so what are good extracurriculars?

[muharulz]

ive heard this bandied about... what are good extracurriculars?

you can spin extracurriculars every which way, but are there certain ones that stand out the most to adcomms?

student government? certain internships? honor societies?

[I am Penny Lane]

Things that truely interest you.

[muharulz]

hmm... that may be a good reason to do something, but to me that sounds like if baseball interests me, i should be involved in intramural baseball, but does that really help for law school admissions... i wouldnt think so.


i mean, i was involved in student government, but that didnt interest me that much... it was more of wanting to be involved in something while attaining a leadership position among the student body.

[sunglee]

i've never done any extracurriculars with law firms, is that a problem

[I am Penny Lane]

ECs in general are not going to help much in law school admissions unless 1. they are REALLY unique and extraordinary, 2. show a cohesive theme of what you want to do in law, or 3. you have nothing else going for you.

Most of mine were music business related, internship at a indie record label, VP of the Urban Music Society, Assoc of Recording Mgnt Students, etc etc etc... BUT I was a recording industry undergrad and want to do Ent law. So although I have 4-5 non-amazing ECs they do show a theme.

But you should realize they are going to take a backseat to LSAT, GPA, and work experience.

[I am Penny Lane]

i've never done any extracurriculars with law firms, is that a problem

I work at a firm and I dont even know what sort of ECs you could have there other than a job or an internship.

[sunglee]

i consider Extrecurr. anything other than school

[I am Penny Lane]

i consider Extrecurr. anything other than school

You said "i've never done any extracurriculars with law firms," I am not sure what this exactly means. See my post above. What ECs would you expect to have at a law firm other than an internship or a paid position?

EDIT: If you mean you mean you have not had a job at a firm, this would be "work experience," not an EC activity. It sounds like it may just be semantics, but make sure you get it right on your application.

[Butters Stotch]

Good extracurriculars = anything that doesn't land you in jail.

Law school admissions, for the most part, are (estimated)

1.  70% LSAT score

2.  20% GPA

3.  10% everything else

It MAY put you over the top if you have a long and distinguished history of feeding the poor, sheltering the homeless and donating your time and entire salary to Amnesty International...but, realistically, if you don't have the first two, no amount of the third will do you any good. 

[dashrashi]

Look. Do something, anything, because doing nothing tends to make you look like a serial killer, true or not. At that point, ecs really don't matter relative to your numbers, except for Yale and Stanford. That's it. There are a few outlying cases (eg: Data, last cycle) but generally speaking, ecs are not important. Do whatever you want. IM baseball is fine. You might want to add something if you also don't have any work experience, but that's only because IM baseball is not a huge time commitment (read: plenty of time for you to be serial-killing in the off-season).

Also: COLLEGE IS FUN. I miss it SO MUCH. HAVE A GOOD TIME while you're there. Maintain your numbers if law school is a goal, but other than that, HAVE FUN.