<p>I think I want to work or volunteer in some capacity before I start law school to strengthen my application and because I feel like when I graduate I’ll be too young. (I’ll be 20). Do law schools value practical experience of being in the work force for a few years more than they would volunteer experience in peace corps or teach for america or something like that? The pro of starting to work would be earning money to pay towards the law degree, but doing something like peace corps after I graduate would maybe be an opportunity to travel that I may not otherwise have again for a long while. What do you think? Thanks.</p>
<p>I think that either experience that you mentioned – working or volunteering – would be an excellent addition to your resume. In addition to the factors that you mentioned (travelling, earning some money), another factor to consider is that gaining actual work experience in a real job would likely help you in the interviewing process and in obtaining a summer associate and permanent position as an attorney, if you don’t already have significant internship and work experience on your resume. </p>
<p>Just a thought . . .</p>
<p>I would think about what can give you the most bang for your buck while being sensitive to your unique personal situation - meaning I’m going to assume here that you dont have unordinary familial obligations (spouse/kids) that would force you to work…</p>
<p>If you enter into the Peace Corps or Teach For America, you will have the ability to travel, work in a team for a nationally recognized and appreciated organization, earn a meager but living wage - and I think those programs might even have some student loan forgiveness programs if you have undergrad debt? - gain experience in a workplace, and generally gain the maturity/life experience that comes from working with a wide variety of people, particularly lower income, and committing your time to public service. </p>
<p>These are all great things to talk about in a personal statement - especially in light of the fact that schools often have public interest programs and by demonstrating that you have done PI work, you may get stars on your file for being inclined towards that program ( I know for sure that this is the case with UCLA). </p>
<p>If you work some job, you get experience in a workplace, and make money, but the other items listed above will not be assumed…you would have to go out of your way to demonstrate that you’ve had a rich work experience because let’s face it, everybody works, so working in and of itself is not that special. Alternatively, not everyone goes Peace Corps/Teach for America. </p>
<p>The resounding theme in admissions, especially when your talking top 14 where a massive amount of people have top numerics…is showing how special you are above and beyond the figures, and unless you work a job that is truly unordinary or impressive (Fortune 10 company type thing), I think your going to score higher “special” points by going philanthropic, national public service orgs. </p>
<p>With that being said - you can also do a little of both. If you can get a job with brand power (Fortune 10 company type job again) that will demonstrate to the admissions committe that you have been selected by highly competitive and prestigous organizations before, thus they would not be taking such a large risk selecting you as well, that would be a good thing. Jobs at those places will also imply high responsibility and strong experiences, so you wont have to try so hard to convey that message in your application - which is good. To take it to the next level, you can then use your weekends or evenings to participate in public service work such as tutoring/mentoring at schools, red cross, etc.</p>
<p>I don’t think it really matters to law school admissions officers–at my (T14) school, there are tons of people who did Peace/Americorps or TFA, and also lots that worked for government agencies, small and large corporations, went to grad school, etc (fellow 1Ls had jobs as diverse as birthday-party clown, firefighter, rabbi, midwife, missionary, tv sportscaster, etc). </p>
<p>The most important thing is to do something that you really like and that you’ll be successful in (and if you like something, you’ll probably be sucessful in it because you’ll be willing to work so hard). No matter what job you have, you’ll probably learn a lot of things that you can spin into a “how the past couple years strengthened my interest in being a lawyer and gave me the skills I need to do so” essay. My essay on that topic was about cooking kosher meals as a work-study job, and I got into a variety of schools (including some definite reaches). What you do is really what you make of it.</p>
<p>how many years in the workforce (after undergrad) should a law school applicant have?</p>
<p>el duque–there is no “should.” I had none, and am doing fine at a competitive school. my roommates each had 9. I know a woman who’s at Berkeley now who had about 25. Most people at my school have 2 to 5 years. Northwestern is unique among top schools for the low percentage of people who went straight through. But at every school that I’ve heard of, your LSAT and GPA counts a lot more than anything else–recommendations, work experience, URM status, etc. mainly help to differentiate people with similar scores. </p>
<p>What work experience could do, though, that’s really valuable, is help you decide whether you actually want to be a lawyer. Before and throughout college, I worked in a variety of settings (small public interest firm, larger corporate firm, nonprofit, lobbying organization) and saw a lot of different jobs that a JD would make possible. Even now, I sometimes worry that I didn’t do enough thinking about whether law was the best career for me, and I think I considered that a lot more than many people who go straight from college to law school (on the plus side, though, by going to a competitive school and graduating “young,” it’s not hard to have debts paid off by age 30, and move to a less lucrative part of the legal profession–or to a totally new profession!). </p>
<p>So working in a law-related field could help you make that choice (and working in a non-law field could either teach you that you prefer other things to the law, or cement your desire to be a lawyer!)</p>
<p>As a follow up to my suggestion that Teach for America be a preferable post undergraduate route than a “regular” job if law school is ultimately your goal, please see this posting by Toby Stock, Dean of Admissions, Harvard Law regarding Harvard’s view of the organization and it’s alumni:</p>
<p><a href=“http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/admissions/2006/10/25/teach-for-america-scholars/[/url]”>http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/admissions/2006/10/25/teach-for-america-scholars/</a></p>
<p>It is something they seek, but 10 TFA students in one class is a minuscule number</p>
<p>Well at Harvard its not a huge amount but if Yale or Stanford have similar feelings…which I dont think it would be a huge stretch to think that they do…thats 5% of the class which is not miniscule in my opinion…</p>
<p>Also, the take home point to me is that by being TFA that puts you in a sought after subgroup of applicants. Lets say that they want 10 TFA apps…well out of 8,000 applicants I bet there is a drastically smaller amount with TFA or PC experience…I couldnt give a hard number but lets say maybe 100…so as a TFA person, all other things aside, you have a 1 in 10 shot…you take into account that you have high GPA and LSAT with TFA and you’re pretty much golden…</p>
<p>Considering Harvard, G town, Northwestern, U Chicago, U penn etc send so many into large law firms (all mentioned before send 50% or more, some as high as %70, into the 250 largest firms), i doubt that the lack of TFA experience will hurt. See, i dont know how many TFA alum actually try to apply to law school or else i would go further. I believe seeking out TFA students at schools such as those mentioned above will be used to diversify the class.</p>
<p>I won’t argue that its either necessary or sufficient for one to participate in TFA or PC in order to get into a T14 school…all I will say pink - take a few minutes to read through the admissions blog for Harvard…a positive reference to TFA and PC alumni can be found in multiple places…I’d also wager you could find similar things at other schools FAQ pages/admissions blogs/discussion with admissions staff, but I’ve unhealthy put all of my hopes into Harvard and have done my research on their posted information accordingly… :-D</p>