Written by Robin Houghton
This past weekend, LEAP students drove into Houston to attend the Law School Admission Council’s Houston Law School Forum. This event brings together representatives from over a hundred law schools across the United States, allowing prospective law students to speak directly with them about the law school experience. Even though some of us are only sophomores, we all arrived eager to learn more about law schools across the country.
The purpose of the law-school fair is to educate pre-law students about law school in general and about specific law schools in particular. For the general aspects of law school, the fairs have workshops on topics such as “paying for law school” or “applying to law school.” Law school representatives are there to answer specifics, with LSAC also suggesting specific questions for each school (see, for example: Law School Forums and Fairs Near Me | LSAC).
With so many schools to choose from, we ended up at the South Texas College of Law, a law school that frequently visits SHSU to present to our Pre-Law Society. We were excited to reconnect with a familiar name and ask more personal questions about their law school and the admissions process.
One of the most memorable moments came from visiting the table for the University of Minnesota Law, a school I have been interested in for a while.
Speaking with Robin Ingli about the university’s concentrations and focus on Human Rights advocacy made my many options in law schools clearer. Their emphasis on public service and practical training was a highlight for me, and I left knowing more about a school I thought I already knew a lot about.
Overall, the experience is much like a career fair, with lots of booths to pick up literature and the like.
Much of the information can be found on the schools’ websites. But, as a sophomore pre-law student, the event allows you to see all the opportunities that exist, which is perhaps more than people come into college realizing.
And, for the upper-classmen among us, the experience allows the opportunity to obtain more specific information and narrow down options. It’s a worthy event.
