Although the PLS has been involved in several informal events this spring, our first official meeting was February 21. And what a meeting! We had the honor of hosting two past Pre-Law Society presidents: Victoria McClendon, a first-year attorney; and Quinn Kobrin. a third-year law student at the University of New Hampshire. We also had the pleasure of having Blake Roach, an Associate Legislature Director at the Texas Farm Bureau, back on campus.
Our meeting started off well, as we learned that we had 96 members, our highest-ever membership total!
The meeting continued on this note, as McClendon and Kobrin offered great advice on what law school is like. “It hits everyone like a brick wall,” noted Kobrin. Noting that undergraduate classes at SHSU are nothing like law school, McClendon and Kobrin suggested going out of our way to take challenging courses that teach us to think critically, read a lot, and to write.
Blake Roach also offered much-valued advice. He described his time as an advance-man for Greg Abbott, teaching him skills in preparation, event planning, research, flexibility, and networking.
All members of the panel encouraged students to push themselves, to get out of their comfort zones so that they can navigate more comfortably in the professional world. Going to professional events, taking on internships, working professional jobs, surrounding yourself with other professional students all work to make you more successful in the long run.
The meeting ended on a high note. After several years of fundraising–including work done by our past Presidents (including, of course, Victoria McClendon and Quinn Kobrin), we were able to donate $25,000 to SHSU to endow a scholarship. We closed the meeting with a “check presentation.”
Thanks to all our great panelists, and to all those who joined (or rejoined) PLS this semester. For future events or information, visit our Instagram @prelawshsu or email President Olivia Discon: ojd004@shsu.edu.
Our next meeting is March 20 at 6pm!
As a special note, we’d also like to thank all of our PLS Presidents who have helped us achieve this endowment: Megan Chapa (our first PLS President), Kaitlyn Tyra,Victoria McClendon, Quinn Kobrin, Heather Noman, Yvette Mendoza, Jade Miller, and Olivia Discon.
For the past ten years, SHSU pre-law students have anticipated participating in the Mock Law School Class presented by Professor Val Ricks, Professor at Houston’s South Texas College of Law, and author of law school casebooks on contract law.
This semester, the LEAP Center was excited to welcome the following guests to the Mock Law School Class: Judge Kim Webb, an SHSU alum and a current Justice of the Peace in San Jacinto County; and Ryann Bauer with student members of the Huntsville High School’s Criminal Justice Program.
As in an actual law school class, Professor Ricks expected the 46 registered students to come to class prepared by reading and briefing the case beforehand. After briefly stating the relevant facts of the contract case, Ricks used a random number generator to select students to discuss the legal issue of the case. With skillful Socratic questioning, Ricks led the pre-law students through the analysis of the legal issue in the case, the rule of law, and how the court applied the rule of law in the case.
Neehal Ahmed appreciated Professor Ricks’ teaching style. Ahmed commented, “Professor Ricks made contracts, a daunting subject, seem far less scary through his patient and thorough explanation of concepts and their functions.”
At the conclusion of the contract case discussion, Professor Ricks presented the students with a hypothetical set of facts, similar to a question on a law school exam.
Ricks called on students to analyze the legal issue posed in the hypothetical and asked the class how a court would rule on the legal issue based on the legal reasoning from the contract case discussed earlier in class.
In reflecting on the Mock Law School Class, Christina Biello mirrored the thoughts of a lot of attendees before attending the class. Christina explained, “I was both frightened and eager because I had no idea what to anticipate, even after hours of preparation. However, experiencing Professor Val Ricks’ instruction confirmed my desire to attend law school, and it no longer seems as daunting.”
Neehal Ahmed summed up the experience by recommending “Professor Ricks’ mock law classes to any of those who are interested in attending law school but are scared of the subject matter they may encounter. If you come prepared, this experience can put a lot of your doubts and worries to rest.”
The LEAP Center and Pre-Law Society would like to thank South Texas College of Law–Houston and Professor Val Ricks for their time. As Professor Ricks noted, “I’ve been doing these visits for long enough that I’ve taught students at SHSU in the mock law class, then taught them a class at STCL, and seen them graduate. It’s very gratifying.”
