By Adonia Burciaga
Representatives from Santa Clara University School of Law (SCUSL) reached out to East Los Angeles College students through the Pathway to Law School program to show students law school is attainable.
ELAC’s Pathway to Law School program had two guest speakers from SCUSL on Tuesday
SCUSL provides different events such as admission fairs and campus tours for students who are considering law school.
They are collaborative with other top law schools in California.
Annemarie Scott, a SCUSL Admissions and Financial Aid counselor, said “We want law schools to [be] accessible and not be a mystery. Also not having students looking at Reddit for answers.”
SCUSL helps students prepare a career plan and pairs them with mentors.
The staff ensures that students are reaching milestones such as helping students create career portfolios to help them excel after law school.
The milestones are reached by getting internships in different types of law.
They offer preparation courses and have an office dedicated to preparing students for the bar exam.
Scott shared statistics of how well students do on the bar exam after attending SCUSL, considering it is hard to pass in the state of California.
Each specialty at SCUSL has a clinic program to prepare each student on the type of law they want to practice.
Bryan Hinkle, SCUSL’s Assistant Dean, said it’s great this connection exists to remind students they’re on the right path to becoming attorneys. It’s especially important in areas where the government lacks representation.
“Law schools really prepare students to make changes,” Hinkle said.
Rather than a formal presentation, both guest speakers opened the floor to questions from ELAC students.
Law schools such as SCUSL are open to any major as long as students excel in an academic setting.
Both guest speakers made sure to emphasize students at law schools can practice different types of law.
Students don’t have to limit themselves to one kind of law.
The representatives said multiple things are considered when it comes to scholarships. Such considerations are how well students perform in undergrad, if students are a part of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)of an underrepresented group and how well they perform in the LSAT. Their scholarships range from $10,000 a year to full tuition.
Hinckle said students should challenge themselves to become better writers.
He said it is normal for students to perform unsatisfactorically at first in community college courses, but later perform well in upper-division courses.