Your GPA is behind you; the world is ahead. In all seriousness, you have accomplished a huge milestone. My first tip: take a summer to travel, explore, and learn about things your college education skipped on. Your career will soon take over, and you will truly value the time you spend investing in your own exploration.
But that’s not why you’re here – you’re interested in grad school, perhaps even law school. And there’s a number of things you can start doing:
Stay in Touch First
It is absolutely essential that you stay in touch with college professors you were close with. This should be relatively easy, as college professors enjoy hearing from recent graduates, catching up, and giving career advice. Eventually, when you decide to apply for grad school, recommendation letters from your professors will be a necessity. If your first time reaching out is to ask for a letter, professors may be unapproachable. However, staying friends with your professors makes their job more meaningful, allows you more opportunity for mentoring, and solidifies your letter of recommendation writers.
Try Something Unique and Different
In law school admissions, the most dreaded feeling is, “what should I write my personal statement about?” This question is usually most difficult for applicants who have formed a rigid life and career, and have trouble thinking about their life in a narrative way. But there’s a solution! In your time between undergrad and grad schools, take on unique projects at work, travel, try out new sports or hobbies, etc. You should never go into an activity or opportunity hoping to build credibility for a personal statement; however, the more unique, uncomfortable opportunities you can take on and learn from will only enhance your life (and thus your ability to write a compelling personal statement).
Build Your List
You are interested in grad schools, but the approach is different than undergrad. When you were a junior in high school, the conversation was “which college,” not “if college.” But now, you have a very important decision to make—going to any grad school, as enjoyable as it may be, is not for everyone. When I applied for law school, I built three lists: schools that I would definitely attend, schools that I would consider, and schools that I would not attend. Given that I had started a career, as I am sure many of you have, going to graduate school is an opportunity cost calculation. You’re essentially giving up a career, delaying a steady salary, and starting from the bottom of the food chain all over. It may very well be worth it—I believe it is—but it’s a complex decision. Being crystal clear upfront about which schools you would not attend, which schools you would consider, and which schools are no-brainers will help ground you when you’re in the midst of admissions and scholarship offers.
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