Name: Furqan Nanji
Major: Electrical engineering
Law School: UCLA
How many
schools did you apply to? What criteria did you use in picking these schools? Eight.
1.
Weather
2. Rank
3. Money
4.
Location
5. Diversity
6. Proximity to ocean
Not necessarily in that order.
I also applied to the ones in the top 30 that
let me apply for free.
How did
you prepare for the LSAT? Do you have any advice? Take 30 or so practice
tests. At the very least take 15 under
actual testing conditions. Only take the
REAL LSAT tests; don't bother with KAPLAN or PRINCETON book tests.
It's very possible to study for it by yourself
like I did, but if you don't have discipline a course is recommended.
What
strategies did you use in networking with the professors and employers who
wrote letters of recommendation for you? Just ask the ones that you know on a
personal level and that have an above average opinion of you. Most times they will be more than willing to
help. There is no magic formula to
this. If you haven't bothered to develop
or maintain relationships with profs or employers over your academic of
professional career you're SOL
If you had
a chance to go through the process again, is there anything you would have done
differently? I would have started earlier.
To get into the top 20 schools or get juicy scholarships, you almost necessarily
have to take the June LSAT and get applications out at least 2 to 3 weeks
before Thanksgiving if not sooner.
Is law
school like you expected it would be? Why or why not? Mostly it is. During the semester it's about 3 to 4 hours
of reading a day and then towards the end I was studying around 12 hours a day. I didn't expect it to be that competitive or
involve that much work. Law school is
cut-throat and everyone is smart, ambitious & Machiavellian. People that don't thrive on being competitive
usually drop out pretty quickly.
Any final
advice? Go
to the highest ranked school that you get into.
That is the only thing that matters to law firms next to grades. If that's not an option then only price
should be a deciding factor.
Basing a decision on factors like diversity, 'the
party scene', class size etc will not help secure a job at a top-notch law firm
in the end.
