Admissions Straight Talk

How GW Law Reviews Applications: Timing, Waitlists, LSAT Optional, and Scholarships [Episode 616]

• Accepted • Season 2 • Episode 616

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Applying to law school and wondering how admissions decisions really get made? In this episode of Admissions Straight Talk, Accepted Law Consultant Brigitte talks with Sophia Sim, associate dean for admissions and financial aid at the George Washington University Law School (GW Law), about what applicants need to know – from rolling admissions timelines and waitlists to scholarships, LSAT-optional pathways, and professional etiquette. With decades of experience in law school admissions, Sophia offers clear, honest advice to help applicants make smarter decisions throughout the cycle.

00:00 Introduction and Background

02:43 The Challenges of Law School Admissions

05:10 Understanding the GW Law Admissions Process

08:26 The GW Law Waitlist Process Explained

10:58 Navigating the GW Law Personal Statement

13:51 LSAT Optional: Who Should Consider It?

16:37 GW Law Part-Time Program Insights

19:15 Final Thoughts and Advice

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Introduction and Background

Brigitte

Hello, and welcome to Admission Straight Talk, the podcast that brings you the inside scoop on what it takes to get accepted and thrive at the world's top academic programs. Today we're talking about all things law school. My name is Brigitte, and I'll be speaking with Assistant Dean Sophia Sim from George Washington Law School. Tune in to hear some inside intel on how to approach your law school applications. Before diving in, I just want to introduce myself because I'm a new host. My name is Brigitte, and I work with Accepted to advise students who are looking to go to law school. It's a long process. I have lots of questions. My students have lots of questions. So we're excited for this opportunity to speak with Sophia. Also, we've intered uh interviewed Sophia once before, so I hope listeners will go back to that interview. Can learn a lot of interesting things about GW and what makes them unique. Sophia, welcome. Thank you. Thanks for coming over today. And I did have a couple kind of big picture questions, and then I wanted to get into the nitty-gritty of some of your prompts at GW and also what you're looking for at GW. So I think students get get confused with all the overlapping prompts and all the details, and sometimes hearing straight from someone who works in this day in, day out is just really helpful for them. So that's what I'd love to do. Let's dive in. Yeah, just kind of on the big picture. What draws you to admissions work? What makes what do you love most about it? You know, I I kind of fell into this job 30 plus years ago.

The Challenges of Law School Admissions

Sophia Sim

I I started out um thinking I was gonna practice traditional law, and then I took one of those Meyer Briggs tests, which I don't think people take these days anymore, but it said I should go into higher ed. And I disagreed vehemently and I took the test again and tried to skew my answers, and the same thing happened. I and I did enjoy my experience in law school and in uh college, you know, doing other things besides the just studying. And so I started my first job with legal counsel over at the University of Maryland and then had a director position, not in admissions, but I kept in touch with all my deans at my law school, and then an opportunity came up, and one of them, you know, this is I never really thought about networking, but this is a great example of why networking works because before I left, I I met with all the deans just to understand what they each did. Besides from a student perspective, I really wanted to understand if this was a career I should jump into. And every year I'd send them a little holiday card with my resume and say, you know, how are things going? And then four years later, I think one of the deans contacted me and said there was a position, was I interested? And that's how I fell into that job. And then here at GW, same thing happened. Someone had heard I was on some committee work and they asked me if I was interested in this applying for this position, and same thing. So one of the a good point toward the value of networking.

Brigitte

That's great. That's really great to hear because we talk about that all the time. And this is just a good example of it actually happening and working really well. And then thinking, what do you consider to be the most challenging part of your job in admissions for a law school?

Sophia Sim

Challenging for me is really, if you ask me this year, I would say all the changes within the financial aid, because I have both an admissions and a financial aid hat. So the different loan regulations, the department of ed, all that stuff is very challenging at this time. But overall, when I look over my um 30 years in law school admissions, I would say it's really the volume. Every school I've worked at has high volume. GW has the third largest volume of applications, you know, nine to 10,000 per year just for one else, not even including transfers. And with that comes, you know, emails and documentations and a lot to review applications, and then a lot of emails to go back and forth. And I feel like this generation and my kids are in college, so I hope I still connect with them. You know, they just uh even with my daughters, I'm firing off text all the time. And I feel like Africans see that with emails. They're just it's it's a conversation, it's not a one email where you answer everything. They go back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And next thing you know, you've you've exchanged 10 emails and and you've lost time to review applications and just managing all those things is a lot.

