The most common type of appointment is the Pre-Law Advising Appointment. This is a 30-minute appointment to discuss everything from a new interest in pursuing a legal career to application specifics.

Pre-Law Advising appointments are for individuals at any stage in the pre-law journey from freshman year to post-graduation and beyond.

Typical appointment topics may include:

• Exploring legal careers
• Building a pre-law resume
• Selecting a course of study or major
• Academic challenges
• Internships and gap year opportunities
• Planning for law school
• LSAT, GRE, and other entrance exams
• The application process
  • Application strategies/Where and when to apply
  • Utilizing the Credential Assembly Service
  • Understanding each step of the process
  • Questions about the applications themselves, including essays
  • Advice about selecting a law school
  • How and when to get letters of recommendation
  • Guidance on scholarships

Note: Students in the first three semesters of academic study are asked to complete the Pre-Law 101 workshop prior to scheduling an individual advising appointment. This helps us better personalize and tailor your initial appointment to your individualized questions and goals.

Document Review appointments are designed to provide feedback and insights on Personal Statements, Resumes, and Addendums/Supplemental Essays. If you’d like us to review your personal statement or other law school addendums (supplemental essays) you will be asked to upload a draft of your document(s) at the time you schedule your appointment. If you have general questions or would like to generally discuss any document, please schedule a Pre-Law Advising Appointment.

Prepare for a Document Review Appointment:

• Our advisors can review up to 2 documents during one appointment. For example: A personal statement and a diversity essay OR a law school resume and a personal statement can be reviewed during one appointment. (Just upload it all as one file, preferably in Word format.) 
• Advisors will provide feedback on: Content, theme, structure, transitions, flow, and overall quality of writing. We’ll give our impressions and offer suggestions on these topics. We’ll also help to troubleshoot problem spots and brainstorm potential alternatives.
• Advisors won’t: edit, proofread, correct grammar or spelling errors, rewrite, or restructure your statement. It’s very important for applicants to express themselves in their own words, especially because the personal statement is intended as a writing sample reflecting your ability. Ours is not a proofreading service but one intended to help students clarify and convey ideas effectively for purposes of a law school application.
• For specific feedback, the personal statement review is most effective when your essay is fairly complete–meaning, you are at the point where you have a fairly complete draft, yet you are still open to feedback. 
• Peak Times: Our busiest times are late September through December. During this period, our advisors will frequently be booked. Please reserve your appointment in advance and cancel in a timely way if necessary so that we can maximize our appointment availability. 
• There is currently no cap on the number of times an Advisor will review your statement, however, please be mindful that the most effective reviews will occur when your drafts are fairly complete, a final draft is not required.

If you have not yet created a meaningful draft but would like to discuss a personal statement strategy more generally, we recommend scheduling a Pre-Law Advising appointment to discuss or reviewing the personal statement resources we’ve posted on our Canvas page for some guidance.

Format: Document Review appointments are available on a remote basis only.  The recommended format for these appointments is Zoom to facilitate the document review process, however, phone appointments are also available upon request. If you need an in-person appointment for ADA purposes, please email us at prelaw@illinois.edu.

We work with students at any point in their academic journey from freshman year to post-graduation. It is never too early to start -we encourage you to begin connecting with our office as soon as you begin considering law school. If you are uncertain, send us an email at prelaw@illinois.edu and we are happy to help direct you on what the best first step might be! Remember there are no silly or “wrong” questions, we want to hear from you!

If you are in your first three semesters of academic study (Ex: Freshman Fall, Freshman Spring, or Sophomore Fall semesters), we ask that you complete the Pre-Law 101 Workshop prior to scheduling your initial appointment. This helps us maximize our advising appointments, and tailor your individual appointment to your unique goals and questions.

For students in their fourth semester to last semester and alumni, there is no time like the present. Set up a meeting NOW to discuss your goals and questions.

Reach out even if you are uncertain.  We are here to help you explore your interest in legal education and careers, even if you are uncertain if this is the right path for you. It is very common to be exploring multiple career paths at the same time – we encourage this.  Sometimes individuals ultimately decide that a path in law is not right for them.  Don’t wait to start engaging and asking these questions now – whether you ultimately decide to attend law school, we can assist you in academic, extracurricular, and professional planning to ensure that you are as prepared as possible to apply if you decide law school is the right choice for you!

Remember – a great place to start is the Pre-Law 101 Workshop series!

Just Stay Connected. We share considerable insights and information through our listserv communications, blog, and social media. All pre-law-designated students are automatically added to our listserv. You may also request to join the listserv or to be designated pre-law at any time by filling out the pre-law designation form.

Make a habit of checking these resources on a regular basis either daily, weekly, or monthly depending on how close you are to the application process. 

In addition, our many programs and events are an excellent way to get a lot of information about a variety of topics. Be sure to regularly check our event calendar for details.