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Crafting Your Application |
| The Application |
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| The Bottom Line: $1,000 may seem like a lot of money; but remember, depending on where you matriculate, tuition might total $75,000. |
Don't let those numbers frighten you. They are not intended not to dissuade you from pursuing a legal education, but rather to dramatize a point. The decision to apply to law school has significant financial implications for you as an individual (and probably for your family).
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Looking at Law School |
| The Business of Education |
From the perspective of the law school, there are financial as well as social implications. A law school, like any educational institution, is a corporate individual, and its admissions decisions reflect financial and social policies adopted by the corporation. Consider first some of the financial implications for a law school to accept or reject an applicant.
The law school has to be run as a business. It has employees; it owns or rents property; it operates a library; it buys furniture and office equipment; it pays utility bills; and so on. A large part of those expenses are paid using student tuition. A law school, therefore, is dependent on a steady flow of tuition moneys. So admissions decisions must be made in the context of budgetary constraints. A law school simply cannot afford to have large numbers of students dropping out of school. So one concern of a law school admissions officer is to ensure that those applicants who are accepted are committed to completing the course of study. Additionally--though this may not be an explicit concern--law schools rely heavily on alumni donations. So it would not be surprising to learn that an applicant who shows considerable professional promise would be considered favorably. And a school that graduates successful lawyers gets a reputation for being a good school and such a reputation in turn tends to attract highly qualified applicants. Financial considerations are only one aspect of the admissions decision. Law schools also have a sense of the social responsibility they bear as educators of lawyers--one of the most influential groups of people in our society. They meet fairly obvious ways such as actively seeking applications from this responsibility in some groups who are underrepresented in the practice of law and by establishing programs to train lawyers for positions of special need.
About 100,000 people start the admission process each year, but there are fewer than 50,000 seats. The admissions process, then, is the interface between two perspectives. The process is designed to match individuals and institutions who can mutually satisfy each other's needs. This matching function, however, is somewhat skewed. For decades there have been more people interested in pursuing law as a career than there are seats available at accredited law schools. In recent times, there have been about two applicants for each available seat. As a consequence, applicants are competing for law school seats.
Given the mismatch between the number of seats and the number of applicants, the application process is turned into a competition. You will have to compete against others for a law school seat (or at least for a seat at the law school of your choice). To do this, you must make yourself attractive to a law school. You must persuade the admissions committee that you will help them satisfy their economic and social needs. And that thought must guide you as you create your application. Tell them what they want to hear.
You need to create an application that will give a law school a positive reason for accepting you. Two books that you should buy are Getting Into Law School Today and The Official Guide to U.S. Law Schools. You can find them at most bookstores or order them on-line at a discount from Amazon
| Behind Closed Doors |
What goes on behind the closed doors of the admissions office? Well, the first thing that you should know about the law school admissions process is that there is no one admissions process. Rather, each law school has its own individual admissions process, and its process differs somewhat from that of every other law school in the country.
At some schools, the decisions are made by faculty committees. At such schools, decisions may be made by majority vote, or unanimous agreement may be required before an acceptance is extended to an applicant. At other schools, the decisions may be made by a single professional admissions officer or officers who may not themselves be lawyers or by a dean of admissions who is a lawyer but not a faculty member. At other schools, decisions may be made by a committee with members drawn from both administration and faculty. And at some schools, students themselves may have some input into admissions decisions.
Despite the variety of formal structures, one generalization is possible: Every law school relies to some extent on the applicant's Grade Point Average (GPA) and LSAT score, but there are few (if any) law schools that rely only on these quantitative factors. What does this statement mean for you? First, it says that every law school uses the GPA and the LSAT score. The exact use of these numbers varies from school to school, but many use a formula that combines the two together into an index. The formula is designed to weight the two numbers approximately equally to give admissions officers some idea of how one applicant stacks up against other applicants.
The two most important factors in your application are your GPA and your LSAT score.
The LSAT is now scored on a scale from 120 (the minimum) to 180 (the maximum). You may notice that the "20" and the "80" are reminiscent of the "200" and "800" scale of the SAT, and this is not accidental. Originally, the LSAT was scored on a scale ranging from 200 to 800. (Between 1982 and 1991, the scale ranged from 10 to 48.) The scale was changed in 1991 because it was thought that admissions officers would have a better feel for the "20 to 80" range.
