5 Tips for Nailing that Law School Admissions Interview

You made it through the LSAT. You asked for letters of recommendation. You ev en summarized y our entire life on a single page (y our rsum) before being giv en
two pages (double-spaced) to conv ince the school that y oure interested in law (personal statement).
And if that wasnt bad enough, they now want to interv iew y ou.
As the number of people apply ing for law schools decreases, many law schools are adding interv iews to the application process. Fewer law school applicants makes
this both logistically possible and important to creating a well-rounded class, instead of just taking any one with a high academic index (the combination of y our
LSAT score and GPA) and a semi-interesting tale to weav e.
Harv ard, Chicago, and Georgetown all require interv iews. Northwestern allows one by request. And new law schools are added to that list all the time.
Since its a relativ ely new phenomenon, there isnt much information out there about how these interv iews are going to go. So y our friends at Blueprint LSAT Prep
are here to giv e y ou some guidelines.
Law School Interview Tip I: Know the Law School
Ev ery one wants to feel special. And unlike y our dating life, law schools know y oure seeing at least 1 0 other people at the same time. You need to conv ince them
that they re at the top of y our list. This is The Bachelor, and y ou want to make sure they think they re getting the first rose.
So before y ou interv iew with the law school, do some research. Look into some professors who teach there. What programs do they seem to be proud of? What do
they focus on throughout their website? You should know these things so that y ou can drop them casually into y our answers.
Law School Interview Tip II: Know the Questions; Know Your Answers
Preparation is 1 and 2. It is key . Im repeating my self because its that important.
You could be asked about any thing in y our law school application. You might be asked normal interv iew questions (Whats y our biggest weakness, and how do
y ou ov ercome it?). You might be asked crazy , out-of-left-field questions.
You need to hav e answers ready .
So go ov er y our law school application. Check online message boards to see if any one has posted information about their own interv iew at that law school. Prepare
some generic answers (with places to insert references to the law school).
And for those curv eball questions, hav e one or two themes that define y our law school application and how y ou want the interv iew to go, and fall back on them
when y ou need to come up with a quick answer to an unexpected question.
Law School Interview Tip III: Dont Be Afraid to Ask the Interviewer Tough Questions
I hav e not heard from a single candidate who wasnt asked if they had any questions about the school. This is a great opportunity to get some insider information.
Ask about the law school. Ask about student life. Ask about what the administration has done to help with the notorious competitiv e aspect of law school. Get a
sense for the law school itself. Because y oure going to be stuck with them as long as they re stuck with y ou.
Law School Interview Tip IV: Dont Get Your Expectations Up
If y oure called for a law school interv iew, its a good sign. But its not a definitiv e sign. (Just ask Lindsay ; Sean completely blind-sided her in The Bachelor season
finale. My , uh, girlfriends a huge fan.)
Treat the interv iew the same way y ou would a note from the law school letting y ou know that y our application is complete. You dont jump for joy when they
receiv e y our letters of recommendation; dont celebrate too early here.
And, finally
Law School Interview Tip V: Send a Thank-You E-mail
Its just polite. Make y our mother proud.
Mar 18, 2013 - 6:55 pm - By Matt Shinners
Tags: law school, law school admissions, law school applicant, law school application, LSAT, lsat score, personal statement
Photo By Michael N. Patterson Attribution-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic (CC BY-ND 2.0)

One Response to 5 Tips for Nailing that Law School Admissions Interview
Copyright 2014, Blueprint Test Preparation. All Rights Reserved.
RDB says:
March 18, 2013 at 6:41 pm
Just an FYI, Georgetown does not require interv iews of all candidates. You cannot request an interv iew. Rather, the admissions committee will inv ite applicants
to interv iew if they need more info; its not required to accept, but honestly I doubt any one rejects their inv ite. They hav e 2 ty pes of interv iews: alum &
admission officer interv iews. Alum interv iews are one on one & admission officer interv iews are group interv iews.
As far as I know, GU is new to the interv iew game, so they may plan to ev entually increase the number of interv iews to where it is required.
Reply