This month I was given the opportunity to talk with NC State alumna, Amber Dover. Amber graduated in the spring of 2021 with her bachelor’s in criminology. She now attends Wake Forest Law. I was thrilled to have the chance to speak with her as I am interested in law school myself, and wanted to find out what advice she had for current undergraduate students interested in a similar path.
Amber began studying for the LSAT in April of her junior year using an online prep course. The course met live online a few times a week and allowed for real time explanations and problem solving. Following this course, she took the LSAT in July and August. After her July testing, she worked with a private tutor that allowed her to focus specifically on the section that gave her the most trouble, rather than a generalized approach that is typical of a larger prep course. She explained that this really led to a score increase and was worth the extra time spent. I was curious whether she felt the online courses were worthwhile or if she felt it was just as useful to self-study with LSAT prep books. She brought up some great points, one of which was that the online courses really hold you accountable and allow you to work through trouble problems with someone who can explain it in real time, and in different ways. Prep books can be extremely helpful on their own, but unless you are highly motivated to set aside the time to study, it can be extremely easy to procrastinate.
After receiving her LSAT scores, she began applying to law school around October of her senior year. The application process included quite a few elements: LSAT scores, transcripts, letters of recommendation, a personal statement, and your resume. She highly recommended writing your personal statement and then getting as many people as possible to review it. You want it to be as polished as possible and by having lots of different people read it, you will end up with a much stronger statement. Additionally, if you are concerned about your resume, she mentioned that the Career Services Center offered by NC State is a great resource to get help and feedback on your resume.
After applying to all of the schools you are interested in, it is a great idea to go tour the schools, or at the very least visit the campus. In her experience, she found that a university she really thought she wanted to attend was not the right fit for her after touring. Many law schools will also allow you to sit in on a class so you can get a feel for the school’s unique classroom setting, as well as an idea of how a law class operates. At Wake Forest, the class sizes are relatively small (around 40 people) and you have the same group of people in all of your classes. This has been great for Amber as it has allowed for close knit relationships and a sense of community with her peers and professors.
A typical day for her involves waking up fairly early and working on readings for her morning classes. After attending her morning classes, she has a lunch break where she will review the readings for her afternoon classes. Once her afternoon classes end, she goes home and does even more reading, eats dinner, and then works on homework once again before finally going to bed. It is no doubt a lot of work and she mentioned that she feels that if you are not completely convinced that law school is right for you, then you might want to give it a little bit more thought. It is a commitment both financially and academically and if you are not motivated to be there, it will only be more difficult. While that does seem intimidating to someone still just considering law school, there is a bright side. She added that if you have the motivation and willpower to make it through studying for the LSAT and taking the LSAT, then you will be just fine in law school as the testing and test prep is already a huge commitment—nobody takes standardized tests for fun!
While it is a huge commitment, she says that it is very important to find something in your day that you enjoy doing that allows you to take a break from all the work. For her, it is taking the time to walk her dog. Whether it is taking care of a pet or enjoying a different hobby, she definitely believes taking some time for yourself every day is important!
While Amber does not yet know what type of law she will eventually practice, she is interested in both family law and business law. She hopes to end up practicing in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was so great being able to get first hand insight into the process of law applications as well as hearing about what has been involved with her first semester of classes.
This post was written by Kathleen Huber, a criminology and psychology major and a Department of Sociology and Anthropology Student Ambassador.
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