Interview with Christine Carr, Accepted Law School Admissions Consultant [Show Summary]

How can you optimize your application and get into the law school of your dreams? Our guest today, Christine Carr, will give you the scoop.

Christine Carr graduated from Harvard University in 1993 and from there pursued a career in higher education. Before joining Accepted in 2018, she served first as Assistant Director of Admissions and then, since 2014, as Associate Director of Admissions at Boston University Law School. Needless to say she knows law school admissions inside and out, and she’s going to share what she knows today on AST.

Everything You Need to Know About Law School Admissions [Show Notes]

The standard line in admissions is that admissions and higher ed is not a field people decide to go into in kindergarten. What has been it’s attraction to you? How did you get into it? [2:00]

After college I had an amazing opportunity to work in higher education as Assistant Director of Athletics at Suffolk University and also serve as softball and volleyball coach. It was great for me to do both the administrative aspect and athletic as I was a student athlete. I did that for five years, and coaching was starting to lose its luster, but I enjoyed being part of higher education, with really interesting people coming on campus and a really wonderful atmosphere. I realized I had been recruiting athletes so it seemed like working in admissions would be a nice transition.

You recently joined Accepted as a consultant after 15+ years in different admissions roles, the last nine at BU and the last four of those as Associate Director of Admissions. What kind of experience, activities, or qualities did you like to see in law school applicants? [4:07]

There is a variety, and at the institutions I was working at there were no real cookie cutter applicants. First and foremost we looked for academic success - the ability to show they could be successful in a classroom was important. Then you’re thinking about the school community, and you want to admit people who classmates will learn from, will consider a true colleague, and value as part of their network. Throughout the process we were looking for applicants who had taken advantage of opportunities in the past, jumping in full force as a willing/able participant. Through resumes, personal statements, and so forth, we were looking for human beings who were active learners and willing to embrace the whole aspect of a law school education.

You reviewed over 10K applications while at BU. What made an application and specifically a personal statement stand out for you? [6:06]

My gut reaction to this question is what makes one stand out in a not so great way. To start with a personal statement that rubs me the wrong way is not proofread, with errors in the first paragraph - to me that was always glaring. Law school is a professional school, and that carelessness and lack of attention to detail is bad. In terms of good personal statements, they are clear and concise, and fit in the whole narrative of the application of why this applicant is interested in going to law school. The personal statement is an essential piece of the narrative, to show the applicant as a person,