Category: Law

Law School Discussions: With STCL and TAMU

McKenna Nonnennmann

“How do we get into law school?” is the most common question Pre-Law Society members ask . There are many factors that go into a competitive application.

The two most important factors are the LSAT and GPA. Beyond that, law schools look at letters of recommendation, the student’s resume, and their personal statement.

For the last meeting of the year, the Pre-Law Society invited South Texas Law School and Texas A&M Law School to answer burning questions about the law-school admission process.

The entrance requirements are different for these schools. On average, TAMU Law has an incoming class with a 167 LSAT and a 3.9 GPA, while South Texas has a 154 LSAT and a 3.45 GPA. Despite these differences, the process for selecting applicants is much the same.

LSAT and GPA are the two most important factors, and one way to think of their impact is in terms of categories. A student with a higher than median LSAT and GPA is in the “likely admit” category, ” a student just below average might be “possible,” while a student with scores significantly below the median LSAT and GPA would be “unlikely.”

The law schools stress that the applications are looked at holistically, meaning that other factors: resumes, personal statements, letters of recommendation, and the like can matter. These are, however, more likely to matter if you are “on the bubble.” If you have a 2.2 GPA and a 130 LSAT, it’s very unlikely that a strong personal statement will get you serious consideration at either STCL or TAMU Law.

Both schools stressed that it is important to build relationships with professors and work supervisors, as letters of recommendations from them can be helpful in the process. And work experience can convey important qualities: punctuality, responsibility, a strong work ethic–and, in some jobs, critical thinking, writing, leadership, and management skills as well.

In the LEAP Center, we encourage progressive development:

  • First Year: Solid grades, take the Mock LSAT, find an organization or two;
  • Second Year: Develop study plan for LSAT, improve grades, begin looking at internships, consider officer positions in organization;
  • Third Year: Begin serious study for LSAT, have interesting college experience (study abroad, professional internship), show leadership potential; deepen relationships from potential letter writers;
  • Fourth Year: Take LSAT beginning Senior Year; apply for law school; round out college experiences.

During this final meeting, we also took the time to celebrate this semester’s graduating seniors. Tyrielle Bradford, Tonya Le, Ariza Martinez, Rylee Smith, and Brad Williams are our graduating seniors! All received a cord to reflect their time and dedication to the Pre-Law society.

Continuing the celebrations, Mark Harkrider, America Santillan, Christina Biello, and Noah Gilbert were awarded a $250 scholarship each! Their names were pulled at random in a small raffle game. 

We would like to thank South Texas Law School and Texas A&M Law representatives for taking time out of their schedules to join us today. We have learned a lot and hope to use this advice beyond our law applications. Thank you to all new and old members for joining us on this journey through the semester. Good luck to all this semester’s graduates from now and to the future. Please follow us on our socials for more information and future events with the Pre-Law Society! Happy holidays and see you next semester! 

Mock LSAT Fall 2023

With the goal to find out how they will score on the LSAT, the Law School Admission Test, 37 SHSU students arrived on the Huntsville campus at 9:30 am on Saturday, October 21 to take a Mock LSAT. Assessing skills that are needed in law school and in the practice of law, the LSAT tests reading comprehension, analytical reasoning (sometimes called the Logic Games section), and logical reasoning (often termed the argumentative section). The LEAP Center offers a Mock LSAT at no charge in fall and spring semesters. In spring semesters, the Mock LSAT is limited to members of the SHSU Pre-Law Society.

Beginning with the August 2024 LSAT, the scored portion of the LSAT will consist of one Reading Comprehension section and two Logical Reasoning sections. Although the LSAT will continue to assess the analytical reasoning skills of LSAT takers, the LSAT will no longer use the format of Logic Games. Glen Stohr, lead instructional designer for prelaw programs at the education company Kaplan, opined that the second Logical Reasoning section “will include a heightened focus on word problems.”

There is no change in the structure of the LSAT between now and the June 2024 LSAT. The rigorous research conducted by lsac.org on the updating of the LSAT structural change as of August 2024 confirms that the new approach will not impact the overall LSAT scores. In addition, there will be no impact on the high correlation between LSAT scores and first-year law school success.

For more information or questions on the LSAT, the SHSU Pre-Law Society, or pre-law and law school advising, please contact Jean Loveall at jal072@shsu.edu.

Learning Law: the DA Way

McKenna Nonnenmann

For our mid-semester Pre-Law Society meeting, we had the honor of meeting Walker County District Attorney Will Durham. Born and raised in Huntsville, Durham carries a lot of pride for his hometown, and after a successful career as a personal injury attorney, followed his “calling” into public service.

Durham went through the structure of the District Attorney’s office, laying out the office’s divisions, responsibilities, staffing, and community involvement. This structure includes divisions for hot checks, protective orders, other misdemeanors, felonies, and victims assistance. The DA also uses interns from SHSU!

Durham also went in depth about some of the updates he made in the office, primarily making it as efficient as possible through the purchase of software and other technology. Now, for example, all discovery can be done electronically, saving costs in terms of copies (and trees). Moreover, Durham described his hiring philosophy, as the 3 Hs. His office wants lawyers/staff who are hungry, happy, and humble. In other words, he wants people who are eager to learn and work, will bring a good attitude to the office, and keep the focus on the public service–not themselves.

We were very grateful for Durham’s enlightening presentation, and I know many in the room are looking forward to applying for internships at the DA’s Office.

That was not the meeting’s only business, however. We also had our normal business matters, as well as elections!

Of our existing officers, VP of Finance (Emily Albright), VP of Membership (Nicole Erazo) and Historian (me!) were unopposed. VP of Marketing (Ariza Martinez) has only one meeting left before graduating, and Cinthia ran unopposed to succeed her. But for President and Secretary, there were challengers.

Olivia Discon came into the meeting as “interim president,” and she quickly distinguished herself as a hands-on officer, working to gain more involvement and greater campus and community participation. Yliana Santillan, a junior at SHSU, challenged her, with Ms. Discon emerging victorious.

Jasmine Crooks has served as Secretary for the past year, and she was challenged by Jessica Cuevas, who first joined the organization in the fall of 2021. Following their presentations, the vote showed Ms. Cuevas as the winner.

As always, we are grateful for all the people who decided to run for office and serve the organization, and we hope those who came up short in the elections will still find ways to contribute their considerable talents to the organization.

Most of all, we are grateful for Mr. Durham for his wonderful and educational presentation.

We’ll see everyone at the November 15 meeting!