Welcome to the Pforzheimer pre-law website! The pre-law team at Pforzheimer House exists to aid and mentor Pforzheimer students and alumni who are thinking about law school and legal careers, and especially those who are currently applying to law school. The 2008-09 pre-law committee is headed by our resident tutors in law, Robin Horton (C10) and Trevor Cox (C315). If you are thinking about applying to law school, or have any questions for the pre-law team, please email us at pflaw@fas.harvard.edu and we will add you to the House pre-law list. You may also contact Dena Rakoff, the pre-law adviser at OCS (drakoff@fas.harvard.edu), to have your email address added to her own pre-law list-serv. OCS hosts many informational events throughout the year which you should consider attending.
The first step for those wishing to avail themselves of the resources provided by the Pforzheimer pre-law team is to request a non-resident tutor who will provide you with personalized assistance and advice. The bios and resumes of our pre-law tutors may be found here. To make a request, please email pflaw@fas.harvard.edu. To the degree possible, you will be paired with a non-resident tutor according to your expressed preferences and tutor availability. Please request a tutor assignment even if you may not end up applying! Tutors can give valuable advice to help you make that decision. In the event that you do apply, it will be to your advantage to have an existing tutor relationship. In order to give the pre-law committee the necessary access to your House file you must sign a Request for House Letter form, which is also available at the House Office and should be returned there as well. Signing this form formally requests that a “House Letter” be produced on your behalf (see below) and it grants the tutorial staff access to your file in accordance with student privacy law (FERPA).
As soon as possible, please fill out and return to pflaw@fas.harvard.edu the Pre-law Questionnaire in order to give the committee some necessary information about your background and plans.
If you intend to apply this fall, you must register with the Law School Data Assembly Service (LSDAS) (fee waivers are available) through the Law School Admission Council (LSAC) (www.lsac.org: click on the “What is Required” tab to find info about fees, requirements, etc.). LSDAS will be the clearinghouse for most of your application materials, including your LSAT score, transcript, letters of recommendation, and applications themselves. All this information will be saved to your electronic file. It takes some time for LSDAS to process your materials, so the earlier you send them, the better. There is LOTS of crucial info at www.lsac.org—become familiar with it as soon as possible! Note: You only need to register with LSDAS when you are actually applying but your registration is valid for several years.
Register for the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) at www.lsac.org (fee waivers are available). Schools generally require that you take the test no later than the fall test date for consideration in the following admissions cycle (i.e., the December and February test dates are usually too late—check with schools individually to verify requirements). The registration deadline for the October 4, 2008 test is September 2; late registration ends September 12. There are earlier deadlines if you take the LSAT abroad and alternative testing days if you observe the Sabbath on Saturday. Register as early as possible—but not until you are ready!—in order to get a good a testing site; Boston area sites fill up very quickly. There are many books and companies that will help you prepare (Kaplan, Princeton Review, TestMasters) which have their own deadlines for enrollment. We think that the best preparation is actual old exams; you can order them through LSAC or Amazon.
You must have at least two letters of recommendation from academic instructors (if you are an alumnus with other experiences, one or more recommendations from an employer may also be appropriate). You should choose people who know you and your work well—a TF may be a more effective recommender than a professor—but try to have at least one letter from a professor (admissions officers have said that they value those letters more highly). You should give the recommender as much information as you can about yourself, including a copy of your resume. You should also give the recommender a deadline of at least 4 weeks after you have requested the letter and expect to have to remind him/her gently as the deadline approaches; it may be better for both you and the recommender to request it over the summer. Remember to send a thank-you note!
Give the letter writer:
Ask the writer to send one copy of the letter directly to LSAC (see www.lsac.org for details about attaching letters to applications) and one copy to the House office (attn: Jason Peoples). (We recommend keeping a copy at the House in case something goes wrong at LSAC and/or you want to use it again later.)
If you already have letters on file at the House, please give the House office (Jason Peoples):
It is very important to allow plenty of time for writers to finish letters and for LSAC to register their receipt. Both of these steps always take longer than you would like them to!
Office of the Allston Burr Resident Dean
Pforzheimer House
Re: Letter of Recommendation for [your name]
56 Linnaean St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
Law School Admission Council
662 Penn Street
P.O. Box 8508
Newtown, PA 18940-8508
A copy of your college transcript must be sent to LSAC (see different address below) by the FAS registrar, located at 20 Garden St. You can request either by mail or in person that this be done; in either case you need to fill out a request form, available at the registrar’s office or here. You will also need to provide the registrar with an LSDAS cover form (download it at www.lsac.org). If you have a transcript from another university, you will also need to contact that university’s registrar to have a transcript sent to LSAC (see www.lsac.org for details).
Law School Admission Council
662 Penn Street
Box 2000-M
Newtown, PA 18940
It’s all on-line these days, via LSDAS, though you can file by paper if you wish (note: we do not recommend paper applications). You can start completing applications as soon as they become available in the fall; you can save and return to your on-line applications at any time. Research each school’s application for individual requirements (e.g., some schools require a Dean’s Certification, additional essays, etc.). Application fees vary ($50-100, fee waivers available). In order to decide where to apply, you can research school websites, blogs, and books like Barron’s. Contact schools directly to be put in contact with current students and to arrange campus visits.
Since there are no interviews for law schools, the personal statement is your best chance to reveal who you are and to indicate your writing ability, both of which will take some time to do effectively. Although it is quite short (most schools require 2-3 pages, on varying topics), expect to write several drafts! There will be opportunities this fall to get feedback from members of the pre-law committee. Drafts can also be reviewed by Dena Rakoff and by staff at the undergraduate Writing Center. You also should update your resume, both to give to your recommender and to attach to your applications (see www.lsac.org for details about attaching docs).
Some schools do not require this step and it falls outside of the LSDAS process. Here’s the simple explanation: some schools require a college administrator to fill out a form to accompany your application. Harvard takes this to the next level by providing a letter written on your behalf that is sent directly (not through LSAC!) to all the schools to which you are applying. The letter is written by your non-resident tutor and is reviewed by the resident tutors, the Resident Dean, and the House Master. It is therefore in your interest to give us as much information as possible, via the Pre-Law Questionnaire and personal meetings.
Your role in this process is to check whether your law school requires a Dean’s Certification form—if so, it will appear under “Supplementary Forms” in that school’s LSDAS profile. Give to the House office (attn: Jason Peoples): (1) each completed Dean’s Certification form that the Resident Dean must sign; and (2) a stamped envelope addressed directly to each school to which you are applying (these will be used to send your House letter).
Late October / early November is an ideal ballpark in which to have your applications ready to be electronically submitted, with all of your recommendations received and available through the LSAC service and your House recommendation letter written and ready to be mailed. Please DO NOT DELAY any of the above steps in the application process: circumstances outside your control (such as LSAC’s processing of your recommendation letters) may delay your application despite your best intentions. We strongly encourage you to work with your non-resident tutor to set a timeline that meets your expectations, which the tutor can then help you stick to.