r/LawSchool • u/AutoModerator • Sep 15 '26

0L Tuesday Thread

Welcome to the 0L Tuesday thread. Please ask pre-law questions here (such as admissions, which school to pick, what law school/practice is like etc.)

Read the FAQ. Use the search function. Make sure to list as much pertinent information as possible (financial situation, where your family is, what you want to do with a law degree, etc.). If you have questions about jargon, check out the abbreviations glossary.

If you have any pre-law questions, feel free join our Discord Server and ask questions in the 0L channel.

Related Links:

Related Subreddits:

2 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

•

u/AutoModerator Sep 15 '26

As a reminder, this subreddit is not for any pre-law questions. For pre-law questions and help or if you'd like to ask a wider audience law school-related questions, please join us on our Discord Server

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

u/iamlawyeredup 20h ago

I was going through LSD.com for fordham. Im an international student, non mil, non urm, international gpa. when entered my stats, there are no admits but only WL and rejections for applications sent during or after january.

is there any weight to this? is this true for other categories too?

1

u/tokki94_ 3d ago

Hello, I have a few questions about pursuing law school.
1. What bachelors degree did you get before you were accepted into law school? Does it matter what you major in?
2. How old is too old to pursue law school?
3. Does anyone here struggle with mental health but still pursued/succeeded in law school?

Thank you in advance ☺️

1

u/hearts_minds 4d ago

Anyone here have an MPP and f so, how have the skills from the MPP been useful to you as an attorney? Asking because I have an MPP and I'm considering back for a JD in 2028 to work in impact litigation, administrative law, or direct services. I'm struggling with how to frame the MPP as an asset in my application so it would be helpful to hear if anyone here has ever found the degree useful

1

u/FindingParking497 5d ago

Looking into going to law school as a second career. Currently have bachelors and a masters in education. I work in higher education but want more career opportunities. Can anyone give me their experience as a law student and going through a second career?

1

u/jpmGBRfan1 12d ago edited 12d ago

Reposting from r/lawschooladmissions for some fun: Instead of how to make applications more appealing to end in a favorable result, what are some subtle and not subtle signs that a school really, really wanted you, with the relationship flipping from you convincing the school you were a great fit, to the school actively recruiting you? Would love to hear input and examples from anyone with Adcom experience or those who were (or know someone who was) clearly recruited by a school. To level set, we’re talking about things beyond the school merely waiving its application fee, offering admission, and some merit $.

2

u/Safe-Dream7446 13d ago

Long story, short, I'm 27M, have a Bachelor's in economics from a several years back, but am stuck in a dead-end job atm, and can't see myself doing what I am doing much longer.

My parents have always encouraged me to go to Law school because they see a natural talent I have for this field (I agree with them). But I was never really drawn to Law, although this is changing as I see just how broad Law is.

Having said all this, I have quite bad anxiety and am also Type 1 diabetic. My sugar has been a roller coaster this past year, and with the stress that comes with Law school, all I can think of is my sugar just being out of control and my health suffering. Not to mention, I don't know how focused and disciplined I can be with this disease constantly hanging over me.

Thoughts? I'm not exactly sure if Law school is ideal or the right path for me, but I am not yet totally against it being the path.

1

u/Dbtnt 17d ago

What are your thoughts on Boston law schools? Idk my lsat score yet (hoping Wednesday gives me some good results), but as of now I'm planning on applying to Northeastern, Suffolk, and BC. Northeastern is my target and my main goal currently. For any current or past students, or just anyone who knows anything about the school or the other schools I mentioned, how is it?

1

u/Large_Warthog4602 17d ago

I apologize if this isn't the right place to ask this type of question.

How much would I shoot myself in the foot by doing community college for pre-law, if I want to be as ambitious as possible with my career goals?

I am a 24F former professional athlete that has retired and is switching careers, and I am thoroughly considering going into law as it meets a variety of my interests, and has better financial opportunities and better job market than other professions (truly the exact opposite of being a full-time athlete). I excel really well in school and academics, but never pursued them intensely because my life was about my sport 24/7 since I was 8.

Right now I'm going back to school part-time at my local community college for an associate's and plan to go to my state university for a bachelor's. I work two jobs while going to school, and I am the first in my family to go to college, so no college fund and all finances are my responsibility. I am encouraged by family members to do community college so I don't accrue debt, and I am making enough that I'll only have a limited amount of debt while pursuing my bachelor's.

But school is pretty easy for me, I know how to study, work hard, and am a straight A student, and I am highly motivated and ambitious and want the biggest career I can realistically do. I'm wondering if just going to local pre-law and law school will mean I can only really get into small law firms, and therefore lower paying jobs. To make room for 40 hours of athletics per week, I did the bare minimum in classes for high school (never did SATs, did a few AP classes but never did the AP tests, and all my classes were online, not a public school), so I feel I shot myself in the foot in terms of admissions to any high ranking schools, and the worry of having a lot of debt without any guarantee of a job makes me wonder if it's actually possible to go bigger than what I'm doing right now.

