Debjanee Protyasha Nandy, a sophomore at Lyon College in Batesville, Ark., got a dose of real law school this summer. (And she didn’t rack up any debt!) She went to the University of Akron School of Law to participate in the Prelaw Undergraduate Scholars (PLUS) Program.
While other students may have gone to the beach, she went to a legal clinic, took law classes and rubbed shoulders with legal professionals.
Funded by the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), the PLUS Program is a four-week, residential program held at a handful of law schools. It provides an intense focus on the skills required to succeed in law school, the law school admission process and a legal career. There is no cost to attend, and participants receive a $1,000 stipend, two free Law School Admission Tests (LSAT), and a free Credential Assembly Service (CAS) report.
LSAC’s PLUS Scholars are targeted, but not restricted, to college students from racial and ethnic minority groups underrepresented in the legal profession. The programs are designed for students in the first two years of college. Here’s a link to the program.
Using the critical thinking and writing skills she developed in her honors classes at Lyon, Nandy took law school classes on criminal law, problem-solving, constitutional law, employment law, technology in law, and trial advocacy. She visited courthouses and met lawyers and judges.
“I went to a free legal clinic and listened to the clients,” she said. “I explored various career paths in law and learned about the law school application process and the LSAT. Overall, it was a great learning experience for me.”
Nandy, of Chittagong, Bangladesh, is a double major in economics and math. She said the PLUS Program helped her decide that she wants to attend law school after college.
“The staff and faculty at the University of Akron helped me with my personal statement, diversity statement, and overall law school application,” she said. “I experienced what it’s like to be a law student.”
“Interacting with lawyers and judges provided me with a foundation of study and experience that helped me determine the area of law I find most appealing.”
Despite scheduling classes from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, the PLUS Program made time for fun activities, like canoeing and visiting Cedar Point. Nandy said the most fun part for her was watching an actual court procedure at the Summit County Drug Court.
“I learned that courts are not only about punishing guilty people,” she said. “They actually help people by getting them into rehabilitation programs, and the honorable Judge Joy Malek Oldfield tried to understand what exactly was going on with the lives of prosecuted people.”
“My biggest takeaway was that law is not about putting people in prison. It’s about making society a better place.”
– Lyon College News
