Law-School Admissions Workshop

Twenty-five SHSU students just moved closer to enrolling in law school, thanks to an appearance by Ricky Kaplan at the LEAP Center’s first-ever “law-school workshop.”  Kaplan, a consultant and instructor for Kaplan Testing, also served as Legislative Counsel for the state of Oregon, Assistant Attorney General for the state of Illinois, and Assistant Attorney General for the state of Texas.  He also has a BA from U of Minnesota, a Masters from Northwestern, and a law degree from U of Minnesota.  He knows about law.

And he shared it with SHSU students last week, kicking off the workshop with the major factors that law schools look at when deciding whether to admit a student.  The factors are:

  1. LSAT
  2. GPA
  3. Personal Statement
  4. Letters of Recommendation
  5. Resume
  6. Background

He purposefully led with LSAT because, whatever its flaws, “it is the only measure the law schools have that is consistent across every student in the US, and it does a pretty good job of predicting first-year law school success.”

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The LSAT and GPA guide students in which law schools to apply.  If a law school, say Texas Tech, has a mean LSAT of 155 and a mean GPA of 3.4, then a student with a 156 and 3.5 is probably going to get in.  A student with a 149 and a 2.9 probably won’t.

While the numbers for schools vary from year to year, the following numbers generally reflect the law-school “means” of Texas law schools:

UT: 165, 3.65
SMU: 161, 3.6
Baylor: 160, 3.5
UH: 159, 3.5
TX Tech: 155, 3.4
TAMU: 154, 3.3
South TX: 150, 3.1
St. Mary’s: 150, 3.0
UNT: 148, 2.9
TSU: 145, 2.9

While these two measures (LSAT and GPA) are the most important factors in getting into law school, the personal statements, letters of recommendation, and the resume can also make a difference in a close case.  His advice for the personal statement was to be genuine, to emphasize narratives, and to emphasize the positives about yourself.  When stuck with writer’s block, he encourages students to forget they are writing a personal statement and write four-five stories about their life.  These often reveal something meaningful about the person and can subsequently form the basis of a compelling personal statement.

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For personal statements, go with people who know you and your work.  Professors are probably best, but for people out of college for several years, employers can write the letters.  Avoid “friends of the family” or folks you think are important but aren’t directly familiar with your critical thinking, writing, and communication.

After arming us with advice, Kaplan took a break and then worked with individual students on their personal statements, answering questions about addenda to the applications, and how best to prepare for the LSAT.

Such advice may not get students into the University of Minnesota or Northwestern, but it will maximize the chances they have of getting into the best law school available to them.

 

 

 

A Last Day in Dallas

After a roller-coaster weekend at UNT Law, we had a half of a day left in Dallas before returning to SHSU.  We decided to use it by having a little fun and enjoying good food.

We could have had both in Klyde Warren Park, one of Dallas’s newest success stories.  Known as the “front lawn of the arts district: for its proximity to the arts district, the park provides an interesting 5-acre public space for families to enjoy a morning or afternoon.  It also has a ring of food trucks, offering fare of every kind, making it a great place for a group as diverse as ours to go.  But because we like to explore, we had our fun at Klyde Warren Park, before moving elsewhere for lunch.

There are large green spaces at Klyde Warren, with a .45-mile walking trail around it.  Along the trail or mini-recreation areas: a kids’ park, a board-game station, a reading library station,

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a putting green, a Foosball table, and an amphitheater.  The amphitheater can be used for bands and such at night, but is used for yoga at 10am daily.  The day we were there, almost 100 people were participating in the yoga relaxation/exercise techniques.

But our primary purpose was to throw the frisbee around, and we soon learned who could catch.

Austin_Frisbee_2_WebAustin, for example, can catch.  In the picture above, notice the Jordanesque-shadow. Of course, he played college football until this year, so we expected him to be athletic.

Austin_Frisbee_WebAs it turns out, though, Kaitlyn Tyra can also catch, and she may be a dark-horse for our Spring 2015 Charity Football game.

Professor Yawn is getting up there in age, but we let him play because he grades us.

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We think Megan can catch,  but we aren’t really sure.  She had a strict rule to only move one step in any direction, which earned her the name “One-Step Chapa.”  Here she is impersonating a stork.

Megan_Frisbee_WebBut the day wasn’t particularly intense for any of us.

Park_Frisbee_WebNotice the halo over Professor Yawn’s head.

Following some more fun, we had to call it a day at the park…

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…and return to the hotel.  As we preparing to check out, the hotel went dark.  The electricity went out.  The LEAP Center Ambassadors pride themselves on adaptability, but this was difficult for Constance Gabel, who was stuck in the hotel elevator.  The fire department was called…

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…and Constance was extricated from the hotel elevator.