The "20 to 80" point scale has a special relation to the "0 to 4" grading system used by most colleges: 80 is 20 times 4. This permits the use of a formula to combine the two measures. For example:
[(LSAT - 100)/2] + (20 x GPA) = Index
This formula combines the two numbers to create an index. Let's use some numbers, say a GPA of 3.5 and an LSAT score of 170:
I = [(LSAT - 100)/2] + (20 x GPA) I = (170 - 100)/2 + (20 x 3.5) = 70 Thus, the Index for this particular applicant is a 70--an artificial number, but one that will make sense to the admissions committee because all other applications at their school are classified in the same manner.
Another Index formula might average the numbers, which gives a number with a more familiar look. If you divide 70 by 20, you get 3.5. In other words, a student with a 3.5 GPA and an LSAT of 170, is 3.5 on that Index.
What does the Index do? That varies from school to school. Some schools have a fairly mechanical admissions process that emphasizes the Index. The school may set a minimum Index below which applications receive little or no attention because they are probably going to be rejected.. Such schools may also have a second, higher minimum that triggers an automatic acceptance (unless the application shows some glaring weakness, e.g., the applicant is a three-time felon).
At the opposite extreme are schools that minimize the importance of the "numbers." These schools may not even calculate an Index. Such schools have a very flexible admissions process.
Most schools fall somewhere in between these extremes. Many schools use the Index as a screening device to determine how much attention will be given to an application. Applications with very low Indexes will receive little attention. The schools reason that unless there is something obvious and compelling in the application to offset the low numbers, then the applicant will be rejected. Applications with very high Indexes will also receive little attention. The reasoning is that unless there is something obvious and compelling in the application to reject it, it should be accepted. On this theory, the applications with Indexes in the middle receive the greatest attention. These are applications from candidates who are at least competitive for the school but who do not command an automatic acceptance. It is in this pool that competition is the most severe.
Here is a table that illustrates what happens at most law schools:
CyberPrep U. LSAT (Percentile Rankings) Admissions Chances 61 - 70 71 - 80 81 - 90 90+ G 3.75 and above 2/19 49/101 102/116 72/79 P 3.50 - 3.74 6/112 75/275 301/361 120/129 A Below 3.50 10/160 90/601 375/666 201/250 (Number to the right of the slash shows the number of applicants. Number to the left of the slash shows the number of applicants accepted.)
The categories in the table show what this law school did with applications with certain LSAT scores (shown in percentile terms) and grade point averages. In the category in the upper right hand corner are candidates with scores above the 90th percentile and GPAs above 3.75. The table shows that 72 of the 79 were accepted and seven rejected.
What is obvious from the table is that some candidates with higher Indexes were rejected in favor of candidates with lower numbers. For example, of those candidates with scores between the 81st and 90th percentiles, 74 more candidates were accepted with a GPA below 3.49 than the higher GPA between 3.5 and 3.74. Why would a law school reject an applicant with higher numbers for one with lower numbers? Because of the unquantifiable factors such as motivation, commitment, leadership, experience, and so on.
As you prepare your applications, you are, of course, saddled with your GPA and your LSAT score. There is nothing you can do to change those factors. This means that you have to work hard to craft an application that presents your credentials in the best light.
Want to know more about your chances for success at a particular law school? Consult the ABA Approved Law Schools: Statistical Information on American Bar Association Approved Law Schools. This book is filled with admissions data on every ABA-accredited law school, and it will give you a good idea of what your chances are at particular schools. You probably won't be able to find it at your local bookstore, but you can order it by following the highlighted link above. The American Bar Association is the professional association for lawyers in the United States. The Law School Admission Council is the professional organization for legal educators and is the sponsor of the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). Their book also has statistical data (like the table above) that can help you assess your chances of being admitted at a particular school. You can usually find a copy at most large book stores, or you can place an on-line order with Amazon.com. Another useful reference tool is The Official Guide to U.S. Law Schools. It's published by the Law School Admission Council and updated regularly.
Your LSAT score is one of the most important determinants of whether your application will be successful; and the Law School Admission Council, which is responsible for the LSAT, advises candidates that preparing for the test is a good idea. Buy a book? Enroll in an LSAT preparation course? Do nothing? To learn more about your options, be sure to check out the lecture on how to prepare for the LSAT at this site.
| Rolling and Early Admits |
Rolling admissions is a device used by many law schools that regulates the release of acceptances. A typical law school application season opens in October and closes in February or perhaps March. Applications will be received throughout the application season, and decisions are made on an ongoing basis.
