High School 2 Top Law School Guide

[Ditka241]

What to do now.

1.  Learn to read fast.  From now on, anytime that you are reading any fiction/non-fiction, try and read it faster and with bettter comprehension.  Learn to read without having to go back a sentence.  Learn to read properly the first time.  No skipping up and down, left and right while you read.  This is the first step in improving reading, don't let your eyes jump around.

If you don't read at all (I think I had read maybe one full fiction book prior to graduating high school), start reading.  Go to Amazon and or a Barnes and Nobles and find something that would amuse you.  Focus on speed and comprehension.  Test your reading speed and get it up to 500+ words per minute. 

2.  Write as much as possible and make a concious effort to improve your ability to write.  Start a blog, post on message boards, write in a diary or start a website.  If you're taking classes right now and have an essay due, take pride in your work, edit it and make it better because it can be.  One tip that seems to a common flaw - write shorter sentences.

Improving literacy, writing skills and intellectual capacity should be an active and concious effort. 


Picking a College

Don't pick the most academically challenging college to go to.  Don't go to a school where you will be average, you have to aim for straight A's.  This is assuming you are going to a top-50 college.  In the eyes of law school admissions, a 3.7 GPA at Princeton is the same as (ie.) a 3.8 GPA at Penn State.  Ofcourse, the undergraduate school you go to will come in to play again later when getting a job, as well as for general prestige purposes.  It's a big decision, choose wisely.


Picking a Major

When you go to college, do not major in Criminology or Pre-law.. they are garbage majors.  The only thing that matters is your grades.  You can be a liberal arts major or an engineering major, it's all the same in the eyes of law school admissions.

I know a lot of people say pick "that interests you."  Thats BS for a lot of you high schoolers if you were like me.  What interests me is watching movies, drinking...fun things.  I found some majors more appealing than others, but I never found going to class fun.  That said, I learned to become intersted in my major (I ended up being a Finance major).  I grew up bonding with my dad by shooting the crap  with him while he was on the couch watching the CNBC ticker.  When it came time for my finals in securites or financial accounting or whatever, I was not "interested."

Pick a major that plays to your strengths and will get you a job after graduating if law school doesn't work out.  If possible, something that interests you. 

Your main focus should be GPA.  Law school is a numbers game, you should be thinking straight A's.  Straight A's is tough to pull off in some majors (ie. Engineering).  If you think you can get straight As as an Engineering major, than do it.  If you want to be involved in Intellectual Property be a Pharmacy, Engineering or Computer Science major.  Job demand and starting salary is often higher for Intellectual Property lawyers.

Regardless, your major should be something you can kick butt in.

Also if business is your interest, don't be a Business Administration major.  Be an Economics, Finance or Accounting major instead.

[Ditka241]

Classes to Take In College

Intro to Logic (take it early as possible and learn to apply logic and agumentative concepts to everything you do)

3 History Courses
2 Calculus or higher courses
2 Law Courses (Intro and something else)
2 Government Courses
2 Philosophy courses
2 Statistics Courses
2 Economics Courses

A lot of these will be covered by your core curriculum or major. 

If I could go back and take more courses in one subject, it would be Statistics.

[Captain L]

Why statistics? I'm poor at math, but won't let mathematics stop me from pursuing this. Your reasoning would be apreciated so I can understand why you put an emphasis on the Math. Thanks

[Goodfella Aaron]

Statistics is a great course for learning how to make arguments because you learn so much about methodology. I'm betting that in most types of law you'll need to look at statistical models at some point and understanding them would be a major advantage.

[gameswizard]

I'll tell you what you can do in high school to prepare for law school.  Start working on your personal statemtent and studying for the LSAT now.

Or you can just enjoy your life and be a kid.  Drink, go to parties, and live it up while you still can.
 

[G-Money]

In addition to the statistics question that was already asked earlier, I was wondering why you suggest taking calculas courses?  It's widely accepted, and even admitted by numerous math teachers, that calculas is useless.  So I was wondering how it would be beneficial a calculas course, let alone two?

[redemption]

Dear High-schooler,

I'm going to be a bit retro and suggest that you should get as much out of your UG education as possible, which to me means making sure that it is well-rounded in terms of the classes that you take. Calculus, Stats, History, Literature, all three sciences are - IMHO - necessary for you to be able to read a newspaper or a magazine and understand what they're talking about, or to go to the polls and know what you're doing when you cast your ballot.

To the extent possible, you want to come out of UG being a reasonably educated and reasonably thoughtful person; you can save your specialized, professional skills for law school. It is unlikely that you will ever again have the opportunity to experiment and to think independently - your future employers won't allow it on the job, and, as a grad student with a keen eye on the employment market, you won't allow it of yourself in law school (you'll have to make Law Review, after all, and get those As).

Be free, read widely, challenge your professors, learn to think clearly and analytically, ask the basic questions that hardly anyone thinks to ask.. You'll come out of it ok, and you'll be satisfied that you used the time well.

[01100110011]

Ditka is right that you should focus on the big 2 factors: getting a good GPA and getting the skills to ace the LSAT.  I'd stress early LSAT prep even more: Improve your reading, writing, and logic.  Play logic games.  Do practice tests.

I'd also suggest looking for profs to write a letters of recommendation early.  Take lots of their classes, try to work one-on-one with them, keep them updated with your awards, etc.

And I'd give a little more credit to "soft factors."  Yes, LSAT and GPA are the single most important factors... but after the autodings and autoadmits are weeded out most of the hard decisions are on soft factors.  A good school, challening courses/major, leadership skills, long-term public service, success in extracurricular competitions or sports, and internships can make or break someone.

[skaiserbrown]

Classes to Take In College

Intro to Logic (take it early as possible and learn to apply logic and agumentative concepts to everything you do)

3 History Courses
2 Calculus or higher courses
2 Law Courses (Intro and something else)
2 Government Courses
2 Philosophy courses
2 Statistics Courses
2 Economics Courses

A lot of these will be covered by your core curriculum or major. 

If I could go back and take more courses in one subject, it would be Statistics.

outside of the logic course, this is bull.

[skaiserbrown]

Dear High-schooler,

I'm going to be a bit retro and suggest that you should get as much out of your UG education as possible, which to me means making sure that it is well-rounded in terms of the classes that you take. Calculus, Stats, History, Literature, all three sciences are - IMHO - necessary for you to be able to read a newspaper or a magazine and understand what they're talking about, or to go to the polls and know what you're doing when you cast your ballot.

To the extent possible, you want to come out of UG being a reasonably educated and reasonably thoughtful person; you can save your specialized, professional skills for law school. It is unlikely that you will ever again have the opportunity to experiment and to think independently - your future employers won't allow it on the job, and, as a grad student with a keen eye on the employment market, you won't allow it of yourself in law school (you'll have to make Law Review, after all, and get those As).

Be free, read widely, challenge your professors, learn to think clearly and analytically, ask the basic questions that hardly anyone thinks to ask.. You'll come out of it ok, and you'll be satisfied that you used the time well.

i also disagree with the first part of this, but the last paragraph is dead on.

you don't NEED to take classes to be well rounded or be able to think analytically, you just have to be intellectually curious.