The Best Law Schools' Admissions Secrets: The Essential Guide from Harvard's Former Admissions Dean

274 Pages·2008·0.88 MB·English

by  Joyce Curll

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The Best
Law Schools’
Admissions
Secrets
The Essential Guide from
Harvard’s Former Admissions Dean
joyce putnam curll
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© 2008 by Joyce Putnam Curll
Cover and internal design © 2008 by Sourcebooks, Inc.
Cover photo © Punchstock
Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks,
Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or
by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and
retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical
articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher,
Sourcebooks, Inc.
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative informa-
tion in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding
that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other
professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the
services of a competent professional person should be sought.—From a
Declaration of Principles Jointly Adopted by a Committee of the American Bar
Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations
Published by Sourcebooks, Inc.
PO Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Curll, Joyce.
The best law schools' admissions secrets : the essential guide from
Harvard's former admissions dean / Joyce Curll.
p. cm. ISBN-13: 978-1-4022-1981-8
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Law schools--United States--Admission. 2. Law schools--United
States. 3. Law schools--United States--Entrance examinations. 4.
Student aid--United States. I. Title.
KF285.C87 2008
340.071'173--dc22
2008015094
Printed and bound in the United States of America.
VP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .v
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii
Chapter One: Is Law School for You? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Chapter Two: When Should You Go to Law School? . . .27
Chapter Three: Preparing Your Case While
You Are in College . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
Chapter Four: Preparing Your Case: The College
Graduate with Experience . . . . . . . . . . .49
Chapter Five: The Law School Landscape . . . . . . . . . .59
Chapter Six: Ranking the Law Schools . . . . . . . . . . . .75
Chapter Seven: Deciding Where to Apply . . . . . . . . . . . .81
Chapter Eight: Behind the Scenes in the Admissions
Office and the Admissions Committee . . . .97
Chapter Nine: The LSAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Chapter Ten: GPA and Academic Record . . . . . . . . .135
Chapter Eleven: Letters of Recommendation . . . . . . . . .149
Chapter Twelve: Extracurricular and
Community Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
Chapter Thirteen: Work Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169
Chapter Fourteen: Personal Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
Chapter Fifteen: Interviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .187
Chapter Sixteen: Diversity and Affirmative Action . . . .195
Chapter Seventeen: After the Admissions Decision . . . . . . .201
Chapter Eighteen: The Financial Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . .215
Chapter Nineteen: Finding Your Match in the
Legal Profession . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .241
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Epilogue Some Final Thoughts . . . . . . . . . . . . .249
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .251
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .253
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To Dan.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people have had a hand in helping me get this project
completed. Ted Fiske was a wonderful mentor, reader, and critic
who encouraged me and provided guidance from inception
throughout the writing of this book. Howard Gardner, Howard
Seidel, and Dean Whitla offered encouragement along with
help and ideas to make this project one that provides broader
guidance than would a “step-by-step how-to book.” Colleagues
Ken Lafler, Anne Lukingbeal, and Dee Pifer provided helpful
critiques and moral support, as did Sue Milmoe, an experienced
professional editor and friend.
Numerous faculty members at Harvard Law School,
including admissions committee members, have taught me and
challenged me to be at my best throughout my time there.
Some have specifically supported my idea to write this book,
including Bill Alford, Alan Dershowitz, Martha Minow, Peter
Murray, and Larry Tribe, and given me confidence to move
forward on this project. I also want to thank my agent, Wendy
Strothman, who has provided guidance in my new role as
author, and Peter Lynch, my editor at Sourcebooks, for his
enthusiastic support for this project throughout.
For the knowledge base from which I was able to write this
book, I thank my colleagues from the Law School Admissions
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vi THE BEST LAW SCHOOLS’ ADMISSIONS SECRETS
Council, from the various prelaw advisor associations and from
the admissions offices at Harvard and NYU who have served
with me over the years in our joint enterprise of educating
prospective applicants about the legal profession and encouraging
them to enter it. I particularly want to thank Todd Morton, now
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid at Vanderbilt University
Law School, who shared his knowledge and wisdom with me
at both NYU and Harvard as did Nan McNamara who served
with me at NYU and filled my position when I left for Harvard.
Others who have been most influential in my education as an Badger,
