Regardless of the field in which you intern, you will gain interpersonal and communication skills, hopefully learn to enhance your analytical thinking and writing, and gain professional work experience, which are all valuable traits to possess in applying to law school.
• Volunteering, like an internship, can also provide you with great experience before applying to law school.
• Take advantage of research opportunities, writing contests, and other chances to showcase your writing and analytical thinking skills. Law schools are interested in students who possess strong critical thinking and clear and concise writing skills.

Gap Year(s)

One consideration you might have to make before applying to law school is whether you want to take time off before law school to work, travel, or to pursue other opportunities, or whether you want to go straight through to law school. If you choose to take time off before law school, it is important to do something constructive with your time, whether if it is taking an entry-level job in the legal industry to gain work experience, volunteer, or travel, for example. Students have taken time off before law school to work, travel, join the military, participate in Teach for America, teach English abroad, and join the Peace Corps. Your gap year(s) can provide a prime personal statement topic in which you can describe what you gained and learned during your time off before law school.

Studying Abroad

Studying abroad is a great way to experience a different culture and enhance your law school resume at the same time. Living abroad can provide you with a unique perspective and a backdrop to contrast the US legal system with those abroad. Of course, you should not study abroad solely because you think it will boost your application and you should not waste valuable time and space in your personal statement discussing how your time abroad was “life changing” because that will NOT enhance your application. If you are interested in studying abroad, however, and want to know if it can have the ability to enhance your application, here are some things you should consider:

• The institution. When choosing a study abroad program, consider whether you would be directly enrolled in a foreign university with a foreign language component. Speaking a foreign language is always an asset and attending a foreign university (as opposed to a US University with a campus in a foreign country) allows you to immerse yourself in a foreign culture and language more fully.
• Course options. What types of courses you would have the opportunity to take while studying abroad should be part of something you consider when deciding if and where to study abroad. Whether the program offers classes on political and legal systems in other nations, for example, could be enhance your interest and knowledge of various legal systems.
• Internship opportunities, volunteer work, service-learning. What other types of opportunities can studying abroad provide for you besides merely enrolling in classes? A hands-on experience through an internship or volunteer work can provide you with more substantive material to discuss in your personal statement and resume.
• Research. Does the opportunity allow you to engage in direct or independent research while you are there? Engaging in academic research will build your reading and writing skills, which are the basis of the legal profession. Problems Without Passports and SIT Nicaragua are some examples of research opportunity

There are some general things to note regarding activities, involvement, and work experience that can enhance your application:

• Don’t forget that the most important and most heavily weighted part of your law school application is your academic credentials, your LSAT, and GPA. These enhancements will likely not turn an applicant with a low LSAT and low GPA score into a highly competitive applicant for a top-10 law school. Involvement in extra-curricular activities are meant to enhance the academic portion of your application, not to replace your academic statistics. These enhancements can boost your application profile to show the schools that you are bringing various experience, skill, and color to their newly admitted class!
• Application enhancements can sometimes turn into a personal statement topic. It can be helpful to reflect on these enhancements when brainstorming for your personal statement since these enhancements are another chance for you to show a non-academic and a more personal, passionate side of you to the admissions committee.
• Focus on the quality of your involvement, not quantity. Schools are likely more interested in an applicant who is deeply involved and committed to a pursuit, rather than an applicant who merely signs up for countless organizations and doesn’t commit time or effort to those varied pursuits.
• Keep track of your involvement outside of school, so you can easily recall them when you are applying to school. Periodically, note on your resume or a separate document your various work experience, school involvement, volunteer experience, and/or honors and awards.

If you would like more information on ways to enhance your law school application, make an appointment to speak with a pre-law advisor or a pre-law intern, current USC Law students who have gone through your same experience. Call KAP 357 front desk at 213.740.2534 to make an appointment or alternatively, email us with questions at prelaw@usc.edu.