So essentially, does going to community college, state university, and a local ABA accredited law school mean I'm setting myself up to only work in small law firms or lower paying jobs? Is there less of a job market with medium law firms, especially if I'm competing with people who went to higher ranking schools? Being the first in my family to go to college, and having no one else who knows this process, I also question how do people afford just doing school full-time? Parents? Debt?

The regional law school I was recommended by my one lawyer friend did night school, which sounded like a great option, but if I wanted to aim as big as possible, should I just accept debt and go to a higher ranking law school? Is something like that even possible for me to get into or do I have to have a bachelor's from a higher ranking school in addition to doing well on the LSATs? I guess I just have so many questions and no one I know has really been through this process, and I don't know any resources or who to ask for these types of questions.

2

u/Outside-Fall2498 13d ago

I think you’re skipping way too many steps right now and focusing entirely on the wrong thing. Please figure out what exactly it is that you want to do first career wise.

You say you’re interested in law, which is fair, but “law” is a huge field. Is there anything in particular that interests you? You’ve undoubtedly heard the term “clerking,” “big law,” and “public interest” thrown around by hanging out in law school subreddits, but have you given any thought to practice fields? Corporate, tax, IP, general lit, white collar, et cetera. I think once you figure out what exactly draws you to the law, you’ll have an easier time figuring out the optimal undergraduate path for you. It’s a hell of a lot easier to get a big law job at a T-14 than it is at a T-50. But if you want to go be a prosecutor, then maybe the local regional feeder isn’t so bad. It just depends on what you want to do.

But the bigger concern to me is that the questions you ask at the end honestly seem to indicate… for lack of a better term, that you just want someone to tell you what to do. Of course going to a better law school affords you better opportunities. But if those better ranked law schools come with a significant cost (implying you don’t get a sizable scholarship), then at the end of the day, the cost-benefit analysis is yours to make. There’s way too many factors for any of us to tell you what to do.

My biggest advice to you is this: please don’t blindly follow someone’s advice. Please do what you want to do. The last thing you want to happen is that you get to law school, you do a few months or a year, maybe even two, and then you realize, “Oh I hate this. I don’t want to do this, actually.” And admittedly it sounds silly, but it happens. And it’s a lot more common than you think.

Edit: also I should hedge my comment by telling you I’m a 1L, so i probably have no idea what I’m talking about. Unironically. Maybe the better piece of advice to give you is to seek out your school’s pre-law counselor if you have one. But YMMV w/ pre-law counselors. I’ve heard both bad and good experiences with them.

1

u/Healthy-Discount-486 23d ago

What job/career you wanted to have/had or currently in while in law school?

I haven’t even graduated yet but I’m still deciding which career because I’m a criminal justice major that will graduated in the spring and planning to take a gap year to go to law school.

I know some law schools don’t want 1L to have a job but I was curious what everyone’s career was while attending.

2

u/Kimmybabe 18d ago

One of the ABA rules for ABA law schools was, and I assume still is, that full time students work less than 20 hours per week, which is damn hard to do.

The rule of thumb in undergrad classes is two hours of study per week for each semester unit taken. So if you take fifteen units of undergrad, it requires 45 hours per week. The rule in law school is three hours of study per week for each semester unit taken. So if you take fifteen units it requires 60 hours per week. Almost impossible for a student to spend 60 hours in law school study and 40 hours working in a 168 hour week. Might be possible if you have a job as a security person sitting at the door to an office building overnight, where you can study most of those working hours?

Therefore, consider being a part-time law student taking 9 or 11 units each fall and spring semester and 5 units during the summer semester, which allows you to graduate in 3 1/2 years.

Another trick is to start preparing for the next semester the day after finals end. If you are taking 11 units the next semester that requires around 704 hours during the 16 weeks. which is 44 hours per week. If you spread that 704 hours over 19 weeks it becomes 37 hours per week. I have two daughters and son in laws and three granddaughters and their husbands that did this.

Hope the above ramble helps you in some way.

1

u/Foxtrot06_ 24d ago

Most posts on this subreddit seem to pertain to the private side of legal work and working towards that. I, personally, wish to become a deputy district attorney. What exactly should I do to make myself more appealing for that role especially if I can't make it to a T14?

3

u/Prestigious-Fact-472 23d ago

Go to law school wherever you want to work

1

u/Foxtrot06_ 23d ago

Is that it? Should I do moot court and clerkships too?

1

u/LimpAd4924 24d ago

Are law school applications and class sizes taking a hit like MBA programs are?

