Law school is a major investment. When you’re considering which law schools to apply to, and where to ultimately attend, there are a number of factors to consider – tuition, scholarships, location, and job placement statistics, to name a few. Not to be overlooked, however, is the school’s community and culture. Campus visits offer a better glimpse of this than anything else. Law school tours provide a unique opportunity to ask a current student anything you want about the school, its student body, and whatever else you’re curious about. It can be hard to think of questions in the moment, however, so after almost three years of giving tours for Temple Law School, these are the five questions that I would recommend.
What does the first-year curriculum look like?
Most law schools offer the same doctrinal courses to first-year students. These include: Criminal Law, Contracts, Torts, Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Property, and Legal Research and Writing. But there are variations in what else is available depending on where you go. And unless you ask the question, it’s unlikely that your tour guide will go into detail about this.
For example, at Temple first-year students have the opportunity to choose an elective course to take during their spring semester. Available courses vary from year to year, but recent electives have included: Antitrust, International Law, Tax Law, Intellectual Property, and Business Organizations.
Temple also has practical courses built into the first-year curriculum. For example, all first-year students take “Litigation Basics” and “Introduction to Transactional Skills” during their first semester. Litigation Basics starts the week of Orientation, and provides a great introduction to the “mechanics of litigation” and the life of a typical case. It was really helpful to have this introduction prior to the first day of classes. Introduction to Transactional Skills is a two-week intensive course that exposes first-year students to the transactional side of practicing law. The topic for the course can vary, but when I took it, my partner and I represented a famous chef who was looking to partner with a restaurateur in the start of a new restaurant. Our task was to negotiate the terms of agreement for the deal. It’s a tough course, but it offers an eye-opening glimpse into the day-to-day practice of a transactional (corporate) lawyer. Courses that fall outside of the traditional foundational curriculum can be instrumental in helping you decide what type of law you’re interested in, so it’s good to ask about this early on.
What support systems are in place for first-year students?
The first year of law school can be very challenging, and Temple responded by creating and implementing the Academic Core Enrichment (ACE) program. ACE has been in place for over eight years and its goal is, “to help first-year students transition from college or work to law school by developing and improving their study techniques, learning skills, and ultimately, their law school academic performance.”
ACE accomplishes its stated goal by, among other things, holding lectures and panel discussions about particular areas of stress for first-year students. For example, during my first year at Temple, I attended multiple ACE sessions where former students who had my professors spoke about how they prepared for that professor’s final exam—it was extremely helpful to say the least.
“The bottom line is that your professors are going to be an invaluable resource for you and you want to make sure that you go to a school where strong relationships with faculty are the norm for most students rather than the exception.”
Additionally, the Women’s Law Caucus (a student group on campus that is open to all students regardless of gender) has an online database of outlines made by students who received a B+ or higher on a final exam (organized by course and professor) that student members can access. Most students do their own outlining, but having the online database is invaluable for cross-checking your own interpretation of the law discussed throughout the course.
Why did you decide to go here?
This question is personal, but it’s worth asking. It might also be worthwhile to ask your tour guide whether being a student at their school has lived up to their expectation. I always respond to this question the same way. I picked Temple for four reasons: (1) I loved living in Philadelphia; (2) I heard so many great things about Temple’s reputation within the legal community; (3) although I received larger scholarships from other schools, Temple gave me a generous scholarship; and (4) Temple’s Admitted Student Open House blew me away. And as to whether Temple has lived up to my expectations, the honest answer is that Temple has exceeded my expectations in every possible way.
How approachable or accessible are the professors?
This is an important question. If your tour guide starts to respond generally, ask them to describe their relationships with professors. The key to this question is to figure out whether you’ll be able to talk to your professors easily, or whether you’ll have to talk to a teaching assistant first. A number of professors have been my mentors throughout law school, and I don’t know what I would have done without them.
My professors have helped me make some extremely difficult decisions during law school, such as what to do during my first summer, where to work after graduation, advice on applying for federal clerkships, and what courses to take. If they couldn’t answer a question they put me in touch with former students of theirs who could. A few professors took me on as a research assistant, opening my eyes to new areas of the law. One professor volunteered to oversee my first attempt at scholarship that came in the form of my Law Review Comment my second year; without him, I’m not sure it would have gotten written!
The bottom line is that your professors are going to be an invaluable resource for you and you want to make sure that you go to a school where strong relationships with faculty are the norm for most students rather than the exception.
How strong is the school’s alumni base, and where (geographically) is that base strongest?
The economy has improved considerably since 2009, but it can still be a tough world for new lawyers out there. Often, the hardest part in finding your first job is just getting your application read, and having contacts can really help with this. I do not come from a family of lawyers, and I did not grow up in the Philadelphia area, but the strength of the Temple network rendered that unimportant. I can’t begin to count the number of times I have written an email to a Temple alum with the subject line “Hi from a Temple Student,” and gotten a positive response within thirty minutes.
Temple alumni are wonderful, diverse, and eager and willing to help current Temple students. I had no clue that by coming to Temple, I was being inducted into a seemingly limitless network of attorneys. As a student, there are countless opportunities for networking and getting involved in the Philadelphia legal community. Many of these opportunities are organized by the school, and include mentorship programs, alumni events, and service projects.
Temple’s alumni base is strongest in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and New York, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t exist outside of this area. In fact, as of 2014, there are Temple Law alumni in every state except Nebraska. Alumni are proud of their Temple roots and they feel strongly about seeing recent Temple graduates at their places of employment – it’s the type of intangible benefit that you cannot put a price on.
