What do I need to do to get in to law school?
405414
First, work hard on your bachelors. It can be any major, just make sure you enjoy it and do well. You need to get the best grades you can to be competitive - the admissions process is getting more and more competitive every year.\n\nIn your junior year, start thinking about studying for your LSAT - the law school admissions test.  You probably want to take it no later that October of your senior year, so you can have your applications complete for early admissions in October and November.\n\nIt's really best to study through a classroom course like Kaplan - you can get some personal attention, study with real questions, and take plenty of full length tests - exactly what you need to do in order to do well on the LSAT.  \n\nYou want to start being really nice to your professors, so you can get great letters of reccomendation.  Also, if you can, an internship, volunteer position, or a part time job will help fill out your resume.\n\nGPA and LSAT are the two most important factors for getting into school - the letters of rec and personal statement are just the icing on the cake.  Work hard on your GPA and especially your LSAT (a great LSAT score will balance out a lower GPA).\n\nCheck out http://www.LSAC.org for information on the LSAT, law schools, and the admissions process.  If you are at a university now, talk to your career office - they will usually have a prelaw advisor on staff who will help you get started.  Good luck!!
841462
First off, you don't get to do law as an undergrad.  You can do pre-law, but really law schools just want you to have a well rounded general education.  The best thing you can do to get into law school is go to the highest ranked college you can get in to, and then kick asss with your GPA.\n\nSo first get into a top 25 school.  Pick a major that interests you, but has real world application (12 ca textile majors may have loved college but they don't get jobs).\n\nOnly after you've graduated with an excellent GPA should you decide whether to go to Law School, get a Masters/PhD in another field, or work.
872426
Go to prison. Most large prisons have law libraries that a university would sell its soul to have.\n\nPlus you will have lots of time to study and will be supported on tax dollars. When you get out start a prelaw course of study.
74339
Law schools look for indications that you can do well in law school, and gpa and lsat scores are two major pieces of data that they use to make this judgement. So, your task is to raise both of these if you can. \n\nYour first move is to go to the law advisor at your college. Most have one in either the career center or the advising center, or there is a faculty member who does this job. Go over in some detail your grades and your lsat scores and see if you can figure out what to do.\n\nTwo suggestions for the low gpa: Take a double major, which will delay your graduation but will give you the opportunity to increase your gpa. But, you really have to make the commitment to get all As in your classes from now on or taking all the courses you want will not improve your gpa or your odds of law school.\n\nDid you prepare for the LSAT? Buy several preparation programs on disk and the diagnostic test and look up everything you got wrong, then take another practice test. Look up everything you got wrong. Take another...and another... until you do consistently well on the tests.\n\nFinally, do you know why you have low scores on both of these indicators? Does this mean that you should reconsider law school as a vocational choice? These are questions that you must ask yourself.
313484
Go to law school and become a lawyer.
969309
I am currently a Legal Studies Major with a Political Science/Pre-Law Minor attending UCF. Let me assure, for law school preparation, this is the way to go. \n\nThe legal studies program will give you the necessary hands-on experience to succeed in law school. You will know how to brief a case from Day 1, instead of struggling through it with your fellow students. You will know how to do legal research and writing, a major source of failing grades for 1L's. You should take classes in Contracts, Property, and Ethics--all 1L classes. \n\nThe Political Science training will provide you with the theoretical component of your law school preparation. Most of your Constitutional Law and International Law classes will be through the Poli Sci Dept. Also, your classes on the workings of the Courts, Executive and Legislative branches are Poli Sci. A word of advice--DO NOT take Con Law or International Law without having completed Legal Research and Legal Writing FIRST!! Not being able to write a case brief or a legal outline has been the cause of many failing grades. \n\nAnd if you do not mind a brief plug for my school--UCF is currently the 4th ranked legal studies program in the nation and #1 for programs that are not attached to a law school. When law school admissions reps come to UCF, they do not come to do presentations, they come to recruit--and they bring scholarship money with them. Every time I attend a recruiting function, students from our program get singled out for private tours, meetings with key faculty, etc. Other programs exist around the country, and having met with those student (I was on the Trial Team), I believe that I have made an outstanding decision to attend UCF. \n\nGood luck with your future endeavors.
526034
Sure. As long as your degree is from an accredited institution. Make sure you also have a high GPA and LSAT scores. Law school admissions is very numbers-oriented.
364870
you need to have a bachelors...doesn't matter in what.  I found that political science as a major was helpful.  Criminal justice also would be very helpful.  There is no specific program to follow...you can have a bachelors in gym, they don't really care....unless you are applying to a super competitive school like Harvard or something.  Have a good GPA, then apply and get accepted to law school.  Then it will be 2-3 years and you will have a juris doctor. Then you have to pass the bar, and you can practice law.
210298
This is usually the path taken to get into law school. However, it's not the only path to get there.
916902
First, you need to need a bachelor's degree (or undergraduate degree).  Then need to get accepted into law school  (graduate degree).  You'll spend a total of 6 to 8 years past your high school diploma.\n\nMost law students have an undergraduate degree in Pre-Law, History, Criminal Justice, or Political Science; however, this isn't necessary to get excepted into law school.
