How to Screen the Best Law Schools for You

Some law schools have annual open house programs, one- or two-day affairs meant to attract large numbers of people to campus at one time. Open houses provide the tours, speakers, and classroom visits that Gonzaga lists in the above quote (although at least one law school offers only a "simulated class," whatever that is). Meetings with law professors and students, as well as with recruiters, also can be scheduled. There are often special small group sessions or workshops for candidates with special needs or problems; if you're a member of a minority group, for example, you will have an opportunity to get together with other minority candidates and minority law students. Some law schools offer receptions or luncheons and a few make overnight accommodations available.

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Some law schools have several open houses through the year. The University of Nebraska, for example, held general "visitation days" on ten Tuesdays and Wednesdays during the fall of 1991 and hosted an eleventh program, on a Saturday morning, specifically for minority group members. Your campus prelaw adviser will have scheduling information for nearby law schools. If you request a catalog from a law school, you'll probably get announcements for the next several programs.

Some law schools have also started "outreach" programs. These are designed to promote the law school among minority group members and others whom the law school is making a special effort to attract. Schools with outreach programs make special efforts to publicize their open houses, by means of special mailings to prelaw advisers and to undergraduate minority student organizations and fraternities, and sometimes to community groups as well. You may find details of open house programs on church and social group bulletin boards, or in advertisements and activities listings in your campus newspaper.

You will be able to see more of the law school and talk to more people if you visit during an open house. But as with any open house, the law school is prepared for your visit and on its best behavior. The floors are carefully swept and any secret law school skeletons have been carefully stored in dark, locked closets. Also there are often crowds at open house programs. You may find it difficult to get all your questions answered.

If you visit individually, the reps may have more time to spend with you, and you may get a glimpse of the law school's ordinary routine. But because you can't intrude too much on the working life of the school, you may not be able to visit classes, get a complete tour of the facilities, or talk to faculty members or students.

Still, because of scheduling problems, most of you will have to arrange individual visits. You can reduce expenses by going in small groups with your friends, with the campus prelaw club, or with your parents. Each year, a rep from IIT/Chicago-Kent Law School arranges for Bradley's prelaw club to visit three or four Chicago-area law schools during a single day trip. Four Bradley fraternity brothers took a tour of five or six Eastern law schools during one spring break, driving from city to city and staying overnight at local chapters of their national fraternity. (If you're a nontraditional applicant and you are planning to attend law school to improve your career opportunities with the firm at which you are currently employed, some of your application expenses, including travel, may be tax-deductible. Check with your accountant.)

You should always call the law school admissions office for an appointment. At a minimum, this guarantees that there will be a rep available to speak to you. Admissions offices are usually very accommodating and will work around your schedule. But you should honor any request to choose another day: they try to avoid disruption during law school final exams or when some special event is scheduled. If you have some special need or interest, mention it when you make your appointment. The admissions office will try to answer your questions about financial aid for minorities, for instance, if it knows in advance that the questions will be asked. Find out where visitors are supposed to park.

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Try to arrive early-if possible, at the beginning of the school day. Walk around before your appointment. Check out the parking, the pedestrian route from the subway, or the other transportation arrangements. Try to get some idea of what it's like to move around on the campus. Are buildings close together? Are they laid out logically? Don't be put off if the buildings are old, but look to see if they're well cared for. At the start of business in the morning, the rest rooms should be clean. Institutions often respond to financial problems by cutting back on maintenance. Vandalism, beyond the amount normal in large cities, can be a sign of student disaffection or of poor relations with the neighboring community. Try to determine whether problems are chronic or temporary. If traffic is tied up because the law school is building a new building, the problem may evaporate before you arrive.

If the school has student housing, does it seem neat and well kept? Walk around in the neighborhood. Is there a great deal of foot traffic? Are there small businesses-bookstores, movie houses-that indicate a thriving cultural life? Or is the neighborhood nearly deserted, populated only by a few furtive figures hurrying past boarded-up store-fronts?

Sit in the cafeteria as students arrive. Do they look healthy? Are there groups of alert people endlessly discussing and debating, with books and notes spread out in front of them? Or do the students look harassed and fearful? Do they tend to sit alone? Do they seem distrustful when you try to make conversation? Law is best studied where there is a vibrant intellectual climate, and the best law schools find ways to encourage students to talk about legal issues with each other, and with faculty members.

Take the time to look at the school's facilities. The library should be open early; in fact, many law libraries are open around the clock. Whatever books or equipment the school provides should be accessible and in use.

Look at the bulletin boards in the classroom buildings and library. Among the posters offering to sell used cars, there should be advertisements for numerous activities, some course-related (speakers, exhibits), others career-related (book and software company advertising, law firm recruitment visits), and still others simply social (law fraternity activities, intramural sports, picnics and dances, even movie and theater nights). If there's a vibrant intellectual climate, there will be a place where students post cartoons and joke memos. The only way you'll be able to find out about the existence of such valuable services as a night escort program for women will be to see it advertised on a bulletin board or in a campus publication.

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