I recently held a workshop for some potential law school applicants. One of the participants was a senior in college. Another has been working for 10 years. The rest of them were somewhere in between.
Does it matter when to apply to law school? Is it important to work before applying to law school?
In the 20 years I’ve been advising law school applicants, I’ve seen a big shift. As the years go by, I see more and more applicants working for a year or more before they apply.
You can see this trend for yourself.
Look at the law school admissions websites for law schools. Each law school will profile their incoming class. Harvard Law School, for example, said for the J.D. Class of 2028 that 84% were at least one year out of college; 69% were two or more years out of college; 22% were four or more years out of college.
So, yes, many applicants to law school now have worked for several years before applying to law school.
In the current employment landscape, the hiring schedule for law students looking for summer associate positions has accelerated. This could potentially make prelaw school work experience more significant.
If the hiring happens earlier in law school, your prelaw school resume and the experience that you have could be even more important these days. Law school admissions committees may be more focused on your work experience for that reason. They ideally want to admit candidates that are likely to be employable down the line.
So, there are good reasons to apply to law school after you have acquired work experience. But do you have to work before applying to law school? Absolutely not.
If you are a senior, or planning to apply during your senior year, you can definitely go ahead if you are ready. If you are sure you want to go to law school, and are happy with your grades and test scores, you don’t have to delay applying. Some applicants are sure they want to go to law school right after college. That’s totally fine.
You should try to gain as much experience in addition to trying for good grades and good test scores. It would be ideal if you had legally related experience on your resume, solid internships and some leadership positions in on-campus organizations.
Make sure to take the LSAT or whatever alternative admissions test you are planning to take (GRE or JD Next) in plenty of time to retake if you need to and still be in the early part of the rolling admissions cycle.
In my experience, the most common issue applicants have is applying later than they ideally wanted to, because they ran out of time to take or retake the LSAT, write essays and ask for recommendations. This happens sometimes to applicants applying right out of college who are balancing school work and LSAT study. If you are applying to law school right out of undergrad, start the process early.
Finally, be aware that there are big changes to the bar exam and to what alternative testing is acceptable to the law schools beyond the LSAT. There have already been changes in recent years, and more are expected. While this won’t necessarily determine when you apply to law school, you may want to take these changes into consideration as you make your final decision.
Hillary Mantis consults with law school applicants, prelaw students and lawyers. She has more than 20 years of experience and is the author of several books about law school admissions and legal careers. You can reach Hillary at Hillary.mantis@yahoo.com.
