Work Experience

Pam Beesly

Hi everyone!

I had a question about the application process. So I had to be a full-time student throughout my junior and currently my senior years of undergrad (taking 18-20 credits each semester to help recover my GPA) as I was placed on academic probation my sophomore year due to being a biochemistry major and failing my math and science classes. Because of this, I have not had any time to devote to a professional/significant job to put on my resume (aside from working part-time as a teacher's assistant for a few months before quitting to focus on school). So that being said, how important is work experience (or lack thereof) in law school applications? Is it a deal-breaker for admission officers? I plan on applying to mainly NYC schools (Fordham, Cardozo, St. John's, Brooklyn, etc.) if that helps.

TabbyG123

I think experience, generally speaking, is important, regardless of whether it's "work" (ie. paid) or "academic" (ie. unpaid stuff for school) or "extracurricular" (ie. school-related, non-academic).

So outside of professional experience, my question is, "what did you do with your time instead"? Were you especially involved in student organizations? Did you conduct research in a lab or independently? If you were heavily involved in them, if you showed leadership, and/or if you made considerable impact through them, can potentially be even more impressive than a lackluster job experience. The schools just want to know that you weren't doing nothing.

TabbyG123

All that being said, GPA and LSAT together are anywhere between 70-99% of whether or not you'll be admitted. So don't sacrifice points on your LSAT or a .10 on your GPA spend studying in order to try and take on a job or extracurricular activity instead (unless it's REALLY impressive).

Pam Beesly

@PublicInterested great advice, thanks so much!

Leah M B

Law schools do like work experience, but a good GPA counts for more. If you need to not work in order to focus on school, that should be your priority. Worst case scenario would be taking a year or two after undergrad to work full time. Which honestly, I think isn’t a worst case scenario but a very wise choice. Either way though, your GPA is really important. It’s the only thing that can’t be fixed or raised after the fact. You can study for the LSAT for however long you need, and have summers or after graduation to work. But once your classes are done, there’s nothing you can do to change the GPA. Keep those grades up!