Law school applicants can come from various backgrounds and different majors; there are no required courses that students must take to apply to law school.
There’s a common misconception that in order to be pre-law, one must be a political science major. Frankly, if someone wants to go into corporate law, a business major would be helpful. If someone wants to be involved in medical law or healthcare, having a background in science is also useful. Pre-med students can also be pre-law, and these guys will have greater background knowledge of the field.
Another aspect that should be considered is GPA. Law schools will recognize students who took more difficult classes or had more difficult majors. But if you love English literature and think you will have a higher GPA in it, then don’t switch. A higher GPA is more impressive.
According to the University of Houston Law Center, applicants must have a bachelor’s degree, have taken the LSAT, submitted the application, a personal statement, letters of recommendation and a list of extracurricular activities or resume.
Students also have to register with the Credential Assembly Service, which is essentially the post-graduate version of Apply Texas, in that applicants must submit their application materials online through this website. Applicants must pay $170 in order to use it. Fee waivers are available for those who qualify.
You will then pay $175 to take one LSAT (most take three exams, though.) Then, you add in the cost of test preparation courses and books (which is typically more than $1,000 even with discount codes.) You also pay to apply to each law school. This is all before you are accepted to law school. And you thought paying for your undergraduate applications were bad.
The University of Houston Law Center l 2015 entering class profile includes 2,415 applications, a 216 class size, a median LSAT score of 159 and median GPA of 3.54.
LSATs are typically offered four times a year, in February, June, October and December. Each test date has strict registration deadlines, and the average LSAT score is 150.
In other words, you must score at least slightly above average to apply to the University of Houston Law Center.
Some might say that it is important for applicants to be well-rounded, involved on campus, have relevant work experience, etc. These are all important and do affect the acceptance of some students.
But realistically, acceptance into a given law school is mostly dependent on two numbers: the LSAT score and GPA.
If an applicant has a lower GPA, they would ideally have a higher LSAT score and vice versa. According to the LSAT Center, some schools weigh your LSAT score 70 percent versus 30 percent for your GPA, meaning that this three and a half hour test is worth more than four years of undergraduate work.
Basically, stop trying to kid yourself and think you can work two jobs, take classes and study. It’s all lies.
Unlike the GRE, the LSAT is does not cover subjects typically learned in college courses such as math, although taking English courses may help with reading comprehension.
The LSAT testing experience lasts about four to five hours. It has 50 logical reasoning questions, 25 analytical reasoning (logic games) questions, 27 reading comprehension questions and a 35-minute essay section.
Students can prepare by studying LSAT preparation books and guides, or by taking courses offered by companies like the Princeton Review, or Blueprint.
Often, applicants study by taking practice tests. Making a study timeline and truly committing to it can make a huge difference for many.
For some people, they can study for one month and still do very well. But for majority of students, they study eight to 10 hours daily for four months before their exam while taking practices tests on weekends.
Applicants can only take the LSAT three times. I’m under the impression that if you fail three times, LSAC is basically hinting you should stop trying.
The LSAT is a giant mind game.
Enjoy.
CORRECTION: The University of Houston Law Center was originally identified as the UH Law School.
Great information. Thanks!
It is the University of Houston Law Center, not UH Law School.