The law school application process is one that is ever evolving and becoming increasingly more accessible to those marginal applicants for whom the dream of law school is just something they (up until college) really believed could never become reality.  Now, with organizations like The Council on Legal Education Opportunity – CLEO, students have more knowledge and resources at the fingertips than ever before that can put them exactly where they want to be professionally.  With so many resources becoming more accessible, it’s no wonder that free, personalized assistance on the path to law school would be no exception.

By now, it should come as no surprise that the people who can likely help you the most in a personal way are those wonderful souls we call Pre-Law Advisors who, with their years of experience guide students as they navigate the steps necessary to get to law school. But how do we connect with these individuals?

To current college students, your institution should have someone designated as a Pre-Law or Pre-Professional advisor that knows about the application process and can directly assist you with key components of your application.  If you don’t know who that person is, you can often start in the Political Science and Humanities departments as these departments will often have someone assigned to assist with the law school application process or who at least has knowledge of the process, particularly in smaller institutions.

To college graduates, current students without a campus-designated Pre-Professional advisor, or individuals of the community who no longer have access, help is still readily available by logging in to your LSAC account and seeing who your area Pre-Law advisor is in your profile.  They will always have their contact information there and available so you can connect with these folks readily and easily.

This leads me to my next point. I have been advising Pre-Law students for the last 10 years and had conversations with dozens of Pre-Law advisors over the last few years about advising best practices. And many of us have realized that many of the impacts from COVID-era advising are here to stay. Among them, virtual advising.  What does virtual Pre-Law advising look like? Virtual advising replaces or supplements in-person advising by having students communicating with their advisors either over the phone, over Teams, over Zoom or other media that would allow the simple exchange of information and ideas in an effort to assist students preparing to attend law school. We were all a little hesitant in the initial days about how this would impact students’ ability to connect and open up with us about important historical moments in their lives that they might like to include in personal statements, or really even students’ ability to know and understand that we were an available resource for them. But it has blown my mind to see how students [and advisors] have really taken to virtual advising.  I have been able to assist students while they’re walking to their next class with a question that had held up their completing their law school resume. I’ve worked with students who couldn’t get out of watching younger siblings at home to come to a campus appointment. I’ve worked with working students who are in the breakroom on their lunch break, sitting in their cars for an oil change, driving out of town on a family trip.  The fear of missing connection with the students has been met with the reality of connecting with more students than ever who now have answers to their questions, ideas to help them get started with writing essays, support they didn’t know was available for challenges and disabilities they have. It really has been beautiful to see.

So how can students take advantage of virtual advising? Simple! Get in touch with your Pre-Law advisor, and, echoing my fellow advisor Maya Russell, do so as early and often as you can. Don’t feel like you are bound to drive to campus or meet in person for quality support and assistance. You can get the same advising virtually as you could face to face. You can get the same kind and supportive connection from your advisor virtually as you could face to face. If you don’t have time for phone or video calling, email correspondence with a Pre-Law advisor can also get the job done. You can also work with someone outside of your region easily as well. This may be the case if you’re currently attending school in a different state than your home state and want someone from back home to help you instead.

Help is out there! It’s just a keystroke, a phone call, or a video chat away!