THE PRELAW HANDBOOK

THE 2010 U.S. NEWS RANKING OF THE TOP FIFTY LAW SCHOOLS APRIL 2009 View the  2010 TOP 50, 2010 TOP 52-102, TIER THREE, and TIER FOUR. By Saturday (August 1), we shall make some conjectures about future rankings.

ABOUT THIS WEBSITE This website enables college students to decide whether they WANT TO BECOME LAWYERS and guides to law school those who do. This website is totally informative with no advertisements.       FINANCIAL AID Whether you are an undergraduate or a law-school student, financial aid may be necessary; hopefully financial aid will be sufficient. This website gives unbiased financial aid advice.   The top priority for a student seeking financial aid (from either  the Federal government, state government, or a college) is almost always to correctly fill out and then submit the FREE APPLICATION FOR FEDERAL STUDENT AID (FAFSA. APPLY EARLY for grants.  Financial aid information is available for UNDERGRADUATES and for LAW STUDENTS.   SUMMER PRELAW PROGRAMS, Some Summer Prelaw Programs are OPEN TO ALL and some are FOR MINORITY AND UNDER-REPRESENTED POPULATIONS. The preceding two links now provide Summer 2009 information. Usually there are not major changes from year-to-year. Beginning in early 2010, these program will gradually update their websites. Attending a prelaw summer program can help a student make a rational choice about whether to attend law school.      TAKE A PRACTICE LSAT TODAY The Law School Admission Test (LSAT) is, for many prelaw students, the biggest obstacle between them and admission to a suitable law school (in fact, between them and graduation from a suitable law school). Taking a practice LSAT today may well put the fear of the LSAT in you. This is a good thing if it encourages you to prepare early and often for the LSAT. Actually we are not urging you to take the whole practice LSAT today. We are just urging you to take one of the four multiple-choice sections. Officially for each of these four sections, you are allowed 35 minutes, but since this is your first LSAT attempt, we will give you unlimited time (unfortunately that probably will not be enough). The practice test is, essentially, the LSAT given in June 2007. Answers are given.      THE PATH FROM ENTERING COLLEGE AS A FRESHMAN TO GRADUATING LAW SCHOOL This path should, in theory, take seven years: four years to earn a Bachelor's Degree and three years to earn a law degree, the Juris Doctor (JD); in addition to the standard three-year JD, Some law schools also have a four-year part-time program leading to the JD degree. This path to the JD involves PRELAW PREPARATION, which includes doing well on the LAW SCHOOL ADMISSION TEST (LSAT) and OTHER ADMISSION FACTORS (e.g. GPA), and determining WHEN AND WHERE TO APPLY.    TO BE UPDATED: RANKING LAW SCHOOLS BY SPECIALTIES  A few law school applicants may have a law school specialty in mind (e.g. intellectual property) and may wonder about the top law schools in that specialty. DEFINING PRELAW STUDENT The expression prelaw student is applied to students interested in attending law school sometime after obtaining the Bachelor's degree. Note that both "prelaw" and "pre-law" are in common use. This website is a handbook for prelaw students. ACADEMIC RESTRICTIONS ON A PRELAW STUDENT In theory, a prelaw student faces no restrictions on the CHOICE OF MAJOR and no restrictions on the CHOICE OF COURSES, but the choice of major and the choice of courses should be given serious thought and should be discussed with family, prelaw advisors, and academic advisors. The proper choice of major and courses should lead to a high GRADE POINT AVERAGE, a few strong LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION, a decent score on the LAW SCHOOL ADMISSION TEST (LSAT), the acquisition of important SKILLS, VALUES, AND KNOWLEDGE that will provide a sound foundation for law school, and a Bachelor's degree in four years or less. WHEN AND WHERE TO ATTEND LAW SCHOOL At or before the end of the junior year, it is time to think about WHEN TO ATTEND LAW SCHOOL and WHERE TO APPLY TO LAW SCHOOL. Later it will be time to focus on WHICH LAW SCHOOL TO ATTEND.  SPECIAL TOPICS In the appendix, we also consider several SPECIAL TOPICS. TWO-YEAR LAST SCHOOL DEGREE PROGRAMS are offered by           NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY           SOUTHWESTERN  UNIVERSITY            UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON  AN ELITE LAW DEGREE IN TWO YEARS (Inside Higher Ed) gives, in its first paragraph, an overview of some two-year law degree programs in this country. The remainder of the article is based on an interview with David Van Zandt, dean of the Northwestern University Law School, and an interview with Lori Shaw, dean of students at Dayton's law school. We have that the UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS (KU) has a two-Year J.D. Program for Foreign-Trained Lawyers.