Rather than saving all applications until the deadline for applications is past and then making decisions, rolling admissions allows law schools to notify applicants on an ongoing basis. This is done by targeting an entering class. Based on its admissions history, a law school will estimate what it thinks will be the range of LSAT scores and the range of GPAs of the students it will accept for the upcoming year. Then, as it receives applications (say, month by month), the school will act on them. Students with very strong applications compared with the target group will receive acceptances, and students with weak ones, rejections. Applications in the middle will be carried over--no notification or notification that the application is still pending.
The rolling admissions process has advantages for both the law school and the applicant. From the applicant's point of view, the earlier the notification of the disposition of an application the better. That is, you know whether you were accepted or rejected and can go on from there. From the law school's viewpoint, the entering class (and the stability of the budget) begin to take shape as early as possible. For more information on admissions, visit law school web sites. You can easily find URLs using Yahoo, Alta Vista, or some other search engine. For example, check out the New York University (NYU) Law School site. Its tax, corporate, and clinical programs are awesome. Plus, the Root-Tilden-Snow Scholars is a premier program for public interest law. And the law school, which has students and faculty from around the world, is noted for is global orientation.
The rolling admissions process is also a tool you can use to your advantage: apply early. Obviously, schools have greater flexibility earlier in the admission season than later. There are more seats available earlier in the year.
That is not to say that if you apply late in the season you will be rejected. In fact, it is impossible to quantify exactly the advantage that applications received earlier rather than later enjoy. Still, if you want to maximize your chances of acceptance, apply early!
The same advice applies for schools that offer early admission. Early admission procedures require applications by a certain date early in the application season and guarantee you a decision by a certain date. Early admission procedures may be restrictive or non-restrictive. A restrictive procedure requires the applicant to agree that if an offer of admission is extended then the candidate will withdraw applications from all other schools and decline any other offers of admission. In other words, applying for the early decision commits you to attending that law school if you are accepted. Other early admission procedures do not require such a commitment. Early admission? A good idea, but be sure to read the fine print because you may be committing yourself to withdrawing all of your other applications.
| Where to Apply |
Given the financial commitment that you will be making, one of the obvious questions on your mind will be "Where should I apply?" You should apply to a group of schools such that, given your economic resources, you maximize your chances of gaining admission to the law school of your choice.
To apply to a law school, you must remit a non-refundable application fee. This means that you are taking a gamble. You pay the fee, but you don't know in advance whether you will win or lose. So hedge your bets. The ABA Approved Law Schools: Statistical Information on American Bar Association Approved Law Schools and The Official Guide to U.S. Law Schools, mentioned above, can help you decide whether the "odds" justify "wagering" an application fee on a particular school.
Let's assume that you have the resources to apply to ten schools and that you have an above average GPA and LSAT score. Depending on the exact numbers, you may very well have a chance at one of the top law schools. But those are your long shot schools. You are almost a sure thing at many schools. And there is a long list of schools in the middle at which your application will almost surely receive serious consideration but is not guaranteed for acceptance.
Given these considerations, you should select two or perhaps three "long shot" schools. As the term "long shot" implies, the odds of your being accepted at these schools are not very good, but the potential pay-off justifies the gamble. On the other hand, you should also select one or two "sure thing" schools. To do this, you may have to apply to a school in your geographical area that doesn't enjoy a particularly good reputation or to a school that is located in another part of the country. The rest of your applications should go to your "good bet" schools--schools for which the chances for acceptance are 40% to 75%.
Hedge your bets. Apply to some "safe schools," some "reach schools," and more "bread and butter" schools. This strategy of "stacking" your applications will maximize your chances of acceptance at a school you want while minimizing the chance that you won't get in to any school. Of course, the way the strategy gets implemented will vary from person to person. For people who are lucky enough to have a high GPA and a top LSAT score, the middle and bottom tier schools collapse into a single tier. And at the other extreme, those who are unlucky enough to have a GPA and LSAT score that are below what most schools accept will have to work with the second and third tiers.
