As you prepare your law school application or law school transfer app, you’ll definitely work on your LSAT score and personal statement. But one requirement that you should at least have initially covered is your resume. After all, we present our resumes for employment all the time. We even start writing our resumes in high school. By the time you graduate college, it should be mostly formed and refined with your great experiences and accomplishments. But how can you be sure that your everyday resume fits best for a law school application? Here you can check out the top five tips for your law school application resume!
1. Highlight What Your Law School Values–Especially Academics
Each law school will have its own values and “personality.” Your resume is another way you can emphasize why you’re a good fit for their school. However, all law schools will value your academic accomplishments. Make sure to include memberships in honor societies like Phi Beta Kappa, your thesis, if you made the Dean’s List, and any other honors!
2. Keep a Reasonable Length
It’s much better to have a one-page resume that concisely describes your best experience than a 3-page resume that lists every single thing you’ve ever done! Edit thoughtfully and carefully. At first you might think that some experience is important to include, but ask yourself whether it really describes the best of you. If it is important, is there a way to include it concisely?
3. Be Specific About Your Accomplishments
Help showcase yourself as much as possible by being specific about your work achievements. There’s a major difference between saying you “helped manage clients and cases” and being more specific. Specifically, you might have “managed 300 critical clients’ cases.” Or with another example:
Unspecific: Raised funds to support the organization’s initiatives
Specific: Strategically raised $55,000 for the Children First Initiative to support staff and after-school meals for a year
As you can see, the difference is pretty significant!
4. Put Your Proudest Achievements Up Top
If you’ve been recognized by a large organization for your outstanding work, or you worked hard to gain a skill that few people have–don’t hide it! Don’t bury your best accomplishments in the body or near the bottom of your law school application resume. If your best content is not easy to find, it might be skipped over. Or worse yet, it might not seem as important. Feel free to add a skills/awards section closer to the top if you have many of them. If the accomplishment was within a specific job experience, place that bullet-point first. If you highlight the best of yourself, you’ll be in a better position to be admitted.
5. Have Others Review Your Resume
Do you have an English teaching assistant, professor, or trusted friend you can call on? It helps immensely to have another set of eyes check your work before you apply! Not only can they help proof-read, but your style of writing may come across in unintended ways. You’ll want different perspectives to make sure you make a great impression.
With these five tips, you should be well on your way to making it into law school!
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