Graduating Early & Law School Admissions Forum

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NGonzalez

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Graduating Early & Law School Admissions

Post by NGonzalez » Mon Jul 17, 2017 11:15 am

Hi! I just completed my freshman year of college. I came into college with credits from a local community college and 3 credits from AP. Based on the credits I entered undergrad with and the amount of credits I took during my first year, in the fall I will be considered a junior, making me eligible to graduate a year early.

I definitely want to go straight into law school.

Background information on me:

- My internship experience includes the U.S. Attorney's Office last summer and this summer I interned for a New York State Senator and am currently interning at law firm in Manhattan.
- I finished my first year of undergrad with a 3.97 and the credits I brought in with me from the community college were all A's.

Please let me know what you guys think. My main concern is that applying after two years of undergrad will negatively affect my application. If anyone has knowledge, personal experience, or their own opinions, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for all of your help!

grades??

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Re: Graduating Early & Law School Admissions

Post by grades?? » Mon Jul 17, 2017 11:22 am

It may or may not affect your school chances, but will certainly affect your employment opportunities. Firms don't want to to hire a 23/24 year old. They want people with experience, especially considering this is a client facing job. They want to know you will be able to do that in a professional way. Top students who went right through can struggle in finding a job because of this.

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UVA2B

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Re: Graduating Early & Law School Admissions

Post by UVA2B » Mon Jul 17, 2017 11:28 am

Congrats on getting to the endgame so early, and that won't impact your admissions chances much if your application is otherwise strong (had multiple 20 year olds in my 1L class), but you're doing yourself a huge personal disservice by plowing through straight to law school like that IMO. There is a ton of personal and professional value in taking a couple years to do something in the real world prior to deciding to dedicate a substantial sum of money for a career when it'll still be there in two years.

Coming from someone who did not go straight through, with numerous friends who have, it is pretty clear how our approaches to law school differed, and I personally fear for the wake-up call for some of them who are effectively extending their UG experience into law school without understanding the implications of starting the career that young/that fast. Just keep in mind that many people do not end up liking the practice of law, but more importantly, you don't get a second shot at starting this career. Once it starts, you don't get to push the reset button.

There is also something to be said for having some professional work experience when it comes to hiring, although that will take a backseat to how well you perform in law school. If you're a 21 year old with a 3.8 at Duke, you're going to be just fine. But if you're a 21 year old with a 3.3 at Iowa, you're probably going to struggle more than other 3.3s because you don't bring anything else of value to the table (no offense on this, very few law students do actually have anything valuable to bring to the table, but some work experience at least suggests you understand what the professional world is really like under the pressures of actual adulthood).

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cavalier1138

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Re: Graduating Early & Law School Admissions

Post by cavalier1138 » Mon Jul 17, 2017 11:31 am

Yeah, admissions won't be impacted, but there are a few thousand other reasons to not go straight through, including employment troubles once you're in school.

mcmand

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Re: Graduating Early & Law School Admissions

Post by mcmand » Mon Jul 17, 2017 2:26 pm

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