Can a cellist go to law school?

Recently, Wall Street Journal reader "S.M.R." from Bryn Mawr, PA asked outstanding WSJ Careers columnist Sue Shellenbarger if their son, a cellist, planning to study in an undergraduate music conservatory program, could get into law school in the future. The short answer is, "Of course." But the right question to ask is, "How should my son, a cellist, best prepare for his future, which will include law school?

Law schools want the widest possible field of potential students, so they wish to encourage all interested applicants--with appropriately high GPAs and LSAT scores--to apply, no matter what their background or major is, or what life and work experience they have had. That is why law schools do not require a specific major to be admitted. But understand that law schools are quite content to create a competition each year between new students of vastly different abilities and backgrounds. They really don’t care institutionally which student comes in first, or last, in this competition for grades and other law school honors. If the double major in political science and American history with two years of post-college, law-related work experience obliterates his very bright but utterly inexperienced competitor who is a master of the cello, so be it. But of course students and parents care greatly about how to best prepare for the coming battles of law school.

So, here’s what I recommend to the cellist.

1. Advance in the cello, and pursue excellence with it, but major as well (or at least take many courses) in political science and American history. These will serve as a useful foundation for your future law school studies. If you don’t like political science and American history courses, you might, might be on the wrong path if you want to go to law school.

2. Seek to have law-related experiences in college. Be a volunteer in a legal services organization. Serve in a political campaign. Be involved in the debate of important legal issues in your community. Work part-time for a lawyer or law firm. Connect to and serve the prelaw student organization(s) of your college. Climb a law-related learning path, even if you have to design it yourself.

3. Recognize what is going to become the vocation in your life (the law, and legal work) and what will be your beloved avocation (playing the cello). You will make your living through legal practice.

4. Recognize the critical importance of the LSAT, and thus your LSAT preparation. If you plan a timeline that includes an appropriate period of law-related work, you can push the dreadful preparation for the LSAT entirely outside your college years. If you feel compelled to take the LSAT while in college, take a timed, practice test. Score it. Then look at the LSAT score demanded by your favorite law schools.

5. Work in a law-related job before you start law school. Plan for such a position carefully, with your prelaw advisor.

6. Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t advance in both the cello and the law. It’s certainly possible, but you don’t want to be diverted by your love for music from critically important law-related developmental experiences in college.

For more information about my recommendations for prelaw students, please see my website www.PrelawAdvisor.com.

Should personal statements to law schools be a "confessional"?

No.

Often, applicants preparing a first draft of a personal statement to law school feel the need to make a "confession." They feel compelled to describe what they perceive as a profound character weakness. They then to ask the law school for "forgiveness," with the awarding of an admission offer becoming proof of "assurance of forgiveness."

Don't go down this path. Instead, construct a personal statement with carefully crafted positive images of your life and achievements. When you really need to discuss problems or issues you've overcome, package them in a framework of a determination to succeed--with a creative resilience and an overcoming, or at least thoughtful, admirable efforts to overcome, with a retained positive attitude towards challenge.

Remember as well the powerful persuasive principle of "Excellence plus modesty." Demonstrate your excellence in your story, but let the reader draw his or her own conclusions about it.

For more information about winning the fight for law school admission, please see my website www.PrelawAdvisor.com or send an e-mail to BradDobeck@aol.com.

I'm planning on applying to law school, but I have a criminal record. What should I do?

I frequently deal with law school advisees who have had a brush with the law in their past. It might have been underage drinking, with the use of a false ID card. It might have been a speeding ticket, or one for violation of some other motor vehicle law, such as curfew violation or failure to use a seatbelt. It could have been a noise violation in your college setting.

Here's how to handle the issue of disclosing a criminal record in a law school application.

1. Don't hide anything. Make a full disclosure. Answer the law school's question fully and with complete honesty. Some law schools require the disclosure of matters officially expunged from the criminal record. Disclose them. I actually recommend that you disclose all matters, including expunged convictions.