Brigitte

So yeah, that that is a lot. And we're gonna I have a question about that a little bit later about how students manage the waitlist process because sometimes I sense there's what they want to do, and another is the reality of what you would like them to do.

Sophia Sim

Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah.

Brigitte

Yeah.

Sophia Sim

And then there's all these changes. Admissions is not static, especially at law school. I don't know if colleges change that much, but law school, you know, there's first there's digital LSAT, then there was taking the GRE, now there's JD next, and and of course we have a test optional process as well. So it's just a lot of changes that happen. So in technology, et cetera.

Understanding the GW Law Admissions Process

Brigitte

So Yeah, and I'm definitely going to ask you about the the LSAT optional because that that's something that comes up, and I'd like to understand it a little bit better myself. Sure. Two more kind of big picture questions. What do you what do you wish applicants understood about the process that they don't seem to understand?

Sophia Sim

You know, probably two things. One, I wish students understood that it's rolling admissions. Um, I know a number of law schools still try to review the bulk of applications closer to the deadline, but GW, because of our volume, we have to keep the trains running, keep decisions. So we start making decisions in mid-October. And sometimes our class is full by the end of January, even before March 1st deadline. So applying earlier in the cycle does help you. And that's true for a lot of schools. There's that. And then the other thing is I think the merit scholarships on the back end, right? It is a finite pool of funds. It's not infinite, it's not the person that is the most aggressive or pushes the hardest, gets the largest amount of money. I mean, we have certain parameters. We we try to be equitable. The last thing we want is for two students to come in as part of our entering class and to hear one person got double the amount of scholarship because they kept emailing and calling. That's not the way it works. And I know there's a lot out there where people think, yeah, that's all you need to do. And that's not true at all. So yeah.

Brigitte

Yeah, that's that's great. And and I we're about to enter that phase as well where people do try to see what they can get because it is an expensive proposition. So again, on the one hand, you understand the student wanting to maximize their aid. On the other, I do understand you want to keep that equitable so that students aren't comparing and getting you know, it's tight before they even get there.

Sophia Sim

Yeah, delve into merit scholarships, but it's become its own little kind of animal. Um, yeah, it's it's almost as as big of a project as reviewing applications and making decisions at this point. I think students just really it is an investment in your legal career, and and I get it's expensive, but um, it's also it what's hard is if you really want to come to GW and maybe a slight, a slight increase will make a difference. I'm happy to have that conversation. I want to have that conversation with you. And I and I think that's true for many law schools, even if they say they don't do reconsideration, if you're talking to them in person. But I also think if you are admitted to 10 schools and you shoot an email to 10 different schools and you have this spreadsheet, it I, you know, that's not that's not a conversation a lot of schools want to have because they really want you to vary kind of narrowed down those choices before you get to that. And I and I understand from the students, it's almost the opposite, right? They want to see who's who gives them the largest package.

Brigitte

So yeah, but that every once in a while I do run into the student where I feel like it for them, it's almost this competition. How many schools can I get the most money out of? And you know, that's probably not the best approach. And at I usually counsel them at that point just to really think what do you want and then go for that rather than keep, you know, all these 10 in the air. But great advice.

Sophia Sim

That's excellent. Excellent advice.

The GW Law Waitlist Process Explained

Brigitte

And then just just briefly on the the timing issue, because that's something that comes up all the time. You know, in my perfect world, I advise a certain timeline and I try to get my students to, you know, apply by October, November. And I think that works for all the reasons that you're talking about. What happens when someone applies yesterday, February 1st? Uh, who from that pile gets seen? I have suspect, I know. And who maybe languages languishes and never really gets seen?

