Hello! Does anyone have any intel on law school fairs and whether they are valuable to attend? I am on the fence if I should attend one in LA, it is about a 2.5 hour drive from where I live. A lot of law schools I am interested in will be there, but I don't know if is worth the drive. Does anyone with experience here know if you actually glean unique information attending these, if law schools track who they speak to at such events, or if showing face can have any impact on your application to xyz school? Curious and feeling rather uninformed. Thanks :)
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I went to the NYC one! Frankly, it was a bit overwhelming and you really don't get to have a personal moment with most of the schools. There were long lines for T20 schools, and it's hard to imagine that these short interactions will be particularly memorable for the AOs.
The schools do 'take attendance' by writing down your LSAC account number or scanning your ticket. This is so that you can be connected to them via email and also receive fee waivers. But I believe that you can glean a similar experience by attending virtual information sessions, reaching out to student ambassadors, and asking your questions to the admissions office in general.
I really appreciated the fee waivers, and I'm glad that I went because of them. But if you sign up for CRS on LSAC, schools will send you fee waivers whether you meet with them or not. And if you end up making a meaningful connection with an admissions person, I'm sure you can politely ask if you might qualify for their merit fee waiver (just double check online if they offer those, not all of them do) because you couldn't make the trip to LA.
I was curious to see if it did help my application to show interest (like it does for undergraduate admissions), and the general sentiment is that it won't really do much. I do like the virtual info sessions however, because it usually gives me something specific to talk about in my why x essays, but those also don't make a big difference either. It might help if you end up getting on a waitlist and you have to write a LOCI, then you have a recorded history of interest by going to these events! But otherwise, I don't think you'll be missing much if you can't make it to the forum!
@haena Thank you for such a thoughtful response!