Prospective Law School Students: How to Spend Your Gap Year

For prospective law students who wish to take a gap year, there are many jobs and activities that will improve your resume, provide clarity on your future career path, and ultimately bolster your candidacy in the application process. We’ve listed a few ideas below:

• Management consulting/investment banking: For future applicants with a passion for business or an interest in corporate law, spending time at a consulting or investment banking group can increase your baseline knowledge, and understanding of the work.

• Policy analysis/research: If your interests are in constitutional or immigration law, working directly in this space can provide you experience with relevant stakeholders, as well as the ability to speak to your future goals more specifically within your law school application. It may also assist you to more strategically select law school programs that will best position you to do the work you love.

• Non-profit work: If you have identified an interest in public interest law or just in gaining professional skills quickly, working for a non-profit organization could be a sound next step. Typically, nonprofits have lean workforces and, as a result, even recent college graduates are asked to work outside their comfort zone to acquire new skills. Further, it is important to note that some organizations like Teach for America have relationships and scholarship programs with select law schools.

• Paralegal/legal assistant/legal administrator: For applicants interested in learning more about working within a law firm, this type of experience will broaden your understanding of the day-to-day life of a lawyer and will also likely show meaningful commitment to both law schools and future legal recruiters.

While it isn’t necessary to take a gap-year between undergraduate and law school, if you do, it is of vital importance to spend your time thoughtfully and productively.  It may seem appealing, in those months after college, to solely focus on LSAT and application preparations.  But remember, admissions committees will be looking very closely. Meaningful and productive work will help you to construct a narrative that will bolster your story as an applicant and positively contribute to your law school class and experience.  

Prospective Law School Students: When to Consider a Gap Year

Prospective law students often wonder if they should take time off between finishing their undergraduate work and applying to law school. While there is no one size fits all answer, the trend shows that many law schools are expecting and even rewarding students who take at least a brief interlude prior to starting school. 

According to ABA data, the majority of 2024 matriculants did report a gap prior to starting law school (65 percent). Among four of the top five ranked law schools by U.S. News and World Report in 2024, the incoming classes showed that between 70 and 90 percent of incoming students took at least one year off before matriculation. At Yale, 89 percent of the Class of 2027 was at least one year out from undergraduate and 46 percent were at least three years out.

While, it isn’t necessary for all students to take a gap year, it can be a beneficial use of time for the following types of applicants:

• Those with a general interest in the study of law, but without experience in the day-to-day operations of a law firm and/or those who do not yet feel comfortable selecting a career path within the legal industry

• Those who have a passion they would like to pursue, who can spend some time in the field to confirm law school is the right next step to help them achieve their goals

• Those who need to enhance the competitiveness of their application with additional experiences and insight into their future goals

• Those who may benefit from a year of earnings prior to taking on the financial burden of law school

• Those interested in working at a firm post- law school, as prior work experience can be looked upon quite favorably by hiring managers

Check back tomorrow as we discuss productive ways to spend your gap year. 

What to Know if You’re a Pre-Law Student Considering Paralegal Work

Only about one-third of first-year law students in the U.S. went directly to law school from undergrad. At Yale, only about 15 percent of the law class of 2025 matriculated immediately after graduation. The majority of law applicants choose to take a gap year, or several, prior to applying. And, every year, we receive a lot of questions about the value of paralegal experience for applicants. Should you pursue it in your gap year? In a word: maybe. Let’s review the pros and cons to see if it might be the right fit for you. 

The Pros:

• If you are interested in a career at a law firm, work as a paralegal will provide an up-close view of your life as an associate. You will see what the hours, work, and intra-firm relationships will look like.

• You’ll build a personal network within the firm, which may benefit you as you go through the recruitment process.

• While your work as an early-career paralegal will be administrative in nature, you will develop skills that will benefit you in law school and beyond including legal research and writing.

• You’ll earn a reasonable salary, and some firms pay for paralegals to attend LSAT test preparation courses. You may even be able to continue working throughout law school if you attend a local university and have time. 

The Cons:

• As mentioned above, your early-career paralegal work will be more administrative than substantive in content.

• Paralegal experience is fairly common among law applicants, so you will want to find additional ways to stand out. Inquire about taking on a challenging long-term research project at your firm or a leadership role in a firm-wide charitable initiative.

• If you need to earn money to pay for law school, jobs in industries that you’re interested in (e.g. tech, finance) may provide meaningful and challenging experiences, while also  paying you a higher salary.