Lawyers 

Best Extracurriculars for Law School

If you're aspiring to become a lawyer, you're likely aware of the fierce competition for admissions. While a strong GPA and LSAT score are crucial, your extracurricular activities can make a significant different in your application as colleges tend to care a great deal about how you spend your free time (whether or not you spend this time productively). 

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Here are the different types of extra-curricular activities that can help you strengthen your college applications:

1) Law Related Extracurriculars

The majority of students entering law don’t have law-related extracurriculars. However, if you’re able to join mock trials, public speaking events, political activist groups, or even assist a professor in legal research, it’ll be easier to convince admission committees of your genuine interest in law.

Joining the debate team is an alternative option that also develops your legal skills. While the debate team isn’t necessarily related to law, you’ll be using skills lawyers use daily: forming and articulating persuasive arguments and quickly crafting rebuttals.Service Activities As one of the most common extracurriculars for law school, service activities are essential to have on your application.

2) Service Activities 

Lawyers work in the service sector and are expected to advocate for and support people in need. Luckily, there are various volunteer options you can choose from that count as service activities. Whether it be volunteering at a hospital, animal shelter, or with underprivileged students, showing you willingly dedicate your time to helping others is the primary goal.

A popular option for many students is to volunteer abroad in developing countries that require the most support. These types of commitments show true dedication as you willingly leave your own comforts to help make other people’s lives more comfortable.

3) Activities with Substantial Time Commitments

When picking the right extracurricular activities for law school, you’ll want to pursue those that require a substantial amount of time to showcase your dedication. Sports teams are excellent extracurriculars to join since they often require multiple weekly practice sessions. Another option would be to join your school’s orchestra or band since this would require you to attend frequent group rehearsals and practice on your own time. You may also seek extracurriculars outside of school, such as joining marathons that you have to train for or regular volunteer work with community centers.

Internships and jobs are also huge time commitments that can boost your law school resume. These internships and jobs don’t have to be law-related, but they do have to demonstrate you were able to effectively manage both work and school. Gaining some sort of promotion or award at this job will boost your resume even more.

4) Activities That Show Leadership

Lawyers must be able to work independently and be self-directed. So, you’ll want to join extracurriculars where you can take on leadership roles. A good way to show leadership is to show you progressed from being a general club member to becoming an executive member in an organization or being a part of the student government in your school.  

Another option many students choose is creating their own club or volunteer organization. While this is an admirable way to show both initiative and leadership, there are certain factors to consider in order to prevent this type of extracurricular from harming your application.

Creating your own organization in and of itself won’t impress the admissions committee. While it’s easy to start your own organization, it’s not easy to maintain it and get enough participants for it to be successful. Unless you’re willing to put in the extra work to make your organization thrive, it won’t help your application.

You also don’t want to fill up your resume with organizations you created by yourself, especially if the majority of these organizations are still in the start-up phase and have made little impact in your targeted community.

The admissions committee will see right through this and assume you’re insincere and only creating organizations to make your resume look better.  

If you feel you have an organization worth starting, you should definitely do so! Just ensure you stick with it for a long time, develop it, and work hard so it achieves its purpose.

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5) High School Jobs

If your are able to, get a job that will impress law school admissions committees. Jobs that require a lot of responsibility, leadership skills, and time commitment will look good to admissions committees because it demonstrates your work ethic and maturity.

Some high school jobs that will prepare you for law school include: 

• Legal Assistant

• Community worker

• Research Analyst / Assistant 

• Internship with a Law Firm

• Starting your own Small Business

You have a ton of options to choose from for high school jobs that can prepare you for law school, so pick the one that most interests you!

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Do Law Schools Care About Extracurriculars?

While your GPA and LSAT score are two of the most important deciding factors for law school, your extracurriculars can also impact your application. Every law student is required to complete their undergraduate degree as the bare minimum to be considered for admission.

If you only complete the minimum, you're less likely to impress the admissions committee. Extracurriculars are the extra step students can take to go above and beyond. Additionally, extracurriculars can humanize you as they give insight into your character, your passions, and your skills.

Aside from giving the admissions committee more information on who you are, extracurriculars show you can juggle and excel at mutliple commitments. Your extracurricular history can demonstrate that you are disciplined and have already begun developing the necessary skills to help you thrive in law school.

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