Trip to Temple Law hopefully the first of many

A group of F&M students traveled to Temple University's Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia on Tuesday to expose undergraduates and potential applicants to the inner-workings of one of Pennsylvania's premier legal education programs. Attendees took a tour of the law school, met with the Assistant Dean of Admissions and F&M alumni currently at Temple Law for an information session and Q&A, and sat in on two classes: Constitutional Law and Property Law.

The trip was designed to give underclassmen the opportunity to see what law school is like and to make a more educated evaluation of whether applying and, subsequently, attending law school is right for them. Upperclassmen had the chance to look at a regional institution that might be of particular interest to them as they are currently in the midst of the application process.

Beth Throne, F&M's Associate Vice President for Student and Post-Graduate Development (and an alum of both F&M and Temple Law) organized the trip and sees it as being the first of many such excursions to law schools throughout Pennsylvania and even New York and Washington, DC. There is no better way to learn about law school and to see if it's right for you than to visit the institution and experience its academic and social culture by interacting with students and sitting in on classes. Stay tuned for more opportunities for trips like this in the future which will only serve to benefit F&M's pre-law community.

Temple's alternative for those with low LSAT scores

For students who performed poorly on the LSAT, Temple University's Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia offers an alternative "discretionary admissions process which avoids over-reliance on the LSAT or any other arbitrary and abstract measuring factor in the admissions process" called "Sp.A.C.E." I'm not entirely sure what Sp.A.C.E. stands for, but essentially it provides a refreshing alternative for academically strong students who simply could not master the LSAT by making the admissions committee aware, up front, that you believe your full application, not including your LSAT score, should make you worthy of admission. As we all know, many schools look at LSAT score first, followed by GPA, and that they may not even examine your personal statement or work history before making an admission decision. Temple, however, offers this alternative, which expressly requests that the full application be reviewed, and students who aren't pleased with their LSAT score would be wise to strongly consider applying to Temple - an excellent law school with a very strong reputation - through this option.

Not anyone can apply through the Sp.A.C.E. program, however. A description of the program on the Temple Law School admissions page's "Application Procedure" section reads:

"The faculty has identified the following characteristics as priorities in determining whether or not a particular applicant should be admitted under this discretionary admissions process: applicants who have overcome serious long-standing economic deprivation, or who come from working class families historically foreclosed from higher education; applicants who come from racial or ethnic minority groups; applicants whose families are recent immigrants to the United States; applicants who have demonstrated exceptional leadership ability in college, community or career activities, or who have evidenced a commitment to service through Peace Corps, VISTA, military or other service work; applicants with academic honors, graduate or undergraduate degrees of unusual merit, or undergraduate grade point averages of 3.8 or higher and standardized test scores that do not reflect this academic strength; applicants who worked during college to finance their education or support their families;applicants who identify as gay, lesbian or transgendered; applicants with significant or unusual career achievement since graduation from college; applicants with serious physical disabilities; and applicants with other unique strengths and achievements."

So while Sp.A.C.E. is definitely worth considering if you don't think you could be admitted with your current LSAT score, you should carefully consider the criteria before wasting your time. Nevertheless, the fact that Temple Law School provides this option is encouraging in the midst of a cutthroat law school admissions environment, and should lead students to consider applying there who otherwise may not have thought about it.