The spring before law school

As a senior in college, I relied on law student blogs to find out what to expect for my first year of law school. Part of the law school experience that was ignored by a lot of blawgs is the late law school application process (ie, deciding where to go, and then getting there.)

This sucked.

So, for all the 0L’s out there, here are four things that happened to me:¹

1) Applying to more law schools? Waiting for more money? When it’s time to quit:
The problem is that the law schools that have given me full tuition scholarships (Drake, Stetson, etc.), are not top tier schools, and the other schools that have given sizable scholarships (Yeshiva, Temple, DePaul, etc.) are still not in UMN’s league. (keep reading)

I applied to dozens of law schools. I realized that applying to every school that sent me a fee voucher was a waste of time, especially when the schools started harassing me for deposits. The only school I paid to apply to was UMN (my first choice school). And that’s where I’m at. The lesson? It’s good to have options, but there is a such thing as overkill.

2) Financial Aid. Patience is a virtue.

They were not kidding when they said late July. And once I accept these loans that I will supposedly receive, how long will it take for me to get the disbursement? (read more)

I go to a public law school, so financial aid is based on the FAFSA. Students who take out the full amount of loans get around $7,000 a semester for living expenses. Check with your school and don’t be afraid to ask the financial aid office, “How much do students have to live on after tuition and fees?” if that’s what you really want to know. And yes, loans came in about a week before class started.

3) Minority Followup: I am not Tyrone.

So what are law schools doing to recruit minorities? According to National Jurist, law schools are now taking “a personal approach” to admissions.

I saw this “personal approach” at work this past year. I was more aggressively recruited by law schools than when I applied to undergrad, even though I was a better applicant coming out of high school. (read more)

This included aggressive calls from deans and questionable tactics from minority organizations within law schools.  The Lesson? Being an minority made me more desirable to law schools, but the best school for me was one that didn’t want me for my skin tone.

4) Housing: House me please! The apartment search was sort of a crapshoot. I spent a lot of time on rent.com, but I couldn’t really make any decisions without a financial aid award.

The lesson? Ask your financial aid department about your monthly budget (assuming you get all of the loans) and save up enough money for your first month’s rent and security deposit because you won’t get a reimbursement check until the eve of classes.

Also, check out the law school discussion forums. There are school-specific threads where upperclassmen from your school will answer your questions. This was very helpful to me because a lot of the UMN students I spoke to at campus preview weekend were local, or had rich parents…so they couldn’t help me find affordable housing.

I hope this helps.

¹ This is my experience, it may not be true for you. Please communicate with your law school and current students at your school.

² If you are applying to UMinnesota (and don’t have children or pets) you can apply to the Gamma Eta Gamma house. Gamma is a co-ed legal fraternity that is close to the school and rents rooms at $400/month.