A

Admissions Application

Take the application process very seriously; The presentation of all the application materials, as well as the substance of their contents is extremely important.

B

Best

Be the very best you can be; that is all anyone can ask of you and all you can ask of yourself.  If you put forth your best efforts, your chances of getting into law school are increased and you will not have many regrets about your undergraduate years.

C

Challenges

Constantly seek out courses and activities that will challenge you and stretch you to new heights. Through facing, as opposed to running away from challenges, you will grow tremendously.

D

Discipline

Discipline is an absolute necessity that you must acquire, possess, further develop and maintain to succeed during your undergraduate years, and even more so in order to make it into and through law school.  You must have a strong work ethic, the ability to make sacrifices as well as persistence and perseverance to succeed in law school and it should become an innate part of your inner-core well before you seek to apply!  This is an all-important attribute!

E

Early

Turn in all of your admissions materials early and well in advance of the given deadlines that the schools have set.  Deadlines are not due dates.  They are not things you simply meet, but things you beat!

F

Face Value

Do not take the admissions process at face value!  There is more to it than meets the eye.  You must do a great deal more than simply turning in all of the materials and meeting the set requirements.  You must go out of your way to go well beyond and exceed them!

G

Grade Point Average

You need to earn the highest grades possible!  There is no way around this.  Law school is an academic pursuit and applicants are expected to have done well during their college academic careers.  It is essential to perform and work hard to do well to earn As in all or in as many of your college courses as possible.

H

Help

When you need help, don’t suffer in silence.  Seek it out and use any and all resources that are available to you.  Getting over is simply not good enough.  Do not settle for passing or mediocre performance.  It will backfire.  Identify your weaknesses and work on them.  Do not be afraid to ask for help and be willing to do whatever is necessary to improve and meet your full God-given potential.

I

Involvement

Get actively involved in meaningful endeavors, such as community service activities and worthwhile organizations where your contributions can have a real impact on your campus and larger communities.  They will not only enrich your resume and profile, but in effect, you will grow enormously in your own personal and social development as a human being.

J

Juggle

Learn how to juggle many tasks efficiently at one time without allowing other things to suffer.   Law school places incredible demands on your time and you must prove the ability to handle competing priorities.

K

Knowledge

Make it a point to become as knowledgeable as possible about the law school admissions process and law school.  Acquire a good understanding of how to play the admissions game and what you can do to make yourself extremely attractive and interesting in order to give yourself a competitive edge against other equally or more qualified candidates.

L

LSAT

You must take the Law School Admission Test.  It is a critically important exam for law school entrance that all law school aspirants must struggle with and take.  Start familiarizing yourself with this test far in advance.  Plan to invest the time, effort and money to prepare hard, conscientiously and seriously.  Learn and master the test by diligently practicing on past exams under test conditions.  Ignore negative information, resolve to not make excuses, respect the great weight placed on this exam and do everything in your power to ensure that you will perform at the highest level of your ability.

M

Motivation

You must have an enormous supply of that inner-fire and intrinsic drive called self-motivation within you to provide you with the necessary vigor to do a variety of things.  Therefore, when you are ready to apply to law school, your accomplishments really stand out among a host of other equally and more talented people striving toward the same goal – that coveted seat in a law school class.

N

Negativity

Avoid all of the negativity you encounter.  That includes people and things and even your own negative attitude!  Refuse to give into negative thoughts or allow negative experiences and circumstances to discourage you from working toward your goals.  You are an achiever, a victor, a doer, a go-getter, a winner, an overcomer!  Do not allow life’s certain setbacks, failures, disappointments, hurts, obstacles and pitfalls take you off track and deter you!  They are there to make you even stronger.

O

Opportunities

Seek them out and take complete and full advantage of them when they present themselves.  Opportunities represent success just waiting to happen!  You must seize them!  If not, all that is left are ‘could haves,’ ‘would haves,’ and ‘should haves.’  If a door is opened, walk through it.

P

Proactive

You must take a proactive approach and take full responsibility for your life, choices and actions.  A proactive person does not wait for things to happen; he or she makes them happen!  As a proactive person, you must constantly think about what things you can do to make sure you receive the acceptance letters you desire after submitting your application materials.  Then, you move forward to take the initiative and act on those thoughts!  Ideas without corresponding action result in nothing!

Q

Question

Talk to as many people as you can, make contacts and ask plenty of questions.  That is an excellent way to find the information you need.  If you don’t ask, you may never know.  Asking questions even presents the chance to establish relationships with people who may act as role models, mentors and can assist you along the way and lay the foundation for exceptional recommendation letters.

R

Research

Take as much time as you can to research law school admissions, the law school experience, the different law schools, programs and offerings, and the legal profession, the myriad of things you can possibly do with a law degree and the legal job market.  Make use of all of the many resources available to you.  You want to choose a profession based on knowing that you did your homework and not just based on what other people have said or what you’ve seen on television.

S

Strategize

As soon as you realize you may want to apply to law school is the right time to begin putting together a strategy – a strategic plan – for successful applications.  Every aspect of what you want included within your application package should be a forethought instead of an afterthought.

T

Total Package

To make yourself among the group of the most highly qualified people, seek to show your strengths in every single possible area.  Show the admissions committees that your very presence at that school represents the absolute total package.  You represent good grades, high LSAT scores, well-roundedness in work experiences and community service, diversity in a multitude of ways, and even have that “special” something or “X factor” that makes you compelling that not every strong applicant possesses.

U

Utilize

Fully utilize your own capacity to make a difference and be a positive contributor wherever you attend school.  Demonstrate that you are the type of person to make the most of whatever is available to you.  Show that you’ve maximized whatever opportunities and resources that you had access to.  If opportunities do not present themselves to you, you should take the initiative to create them for yourself.  Be creative, industrious, enterprising and constantly on the look out for new possibilities and ways you can make a difference and stand apart from your competition.

V

Valuable

Courses that strengthen your reading comprehension and writing skills, logical and analytical abilities and critical thinking skills are considered to be highly valuable for law school success.  Take courses that will be valuable to you by providing you with helpful practice in these areas.  Not only through doing this will these courses bring value to you, they will strengthen your intellectual abilities to enable you to bring value to your law school discussions and written work.

W

Well-Rounded

Although grades and LSAT scores are the most important factors, still try to expose yourself to and get involved in a wide range of things.  Well-rounded individuals are more interesting to the admission committees and can be viewed as adding special dimensions of diversity to the incoming law class.

X

Xcellence

Strive for excellence in all that you do.  Accept only good things from yourself.  Do not settle for anything second rate.  Keep trying, pushing, striving and working harder.  It will not only place you on a higher plateau and get you to that next level, but others will notice, including the law school admissions committees – the people you are trying to convince.

Y

You

YOU are the person who will decide whether or not you get into law school.  You must have faith in and believe in yourself.  Although you should readily seek assistance and guidance from those you can help you, you need to depend on yourself at all times.   As much as other people may or may not want for you to do what is necessary to earn admission into a law school program, it is your decision as to whether it can happen for you.  It is ultimately your responsibility to ensure that you do everything necessary to realize your vision for your future career.

Z

Zealous

Go after your dream of gaining acceptance into law school and pursuing access to a legal education zealously!  Be enthusiastic, purposeful, spirited, eager, hungry, passionate, intense and simply willing to do everything within your power to make your dream a reality!  The lessons of life and the principles of success will not allow for anything less.

Copyright © 2000-2018.  Evangeline M. Mitchell.  All rights reserved.

Published
Feb 2, 2019
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