Sophia Sim

Right. And so that's a tough question. And I I always tell students, I don't want to cause panic or anxiety because if you feel that you you can put together a stronger application if you wait until after Thanksgiving or in early January, then you then you should wait, right? You don't want to put together a, you want to be ready to hit submit before you do, but you also want to plan ahead if you can and get it in as early as possible. So February 1st, I mean, I review the bulk of applications as does the director and the associate director here within my office. So we're all looking at the applications. It's just there's very few spaces at this point. And so um, so we are looking very carefully. I think we try to employ a holistic process. It's more holistic at the beginning when we're fresh and we haven't reviewed. I mean, I think I I've reviewed about 4,200 applications at this point, right? And so it just really depends where you are and and how strong, because we're comparing you to the other applicants at this point, and can you stand out from them?

Brigitte

Yeah, that's really that's really good advice. So it's really good to hear you say that because it gives credence to this idea that you should apply as early as you can. Of course, sometimes things happen. You know, we never plan to have a January L set, but sometimes it does happen. And so you you kind of have to know what you're getting into. What's one thing in the process that confounds you from the from the applicant side? Some something head scratching that candidates do or say.

Navigating the GW Law Personal Statement

Sophia Sim

You know, it's always the small things that that confound me. I think, you know, not always being impolite, I would say, not to me necessarily, but to others in my office, because I I do hear about that, or just not understanding this is a professional school, we're assessing you on it on a number of qualities. And here's a good example. I had a Zoom session of an information session last week. Someone who did, you know, it's always nice to see the few faces on camera. I I always remember who they are, but this person didn't show their face on camera. And then at the end I took questions. And I think it's pretty common now. People know you either raise your hand or you used a little hand emoticon. Um, and what she did was she kept asking questions, even though there was people that raised their hand. She just kept talking. And I said, Well, there actually is an order. She explained that she couldn't see that, and then would continue to ask her question. And then I said, Well, if you can't see, maybe put it in the chat. There's someone monitoring it. And then she said that her answer's question wasn't getting answered quickly enough that she would like to get her answer now. So those kind of, you know, there is some etiquette to that, I think that we are it, and obviously, a virtual session is not an info session, is not designed to assess you for application, but it's hard to forget her, right? And her name. And so I would say those kind of things like just being respectful and polite through this process and understand we're we're moving as quickly as we can. And um just treating everybody with a level of respect is something that I think is important, not here, but also in your legal career as well. So that would be something that it just puzzles me a little bit about why do that? Do you think there's a level of anonymity that there really isn't always?

Brigitte

That's great. That's that's a really good example. Yeah, where you've distinguished yourself in the negative direction. Yes, that's a good way to way to put it.

Sophia Sim

I know some people are always trying to stand out in a positive way. And that's great too. Emailing or saying hello or or stopping by our table or something, but it's those few rare cases where you remember.

Brigitte

So let's talk a little bit about the wait list scenario. Um, earlier in the cycle, it seemed like uh GW was wait listing a lot of folks who didn't have 170. So that's a lot of folks. So you're gonna have a pretty robust wait list, I'm assuming. Tell me a little bit about what to do, what not to do. Sometimes students, they're nervous and well, they're nervous and they haven't heard it all. And so they want to communicate pre-wait list, you know, decision. Is that okay and when is that okay? And then once there's a wait list, what what's what's the right process for them?

LSAT Optional: Who Should Consider It?