2. "Fall on your sword." In other words, "Admit your mistake(s) emphatically." What was wrong is wrong. Don't try to justify bad behavior or let yourself off the hook. Don't make the argument that "Everybody was doing it." Convince them now that you would never engage in such behavior again.

3. Remember that you will have to make a full disclosure as well--down the road--to the state bar of the state where you will want to practice law. State bars may look back to your law school application to see what you said about your criminal record. It had better be a full, complete and entirely honest disclosure, conforming precisely to the disclosure you make on your bar exam, or--frankly--you may not be admitted to the bar. So don't cut any corners in this extremely important area of your law school applications.

If you need help in this area, please see my website, www.PrelawAdvisor.com or send an e-mail to BradDobeck@aol.com.

I'm a new college freshman, planning on law school in the future. What do I do now?

The short answer, one that eventually will greatly distinguish you down the road, is....get great grades. Get great grades. The common pattern of GPAs of college students seeking law school admission in the future, is a bumpy first year, with relatively lower grades, followed by progressively improving grades in the second, third and fourth years of college. But it is clearly those applicants with the very highest GPAs (meaning high grades during the freshman year, as well as the rest of their college years) who break into the top ten--especially the top five--elite law schools. If Yale, Stanford and Harvard have law schools with enrolling student classes in the 3.8 GPA range, you can't afford too many grades lower than an "A".

So, if you want to be the most effective future competitor for a spot at an elite law school, stay focused now, in your freshman year, on all your courses. Do what gets measured. Attend all your classes. Get to know your professors. Do all your reading. Contribute positively to class discussions. Prepare thoroughly for each exam. Seek to discover what your professors' old exams are like. Perhaps they are on file at your school in a way that is accessible to you, such as at your school's library.

In addition, move forward in other ways. Engage your college's community in a creative way. Get involved in activities and projects of interest to you, especially if they can be law-related. Some examples: offer volunteer service to a local legal aid clinic. Just walk in, introduce yourself, and use the magic "v" word: "I'm a new college freshman at (name your school) and I want to volunteer some time to your organization." The doors will spring open. You may be doing low-level clerical work at first, but stay with it, and you will climb the learning curve, and begin to learn the work of the lawyers there. Make yourself indispensable there, with the time you have to give.

Or pick a political or social cause of interest to you, on campus or in the surrounding community. What are you passionate about? What changes would you like to see made to society? What are the organization's lawyers doing? How does the current state of the law affect things? Join in and help out. In the internet age, your potential field of influence is global.

For more assistance in making your plans for law school, please see my website www.PrelawAdvisor.com.

American Bar Association Makes Dramatic LSAT Rule Change

Critical LSAT News Update:

At its June 8-11, 2006 meeting, the ABA Section of Legal Education & Admissions to the Bar voted to change its data collection procedures to require law schools in computing the 25th percentile, median, and 75th percentile LSAT scores of their entering classes to report the highest score of enrolling students (who took the test more than once). The ABA's prior rules had required schools to report the average LSAT score of students who took multiple tests. This rule change follows similar action taken by LSAC. This hugely significant change will definitely encourage students to take the LSAT more than once, although current LSAC rules limit applicants to three tests in any two-year period. It does reduces the risk of negative impact of a low LSAT score, but it forces applicants to consider providing multiple LSAT scores, and in effect it will raise the LSAT "price tag" for elite law school admission, since all of these schools will likely report higher 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile LSAT figures. I urge caution in taking any official LSAT. Prepare thoroughly. Prove your readiness by taking many timed, practice LSATs new to you. Score them. Dissect each test completely, so that you come to a 100% understanding as to why each correct answer is correct. Your goal should continue to be to give the law schools one brilliant, deal-making LSAT score.

However, if you end up with a first low LSAT score on your record, definitely take advantage of the liberalization of this rule. Continue to prepare for a second LSAT, with many more practice tests. A second, brilliant score will clearly improve admission probability.

For more information about beating the LSAT, please see my website www.PrelawAdvisor.com, specifically "Top 15 LSAT Tips."