Preparing for Law School

The American Bar Association (ABA) names the following skills as critical skills and knowledge, and experience that you can build and develop to help prepare you for law school and a career in law.

• Problem Solving
• Critical Reading
• Writing and Editing
• Oral Communication and Listening
• Research
• Organization and Management
• Public Service and Promotion of Justice
• Relationship-building and Collaboration
• Background Knowledge
• Exposure to the Law

These skills and knowledge cited by the ABA can help guide you in thinking about what skills, courses, knowledge, and experience that you want to develop or pursue as you prepare to apply to law schools.

• Picking a major. there is no prescribed major or required courses for admission to law school. The best way to approach deciding on which major(s) to take is to pursue your personal and academic interests that motivate you to do well in your courses. If you are having trouble deciding on a major, consider scheduling an appointment with an academic advisor to begin your major exploration
• GPA. In considering your GPA for law school applications, the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) recalculates your GPA according to a set of standards that differ from UO’s GPA calculation process. This process is called Transcript Summarization. Here is specifically how the UO’s grades are recalculated for the LSAC GPA. For other schools, visit the Interpretive Guide for more information. A few things of note are:
  • P/NP option. N and N* grades are typically omitted from UO GPA calculation. However, N and N* grades are recalculated by LSAC to be weighted as F grades for your LSAC GPA.
    • For courses that you took P/NP during Spring 2020 in light of COVID-19, don’t worry about this too much. LSAC will include a note in your application if you were enrolled during Spring 2020 to remind law schools going forward that this term was when schools changed their grading systems in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. You can always include an explanation in the addendum section of your application if necessary.
  • Withdraw (W) grades. W grades are not included in your UO GPA or in your summarized LSAC GPA. There may be situations where it may be preferable to have a W on your transcript as opposed to an N or N*.
  • Incomplete grades. Be sure to clear up any Incomplete grades before you apply to law school since it can affect your LSAC GPA.
  • Repeat courses. LSAC will recalculate your GPA to include both attempts.

A strong GPA is critical in the process of getting admitted to the law school of your choice. It can also help in getting scholarships/funding from schools. If you are struggling or struggled during your time in college, it doesn’t mean that you can’t apply to law school anymore. Every application offers applicants the opportunity to explain any challenges faced. If you had a challenging term, family/emergency crisis, mental health challenges, other extraordinary reasons that impacted your performance, there is space to provide some context to your application.  Always feel free to talk to pre-law advising about your situation and how to approach it. There are other factors that law school admissions committees also take into account when looking at applications, GPA is only one factor.

Gaining any experience related to a career path of interest is the best way to help you determine what career path you want to pursue at the moment. Law schools are interested in the work that you also do outside of your academics. Whether that is working a part-time/full-time job to support yourself while in college or other extracurricular activities such as student organizations, volunteering, or internships, all experiences are valuable in preparing you for law school.

For law school applicants who have taken time off or plan to take time off since graduating from college, they will want to highlight their experiences that they have had since graduating. How much you focus on college vs. your experience post-grad will depend on how long you have been out of college.

Types of Experiences:

• Work experience. Any work experience helps you build soft skills that you cannot necessarily learn in an academic course. If you are working to support yourself or family, this is something you can still include in your applications. Not everything has to be law-related. If you need support looking for a job, working on your cover letter/resume, or preparing for an interview, meet with a Career Coach in the Career Center to get started.
• Student organizations. Get involved on campus if you are able to. There are a few law-related student organizations, but just like choosing your major, student orgs of interest are always helpful. For example, if you are interested in exploring human rights law, you can consider the Anti-Human Trafficking Club. You can check out all of our student organizations here.
• Job shadow. You can ask people that you know if they know anyone in the legal field and ask for an introduction to start connecting with folks in the field. If you don’t feel like you know anyone you can reach out to, you can always start at the Career Center. They can coach you on how to find and connect with people in the community to do informational interview or job shadows.
• Sit-in on a law school class. Contact the law school’s admission office. UO Law School is a great place to start since it is right on campus!
• There are several ways to look for internships, such as, applying for internships you find or networking. You can always start with the Career Center or Linkedin. Your internships do not have to be within the legal field; again, they can be in field of interest. For example, if you are interested in working with families, you can work at a nonprofit that serves families. Even if it is not legal-related, it is still experience.

You don’t need to be asking for LoR yet, but you should start building relationships with instructors who you feel could potentially serve as a recommender while you are at the UO. Your LoR can come from instructors, work/internship supervisors, and other folks who can speak to various aspects of you about why you are a great candidate for law school. 

The Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) for some, is the most challenging and time-consuming aspect of applying to law school. This exam assesses your critical reading, analytical reasoning, logical reasoning, and persuasive writing skills, which are considered necessary skills needed for success in law school. The LSAT is the only test accepted for admission purposes by all ABA (American Bar Association)-accredited law schools and Canadian common-law law schools. Some schools may accept the GRE exam as well, you should check with the schools that you are interested in to see if that option exists for you.

See our LSAT Prep page for more details and information about the exam itself and how you can prepare for the LSAT.

See our Resources page for more information around LSAT study resources. 

If you are planning on applying to law school, it is also important to plan financially for the law school application process itself. Here are some things that you need to plan and save for:

• LSAT (includes LSAT Writing) – $222 (each time you take the exam)
  • In addition to the LSAT exam itself, some law school candidates will purchase study materials or pay for a LSAT bootcamp/LSAT tutor which may also cost some money. The amount will depend on what you decide to use to help you study for the LSAT.
• Credential Assembly Service (CAS) – $200 (one-time fee when you apply for law schools)
  • CAS is a LSAC service. You must purchase and create a CAS account in order to apply to law schools, since a majority of law school applications go through LSAC and CAS. CAS centralizes all of your application info: transcripts, letters of recommendation, LSAC score, personal statement, resume, etc.
• Law School Reports – $45 (per school that you apply to through CAS)
  • You will need to purchase a law school report for each law school that you apply to. When you submit an application to a law school, the school will receive a copy of your Law School Report from CAS. The law school report is a compilation of all the information that you submit to CAS.
• Law School Application fees – varies per school
  • In addition to what’s listed above, each law school may have additional law school application fees. You can always ask if the school is willing their waive their application fee for you. The amount will vary per school, some schools do not have a fee to apply while others will.
• Law School visits costs – varies
  • If you are able to, you may also want to visit the law schools that you are interested in to help you get a feel if the law school is a place that you physically want to be. You will want to take into consideration travel costs (gas/flight), housing (hotel), and food costs.

If you are struggling financially, you can also apply for the LSAC waiver. If you have been denied the waiver the first time, you can always submit an appeal for the waiver. You may also want to search online for scholarships that may be offered to help cover the costs of apply to law school. An example of this is the Legally BLK Fund.

It is common to take time off after undergrad to gain additional professional or life experience. This experience can be incorporated into your law school application, allow you to reflect on why you want to pursue a career in the legal profession, and help you clarify if you actually want to pursue a law school education. Gap years can also provide law school candidates additional time to study for the LSAT and/or also time to save money prior to law school. Prelaw advising is still available to UO alumni, so feel free to schedule an appointment if you’d like support through the application process. Here are some things that law school candidates will do during their gap year:

• Work to save money
• Intern/work at a law firm or field related to interest area in law
• Peace Corps, Teach for America, other short-term service opportunities
• Graduate school
• Study for the LSAT
• Take a break

• Sign up for the pre-law listserv for regular updates!
• Schedule an appointment with a Pre-Law advisor. 
• Other helpful UO campus resources:
  • University Career Center
  • Holden Leadership Center