Pre-Law Advising Navigation
Pre-Law Advising
Timeline
First-Year and Sophomore Years
- Select a major in a field that interests you and allows you to excel academically.
- Begin to form relationships with professors, lecturers, and TAs so that they will know your work well enough to serve as recommenders in the future.
- Expand your education by seeking summer jobs or internships in fields of interest.
Related Links
Junior Year
- Meet with the Director of Pre-Professional Advising to assess your academic, extracurricular and work experiences and to discuss the application process.
- Begin preparing for the LSAT; if you are ready, register for the June administration.
- Secure a summer job or internship, if possible, in a law-related field.
- Research law schools and compile a list of tentative schools.
Senior Year or Application Gap Year
- Subscribe to the LSAC Credential Assembly Service (CAS), a fee-based service required to apply to law school.
- Schedule a pre-law advising appointment with the Director of Pre-Professional Advising, who will help you construct an application timeline and assess the relative strength of your application.
- Authorize the official release of your information to Haverford for statistical purposes.
- Request that official transcript(s) from Haverford, as well as all other undergraduate institutions, are sent to CAS.
- Request your CAS report and ensure its accuracy.
- Subscribe to the LSAC Candidate Referral Service (CRS) for law school recruitment purposes, including possible application fee waivers.
- Attend law school admissions information sessions and panel discussions offered by Haverford and by LSAC.
- Ask professors and supervisors to write letters of recommendation on your behalf, providing them with appropriate instructions, information, and CAS forms.
- Send Dean's Certifications to the law schools that require them.
- Finalize LSAT test-taking schedule, including the October exam.
- Begin revising your resume and drafting your personal statement and other application essays; critiques are available from the Director of Pre-Professional Advising
- Complete the FAFSA and school-specific institutional financial aid applications, beginning on January 1.
- Continue to meet with the Director of Pre-Professional Advising to assess your best options and questions in the decision-making process.
- Take appropriate action on acceptances, waitlist status, and financial aid packages, paying attention to law schools' seat deposit deadlines.
- Visit law schools (in person or virtually) to which you have been admitted, focusing on attending official Admitted Student Programs.
- Send a final transcript to any law schools where you are still in consideration.