Sophia Sim

Sure. So we try to provide as much information in our wait list uh decision letter as we can, letting them know the list is unranked, that we have scheduled several virtual sessions to kind of answer any questions that someone may have. But the wait list process doesn't really kick off until after our first deposit. So after April 15th. So nothing is gonna happen until then. You're welcome to send emails, letters of continued interest, but and people will respond and we will collect that information, but we will not review an application again until after April 15th because we're so busy trying to do an initial review of all the other people that have applied at this point. So, so nothing is going to happen. And I occasionally get emails and I always respond to them as well. So there's nothing, it's one of the things we we do, maybe because my children went through the uh the college application process. You don't want to feel like a number, right? You want to feel like this is a school you might want to attend. And and the only the least I can do is respond to your emails. So now if I get thousands of them, that's totally different, different matter. But I don't get that many. And I don't think many of our people in our office do as well. So it's perfectly fine. It's a little different than the undergraduate admissions process, I think, from most law school admissions offices. So welcome to reach out. So what we tell people in the letter is that most years we do pull over 50 students into our entering class. So, and in reaching out to 50, we move very quickly and we we reach out to multiple people. So, say we anticipate a space opening up in April, a couple weeks prior. We won't reach out to until April 15th. This is our deposit. We won't reach out to the wait list until early May. Let me just be clear and not creating confusion. But typically what we do, we'll do a kickoff email in early May to kind of say we're starting the wait list, confirm your interest, things like that. And we tend to go with those that respond. Everybody else that does not respond to that initial email, we will then email once more to say we assume you're no longer interested. We wish you the best of luck. And then we'll just move forward with without them. Um, then in the times that we expect a space to be open, what we will do is we'll typically email, say, 20 people and say, we anticipate a space, you'll have very little time to make that decision. Do you remain interested? Um, they'll respond. Not everybody does because we're moving again very quickly within a day or two. So maybe we receive about 10 emails. We go through, we probably extend two or three offers for every space and then go on. So as you can see, we actually are reaching out to almost the entire wait list by the end of our cycle. So, but again, it depends what we're looking for. What we really like is to admit those from the wait list that are interested in GW because we know you've been waiting. The last thing at that point, usually there aren't that many scholars, there's not much scholarships left. Um, it depends who withdrew, if there's any funds available. And so we're not there to have a lengthy discussion. Should I, should I not? How big can my offer be? That's not really the wait list, is just designed to quickly fill this year's entering class. And especially since we have a number of summer initiatives, we have a career jump start that kicks off. We have an eight-part free virtual intro to one L class that we do in groups of eight. So we really want to get you onboarded as quickly as possible.

Brigitte

That's great. That's really good great information that students are asking. So it's really good to hear the nitty-gritty. What about, okay, so they've been waitlisted, let's say. Is one letter of continued interest between sometime between when they were waitlisted and April 15th? Is that sufficient?

GW Law Part-Time Program Insights

Sophia Sim

We will ask you, I will specifically say in that kickoff email in early May that even if you've submitted something, we ask you to submit again. Because even if you tell us in January that you're absolutely 100% committed to coming, you're still waiting to hear from other schools or scholarship offers, or maybe you're signing a lease or looking at apartments. Who knows what's the there's a lot that's gonna happen within that five months. And so that's why we would ask you to just resubmit, even if it's the exact same letter. We just want to confirm that you're still interested. And hopefully you have some updates, right? If you're still in college, maybe you've graduated with honors or something you want to let us know.

Brigitte

Okay, that all makes good sense. So one one nice Loki that what we call them Loki's, but it's L O C I. So after that one big one, let's say, maybe you do it in advance, maybe you do it end of March, you do it early April, fine. Then you they'll get the communication from you, they'll do another one or reiterating. What happens after that? We we usually suggest every three to four weeks just a mini Loki, we call them. Yeah. So that you know they're still interested, right? Because you're right, any other day they could be getting an offer that they just decide to take. So how does that sound?

Sophia Sim

Yes, you know, I would say actually every two weeks because every three weeks, the summer's short, right? Our our orientation is the second week of August, and so there really isn't that many times. What we will let you know is when our deposit deadlines are. So you certainly want to submit something right before. And these days, because every law school of the country uses uh the same system for applications is created by the law school admission council called Unite. Uh, we all use it. And so the students can upload their own low-key. So am I saying that right? Low-key, low-key. Anyway, they can um they can update it themselves. So you can submit as many as you want. Now, I wouldn't submit one every single day or every week, but every couple weeks is certainly reasonable. Um, even we we often have students sometimes call or email and say, I've got a deadline at this other school, right? But and once I make that deposit, I'm no longer, I need to make this decision or I need to sign a lease or something. And we will review one more time before that. Now, what you can't do is if it's not favorable, then say, well, I changed my mind, right? I don't I can wait longer. But if you really do have a hard and firm deadline, we have some people that have military issues that they need to hear about right away. And so we will do our best to try to give you a firm uh decision or talk to you and explain what's going on.