We’d also like to thank Ms. Bauer from Huntsville High School and her wonderful students Hannah Ruth, Riane Davis, and Bethany Bell…
…as well as Judge Kim Webb.
It was a pleasure to have other programs in the community with a dedication to educating students join us for this enriching event!
ChatGPT was released for public use on November 30, 2022. Because law firms are starting to use ChatGPT, some law schools, such as the University of Tulsa College of Law, are incorporating how to use ChatGPT ethically into their law school required legal research and writing courses.
There is no consensus among law schools, however, regarding the issue of allowing applicants to use ChatGPT in the law school admissions process, especially in the personal statement requirement. Dean Sue Ann McClellan, Assistant Dean of Admissions at the University of Memphis Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law, explains that the Memphis law school now asks applicants to acknowledge that the personal statement is their own work product and that the applicant did not utilize AI/ChatGPT. The University of Michigan University Law School bans ChatGPT in law school applications. In contrast, Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law allows law school applicants to use ChatGPT in their law school applications, including in their personal statements. Arizona State’s law school requires that law school applicants must disclose if they used AI tools, similar to the requirement to acknowledge if they used a professional consultant.
Interestingly, Troy Lowry, Senior Vice President of Technology Products at lsac.org, compared law school applicants’ personal statements with the proctored, timed LSAT writing samples written by the same students. Lowry found that “AI managed to predict correctly better than two-thirds of the time whether the author was the same or not and provided reasons to support its predictions.”
Therefore, what are the best practices for a law school applicant regarding the issue of using ChatGPT?
First, an applicant should always review and follow the policy regarding use of ChatGPT for each law school to which the student is applying. Secondly, and most importantly, understand that your personal statement, written by you as opposed to ChatGPT, will be more authentic because it is your unique story. Your personal statement will allow the law school admissions committee to understand, and remember, the real you.
Just imagine, if Taylor Swift chose ChatGPT to write her songs instead of writing her own songs, would Billboard Magazine be announcing that Taylor Swift now holds the all-time record for the most #1 hits on Billboard’s Pop Radio Chart?
Despite the pandemic, we were able to kick off our first Pre-Law Society meeting of the Fall 2020 semester. Our advisor, Mike Yawn introduced the PLS to all the new members and explained our agenda for the evening. For the first meeting, we had the great honor to have a Zoom meeting with two special women, Alicia Cramer and Shawn Adams, to discuss law school and answer any questions we may have in regard to admissions.
To begin, we first had Shawn Adams speak. She is not only an attorney, but she is also the Assistant Director for Recruitment at Texas Tech Law. She discussed how Texas Tech has a ‘dual degree program’ where a student can finish their first year of school, then start their Masters. They can complete law school in three years, receiving both Juris Doctor (JD) and an MBA. She also mentions how you can be a “student attorney” where you can work under a licensed attorney and have clients and go to court, which I felt like caught a lot of members’ attention!
Dean Alicia Cramer was next. Cramer is the Assistant Dean of Admissions and South Texas College of Law. To showcase the school, she mentioned how they were recently nationally ranked for their Moot Court and Mock Trial teams. As an assistant dean, she emphasized the importance of being involved in different programs and clinics the school offers. She also encouraged students to begin building relationships with people who may write letter of recommendations.
Following the presentations, the guest speakers took questions.
Two questions that stuck out to me were:
Q: Do I need to apply separately for scholarships, or will I receive automatic consideration through the admissions process?
A: You can do both. Depending on your situation, you can apply for financial aid, but also you can earn money depending on your GPA and LSAT scores, so study!
Q: I was another major for two years and it tanked my GPA. Even with the A’s and B’s I have been making in my Pre-Law major, my GPA hasn’t touched a 3.0 yet, does that ruin my chance to be accepted?
