By Aaron Searle
It”s always been the plan of recent BYU graduate Joe Cramer to go to law school, but the task of getting in and doing well always seemed daunting to him, even downright intimidating. Then he heard about the Law Fair.
“To me law school was very scary, but after I left the Law Fair I felt like, ”OK, I can do this,”” he said. “The reps there are all grads, they went through the process too and they were just as scared when they started. Being able to talk to them helped me realize that law school isn”t like some foreign planet. And it helped me to say, ”Hey, if he can do it I can do it too.”
The nearly 120 law schools attending this year”s Law Fair will converge upon BYU”s Wilkinson Center tomorrow to recruit the best and the brightest.
The throng of law schools attending includes Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Stanford and of course, BYU”s J. Reuben Clark Law School and the University of Utah.
“The schools come here for two benefits: to increase the quality and the quantity of their students,” said Catherine Bramble, pre-law adviser for the Pre-professional Advisement Center.
The Law Fair is also a chance for law schools to come and put a human face on their school, said Gaelynn Kuchar, admissions director for the J. Reuben Clark Law School
“Some students might think that they shouldn”t apply because their LSAT score or GPA isn”t in our median, but we want all students who are interested to apply,” she said. “So we go to the fair for the opportunity to answer questions and calm students” fears so they don”t self-select and decide not to apply because they don”t think that they will get in.”
Besides calming his fears, Cramer said another big benefit from going to the fair and talking to the representatives was letting them get to know him on a personal level.
Once they did, he said, they would occasionally offer to waive the expensive application fee if he showed interest in applying to their school.
Cramer also said if students really want to make the most out of the Law Fair and impress the representatives, they should show up prepared.
He said students should dress nice, have their GPA and LSAT scores with them, do their research on the schools they”re interested in and come with specific questions.
And though the bulk of students that usually come to the fair are juniors and seniors, Bramble said it”s important for all students interested in law school, “freshman through seniors,” to come and get their foot in the door.
What: BYU”s annual Law Fair
When: Oct. 10, from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Where: The Wilkinson Center Ballroom