Brigitte

Okay, that's that's all really good to know. And these subsequent letters of continued interest, can they be short? The ones that are coming every couple weeks. Is that okay for it just to be a little paragraph? Yeah, yeah.

Sophia Sim

It doesn't have to be, you know, they're rarely more than a page as I think through all the ones I see. And and typically they become an many times they're an email. Now, what I will say is I I recall in the past, last summer, there's someone that sent the same three lines, right? Every single low-key. It was just an email with three lines. And when I was sorting by his name in the email account, I noticed it's it was just verve in the same email. And I started wondering if maybe that was just going to different schools, he was sending the exact same thing because it was very generic. And yeah. Um, I wondered, and I actually need them to say to ask some specific questions, and then the same response came back, and I thought, oh, he's just kind of hanging out, right? And so I would say the brevity of it doesn't matter, but and sometimes if it's repetitive, it's fine because maybe not that much has changed, but maybe a couple words would be different in in the email.

Brigitte

A restatement, not a cut and paste.

Sophia Sim

Yes.

Brigitte

Yeah, yes. That that makes a lot of sense. I have seen students even within their own application, they'll kind of repeat the same thing over and over, cut and paste. I'm like, no, you've got to at least make the effort to to change it a little bit. And and we know it's a lot of work, but it's it's worth it.

Sophia Sim

And to add to that, I think someone, not to go down this rabbit hole, but I think when we just in the search engine typed a couple sentences of one email, like a dozen emails popped up from a dozen different candidates, which made us when we went back and looked, we saw it was almost verbatim the same email, and we realized, oh, they must be pulling this from some website or something and just using it. That's not to say they're not interested. Maybe they really are and they were searching for a way, but again, it should be all emails should be written by the applicant.

Brigitte

So that's really interesting. Yeah. You don't want them cutting and pasting from someone else's work or or just even, of course, chat GBT now.

Sophia Sim

And and we only noticed it because back to back, two people emailed, it just popped up in the email account and it was the exact same email. And so we were like, oh, that's interesting. And then we're just we're as someone was trying to show me, and then they they remembered a couple and they typed in certain keywords, and then it was funny how many popped up.

Brigitte

So gosh, that is really funny. I didn't we're not normally investigators like that. Probably gonna scare some some candidates, but um, maybe it'll scare them straight. We don't have a ton more time, but I do want to talk a little bit about the specific uh specifics of uh GW prompts, just because we've got you here, and you know, your prompt is very broad. I'm talking personal statement now, super broad. What do you really hope to see in that? I think I just to give the listeners a little bit of context. You may a personal statement is required and may include additional information you believe will assist the admissions committee in considering your applications. Is about as broad as you can get. So what are you hoping for?

Sophia Sim

Yeah, so so we didn't want to give you an exact specific prompt. I know some schools go the other way and you write specifically about that. We wanted to give you a chance to talk about what you wanted to talk about, saying that it should not be a regurgitation of your resume and paragraph form. Generally, what I'm looking for is potential. I'm looking for certain qualities, resilience, grit is another word you've probably heard very often. I think this is a tough time in law school in education, job placement. So we want people that have that determination, that perseverance. Our dean has often used the three eyes. You could ask many people in this building and they would know that. And it is that she wants students that are going to go out there to influence, impact, and inspire. And so those are also qualities that we're looking for in a personal statement. So it's not a specific topic, it's more as we generally read and get a sense of who you are and and what make what your passion is.

Brigitte

That's great. Yeah. And I've I've heard the three eyes from a GW. And those are great. Those are really great. And it and I'm guessing you also don't want students to, you know, specifically regurgitate those three eyes, but the concept of what it's are there any topics you think are out of bounds or anything you'd like to see less of?

