Applying to Grad School

Since my first year at Penn, I’ve always known I wanted to go to law school. However, when I decided this summer that I actually wanted to apply in this cycle, I was daunted by all the things I had to do and did not know where to start. Fortunately, Penn Career Services offers extensive pre-graduate school advising resources, whether students are interested in advanced degrees in the sciences, humanities, or are pre-health or pre-law. This advising is accessible for students of any year and at any stage in the process, so I had sought their advice before for how best to prepare for law school, and thus was familiar with the services they offered for students applying to graduate school. Career services has connected me to information sessions hosted by various law schools, advised me on standardized testing and where to apply, and even provides a document review service to give feedback on application essays and resumes. They also host frequent webinars and drop in office hours, so whenever I am stuck on a question or component of my application, I know that the career services staff makes themselves very accessible for guidance. I am so grateful for the support of Penn’s pre-law advising throughout this process, as it has truly made the process significantly less intimidating and allowed me to gain expert input on many of my application components. This pre-graduate school advising remains a resource for Penn students even after they graduate, so students who choose to take gap years in between undergraduate and graduate school should know that Penn’s campus-wide advising network is never more than an email, call, or Zoom away.

- Samara H.