A: No, if your GPA isn’t the best and your LSAT scores are subpar, your personal statement will really dictate your acceptance or not. You want a great personal statement that not only describes you as a person but also explains why your grades were not the best. You need to stick out during the admissions process and show the board why you deserve to attend their law school.
After the Q&A portion of our meeting, we applauded and thanked them for their time and insight on the navigation of law admissions. To end our meeting was officer elections. The group had eight members running for positions of VP of Finances, VP of Membership, Secretary and Historian. With time running short, members’ speeches were short and to the point. For President, we have appointed Quinn Kobrin (senior), VP of Finances, Leslie Canchola-Rangel (junior);
Thirty or so bright- eyed students attentively paid attention to Danielle Saveedra, the Associate Dean of Recruitment for Texas Tech University’s School of Law. She was presenting information on the next stage these aspiring attorneys-to-be were contemplating: applying to law school. Crucial questions such as where to start when considering law school, the application process, and what to look for in a law school, were all discussed during the presentation and absorbed by the students.
Ms. Saveedra had come to SHSU to guide us through the process of preparing for law school. In a nutshell, she walked us through:
A timeline for law-school preparation
Taking the LSAT
Deciding which law schools to send applications
Applying to Law School, including
sending in transcripts, reference letters, the resume, and the personal statement
This may sound quite simple, however it is in fact considerably challenging. A law school’s environment whether cut-throat or nurturing, emphasis on certain types of law, and cost of living, Ms. Saavedra told us, will influence where a student may decide to go. Decisions on what law schools to apply to (each application has a fee), or choosing between a good law school that costs less versus a more prestigious at a higher cost can pose challenges even to a well-prepped student.
However, all of these decisions were weighed and measured during the law school informational. Ms. Saveedra covered every single possible piece of information needed to be successful in law school and gave constructive tips. Every prospective attorney left reeling with information, but departed knowing they were now better prepared for the challenging journey ahead. Law school will now be less intimidating, allowing students to further their education in the legal field.
Rejuvenated from sleep, we woke ready for our day, which would consist of touring the University of Arkansas Law School, hiking and catching a movie to wind down.
University of Arkansas School of Law
When we arrived at the University of Arkansas School of Law, we met with Ms. Kalesha McGraw, the Assistant Director of Admissions, and she welcomed us to the school before taking us to the student lounge for a quick overview of the law school. We learned about the admissions process, the class schedules and sizes, and the student life in Fayetteville. We also learned about notable (former) faculty such as Bill and Hillary Clinton. If Hillary Clinton becomes elected, University of Arkansas -Fayetteville will be the first law school to have more than one faculty member become President of the United States. The rest of the Q&A section with Ms. McGraw consisted of questions that ranged from the cost and the admissions process to the actual courses and the structure of the classes.
After our informative Q&A session, we walked upstairs to observe Professor Day’s Professional Responsibility class. This is a required course and helps students prepare for the Multi-State Professional Responsibility Exam (MPRE). This exam is a prerequisite for taking the Bar Exam and tests law students’ knowledge on ethics. During the summer fewer students are on campus, but classes are still in session. The topic of discussion for class today was on conflicts an attorney may face during their practice. Throughout the class, the Professor explained conflicts using cases where ethical issues arose. To explain a complicated scenario, the Professor and students even role played a scene which presented the situation in an interesting and clear way. We enjoyed the class and our Professor’s informative teaching methods!
Following class, we took a quick tour around the building visiting places like the courtroom and the library. The law school was even nice enough to provide lunch for us! Satisfied, we stopped to admire the Jesus Moroles sculptures in the courtyard…
LEAP Ambassadors at University of Arkansas School of Law, Jesus Moroles’ Sculptures
…and the front of the school on our way out.
Front of U of A Law, With Additional Moroles Sculptures
Many thanks to Ms. McGraw and the University of Arkansas- Fayetteville Law School for their hospitality!
After a morning filled with learning and a long trip, some of us decided to take a mental and physical break. Others, however, soldiered on, readying ourselves for a brief bit of shopping and a hike in Devil’s Den State Park.
