From Personal Experience

By Irina Slavina

The systems of higher legal education in the US and Russia could not be more different.

Getting In:

In order to get into a US law school, an applicant must first obtain a bachelor’s degree from a university or college (takes about 4 years on average to complete). Then, the applicant has to take a Law School Admission Test (“LSAT”). It is a four-hour written exam that combines testing on reading comprehension, logic, and reasoning – the skills believed to be necessary for a successful lawyer. The LSAT score will determine in which law school you could possibly be accepted. For example, the Ivy League schools like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton will look at your application only if you scored at the 95-100 percentiles on the LSAT, i.e., if there were 100 questions, you could only get 5 wrong. Less prestigious schools require at least 70 percentile, and the third-tiered schools will accept you if you got at least half of the questions correctly.

Once an applicant has the LSAT score, he or she will start assembling other application materials. They usually include a personal statement and a few additional essays, recommendation letters, and transcripts from college. The applicants can send the materials to as many law schools as they wish. They will be notified of the admission commission decision via email or by a letter.