leoryan '25–'26

“The only time a lawyer can cry is when it’s all over.”

– Diego Armando

I stressed myself out way too much over this process, agonizing over how many recommendations to send to each school, which optional essays to complete, etc. My advice is to not do that. If a school is willing to accept 3 or 4 recommendation letters and you have that many people willing to speak that highly of you, then by all means, send them! Just make sure you’re getting a diverse set of perspectives — like professors from different departments and ideally an employer who knows you well if the school accepts that — so that you’re truly offering a more complete view of yourself. I also sent every optional “Why School” essay and considered those carefully so that I could highlight the attributes the schools admire the most about themselves as well as any special connections or interests I have for the school and the surrounding community.

I do wish someone had told me that there’s no need to rush out your applications. I exhausted myself trying to get my first application out in September and made some dumb mistakes filling out my early applications that I had to follow up and email to correct. The law schools will tell you themselves that anything before Thanksgiving is early, and you’re better off sending in your best application than your earliest one. Write your essays and give yourself time to come back to them with fresh eyes!

For interview preparation, I kept it simple. I reviewed questions that other applicants reported they had been asked or that the law school provided in advance, wrote out some possible answers to start thinking it through and two or three questions I had about the school, but refrained from any sort of mock interview. That’s just works best for me, I find that I have better conversations when I’m speaking off the cuff and not straining to remember memorized responses or talking points.

The most important thing about the process that people tend to forget: be human! Top schools want genuinely interesting, curious, and kind applicants! Lean into your niche interests: in my essays and my interviews, I often talked about my love for movies, physical media, and even analog horror videos on YouTube, and explained why those things were important to me. I showed off my adorable pet and talked about my partner at length! If you go into these interviews relaxed, genuine, and ready to talk about the things you love and that you are especially interested in, I think you’ll find that it goes better for you than if you do hours of prep trying to plan out every eventuality. Good luck and may you find success in your own legal journey!