Before driving down highway 170 into Devil’s Den State Park, we stopped to peak into some shops in town. Once everyone was satisfied with what they had purchased, we began our journey to Devil’s Den. As our second hike of the trip, the first being the climb up Pinnacle Mt. near Little Rock, we felt prepared and pumped up for the rugged expedition that we were about to take part of. With the sun falling on the horizon, the weather was a prime condition to explore inside the woods.
Devil’s Den
This 2,500 acre state park offers myriad outdoor activities, from rafting to camping to hiking. We chose the latter, embarking on the Devil’s Den Self-Guided trail, which is 1.5 miles round-trip.
As we began on our trail we descended down masonry steps. Such modifications to the trails and other man made structures within the state park were once Civilian Conservation Corps projects from the Great Depression. The engineering talent of these laborers is clear when taking these steps and observing how strong they still are, even after almost a century of its construction! The traces of useful man made structures became fewer as we went deeper into the woods.
Ahead of us stood trails traced through the rocky cliffs with trees filtering the sun and casting a serene shadow over the whole scene. Then, the trail neared a river, waters sonorously rushing through and echoing through the woods. This sound at times kept us focused, as we knew that as long as we kept the river at our left shoulders we were going the right way. Along the trail, at times encountering uneven, slippery and rocky ground, we found caves in which the temperature inside would lower presumably by ten-twenty degrees.
LEAP Ambassadors in One of Devil’s Dens’ Caverns
The trail also goes by the more descriptive name of “Double Falls” Hike, so named because of two falls that appear about halfway through the trail. For us, though, the trail could have been named “Triple Falls,” because, hearing water of the main trail, we made tracks over a hill to find a small waterfall.
To get there, we had to cross a log bridge…
…but this only added to the excitement of our discovery.
Having safely traversed the fallen-tree bridge, we frolicked in the waterfalls…
…okay, frolicked may be too strong of a word. But we did have fun.
We found additional falls further along our hike.
Waterfalls in Devil’s Den State Park
Only a few feet beyond these falls was another waterfall, equally as delightful.
Waterfalls at Devil’s Den State Park
From our trek we had worked our selves into perspiration and slight exhaustion. The refreshing, cool water of these natural showers, however, were just the perfect manna we needed to continue on our journey through Devil’s Den.
From the falls, the hike wends it way downhill, which offers another striking view of the falls.
And this perspective provided additional photo ops.
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We even found another log bridge on which to climb.
LEAP Ambassadors Enjoy Devil’s Den State Park
As we completed the 1 1/2 mile hike, ducking our heads to evade pesky spider webs threaded from tree to tree…
…we contemplated our accomplishments. We had finished another hike on our trip! With tiring limbs and sweaty backs, we climbed the van with a sense of victory and ready to relax and catch a movie.
But, first, we made two more stops. We picked up food from Hammontree’s, an excellent grilled cheese specialty restaurant in Fayetteville. We also made our way to Mt. Sequoyah, the highest spot in Fayetteville, where we watched the sunset.
LEAP Ambassadors at Mt. Sequoya
It was, we thought, a fitting end to a wonderful trip.
Movies and Winding Down
Once we had freshened up at the hotel, we climbed back into the van and drove to a near by movie theater to watch the remake of Ivan Reitman’s hit movie, Ghostbusters. Even though the original film is about 30 years old, most of us had previously watched it and waited in anticipation through the previews to see how similar this remake would be to our beloved original.
We found many differences between the new film and the original Ghost Busters film, an obvious one being that women instead of men were playing the lead roles. Most of us focused more attention to the fact that Paul Feig’s film also includes multiple nods to Reitman’s original and Sigourney Weaver, Dan Akroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and even Bill Murray make appearances. After an hour and forty-seven minutes filled with laughs that echoed in the theater (mostly Megan’s), we were ready to turn in for the night to prepare for our long journey home tomorrow morning.
For the past five years or so, the LEAP Center/Junior Fellows have teamed with Kaplan Testing to offer a Mock LSAT every semester. It is part of a larger set of offerings–and informational resources–that SHSU provides to help students fulfill their law-school goals.