191161
www.LSAC.org has great resources, including a searchable database where you can enter in your LSAT score and GPA and see the chances of where you can get in.\n\nThe other resource I used is the US News guide to law schools - they publish a book every year and rank the top 100 school and give full info about everyone.  You can find most of the same info on the LSAC site, but the US News ranks the schools and it's a little more handy to flip through a book to figure it out.  You can find it in the test prep section of any bookstore.\n\nI would suggest you call up your nearest Kaplan Test Prep and ask to take a free practice LSAT to get a vague idea of your score.  You can expect your score to go up a few points after that.  It's a good idea to actually take a course to study as well.  I took Kaplan and increased 9 points, and I went on to teach the class for a while as well.\n\nAlso keep in mind that TONS of people are applying to law school, and the competition gets stiffer every year.  So if a school states the 25th to 75th percentile of their LSAT score and GPA, you can bet that it's going to be higher for the year you apply.  So make sure you have some safety schools.  \n\nAnd if you're open to moving apply around the country.  I only applied to schools in CA, so the highest ranked school I got into was UC Davis.  But there are plenty oh higher ranked schools that I could have gotten into out of state. Keep an open mind and look for the best program based on location, rank, and the best fit for you academically.  I chose a lower ranked school (Loyola Law) closer to home because it has a great reputation in Los Angeles, and it was much less competitive then the UC schools, and is a more friendly, relaxed environment.
787990
To attend an ABA-accredited (American Bar Association) law school, you seem to have the numbers.  Your current university may not garner the fame of Harvard but should be more than enough to ensure that your undergraduate education wasn't spent at a questionable school.\n\nA high LSAT score would be a big boost and will probably factor more than your GPA.  While your GPA will meet the minimum requirements, the top law schools will usually want at least a 3.5 and really no lower than a 3.3.\n\nWrite a really good essay and focus on how you've improved and mature during your undergraduate years (you've made mistakes but you've found successful ways to fix them).  Get a couple of really close professors (those who've seen your improvement, particularly) to write some awesome recommendation letters.\n\nAnd, yes, being a minority helps (female and/or anything but Caucasian for law schools).\n\nIt's going to be hard to hide the fact that your freshman year was rough so don't try it.  Focus on how you've improved and turn it into a positive experience which you learned from with elaborations of the specifics you provided here.  You don't have a guaranteed ride at any law schools but you won't find any doors locked either.\n\nBest of luck.
1166126
The biggest thing is to get your hands on as many actual LSAT exams as you can and really study those tests well. You can buy them directly from LSAC (www.lsac.org) or you can buy books of them at many bookstores (online or physical). Make sure to get ACTUAL LSAT TESTS!! Many companies produce their own versions of the test that do not accurately mimic the questions on the LSAT. Get the real ones. \nAs far as a test prep class goes there are lots of them out there, but they may or may not be worth the cost to you. For example the average score increase for a student who takes 20 practice exams (from the 50 or so actual exams available) is actually higher than Kaplan's average score increase. If you have the dedication, and the discipline you may be able to succeed on your own. \nI would recommend getting the book "The Next Ten Actual LSAT Exams" and start taking those. The book is about $30 and contains (as the name suggests) ten real tests. It is the most recent of the books of real tests (has test numbers 29-38 Oct, '99-Oct. '02) and is a reasonably good gauge of how well you are scoring. See how you are doing on those, and compare it to how well you will need to do to get into the law schools you want to attend. \nIf you work at it for a while on your own, and still aren't seeing improvement, then perhaps look into the courses out there. Do some research though. Just because someone spams that a certain class is the best doesn't make it so.
438917
You will probably need a 3.9 and a 176 on the LSAT.  However, there are many great law schools with much more lenient requirements, where you get just as good of an education.  Visit http://www.LSAC.org - they have tons of information compiled about what law school takes what GPA/LSAT, and US News also compiles those stats and ranks schools.
1014813
I believe you have to complete your bachelors program which is for 4 years. About a year or so before a person wants to be in law school, they have to begin the application process. This includes taking a test called the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT). The score on the test, along with the other application materials, helps the admissions officers to decide whether to accept or deny an application for law school. Law school is 3 years. After law school, a person must be admitted to a state bar in order to practice law in that state. A person must pass a special test called the bar exam that tests the person on their knowledge of the law. The test is usually taken a few months after graduating law school. Additionally, state bars require a person be screened for character and fitness to practice before being admitted. In Arizona, students who graduate in May, pass the test in July and pass character and fitness review are admitted to practice in October, only 5 months after they have finished their schooling. Once admitted, you can practice law. To find out more about applying to law school, visit the Law School Admissions Council at www.lsac.org and them four more years for law school.
203664
Law School takes three years if you attend full time.  You cannot enter Law School until you have earned a Bachelor Decree from College which typically takes four years.
21665
You can "read for the bar".\n\nIf by "becoming a lawyer" you mean, "licensed to practice law in a U.S. State", then you should know that some states (California, maybe CO, VA too) do not require you to attend law school, although they do require you to pass the Bar Exam--the same exam given to students who have graduated law school.\n\nYou can just read up on the law on your own, and when you think you're ready, just take the exam.  If you pass--you can practice law in that state just like anybody who went to law school.\n\nThe buzzword here is "read for the bar" if you want to search for more.