Monday, October 12, 2009

TIPS for the UNLV Law Fair: Max it out!

Hooray!

The 2009 UNLV Law Fair is fast approaching! On October 26 from 9:00 am until 1:00 pm, more than 60 law schools will gather in the ballroom at the Student Union to answer your questions! Does it sound intimidating? Here with some suggestions on how to prepare yourself for the festivities is Amy Urbanek, the Prelaw Advising Coordinator at the University of Utah:

It can seem overwhelming at first to see all those tables, but relax - the representatives are accustomed to talking about their schools and are anxious to speak with you, so don’t be nervous. There are no "dumb" questions, and as long as you are polite and interested you will come across just fine. You are not there to be interviewed by the schools. These law fair representatives attend many similar events so they are unlikely to remember you. On the other hand, do mind your manners. They will remember you if you are rude, and that won’t work in your favor. You do not need to dress up, but do look respectable.

Take advantage of this opportunity to explore. Don’t just visit the tables of schools you have already decided upon. Wander through the room and talk to as many schools as you can. You might find a hidden gem that you would otherwise have missed.

It is perfectly acceptable to ask what a school is looking for in an
applicant. Ask this same question of a number of different schools. You will find many areas of agreement, but you may also find some areas where schools differ a bit, and may even pick up a few good "insider tips".

If you are speaking with an alumnus or current student from a law school rather than an admissions professional, ask them to give you "the scoop" on what it is really like to attend that school. What did they like? What didn’t they like? Do they have any tips on what it takes to be successful there? While they may not be able to provide the same level of detail on the law school’s programs, faculty, etc., the more informal information they can provide can be invaluable.

As you ask questions, make sure you keep track of each school’s answers. You don’t want to get home to find you have a wealth of good information but no idea where it all came from!

Great advice, Amy! There will be a lot going on, and it may be tempting to just wander around aimlessly. It's normal to feel a bit embarrassed about asking questions, so it's helpful to know what you want to ask ahead of time.

Amy's advice implies a couple of important pieces of information about the people you'll meet at the law fair. The most important piece of information is who you'll be speaking to.

Some schools will send someone from their admissions office. These people will likely have a say in who gets accepted an who does not. You'll want to ask these folks about what their ideal candidate would be, and what characteristics they hope their incoming class (as a whole) will have. You might not want to ask the sort of factual questions that you could easily have learned from their website (i.e., Which town are you in? How many students do you have? What is your US News Ranking?). You might also want to tread with caution when asking things like "How hard are the classes?" and "Who is the easiest legal writing prof?"

Other schools will send alums to the Law Fair. These are folks who have made it through the school's program and have emerged at the end of the tunnel with a J.D. in hand. These folks will not be sitting in on the admissions decisions, and they generally won't be law professors from that school, so the questions you'll ask them will be different. They might be able to give you a sense of what the admissions folks are looking for in their "ideal candidate," but they'll also be able to give you a sense of what it's actually like to be a student there. If you ask the admissions representatives about their "favorite thing about Law School X," they're likely to say something broad (and generally unhelpful, no offense), like "we place great emphasis on student diversity and we offer a quality educational setting..." Er..ok. We'd sort of figured that out ahead of time. If you ask the alums, though, they might say "I loved Professor Smith's tort class, but you'll never make it through if you don't ____," or "The library can be loud sometimes, but there's this great little spot on the third floor where the librarians hang out..."

Amy also points out that your conduct is important. You might like to think that nobody would remember you, but don't be so sure. You really don't want to be that guy. You know, the guy who says things like, "Why would anyone want to go to law school in East Lansing, Michigan? I mean, I think that my scores are probably way too high for your school, anyway." You don't want to be the guy who knocks over the admissions official's table and then laughs as she struggles to right the ship. While your good behavior might not go down in history, your bad behavior is likely to come back and bite you. You might also consider that the dress code in Vegas is a little more, er...well, permissive than elsewhere in the country. You don't need to come in a business suit, but it might help to have your midriff covered. I can't imagine that I actually have to say all of this, though, as I expect that you already knew it.

-UNLV Prelaw

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