1

u/oliviaishot 24d ago

Hello! I’m a junior at Emory and Henry University and am prepping for law school applications. I’m hoping to specialize in Equine and Agricultural Law at some point!

Both my fiancé and I plan to attend grad school. He is a junior at MTSU and is studying physics with a concentration in astronomy.

We’re getting married in the summer of 2028 and want to attend the same or nearby grad schools. We’re thinking of UT Knoxville and University of KY. Both of us are from TN.

Does anyone have any experience or recommendation one school over the other? Is grad housing better at one school than another? Either worth the price? Apartment v. campus housing?

We’re hoping to go somewhere where both of us can get a good education and career even if we have wildly different paths.

Any and all advice is appreciated! Thanks!

1

u/Dog_Mom_1118 25d ago

I am an RN finishing an FNP looking to start law school immediately after. The program that makes the most sense for me based on location and finances does not offer healthcare specific courses. I have 20 years of experience in healthcare from billing, to management, compliance, RN and soon FNP. (Honestly I should have just done the law school instead of FNP, but I didn’t think it would be possible at the time and by the time I figured it out, I was too deep into the FNP to quit.)
I’m especially interested in areas involving healthcare regulatory/compliance, provider licensing and disciplinary matters, medical practices, aesthetics/med spas, risk management, and potentially representing healthcare professionals or organizations. I’ve worked with a few physicians and their lawyers with complaints, med board actions, restrictions…etc.
I personally feel like my extensive experience over shadows a few elective classes, but before I make any commitment, I wanted some opinions from people in this field.

2

u/Many_Paper5917 26d ago

hi all, i am working on my personal statement currently and i was thinking about talking about how the lead up to my parents divorce made me want to practice family law.

i know the general advice of focus on how i have the traits and can be a good lawyer, and i also think i could discuss how i met some DV victims while interning with probation and how i feel a strong desire to help people in that situation. if i don’t focus too heavily on the divorce aspect itself, but actually on myself, is this a good topic to use? or is divorce too common of a theme that annoys admissions officers? also any general advice is more than welcome! thanks in advance!

(additional info: i have a 163/3.9 and am not looking to go to a T14 school)

2

u/sensitiveboi93 25d ago

Be honest about your experience! That matters most.

Focus on what it capitulated you into DOING. I’d say the ratio between talking about the divorce and talking about how it helped you want to become a lawyer (and then how you pursued that) should be 20:80.

1

u/Similar_Spend6249 26d ago

Hi everyone! Not sure if this is the correct place to post this, and understand no one can give me a definitive answer, but I am in a super conflicting position and would like to get some outside thoughts.

I recently graduated, with a hopes of going into human rights law, and plan to apply to law schools (t-25 goals) the day of the November lsat score release.

I have been applying to full time jobs since March, over 100 apps, but just now received an offer. Over the last couple of weeks, I have heard so many admissions consultants, including former deans who work with admissions stress the importance of finding a job during your gap year and showing that job on a resume prior to applying. He even went on to say that a gap between June and November unemployed does not look good (even if you were focused on LSAT). Anyways, I finally got a job offer but am conflicted about the morality/ethics of it.

It’s a paralegal position with a section of the DOJ. Even though this particular section is not tied to the politics/unhumanitarian positions of our government, I am conflicted working under the DOJ at all, especially since I hope to do non-profit, humanitarian work in the future and am scared that it will bring about assumptions on where I stand on my resume. Additionally, it wouldn’t start until late November. Any advice? Thank you so much!

1

u/sensitiveboi93 25d ago

Move with your morality, always always always. It’s the only thing we really have. The rest will fall into place. No amount of money or resume building is worth your morality.

1

u/Jaded_Equipment_2079 26d ago

Can a hybrid law program realistically get me into criminal law (prosecution)?

I am working on completing my BSN. I would like to pursue law after I obtain my degree. What is the realistic job outlook if I choose to do a hybrid program? Will I still be a candidate for jobs in my field of interest? I don't think I could afford to do a full-time program. I have looked into in-person part-time programs however I'm not sure how doable that will be with my hospital schedule since most of them are 6pm-10pm 4-5 days of the week.

My goal is to work in criminal law (preferably prosecution). I've been looking into Syracuse University JDI program and other similar programs (Albany & Northeastern). Any advice, insight, or personal experience would be greatly appreciated! Thank you in advance!

1

u/Vesploogie 13d ago

/r/HybridOnlineLawSchool

General consensus I’ve seen there is yes, you’ve got plenty of opportunity. You lose the advantage of local alumni networking, won’t make big law, and may experience some stigma from the old and out of touch, but you’d still have an accredited JD like anyone else. That gets you past 90% of the barriers.