Faye Deal, Rick Geiger, Ken Kleinrock, Anne Lukingbeal, the
late Jim Milligan, Jim Thomas, and Jean Webb.
Most importantly, I thank my husband Dan, who provided
moral support, encouragement, and sustenance, clearing the
way for me to keep going.
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INTRODUCTION
HAVINGSPENTTHELASTeighteen years of a thirty-four-year
career in law school admissions as Dean of Admissions at
Harvard Law School (HLS), I have considered for admission
more than 120,000 HLS applicants, of whom about 10,000
applicants attended and graduated from HLS. More than 30
percent of the living alumni of the JD program at HLS were
admitted on my watch. Before coming to Harvard, during
sixteen years at NYU Law School, I considered another 100,000
applicants, of whom 6,000 became NYU Law graduates.
Throughout, I have had a wonderful window on society and
particularly the world of current and recent college graduates,
many of whom already had significant accomplishments under
their belts and most of whom showed great promise for the
future. And I have watched as those futures unfolded. Some
students have flourished throughout law school and their
careers. Some stumbled a bit before finding their feet; some
enjoyed the law school experience, but not the practice; some
hated law school, but loved the practice.
I have observed the whole range of possibility with respect to
the experience of legal education and the profession. Many
roads lead to law school, some direct and others circuitous. I
have seen everything from the precocious eighteen-year-old
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viii THE BEST LAW SCHOOLS’ ADMISSIONS SECRETS
college graduate and the twenty-two-year-old medical doctor
who wanted to get a head start on the legal profession, to those
who wanted to build on established, successful careers, like the
fifty-something-year-old physician, the forty-something
screenwriter who became president of the student body, and
the forty-something engineer who became president of the
Harvard Law Review.
You may be one of the many undergraduates who, seeking a
livelihood after graduation, have been exploring the professions
and, not liking the sight of blood and not having a knack for
organic chemistry, have decided that practicing law would be
an appealing way to earn a living. Perhaps you are one of those
who tried investment banking or consulting and decided that
law will get you where you want to be in a more intellectually
stimulating and fulfilling manner. You may have been engaged
in work that you enjoy, but see the value of a legal education as
a stepping-stone to a more responsible position in the field in
which you have been working.
If you are any of these, or are coming to a consideration of
law as a career from another perspective, you are not alone in
having some idea of what is involved, but still having questions
about whether law school and the legal profession are right for
you. You may be wondering how to proceed.
You are in good company. Even the strongest, most savvy
applicants experience some uncertainty and more than a little
trepidation as they set out. I have had ample opportunity to hear
from many for whom the admissions process and legal education
worked out the best. Most have told me that they wish they had
had more understanding as they set out to apply: beginning with
decisions about what to study in college, how to prepare for
taking the LSAT, how to decide when and where to apply, and
finally, where to attend once admissions offers were tendered.
Some of the more privileged applicants have access to experi-
enced prelaw advisers and to friends who have navigated the
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Introduction ix
process successfully, and even these still have questions. For those
without this guidance, the admissions process can be daunting.
More than thirty years ago, I cofounded a group of admis-
sions deans who designed a short panel discussion to impart our
collective wisdom about the law school admissions process to
prelaw students at our big feeder schools, and to gain insight
into the applicant mind-set. Our panel discussion was designed
to address misconceptions held by many potential applicants
and missteps we collectively observed in the applications we
considered. We addressed frequently asked questions in a
coherent and organized way. I participated in this panel
throughout my time at NYU and at Harvard. It worked
wonderfully for applicants who attended, and our only frustra-
tion was that it was not possible to share it more broadly.
I have been inspired to write this book to share what I have
learned from the students I have admitted, and some who were
not admitted, about the anxieties and uncertainties they feel
during the application process. Virtually all applicants, whether
they have a knowledgeable prelaw adviser or not, feel some-
what bewildered or overwhelmed at times as they decide
whether to apply, how to get started, what to emphasize, whom
to ask for a letter of recommendation, what to say in a personal
statement, and how to handle each step of the process. This
anxiety and uncertainty is even more pronounced among
students of color, women, those from non-college family back-
grounds, those from immigrant families, and those from other
groups not traditionally represented in the profession. By
making the admissions process more transparent, I hope not
only to provide guidance and reassurance to all applicants as
you embark on this journey, but also to help level the playing
field for those from groups whose access to advice and prepa-
ration for law school has been less than that of the average
applicant. I hope to help all to get through the obstacle course,
and many to the school of their dreams.