Just in time for us to eat at Twisted Root, a restaurant that specializes in burgers and root beer.  Their burgers are wonderful, and their root beer is interesting.  The flavor of the day was “Irish Creme Root Beer,” which was better than the root beer from the last time we were there: Grape Root Beer.  Of course, that was better than their “Coconut Root Beer.”  Their regular root beer is excellent.  And their burgers are great.

Twisted_Root_Burger_WebOne of the interesting aspects of their restaurant is that, when you order, they provide you with a name from popular culture as your signal that your burger is ready.  In our group, we had Eva Mendes (Kaitlyn), Serena Williams (Beatriz), Apollo Creed (Austin, of course), Matlock (Yawn), Mike Modano (Brian Aldaco), and others.  It was interesting to see who knew which references, a process that led Austin to say, “Son, you need to watch more television” to one of the newer members.

With a general consensus that Twisted Root is a good place to lunch, we allowed Constance one more groupie for the weekend…

Groupie_Twisted_Root…and headed home.

But not for rest and relaxation!  The week ahead involved our weekly meeting (Monday), a law-school application workshop (Wednesday), a Moot Court Practice (Thursday), a volunteer meeting (Thursday), the showing of Nosferatu (Thursday, whew), a Mock LSAT (Saturday), and a volunteer event (Saturday).

More to come!

 

 

Moot Court Scrimmage: Aftermath

After an intense 24 hour period competing and observing Moot Court proceedings, the LEAP Ambassadors, Moot Court participants, and members of the pre-law cohort decided to relax a bit, explore the history of Dallas on a Segway, and fill their bellies.

The relaxation involved some downtime at the hotel, followed by an ice-cream treat.
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Shortly thereafter, another treat was in order.  We stopped by Segway Nation for a tour of Dallas on a segway.

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It was a beautiful time of day, what movie-makers call “magic hour,” and we made the most of it with pictures.

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But, of course, with it turning a bit dark, Austin felt he need to serve as a protector of the group, and adopted a secret-service/tough guy look.

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At first, not everyone felt totally relaxed…

Segway_Alex_Close_Up_Web…but eventually everyone got the hang of it, and we headed off to see Dallas.

The segway tour took us to Pioneer Plaza, a large outdoor sculpture that consists of 49 bronze steers and 3 riders created by sculptor Robert Sommers.  Note that it appears that Alex is saluting when, in fact, that it is a longhorn projecting in front of her face.

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The tour, led by excellent guides Doug and Jack, also took us by I. M. Pei’s Dallas City Hall, where we were able to turn and see the beautiful Dallas skyline which, according to our guides, is regularly listed as one of the five most beautiful in the US.

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The tour also took us by the Kennedy assassination site on Elm Street.  The students had a chance to get off the segways and walk to the “X” spots, which mark where the Oswald’s shots hit Kennedy.

JFK_Elm_Students_WebWe also entered the Kennedy Memorial, designed by Philip Johnson, one of the great architects of the 20th Century.

Kennedy_Memorial_Student_WebSpeaking of Johnson, we were also able to go to Thanksgiving Square, a public space he designed in the 1970s as a means of racial and cultural healing.  With a replication of Rockwell’s “Golden Rule” painting…

…and the “Ring of Thanks,” where visitors are encouraged to stand and offer thanks.  From the center of the ring, the sound reverberates, symbolically echoing the many things for which we are thankful.  In our group, thanks went to family, opportunities, school, and even the LEAP Center.

Thanksgiving Square also has a spiral chapel adorned with one of the largest stained glass assemblages in the world.  The glass, designed by Gabriel Loire of France, is designed to become brighter as it ascends and moves to the center.

In the midst of such beauty, it was easy to be thankful.

And with that, we returned to the segway base, where we shed our helmets and headed to Hoffbrau Steaks (thanks for the recommendation, Doug!) and enjoyed a robust end-of-the-day dinner.

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But before heading out we gave a few more thanks: to our LEAP Ambassadors, who came to Dallas to cheer on their Moot Court friends; to the Pre-Law cohort, who came to check out the action and consider joining the team for next year; for Kristyn, who decided to stick with the “team” rather than go home; and to our coach, Jean Loveall, who spent a lot of time teaching us the finer points of law.

Moot Court Scrimmage: Reinforcements Arrive

While SHSU’s Moot Court teams were winding up their day in Dallas, a new crew was setting out from SHSU to observe Saturday’s proceedings.  The new crew consisted of LEAP Ambassadors and potential members of next year’s Moot Court team: Megan Chapa, Constance Gabel, Karla Rosales, Beatriz Martinez, Jamaus Williams, and Brian Aldaco.

Before arriving at the hotel, they stopped at Afrah’s, a Middle Eastern restaurant.  Despite the fact that at least three of the students had never had Middle Eastern food before, they dug in with gusto, trying chicken schwarma, beef kabob, chicken  kabob, lamb kabob, hummus, babaganooj, falafel, and tzatziki sauce.

Group_DinnerAfter a long drive and good food, they settled in with the Moot Court teams, learned about the next day’s proceedings, and rested.