As you prepare to implement your strategy, make a realistic assessment of your chances. Candidates unfortunately tend to overestimate the importance of what they believe to be their own interesting or unique factors. It is not unusual to hear candidates make statements such as "Well sure my GPA is a little low, but I had to work part-time while I was in school" and "I know my LSAT score is not that good, but I was a member of the University Senate." These are valid points and are usually taken into consideration by admissions officers. But the question is how much weight they will be given for they (or some similar point) are true of most of the people who are applying to law school. For example, if you are thinking of applying to Yale Law School and you have a 3.25 GPA and an LSAT score of 75th percentile, then there had better be something really special in your background (such as the Nobel Peace Prize) because, in some years Yale has a hundred-plus applicants with such numbers and accepts none.
| Which is
the best? |
A question related to the "Where should I apply?" question is "What are the top law schools in the country?" Since there is no single criterion for "best law school" that would be accepted by everyone, it is arguable that this question simply cannot be given a meaningful answer. But even though no unequivocal answer can be given, it is possible to get an approximate answer.
The following list reprinted from The Best Law Schools by Thomas H. Martinson (ARCO, 1993) presents the top 25 law schools as ranked by selectivity, reputation, and placement success:
- Yale
- Chicago
- Harvard
- Stanford
- NYU
- Columbia
- Michigan
- Berkeley
- Virginia
- N'western
- Penn
- Duke
- Vandy
- Cornell
- So. Cal.
- G'town
- Davis
- Fordham
- Wm & Mary
- Wash & Lee
- Wash.
- No. Car.
- Minn.
- Tex.
- N. Dame
Although the exact make-up and order of the list changes from year to year, this should give you some idea about schools that would belong on any list of "top" schools. For more information, consult the annual rankings issue of U.S. News and World Report.
Another way of evaluating law schools is to think of them as falling into one of three groups: national schools, regional schools, and local schools. National schools are those with substantial academic reputations, such as those listed above. Regional schools have a substantial regional reputation but are not known nationally as "top" schools. Local schools are those whose educational mission is the training of practitioners for a particular jurisdiction. If your goal is a partnership track position with a top law firm in a big city, then you should aim for a "national" school. On the other hand, if upon graduation you plan to go into practice with your mother's three-person firm, then (aside from the educational challenge) it really doesn't matter much where you go to school.
| Crafting
Your Applica- tion |
To maximize your chances of success, you must create an application that satisfies the needs of the school to which you are applying. This does not mean that you create an application out of whole cloth, but it does mean that you organize and present your experiences in a way that depicts you in the most favorable light.
Most of the questions you will be asked need only short answers, for example, "Did you work while you were in school?," "What clubs did you join?," and "What honors or awards did you receive?" You don't have much room to maneuver here. But you should try to communicate as much information as possible in your short answers. Compare the following pairs of descriptions:
Good Better Member of the College Orchestra Second Violinist of the College Orchestra Played Intra-Mural Volleyball Co-captain of the Phi Kappa Volleyball Team Member of the AD's CSL One of three members on the Associate Dean's Committee on Student Life Worked at Billy's Burger Barn Assistant Manager at Billy's Burger Barn (25 hours/week)
In addition to the short answer questions, most applications invite you to make a personal statement. Some applications ask for very little, for example, "In a paragraph explain to us why you want to go to law school." Other applications are open-ended: "On a separate sheet of paper, tell us anything else you think we ought to know about you." The point of the question is to give you the opportunity to give the admissions committee any information that might not be available from the LSAT score, GPA, and short-answer questions.
For two reasons, you should consider the personal statement to be the most important part of your application. First, the personal statement should be your argument to the admissions committee for your acceptance. It should give the reasons to accept you. Second, the personal statement is the one aspect of the application over which you can exercise any real control. Your GPA is already settled. Your work experience was accumulated over years; your LSAT has been scored. Those are aspects of the application that cannot easily be manipulated. The personal statement, however, is under your control.
| Writing an Effective Personal Statement |
What should go into a personal statement? Arguments that interpret your academic, employment, and personal history in such a way as to indicate that you have the ability to do law school studies and that you are committed to studying and later to practicing law. Importantly, the personal statement must not be a simple restatement of facts already in the application. Imagine, for example, a personal statement that reads as follows:
I went to State University where I got a 3.5 GPA. I was a member of the Associate Dean's Committee on Student Life, and I worked as the assistant manager on the night shift at Billy's Burger Barn. Then I took the LSAT and got a 160. I know I will make a really good lawyer and will enjoy the job.
Not very interesting. Furthermore, all of that information is already included in your answers to the standard questions on the application. There is no point in simply repeating it.