Taking the Mock LSAT serves at least two functions: (1) It prepares them for a testing environment, making them more comfortable when they take the real thing, and (2) gives them a better idea of where they stand on the test and, therefore, how much more studying they need to do.
With those objectives in mind, 34 students showed up for the Mock LSAT on Saturday, October 17, 2015. Ricky Kaplan, an instructor from Kaplan Testing, joined them, providing the test and, afterward, a few pointers.
The actual test is approximately four hours long. There are five sections of the test, and each is 35 minutes long, with a short break in between. One of the five section is “experimental,” meaning that only four of the sections count, but the takers do not know which one is real and which is experimental. At the end, there is a 35 minute writing section. The writing section doesn’t count toward the LSAT score (120-180 scale), but it is sent to the law schools.
The Mock LSAT doesn’t have the experimental section or the writing section, but it is the closest thing that students are likely to get to the real test. Often, students take the test at home under less-than-realistic conditions (untimed or generously timed sections, frequent breaks) and then score much lower on the real test.
The LSAT is offered four times a year: in February, in June, in late September (or early October), and in December. Planning ahead is a key factor for students. The December test, for example, occurs the Saturday before finals. The February test occurs after some law schools’ application deadlines. Planning your college career such that you will be able to prepare for the LSAT, take it during a fortuitous time, and still get all applications in is part of the law-school success story.
Not surprisingly, according to national data, students with better GPAs and LSAT tend to apply earlier in the application process, with lower scorers and lower GPA-students applying well into the spring. To elaborate, about half of the students apply before January 15 of the year they want to be admitted. Of the students who apply by January 15, the mean LSAT/GPA is about 157/3.28. Of those who apply in March/April, the mean LSAT/GPA is less than 150/3.1. In short, students who have prepared more fully throughout their college careers tend not to procrastinate, have less need to retake the LSAT, and can more easily get letters of recommendation and other materials together.
One other set of facts that might be interesting. What majors are most likely to get into law school? The information below provides students’ majors, the percentage of students with that major accepted to law school, and the total number of students with that major accepted to law school. Political Science again leads the way, with about three times as many POLS students admitted to law school as any other major.
As expected, the results tend to track with the breakdown of LSAT scores by major. At the top of the rung, you have majors such as Philosophy (157.4 mean LSAT), English, and POLS. The bottom four, all coming in below the national average, include Sociology, Communications, Business Administration, and Criminal Justice.
The results aren’t surprising. Majors with the most reading involved (Philosophy, Classics, History, POLS, English) have acceptance rates above 80%. Bright, intellectually curious students tend to be attracted to these majors, and the majors tend to encourage (require!) lots of reading and critical thinking.
More hands-on oriented majors such as Criminal Justice and Business tend to perform less well on the LSAT and, by extension, tend not to get into law school at the same rates. The same is true for the “soft” social sciences, such as Sociology and Social work.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that switching your major will help you get into law school. The best strategy is to follow the field you love, and you’ll likely study more and make better grades. But if that field doesn’t require a lot of reading (or a lot of rigorous reading) or much in the way of critical thinking and writing, then you may wish to add an academically rigorous minor and/or to supplement your formal curriculum with much leisure reading and some organizational work that will require genuine critical thinking (e.g., Moot Court).
Over the past ten years, law school applications have generally declined. The number of applicants ten years ago, for example, was 37% higher than this past year across the nation. But that has not been true at SHSU. In fact, law school applications from SHSU have gone in the opposite direction. In 2005, 67 people applied to law school. Since then, applications have increased 50%, and the number of SHSU students accepted to law school has tripled.
As a result, no doubt in part because of the Mock LSAT and other preparatory offerings at SHSU, the University is now one of the “Top 240 Feeder Schools” as measured by the law school admissions council. After moving onto the list in 2009, SHSU now ranks 156 in the country, in the top six percent nationally.
Center for Law, Engagement, and Politics 