Getting Into Harvard Law School Isn't That Difficult

I was on a pre-law forum the other day, and I was amazed at how many college students think getting into Harvard law School is difficult. It may not be a walk on the beach to get into that school, but it certainly is not impossible. I read one forum post from a Georgetown undergraduate student with a 3.6 GPA and a 170 LSAT score who thought that Harvard was a "pipe dream."

I responded and argued vehemently that it's not a pipe dream at all! Getting into Harvard Law School is must simpler than prevailing wisdom makes it out to be. This created a fire storm of posts back and forth because, predictably, many people disagreed with me. They thought I shouldn't have been telling this Georgetown student to apply to Harvard.

The truth is they were all wrong. I got into Harvard with credentials that some would think did not qualify me to get admitted there. My LSAT score was well below a 170, and I did not attend Georgetown. In fact, I attended a third-tier undergraduate university.

How then did I get in? Was it a mistake? Did I pay someone off? Did I have an inside person slip me in? No, none of this happened.

I was able to get into Harvard Law School because I took advantage of the admissions process, which I studied long and hard. I learned that rolling admissions is one crucial aspect of the process that was begging to be exploited.

The way to exploit rolling admissions is to apply early. By applying early, you force the law school, in this case Harvard, to evaluate you against an incomplete pool of candidates. Because the pool is incomplete, the standards to get in are far more flexible than they would be later in the process, when more candidates have applied, and the pool is much more complete. With more flexible standards, you can conceivably get admitted whereas, had you applied later, you might have been rejected.

This is what I did. I applied the very first week Harvard began accepting applications. And that is what you should do if you are thinking of applying and getting into Harvard Law School.