Instead, your personal statement should interpret the facts of your life to make them reasons why you should be accepted into law school. Let's start with the GPA. Try to bring out facts that suggest that the GPA is really better than it looks. Did you have one particularly bad semester during which you took Physics, Calculus, and Latin that pulled your average down? Was there a death in the family or some other difficult time that interfered with your studies? How many hours did you work in an average week? What extracurricular or family commitments took time away from your studies? Did you follow an unusual course of study such as an honors program or a double major? Was your major a particularly challenging one? Did you participate in any unusual courses such as field research?
These are the points that the admissions committee wants to hear. For example:
The committee will see that my final GPA is 3.5. I should point out that the average would have been higher had I not had to work 20 hours each week to finance my education. Additionally, my grades in the first semester of my junior year were disappointing because my grandmother, who lived with my family and with whom I was very close, died. Finally, in order to fulfill the requirements for the honors program, I wrote a 50-page honors thesis on the economics of the Dutch fishing industry of the 18th century. I have included with this application a copy of the introduction to this paper.
You should take the same approach to your work experience. For example:
During my junior and senior years in college, I worked an average of 20 hours per week at Billy's Burger Barn as the manager on the night shift. I reported to work at midnight and got off at four a.m. As night manager, I supervised eight other employees and was responsible for making emergency repairs on kitchen equipment. For example, once I was able to keep the deep fryer in operation by using a length of telephone cable to repair a faulty thermostat. The night manager was also responsible for maintaining order. It's no easy job to convince intoxicated students who become too rowdy to leave without calling the police. And we were robbed at gunpoint not once but twice.
Of course, if you have considerable work experience, e.g., if you graduated from college several years ago, you will want to go into your experience in more detail than student work experience merits.
Can you say anything about the LSAT? Probably not much. The LSAT score is not usually open to interpretation, but there are some exceptions. One such exception is a history of poor scores on standardized exams. Consider the following:
I believe that my LSAT score of 160 understates my real ability for I have never had much success on aptitude tests. My SAT score was only 925. Yet, I finished college with a 3.6 GPA.
Or:
The committee will see that I have two LSAT scores, 131 and 160. During the first test, I had the flu and a fever and simply could not concentrate.
These are the two most common excuses for a disappointing LSAT score.
Finally, you must also persuade the admissions committee that you are serious about studying law. It won't do to write "I really like those old Matlock reruns." You must be able to show the committee something in your background that explains why you want to go to law school. Also, it will help your case if you can suggest what you might do with a law degree. For example:
As a chemistry major, I joined the Student Environmental Association. Working with private lawyers, we provided evidence in court that ultimately forced the University to stop polluting the Ten Mile Run Creek. From this experience, I learned how the law helps to protect our environment. I plan to make environmental law my area of study and I hope to work for the government or a private agency to protect the environment.
A word of warning is in order here. Your career objectives have to be believable. It won't do to write "I plan to fight for truth, justice and the American way." That's much too abstract. Nor are law school admissions officers interested in a general discourse on the advantages of democracy or the hardship of poverty. If you write "I want to defend the poor and help the needy," then there better be something in your experience that makes this believable. For example:
As a member of the Volunteers for the Needy, I work five hours each week cooking in our neighborhood soup kitchen. Additionally, I telephone local businesses trying to find jobs for the people we help. I have learned that many people who need our help are victims of rigid government standards or unfair landlord or employer practices. As a lawyer, I would be able to help attack the causes of some poverty.
Finally, with regard to motivation, don't imagine that there is a preferred political position that you should adopt. Law school admissions officers span the political spectrum. To be sure, some are political liberals but there are also conservatives. You don't have to make up a "tear jerker" to get accepted.
You may also wish to include in your personal statement information that shows that you have something that will help the school create a diverse student body. This additional information can be something dramatic:
One morning, a patron choked on a burger and lost consciousness. I used the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge the food and performed CPR until a team of paramedics arrived. The patron recovered fully in large part, according to her doctors, because of my first aid.
Or the information may not be dramatic:
My parents are Armenian immigrants, so I am fluent in Armenian as well as English. I would enjoy meeting others who share an interest in the politics, legal developments, and culture of that part of the world.
But don't overestimate the value of this kind of information. It is, so to speak, the icing on the cake. It makes you a more interesting individual and might tip the scale in your favor when all other things are equal. It will not, however, get you an acceptance at a school for which you are not otherwise competitive in terms of LSAT and GPA.
| Organize Your Argument |
When you marshal your arguments for acceptance, you need to present them in an organized fashion. There is no single preferred format, but you might start with the following outline:
I. I have the Ability A. My college studies were good.
- I had one bad semester.
