If an 11 year old girl has her heart set on becoming a lawyer should she…?

OK, let’s deal with these one at a time.

College is four years, law school three, totalling seven. You can take any bachelor’s degree you want and still apply to law school; “pre-law” is not actually a requirement.

You will want courses that stimulate your critical thinking skills and to work on your writing. You will also want to take as many opportunities as possible to do public speaking.

There is no reason for you to start studying law right now. The law changes, a lot, and the LSAT (the exam you have to take before you can enter law school) does not test you on knowledge of the law, but rather on logic and critical thinking.

Your grades in middle school and high school do not really matter when looking for admission to high school — but your high school grades will help you get scholarships, etcetera, for college, which in turn will help you with law school. Law schools really don’t look at your high school transcript; they’re more concerned with LSAT scores and college work.

My best advice to you is stay involved in school and extracurriculars, but don’t get too worried about point values and grades until you’re in high school — you are obviously smart. However, a well-rounded student — one who not only makes good grades but is involved in extracurriculars and community service — makes a better candidate for college admissions and for scholarship money, so, keeping in mind that you’re going for an extremely expensive set of degrees, it’s not too early for you to start working on that stuff by getting involved in your community!

Good luck to you!

Hi,

I am about a semester away from finishing law school. It’s a lot of hard work but I’m sure you can handle it. There are 7 years of school (including 4 of college and 3 of law school) after high school. The most important thing about law school is not knowing the law necessarily but rather how to think like a lawyer. It’s something you can’t learn until you are there, with a bunch of other people, struggling together.

I would study the law know to make sure you really want to pursue that, read some cases – especially important ones like Brown v. Board of Education. But the law changes so much that it will probably be totally different when you get there. Just keep up with the stuff you are doing in school now.

Your grades don’t need to be perfect to get into law school. I had a 3.5 average from college and got into plenty of law schools. Anything about a 3.3 in college should be fine, so keep your grades up in high school so you can get into a good college.

To get into law school there is also something called the LSAT, which is like the SAT. If you do well on that, which you should take your sophomore or junior year of college then you’re set.

Do not start studying the law. In law school, you will be taught by professionals, who will not only teach you the law, but how to interpret it and how to practice it. Since you don’t have those people at your disposal right now, I would suggest you study what your teachers give you, try to do well and learn the material

. Later, study well for the SATs and get yourself into a good 4 year college, which is where you have to go before the 3 years of law school, on a scholarship. Law school is expensive, so shoot for an academic scholarship.

And since you’re only 11, be open to new things and keep doing the best you can. I wouldn’t worry about your grades now affecting your chances at school because no one is going to look at any grades you got before highschool..

My daughter had a very similar problem. She wanted to be a veterinarian since she was about six or seven. At that time the only wat to be accepted into a veterinarian clooege was to have a close friend who is a State senator, or to have a father who is a veterinarian, or last, to have college grades so high that they couldn’t refuse ,

The first two was out, so she went for the high grades in college. She graduated Muhlenburg College with a 4.0 average, she made phi betta kappa, phi sigma iota, and phi zeta.

She had no trouble being accepted into the University of Pennsylvania for four more years. The finance officer said that he would see to it that she would get the funds necessary. Students who financed their education through the school, had ten years to pay back their loans and interest. My daughter made many double payments, and was in the clear in less than eight years.

She now has her own little ranch, a brand new mansion, horses, and she takes trips all over the world.

Your dream is different, but the determination and hard study are the same. Best of luck to you.

Many HS’s work with local community colleges to do dual enrollment. This allows people in HS that keep good enough grades to pursue some college courses. If she is eligible, and it is offered, she should try to go ahead and join the community college and get the core courses out of the way when she is 16 (that is generally the youngest age they will allow this to begin). She can then take the English, Math, and other CORE classes she will need, and use them for a college transfer credit to the university she chooses, which will in turn cut down on the time she will have to spend in the university, so instead of 7 years, she may only have to be there for 5 or 6. Also, many HS’s offer Criminal Justice, that would also be very good for her to take as a high school student.

I say, as long as you are determined, and keep on the same track you’re on now, you’ll have no problem getting in!

Good Luck to you!

it would never hurt to start studying now. you could go to the library and check out books to read during your free time. if this is truly something you are passionate about, use your time wisely to get ahead in the future.

you seem to be doing well so far. keep your grades and head up and i’m sure you will do just fine.

In order to get a scholarship, your grades don’t have to be straight 100% A+’s. You can have just A’s…but try your best to keep your GPA high so you’ll get the best offer (maybe a full ride if your credentials are amazing). When you get to high school, be sure to expand your extracirriculars by taking foreign language and joining a debate team. Also look for things that interest you.

AND: don’t turn into a machine and only study. Remember the fact that you are 11 years old and need to live your life accordingly.

You remind me of me on a couple of those. Here’s my answer:

1) Don’t get too stressed about those straight-A’s. Getting good grades in high school helps you get into a good college, but doesn’t affect getting into law school. Getting good grades in college helps you get into law school.

2) Hardly anyone in law school got straight-A’s in college. Most people at the best law schools had about a B+ average in college. (But do as well as you can, of course!)

3) Similarly, I got full scholarships to a lot of law schools and didn’t have a straight-A average in college. The higher your grades, the more schools will give you scholarships.

4) Getting straight-As in college wouldn’t necessarily guarantee that you get into law school. There’s a very important test called the LSAT you’ll need to take when you’re a junior or senior in college. It’s sort of like an IQ test, so if you’re in gifted ed you shouldn’t worry too much. I thought it was pretty easy.

4) You don’t start studying law until you get to law school. Even if you took law related courses in college, they wouldn’t do you much good in law school because we learn to think about the law differently than most people do. Right now, in high school and in college, study what you find interesting.

Good luck, and let me know if there’s anything I didn’t answer.

Most of the answer depends on what law school you want to go to. Don’t worry about your grades so much right now. Try to get into a gifted high school if there is one nearby and keep your grades up then. Don’t worry about studying law until you are in college (don’t get me wrong, reading a law book every now and then won’t hurt).

Good luck with that.

You do not need straight A’s to become a lawyer. Good grades are great but if you are a solid B+ student and score well on your LSAT (like a law SAT for Law School) you will be find. It getting rid of your ethics that might be the tricky part. Good luck but I am sure you won’t need it you sound like a overachiever already. That’s a good thing. Oh one more thing you don’t have to that pre-law in college you could major in something like philosophy or history, political science are popular major for students that go to law school.

You should work hard in high school and select subjects that are required for you to enter Law in University. You don’t need to worry about studying law until you start university (after you finish high school).

As for the scholarship question and being accepted, it depends on the school. You should be happy if you get the best marks you are capable of (within reason, I’m not saying do ten hours of homework every day after high school).