Time Off after College and "Deferring"

Many people decide to take some time off before attending law school. For UMass law school applicants in any given year, the ratio is about one-third seniors to two-thirds graduates. The national statistics are similar. People have different reasons for taking time off: they may be tired of being in school, they may not be sure they really want to be a lawyer, they want to travel or save money or start a family.

Taking time off will not disadvantage you when you apply to law school. For many applicants, it will help you. A strong work record in a position of responsibility will demonstrate your maturity and readiness to commit to law school. Taking time off will give you experience in the “real world” that will help you better understand the legal controversies you will study in law school and ultimately face as a lawyer.

When you get to law school and look around at your fellow law students, you will find that many of them already have impressive work experience.

For an applicant who has a weak academic record, working for a few years in a job that demonstrates your competence and ability will make you a much stronger candidate than you were when you graduated from UMass.

For an applicant who isn’t sure s/he wants to be a lawyer, working in a law related job may help you decide. Because law school is a significant financial investment, you will want to be certain it's the right step for you.

Finally, work and life experience will make you a stronger candidate when you graduate from law school and are seeking your first job.

There are several advantages to taking some time off between UMass and law school and few, if any, disadvantages. If you have any doubts about whether law school is the right choice for you, don’t rush into it because “there’s nothing else to do.”

Many college seniors who decide to take time off before law school begin to worry about what they "should" do in the interim, and in particular, whether they should seek law-related employment.  It is true that a paralegal, legal secretary or legal assistant position in a law firm or legal organization can provide you with an excellent first-hand experience of what lawyers actually do (or at least the lawyers in the practice area that you have worked in and observed).  This can be very beneficial to you in making a final determination about whether law school is the right choice for you. However, law schools are not looking for applicants to have any kind of legal experience in particular.  They are more interested in what you got out of your work experience than in the kind of work you did. 

A senior who feels that he or she has performed below potential during college can sometimes improve a lackluster application profile by pursuing challenging post-collegiate professional or other opportunities.  Post-collegiate experience can therefore help compensate for below-par grades in college.  What is most important for law schools is the evidence that your post-collegiate job, internship, or other activity (such as a master’s degree) will have given you additional preparation for the rigors of law school, whether by increasing your general level of maturity and experience or by helping you master specific skills, such as analytical writing.

In short, it will certainly not hurt you to take time off after college before beginning law school, and in some circumstances, it may help you. Whether this is the right decision for you depends on a variety of factors, such as the strength of your collegiate record, your certainty that law school is right for you, and other personal life priorities.

Note also that one other option may be relevant for you. Some law schools permit admitted students to defer their matriculation to law school for one or two years (usually not more). If you are admitted to law school in your senior year but have particular priorities for the first year or two after college, this might be an option to consider.

Applying to Law School After Taking Time Off

Applying to law school after you have been in the workforce may present some special issues. Among the most common questions for "returnees" involve letters of recommendation and the weight accorded a college GPA that may be years in the past.

The second issue is the easier one to address: your GPA takes on less importance the farther away you get from it. By five years out, the law schools will care much more about what you've been doing with your life since college than your undergraduate GPA. (They'll still care very much about your LSAT, however.) Your work experience, and what you have gotten out of it, will almost always be considered a plus in law school applications.

Letters of recommendation require a bit more thought. Should they be academic or professional? How can you track down an old professor? What if the professor doesn't remember you?

Here are some suggested guidelines for choosing between academic and professional recommendations. If you have been out of school for one to three years, your letters of recommendation should still both be academic ones. Depending on the circumstances, you may want to submit a third letter from your employer or supervisor, especially if it will substantially add to the information from your professors. If you have been out of school for three to five years, you can feel safe substituting one of your academic letters with a professional recommendation. If you have been out of school for five or more years, you should definitely forego the academic letters and instead submit two professional recommendations.

If you are still in school and contemplating taking time off, consider asking professors for letters of recommendation now, while their memory of your academic performance is still fresh. Instead of forwarding the letters to LSAC, you can take advantage of the UMass Career Services' credentials service -- this is a service for confidentially storing letters of recommendation until you need them.

If it is too late to plan ahead -- you are already a few years out of school and are worried about locating a professor who may or may not rememeber you -- you should try the following steps. First, find out if the professor is still here at UMass by visiting the departmental website. If not, then contact the department staff directly to ask what information they might have about the professor's whereabouts. Usually, they will know where a professor has moved to, and will often have this information for former graduate students as well.

Once you find the potential recommender, be prepared for your initial contact. Refresh your own memory about the course(s) you took with the professor, and how you did (your transcript is the best source for this information). If you kept any work you did for that professor, dig it out before you make contact so you can refer to it. Once you have as much information as possible with which to spark the professor's memory, make an initial contact via phone or email. Ask specifically if the professor remembers you well enough and has a favorable enough impression of you to write a persuasive and detailed recommendation. Only if the response is affirmative should you go ahead and send out the necessary materials to the professor. Do not just send out the materials without first making contact with the professor.

If you cannot locate the professor, or the professor does not feel comfortable writing you a letter of recommendation, you will have to move to Plan B. This may include using professional recommendations instead of academic ones. While this is not ideal, rest assured that it does not necessarily spell disaster for your application chances. Much depends on the quality of the recommendations you do obtain.

Professional recommendations should, to the extent possible, address skills that are applicable to the study and practice of law. A supervisor who has worked closely with you is usually the best recommender. As with academic recommendations, the big name CEO who knows you only in passing is a less credible reference than the no-name manager who can write in detail about your stellar performance on the job.

If you have other questions about applying to law school after taking time off, you should feel free to contact the Pre-Law Advisor directly -- our services are available to alumni on the same basis as current students.