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I am currently a 1L at the Florida State University College of Law.
The decision to attend Florida State for law school was a difficult one. The process of
deciding was an arduous one, with the admissions process spanning, for me, nearly three years.
During this time I was "going to attend" numerous schools. Along with my exhaustive research on nearly
every law school in the country, I battled the LSAT and the search to come up with the money to
carry me through the admissions process.
In the end, I had the luxury of choosing between the schools that I thought fit me the best. I chose not based on prestige, but on compatability. I am a firm believer that one should go where one will be the happiest, unless unusual circumstances should dictate otherwise, e.g. inability to relocate, etc. Many choose a law school based on its ranking alone. This, I feel, is disturbing, at best. Choosing a law school, in my opinion, should not come down to deciding which name would look better to other people on your diploma. There are many good reasons to choose the highest ranked school you get into, e.g. wanting to work at Cravath after graduation, but the "wow factor" should not be one of them. With this mentality, I narrowed my list of schools to Kansas, Nebraska, and Florida State. This list was much narrower then the nearly fifteen school list that I applied to. I was, thankfully, not rejected from any, and left behind tremendous schools, e.g. Cornell, Columbia, Washington University, and Iowa. There are many reasons why I chose Florida State over these other fine schools, but I will not get into them here, nor will I offer a philosophy on choosing schools. Each person's situation and desires are different and all of a person's individual factors should be taken into account before making a decision. Many people ask for advice on getting into the school of their dreams. The answer is simple: Do well on the LSAT. My score placed me over the 90th percentile and it allowed me a wide range of fantastic options. Despite what many people think, a great G.P.A.,alone, will most likely not get you into a great school. Other important factors include your personal statement and recommendations. Unless your activities and/or work experience are stellar, e.g. you have nursed sick babies back to health in Africa, or have worked as a C.E.O., or as a professor with numerous publications, they will most likely not help you. For the most part, law schools do not care if you were president of an organization or worked as a supervisor at McDonald's; this is especially true at the top schools. The simple reason for this is that these factors do not effect a school's ranking--the LSAT mean does. There are other reasons, but perhaps they are more suitable for placement in my "musings" section. If you are considering law school, my advice would be to learn everything you can about the process and law school itself. Read every book and every web site on the subject, and try to take some law related courses so that you can see if you are really interested in the law. If you find that you are, good luck in the process. Feel free to email me any law school or law school admissions related questions; I would be happy to answer them. Below is a list of my first year schedule at Florida State as well as a link to their website. First Year Course Schedule Fall: Civil Procedure, Torts, Contracts I, Property I, Legal Research and Writing Spring: Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Contracts II, Property II, Legal Research and Writing II The Florida State University College of Law Home | |