- I was in the honors program.
- I wrote a thesis.
B. My work experience is good.
- I was promoted to VP of my firm.
- I worked while in college.
II. I want to become a lawyer.
A. I worked with lawyers on the pollution problem.
B. I would become a specialist in environmental law.
III. There is something interesting about me.
The prose you use should be your own natural style of writing. Don't try something cute. Admissions officers detest essays that try to look like legal briefs and refer to the "evidence" and "reasonable doubt." You should create your outline, using all the arguments you can think of. Then you must begin to edit. For most people, the final document should not be more than a page to a page and a half--typed of course! During the editing process, you should strive for an economy of language, so that you can convey as much information as possible. Additionally, you will be forced to make considered judgments about the relative importance of various points. You will be forced to delete those ideas that aren't really that compelling. To obtain a really good personal statement, it may be necessary to reduce five or six pages to a single page, and the process may require more than 20 drafts. If your numbers (LSAT and GPA) are in the ballpark, then your personal statement is likely to be the most important part of the application. It will never be perfect, but make it as much so as possible. Ask professors, friends, co-workers to read it and to comment on it. You might even want to consult a professional advisor to help to construct the application.
| Letters |
Perhaps the best advice about so-called letters of recommendation is to think of them as evaluations rather than recommendations. Indeed, many admissions officers refer to letter-writers as evaluators. These letters can be very important factors in an application, so who should write them?
First of all, most schools require a letter from the dean of students (or some similar functionary) at your college. This is not optional on your part. Even if you never met the dean, you have to get this letter. But law schools don't really expect the dean to have much to say. The requirement is in essence an inquiry to the college about your behavior. It is intended to evoke any information about disciplinary problems that might not otherwise surface. So the best letter from a dean, and the one that most people get, is just a statement to the effect that there is nothing to say about you. In addition to the dean's letter, most law schools require or at least permit you to submit two or three letters of evaluation from other sources. Who should write these? First, let's dispose of a common misunderstanding. A letter of evaluation does not have to come from a famous person. How effective is the following letter:
William Hardy
Chief Judge, State Superior Court
To the Admissions Committee:
I am recommending Paul Roberts for law school. His mother appears frequently in my court and is a very fine attorney. If Paul is anything like his mother, he too will be a fine lawyer.
Sincerely,
William Hardy
The letterhead holds out great promise, but then the letter itself is worthless. It is obvious that the letter-writer doesn't really have any basis for the conclusion that the candidate will make a good lawyer.
The best letters of evaluation will come from people who know you very well, e.g., a professor with whom you took several courses, your immediate supervisor at work, or a business associate with whom you have worked closely. A good evaluation will incorporate the personal knowledge into the letter and will make references to specific events and activities. For example:
Mary P. Weiss
White, Weiss, and Blanche
To the Admissions Committee:
White, Weiss, and Blanche is a consulting firm that advises businesses on environmental matters. Paul Roberts has worked for us for the past two summers. His work is outstanding, and he is an intelligent and genial person.
Last summer, as my assistant, Paul wrote a 25-page report that outlined a way of altering a client's exhaust stack to reduce sulfur emissions. The report was organized so that it was easy to follow and written in a style that was clear and easy to understand. Additionally, Paul made the live presentation during a meeting with the client's board of directors, engineers, and lawyers. He was confident and handled some very difficult questions in an easy manner. I should note that we have used Paul's innovation in several other plants.
Finally, I would note that Paul made an important contribution to our company softball team. The team finished in last place, but Paul played in every game. His batting average wasn't anything to brag about, but his enthusiasm more than made up for it.
Sincerely,
Mary Weiss
To get a letter such as this, you will have to ask someone who knows you well. It may also help to provide them with some "suggestions" about what should go into the letter. So if you have not been in recent contact, send a resume with a cover letter reminding them of some of the important points that you might want them to mention. You might also want to include a copy of Appendix A of Getting Into Law School: "Guidelines for Writing a Letter of Appraisal for a Law School Applicant."
| Footnote |
|---|
You are about to make a huge investment in your future. The cost of applying to law school is virtually nothing when compared to the cost of a legal education. And the cost of a legal education is miniscule when compared with your earnings potential over a lifetime--depending on where you get in. More importantly, it is your life--your time needed to complete applications, three years in law school, and a career. So explore all options and maximize your opportunities.
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