How can I learn more about what law school is like?
Lawyers and law students are great resources for learning more about law school and the field, and you should meet with as many people as you can. Additionally, take advantage of events sponsored and advertised by the Center for Pre-Law Advising. You can also check out the profiles of our advisors here, as we often have UW Law alumni or current law students working in our office.
Further, many law schools are willing to set up a Prospective Student Visit that typically involves a tour of the school, shadowing a law school class, and meeting with an admissions officer. Setting up this kind of visit is a great way to learn more about law school in general and what it might be like to attend that specific law school.
Finally, several law schools offer summer programs to help undergraduates better understand what law school and the law school admissions process entail. These programs strongly encourage students from groups historically underrepresented in law school to apply. You can search for diversity pipeline programs here.
How can I learn more about specific law schools?
There are many ways to learn more about specific law schools both online and in person.
Online:
(1) Start your research by looking at the American Bar Association’s Standard 509 Information Reports. These reports include information about a school’s Admitted Student Statistical Profiles (including median and 25th/75th percentile GPA and LSAT statistics), Tuition and Fees, Financial Aid Statistical Profiles, Enrolled Student Demographics, and more. You can also find relevant information on individual law school websites, including more recent data at times. However, a quicker way to easily view the 509 report data is at LawSchoolTransparency.com.
(2) If you’re having a tough time figuring out which law schools are reach schools, target schools, and safety schools for you because you might have one score above the median and one below, one helpful resource is the Graphs tab for each school on the lawschoolnumbers website. It shows a scatterplot of applicants who were admitted, waitlisted, and denied and what their LSAT and GPAs were over a period of a few years. This provides a sense of how friendly law schools are to people outside one or both of their medians, but should not be used to predict what scores will get you in this cycle.This is self-reported data only, so it does not show you everyone who applied, but often you can see patterns in the data that give you a better idea of your chances than just looking at median GPA and LSAT scores.
In Person or Online:
(1) Attend a law school fair such as the UW-Madison Law School Expo. In years where this is held in person, law schools send representatives to campus to meet with students and provide information about their respective schools. The Law School Admission Council (LSAC) also hosts both online and in person (in select cities) fairs called the LSAC Forums.
(2) Attend an Information Session for the schools in which you are interested. Law Schools host these events and they actually do track and care who attends. You can usually find online options, and in some years there may be in person options as well. If individual law schools set up a time to do an information session for UW-Madison students virtually, we will share that information in our newsletter. (Sign up for our newsletter here)
(3) Many law schools are willing to set up a Prospective Student Visit that typically involves a tour of the school, shadowing a law school class, and a meeting with an admissions office. Contact the school’s Admissions Office to schedule a Prospective Student Visit. Law Schools may also offer a virtual tour or the option to sit in on a law class virtually. Check the school’s website for more information on these opportunities.
Resources for Researching Schools
Law School Transparency (LST) – Search by School or by State for a deep dive into the ABA 509 Disclosure Data.
Law Schools by Job Placement map – Click on a state to see law schools that place a significant amount of graduates there.
Law School Transparency (LST) Personal Reports – Creates a custom list of schools based on applicant data and preferences.
Wilson Stern Law School Book of Lists 2020-2021 – Search for specific programs, such as schools that have a particular kind of dual degree program, certificate/area of emphasis, or study abroad program. You can also find out which law schools offer need based scholarship aid and Loan Repayment Assistance Programs (LRAPs).
Clinics and Journals by School list – A list of the clinics and journals offered at each law school, compiled in 2023.