The Ultimate Guide to Law School Admission: Insider Secrets for Getting a "Big Envelope" with Your Acceptance to Law School!

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Summary: THIS BOOK SAVED ME OVER $100,000.00!!!
Review: Boy am I lucky to have found The Ultimate Guide to Law School Admission. I picked it up because a friend recommended it to me as being the best book for the law school application process, and was she right! When I got the book I skipped right to the chapters on the admission process and found the whole thing very informative and encouraging. It let me know that even though I'm not the best student, there are plenty of schools that I would definitly get in to, and it told me how to make my application the best it could possibly be. I am sure that I would have gotten into at least a couple of the schools I had picked to apply to. However, lucky for me, before I sent in my applications I decided to read the book again. This time I started with the first chapter "Should I go to law school." Guess what? Being a lawyer isn't what I thought it was! I mean, this book told me things about what lawyers personal lives are like, and what their average work day is like... stuff that I had never gotten anywhere else! This chapter convinced me that I would not be happy being a lawyer! Not only did this chapter save me from the expensive application fees... it saved me from spending the next three years wasting my time, and tuition money, pursuing a degree that would have put me in a job that apparently isn't right for me at all! Thank you Mrs. Wright, you saved me $100,000.00! I definitly recommend that EVERYONE read this chapter first! Don't go to law school without it!!!

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Summary: The best book available about getting into law school
Review: I have read several other books about getting into law school, and this one is clearly the best. It has many "insider secrets"--many of which are in its "Tales From the Trenches"--that you will find in no other books. For instance, I was surprised to learn that east coast schools differ from west coast schools in what they expect in a personal statement. This book tells you what those differences are, and how to turn that to your advantage.

In addition, the "15 Essential Factors" listed for choosing your law schools will make you see the schools you are considering in a different light. The appendix to the book gives you data on each of the law schools so you can start using the factors right away. Instead of making your choices on one or two factors, such as reputation or a magazine ranking, you will find schools where you will be admitted, be successful, and be happy. You will also learn how to choose the schools that will help get you to the kind of career you most want--or what to do if you are uncertain about what you want to do with a law degree.

I especially like the fact that this book is written for everyone--not just those who believe that they are destined to go to an "elite" law school. The advice in this book is terrific for the elite schools, but also helps those who are not "presumptive admits" to the most competitive schools. It contains a unique system for analyzing your credentials to determine where you will get in--including a system for analyzing your chances when competition for admission is changing from year to year as it is now.

Unlike many books that are filled with a lot of useless information masquerading as advice that make the book larger and more expensive, this book is insightful and concise, and written in a manner that is easy to read and comprehend. It is, I believe, the best purchase you can make for advice on getting into law school.


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Summary: No "Insider" Secrets
Review: If you are someone who is fairly new to the law school admissions process and haven't done much research on what it takes to get into law school, this information might seem very helpful and insightful to you. However, as someone who has read several other books (Richard Montauk's "How To Get Into the Top Law Schools," Robert Miller's "Law School Confidential" and more) and done the necessary research on the internet, this book brought very little new information to the table. Perhaps the most unique thing about this book is the "15 essential factors"...unfortunately, many of those 15 factors--though essential--are things the average person applying to law school--particularly top law schools--doesn't care about and might cast aside even after reading this book.

I do agree with her that many pre-law advisers are ill-prepared to advise pre-law students and don't know nearly as much as they should. However, if the info in this book is the information she provided other pre-law advisers with, then it's nothing that the advisers nor the students couldn't have come up with themselves or elsewhere. I still say Montauk's book is the best on law school admissions out there, regardless of what schools you're interested in. HIS book is the one with all the insider secrets in it. Wright's book is just a very broad overview of the admissions process, in my opinion.

The one thing this book totally has in common with Montauk's book that is very disappointing is that they do nothing to help minorities know what the admissons process will truly be like for them or how to handle it. For that, you have to look up books by Evangeline Mitchell. Most books have a tendency to treat everyone the same, as if all the information applies to them the same, and that is deceiving.

In conclusion, if you feel pretty well-informed already about admissions or are looking for an extra bit of information that might give you that edge or illuminate your particular situation...this book is not the one for you. Only if you really know very little about law school admissions might this book be worth it...but I'd still say it'd be best to go with Montauk's eye-opening admissions guide.

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Summary: Exactly what I needed.
Review: This book answered all my questions about getting into law school in a plain and straightforward way. It was easy to read, and clear in its explanations. It even answered many questions I hadn't even thought to ask. The stories that are included in its "Tales From the Trenches" are really interesting, sometimes funny, and really help you to know how to avoid mistakes you might otherwise make. It's much more help than any other source I have found. The only thing it doesn't do is have a full LSAT prep course, but it does give you examples of the questions, and tells you how you can structure your own preparation program. Buying this book actually saved me money by helping me choose only to the right law schools for me, and by giving me a way to evaluate LSAT courses.(It turns out that a lot of expensive courses are not as good as you might think!) The appendix alone is worth the cost of the book. It has information on all the law schools sorted by the "15 Essential Factors" for picking law schools as they are outlined in the book. It makes it easier to sort through all the schools to find the right ones to apply to. This book really gave me confidence that I will get into law school. I can't wait to get my "big envelopes"!