Ms. Pre-JD: “Don’t Go to Law School!”
By Nikki Datta • February 04, 2017 •Writers in Residence, Law School, Pre-Law, Issues, Other Issues
As an overenthusiastic pre-law student, I can be prone to mentioning that I want to go to law school. Every five seconds. When someone asks about my major, I tell them, but I quickly add, “and I want to go to law school, so it’s more for personal interest!” If anyone asks me about my courseload, I immediately inform them that the political science class is “to be more aware because I want to go to law school”, and that the reason I dropped that GPA-killing elective was because “I have to get into law school!” I don’t think I…
Ms. Pre-JD: Unsolicited Advice from an Undergrad
By Nikki Datta • January 02, 2017 •Writers in Residence, Law School, Pre-Law, Issues, Other Issues
Welcome to 2017! Even though January 1st isn’t inherently more meaningful than any other day of the year, I think it’s useful to use the turn of the year as a time of reflection on our past goals and preparation for our new, or continuing, ones. I figured that to start off the year right, I would offer some advice that you didn’t want (or, most likely, need). I’d like to think that, by again not fulfilling my new year’s resolutions, I have once and for all learned the importance of committing to my goals. This probably isn’t true, and come…
Ms. Pre-JD: Success on the Pre-Clarity Track
By Nikki Datta • November 11, 2016 •Law School, Pre-Law, Internships and Clerkships
The path of a pre-law student is always a bit ambiguous. Add in being a woman, and your place in the field becomes blurry as well. To really compound the issue, pick a major that doesn’t relate directly to any field of law, and you can call yourself a student on the pre-clarity track. Without undergraduate internship programs or, at most institutions, majors specific to our field of interest, pre-law students are left to join pre-professional organizations and do research on their own. But with demanding coursework, it is difficult to justify attending a firm visit when you know you…