My son took a year off between UG and law school. He spent 10 hours/week lifeguarding. It worked out just fine for him.

I think any work experience is really helpful both in law school and in practicing law. I think more students should take time off before jumping into law school.

I did this 20 years ago. Wouldn't have called it a gap year. I lived at home and saved money. Like a PP, my senior year of college was intense and I needed the breather before applying.

It also gave me time to practice for the LSAT and I got a very good score. The law schools didn't care one way or the other about the year off of school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought this colleague's daughter was an underachiever when he told me she moved home after college last year. She was part-time volunteering around the city or something. He just dropped she's now at an Ivy League law school! I vaguely recall a couple of other similar occurrences. What exactly makes you a stronger applicant when you apply only, what, 3-4 months after college ended?

I took about a five year "gap" before law school. In fact you can take ten if you want to.

That's not a gap, that's working. Gap is euphemism for one year or less of bullshit part-time gig / volunteering / traveling on daddy's $ while "applying" to law school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to Harvard Law and was one of the few who came straight from undergrad. It all turned out fine, but I definitely had moments where I wished I would have taken at least a year off.

When did you graduate? I am about 15 years out and probably half the class came straight through. I knew more people were taking time off now, but I didn't think it was that unusual to go straight.

2015.

Anonymous wrote:I went to Harvard Law and was one of the few who came straight from undergrad. It all turned out fine, but I definitely had moments where I wished I would have taken at least a year off.

When did you graduate? I am about 15 years out and probably half the class came straight through. I knew more people were taking time off now, but I didn't think it was that unusual to go straight.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Law school admissions might not care but employers are going to ask about that gap in the resume and they will NOT be impressed if all you did was study for the LSAT.

Are you people lawyers? They look at law review and grades.

+1. If you do something useful to the job (paralegal, work in finance) for the year, it might be a nominal benefit, as could doing something "interesting," such as work an international non-profit. But at the end of the day, they are going to care about where you go to school and your grades. Everything else is mostly irrelevant.

Anonymous wrote:I thought this colleague's daughter was an underachiever when he told me she moved home after college last year. She was part-time volunteering around the city or something. He just dropped she's now at an Ivy League law school! I vaguely recall a couple of other similar occurrences. What exactly makes you a stronger applicant when you apply only, what, 3-4 months after college ended?

I took about a five year "gap" before law school. In fact you can take ten if you want to.

I went to Harvard Law and was one of the few who came straight from undergrad. It all turned out fine, but I definitely had moments where I wished I would have taken at least a year off.

I took 4 years off before attending an Ivy law school. It worked out great. I had better admissions and financial aide (full ride) than I would have straight out of college. And I had a great time after college! I would never recommend that someone miss go straight to the grind of law school and miss all the potential of being free for a few years. Law school is hard if you do it right, so it makes sense to have fun and be prepared. In my recollection most of my classmates took 1-5 years off. Only a few did more or less. The ones who went straight to law school honestly seemed sad and immature.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ if everything's due in early part of the fall, why does one need a gap YEAR?

Because you can only get a temporary job for less than a year before school starts the following summer.

Umm that's total BS.

Do you disagree with my math?

Anonymous wrote:Law school admissions might not care but employers are going to ask about that gap in the resume and they will NOT be impressed if all you did was study for the LSAT.

Are you people lawyers? They look at law review and grades.

You can almost always defer your admission for a year, often two. Therefore, lots of people apply senior year, get accepted, and then choose to take a gap year with their admission in their back pocket.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It gives your more time to study for the lsat.

It would be idiotic not to take at least a year before going to law school.

90% of my 1L class came straight from college. The rest were non-traditional students coming from the workforce.

When did you attend, and where did you attend? Maybe it has changed since you attended law school, but these days, the vast majority of students, particularly at top law schools, do NOT come directly from UG.
http://hls.harvard.edu/dept/jdadmissions/apply-to-harvard-law-school/hls-profile-and-facts/ - 81% at least a year out from college, 66% two years or more
https://law.yale.edu/admissions/profiles-statistics/entering-class-profile - 84% at least a year out
http://www.law.columbia.edu/admissions/jd/experience/class-profile - 79% at least a year out, 62% two years or more
http://www.law.nyu.edu/jdadmissions/applicants/classprofile - 73% at least a year out
https://www.law.upenn.edu/admissions/jd/entering-class-profile.php - 72% at least a year out
https://www.law.umich.edu/prospectivestudents/Pages/classstatistics.aspx - 75% at least a year out
https://content.law.virginia.edu/admissions/class-2020-profile - 67% at least a year out
http://www.law.northwestern.edu/admissions/profile/ - 90% at least a year out

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ if everything's due in early part of the fall, why does one need a gap YEAR?

Because you can only get a temporary job for less than a year before school starts the following summer.

Umm that's total BS.