Sophia Sim

But I am not a big fan of why I want to be a lawyer and why I want to go to law school. Now I I know you kind of have to answer that directly in your personal statement, but I've read a lot over my career. And, you know, the why I want to be a lawyer is I've wanted to be a lawyer my whole life, or I've never wanted to be a lawyer until X happened to me. And, you know, here's what I've done, here's my resume. So why want to go to law school if you do it right should be why you want to go to GW law school. But then you're spitting the brochure and website back at us. And I feel like you really lose an opportunity to convey it's a personal statement, right? We want it to be personal. So I think that you know those can be solid topics. It's just hard to really in those formats. So yeah.

Brigitte

Sophia, one thing I wanted to ask you about was what tell us a little bit about LSAT optional. I see that you have it as an option. Who is that for? Who should take advantage of it? Who is gonna come off just like, oh, I I don't want to bother to study for the LSAT, so I'm gonna try this. Tell me a little bit about what you're looking for there.

Sophia Sim

So we started this um a year ago because we really felt there were certain cohorts where the LSAT was not an indicator of how of of their academic success or how they would be as a lawyer. So we we requested a variance through the American Bar Association. It was not an easy process. They granted us a five-year exception. Um and it can't be more than 10% of our entering class. So this is not a backdoor to get into GW. I think there was some assumption about that, and that's not true. So there are only five scenarios where you can apply to test optional. If you've taken past the patent bar, if you've served in the military, hard to take the LSAT if you're active duty, if you're part of a PhD program or a doctoral program. There have been other doctors, MDs, pharmaceutical doctors, a doctoral program. And then if you've had at least four years of professional work experience, and typically we're looking for a lot more, but that's our benchmark. And then finally, if you're a K through JD or you're currently in school, the only thing that could possibly you could apply through test optional is if you have evidenced social entrepreneurship. And that's something you have to get pre-approval from us for. There's a form we ask you a number of questions, such as is this, is this a 503C organization? Are you the founder? How big is your staff? What's your business plan? How do you measure success? How long have you had this organization? All this kind of stuff. So this is not someone that has volunteered someplace. That's not what we're looking for in that case.

Brigitte

That's really interesting, all those specific categories. I don't think I was aware of all the nuances there. What about someone who has an LSAT score but doesn't want to show it? That's okay as long as they're under one of those.

Sophia Sim

You have if if you've taken the LSAT, you cannot apply test to optional. Okay. Yeah, that was one of the- Because that's only an option. Yeah, if you can't, these were cohorts we thought really well, maybe not the social, but the other ones, sometimes you just couldn't take the LSAT. There just wasn't time. Yeah. Or some have been really older and don't in their careers and don't have time to prep for it or things like that.

Brigitte

So okay, let's also talk about the part-time program because it's one of those things that for a certain kind of applicant, it's golden, right? And at the same time, I think some people also want to use that as a backdoor. And right, you know, if they don't quite have the L set score, don't quite have the GPA. And, you know, of course we're empathetic to that. But what are you looking for? And what should students be aware of if they try to use the or want to use the experience?

Sophia Sim

Right. We are looking for full-time work experience. Typically, 100% of the entry class for the part-time has full-time work experience. The test option that's worked out that more have applied through the part-time. So, you know, when you look at the metrics, probably not quite the same, but they have other things that we feel show potential and promise. So those are qualities we're looking for. At GW, there's open switching between divisions. You can switch back and forth between full and part-time. It is some people do come here think hoping their career will work out, and sometimes they don't. And then there's others that want to switch because the job market, they want to get their slip to the door or that network while they're in school.

Brigitte

So when I do work with students who have full-time work, they're trying to figure out if they should leave their jobs and go to school full-time, you know, and move on from there, or if they should keep their job and and try the part-time. And I know it's a it's a hard decision to make, but when someone has employment on their resume and does it decides to do the part-time program, are they expected to keep that job? Or no. Not necessarily. Okay. That's good to know.

Sophia Sim

So I mean, this I just do admissions, right? Once you come in, if the career, if the job doesn't work out, that's fine. We had a police detective that didn't always work out. There was a principal that was at a high school in Baltimore and he was coming in every night and it just didn't always work out, right? So sometimes you have to make that dis that tough decision. I know how the metrics look, but I should also point out that the part-time is typically only 25 students. So it's a very small cohort. So it's not necessarily that, you know, given the volume of people that choose part-time, it's not necessarily easier to get in. We're just looking for slightly different things.

