Truman'sPre-Law Webbook

Truman State University's
On-Line
Pre-Law
Handbook

Pre-Law Club Information

Pre-Law Club Meetings

Announcements

Spring 2008: PreLaw Club meets twice Monthly: Thursdays at 7:00p.m. in Violette Hall 1140. All Are welcome to attend. To be on the prelaw club mailing list, send an email to trumanprelawclub@yahoo.com

2008 Co-Presidents Emily Zerkel and Nick Smegner.

Law School Applications can be done partially on-line. Type in all information common to applications one time, and the software fills in the info for each school you are applying to. See here.

Registration for the 2007-08 cycle is available at lsac.org; We usually recommend the June or October test so students can complete applications by November or December. Some Juniors take the test in February.

You can pick up a registration booklet in the Social Science Division Office (MC214), from me in MC227, from Professor Jayne In JUST or go to Testing and Assessment office in Violette Hall 1130.

Some Law Colleges run summer programs for historically underrrepresented students. Two in our region are at Nebraska and Iowa.

I. Introduction

Admission to law school is competitive; approximately 100,000 applicants vie for seats each year. On acceptance, these students face a three year curriculum costing thousands of dollars. Is this for you? Only you can answer that; here we try to address issues that will help you to clarify whether you want to pursue a law degree, and we answer some common questions about the process of preparing for, and applying to, law schools

Here are our topics:

Table of Contents

I. Introduction.	V. Getting In: Your Part
II. Getting Advice and Information	VI. Getting In: Their Part
III. Is Law School for Me?	VII. Paying for it all
IV. Your Undergraduate Years	VIII. Reading Sources

II. Getting Advice and Information

You can get advice from real people by attending meetings of the prelaw club, mentioned above, or by visiting prelaw advisers Prof . Marty Jayne and Dr. Paul Parker. But we also suggest you read.

Truman's PreLaw Handbook, originally published in paper form in the late 1980s, was adapted to the internet in 1997. We feel it covers good ground for Truman students interested in law school, but we recommend that you read widely for two reasons. First, one website may not answer all of your questions, and you may stumble across something new. Secondly, you may find yourself reading the same stuff again and again -- and that is useful in telling you that the information is widely agreed to be accurate. This can be useful especially in areas where you have doubts about the advice you are receiving.

Law School Admission Council: This is the formal page of the LSAC, the group that administers the LSAT and the group you will be through in applying to law school. They have some very good general advice about careers in law, undergraduate preparation, and selection of law schools.. They have also added a number of helpful sections such as a database to allow searching law schools, based upon your profile. All students considering law school should start here. Especially useful is the Section on Choosing a LAw School.

The Notre Dame Pre-Law Page: Notre Dame's PreLaw Adviser is very active in prelaw advising organizations, and has been a real force helping the rest of us. I recommend her webpage.

Rice University's Pre-Law Page

Law School Application Aid Constructed by a Columbia University law student, this page offers a lot of helpful advice for those contemplating the law school application process.

Findlaw.Com Law School Resources

Wehrli's Internet Legal Resource Guide with links to many many prelaw sites.

Top Law Schools. Com The author graduated Boalt law school, so its from a "been there, done that" perspective. Note title, so it may not be for everyone, but it does have a section on personal statements.

The Princeton Review Hompage The Review offers LSAT review services, but their website offers a much more comprehensive overview of the LSAT and of law school. Ditto with Kaplan, although with Kaplan you must look a little harder for the "free advice." both are for profit businesses that want to sell you something.

Go...

to the Top of the Page

on to III. Is Law School for Me?

to Truman State's Home Page

to Dr. Parker's Home Page You can e-mail Dr. Parker at parker@truman.edu

Compiled By: THE PRE-LAW ADVISORY COMMITTEE. Former Editors: Jeff Baxendale, Trish Cope, Allison Dennis, Theresa Mehmert, Bonnie Neuner, Laura Obermeyer, Kerry Walter, Tim Wichmer, Mary Woodburn, Bradley M. Dowd, and Scott Spears, Rachel Spavone and John Griesedieck with webhelp by Bill Curtis and Greg Brenner.

last modified 15 February 2008