Law school requires rigorous reading and analysis, thinking on your feet and making persuasive arguments. So, admissions officers value applicants who have demonstrated these abilities under pressure.
Undergraduate grades and standardized test scores are considered powerful evidence of these academic skills, because of their correlation with high performance in law school. However, they aren’t the only way to show your strengths as a candidate.
Admissions officers pride themselves on looking beyond numbers. As part of the holistic admissions process, they account for many “soft factors” that may be intangible, unquantifiable and hard to compare.
Here are some soft factors that may enable applicants to stand out despite low grades or disappointing test results:
— Work experience.
— Service experience.
— Overcoming adversity.
— Extracurricular activities.
Work Experience
Many law schools, especially the most selective ones, now prefer applicants with at least one year of full-time work experience.
Applicants with law-related work experience have a leg up, but even jobs far from the courtroom can show skills relevant to legal practice. Law schools value applicants who have handled competing responsibilities and worked on solving real-world problems, whether in science labs or film studios or corporate offices.
[Read: ‘Typical Law School Applicant’ Is a Myth]
Undergraduate students without significant work experience might consider taking a gap year to build out their resume and potentially secure a recommendation letter from a supervisor in an environment outside the classroom.
Service Experience
Law is a service profession, and applicants who have served others are seen as an asset to law school clinics and classrooms.
Law schools greatly appreciate military service, particularly if distinguished by a record of leadership, specialized training, honors or promotion. Veterans have demonstrated discipline, maturity and judgment under stressful conditions.
There are other ways to serve beyond the military. Applicants with experience in law enforcement or emergency response can make a good case for performance under pressure. Service in the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps or Teach for America shows commitment and resilience. Many forms of paid or volunteer community service can provide evidence that an applicant can handle responsibilities and collaborative work.
Applicants should include such experience on their resume and elaborate in their personal or diversity statement.
[Read: 7 Things I Wish I Knew When I Applied to Law School]
Overcoming Adversity
Sheer brainpower isn’t enough to meet the demands of law school. Mental qualities like discipline, resilience, flexibility and a positive mindset can be even more important in the long run. Over the course of three years, every law student will face stress, disappointment and self-doubt, and those who can take hardship in stride are best equipped to thrive.
Admissions officers seek to evaluate applicants in the context of the disadvantages they have faced, from first-generation students to applicants with disabilities. Don’t be afraid to put such challenges in perspective.
Applicants can show their courage and resilience through their essays and recommendation letters. Law schools aren’t necessarily looking for superheroes; writing with humility about learning from setbacks can be more effective.
Some challenges may best be addressed through an addendum, such as personal circumstances that brought down your grades or required a withdrawal from school.
[Read: How to Strike the Right Tone in Your Law School Application Essay]
Extracurricular Activities
An applicant with a flawless college transcript may lose out to one who managed strong grades while juggling work, extracurricular activities or other responsibilities.
Campus leadership, varsity sports and law-related activities aren’t the only ways to stand out. Applicants can show commitment and teamwork by actively participating in lower-profile activities like volunteering with local youth or taking part in social or religious organizations.
Ultimately, applicants should work hard to achieve high grades and master the LSAT, because these factors are paramount in the admissions process. But choosing applicants based only on their grades and scores would be like blindly buying a house based solely on its address and price per square foot.
Instead, law schools seek to build a balanced class that represents a range of personal strengths and life experiences that numbers alone cannot express.
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Soft Factors That Can Help Law School Applicants originally appeared on usnews.com