Brigitte

Okay, that makes a lot of sense. And some something I've kind of sensed as well or heard from others is that when you are a bit older, you're coming to law school after 10 years, let's say, the LSAT's much less of a a predictor of how you're going to do because you're kind of out of that kind of thinking. And yeah, you've got to get back in it for law school, but the LSAT may not may not be the best predictor. Is that is that something you guys have noticed?

Sophia Sim

That is totally accurate. Um, that's why the test's optional, right? With with the work experience. I'm I know if actually I have tried to take the LSAT again, but just in my practice test, it was on a committee assessments where they made us take a section. And my score wasn't nearly as high as when I was applying to law school. So I think it really You're brave. I I don't want to say I'm not as smart as I was, but I think it's a little different.

Brigitte

So well, you're we're out of practice. I mean, I took the LSAT many decades ago. So I I'd be a little scared to take it now, I think. But um, but that that was definitely brave. Variety of students, right? The ones who are still a junior in college or just graduated or people with all kinds of work experience. Sometimes the more recent grads, they'll say, Well, you know, I have a really great job in X related to my major. It was what I wanted to do, but it made me realize want to go to law school. Don't have a lot of legal experience. Should I quit that really good professional job to be a legal assistant? Or should I just kind of stay in the lane that I'm in because it is a good job and I'm learning a lot of good skills, even if it's not legal?

Sophia Sim

Sure. So, you know, we have students coming from all walks of life, and some people don't have the luxury of choose. They they have to go where the highest salary is, or they're trying to shore up money um to pay for law school. So so we get that. It's not always legally related, but they learn arguably any job you have is gonna teach you some skills. So that's fine. I think it's not always a clear-cut answer. I think I hate to say it, but it it depends because it depends what career you're gonna go into, what area of law. If you never want to go into big law, maybe working in a law firm is not that useful for you, right? Um, and maybe other things, if you want to go into um maritime law and you're working something that involves oceanic waters, maybe that's really useful for your career and it's gonna help you actually get the job that you want after you graduate law school. So again, I think it really depends. But um, for admission purposes, it definitely doesn't hurt to stay at that job, especially if you're happy, you're doing well, you might get an absolute phenomenal letter of recommendation that you wouldn't get from someone that you start a new job with. So there's other considerations as well.

Brigitte

Yeah, that that's really interesting to hear you say that. That was my gut as well. That if you've got a good job and you're doing a good job at it, it's it is building something and it might be better than leaving for a different job. Um, and then also what you say, because a lot of my students, because I have a background in the nonprofit sector, so a lot of my students come to me also for that reason. And um, you know, I think working in the area that you want to work in, even if it's non-legal, you're already building that netw network, you're building the substantive knowledge about what the challenges are. You're dealing with the clients that you might deal with later, you're just dealing with them on a dip on a different issue. So I think that can be really useful as well. Definitely. So well, Sophia, thank you so much for joining us. Do you have any last comments that you'd like to share with um with our with our listeners and our students?

Sophia Sim

Not really. You know, I really enjoy, I wouldn't have been doing this for 30 years if I didn't love it. It's such an honor to be part of this kind of milestone part of students as they embark on their 40-plus year legal career. So I always welcome students to come visit if they want. Um, my door is right in the entrance. They can always pop in and say hello. So, but beyond that, you know, if you have people have questions, they're always welcome to follow up. You, of course, as well.

Brigitte

You that's great to know. And it's really also great to know that you welcome people to drop by because sometimes that does come up. And you know, we always want to do that balance of getting the information you need and making that impression you want without annoying annoying you guys in the in the admissions office. So but it's good to know it. It's it's rare. I mean, most people are not, and they're they're wonderful.

Sophia Sim

And so it's always nice to put a face to a name, especially even now, post pandemic, right? It's hard to see people and and it's always nicer than emails.

Brigitte

So well, thank you so much and um really great talking to you. I learned a lot. Good day.