It’s never too late in life to apply to law school.
Although most applicants are under age 25, about 1 in 5 are 30 or older and a much smaller proportion are over 40. Many older law school graduates build fulfilling second careers that draw on preexisting skills and experiences.
Law school applicants who have been out of college for several years or more should keep the following aspects in mind:
— Career paths
— LSAT prep
— Application materials
— Part-time programs
— Campus resources
— Personal challenges
Career Paths
Law schools aren’t looking for students to come in with detailed career plans. Law students’ career paths can shift and evolve as they explore the wide range of legal fields through classes, clinics and internships, career services offices, events and extracurricular activities.
However, admissions officers expect older applicants to show that a legal career makes sense for them. In their resume and essays, they should clarify their past career path, their reasons for pursuing law and specific postgraduate goals.
[Read: Tips for Law School Applicants on Choosing a Legal Career Path.]
As an older applicant, don’t just answer the question: “Why law school?” Answer: “Why now?”
To frame a career change positively, emphasize the future over the past. For example, it’s fine for a former teacher to say she wants to work on education reform or ensuring classroom access for children with disabilities. She could even say that teaching has been a fulfilling experience but ultimately can’t support her family.
But if she sounds jaded about dealing with paperwork, office politics and ungrateful parents, law schools may wonder whether she is committed to law school or simply burned out and eager for any exit. They may worry that this applicant might find law school similarly dissatisfying and drop out.
LSAT Prep
The LSAT can be a double-edged sword for older applicants.
Doing well on standardized tests can absolutely help older applicants offset low grades if they lacked the time, focus or maturity to excel as an undergraduate.
Law schools tend to put less weight on grades earned many years ago, so a high LSAT or GRE score is perhaps the strongest evidence an older applicant can use to show their readiness for law school.
However, many older applicants with competing priorities struggle with standardized tests after being out of school for so long. Some law schools now offer pathways for applicants without a standardized test score, especially for part-time and online programs, but options are limited.
Frankly, if you find yourself unable to maintain the months of methodical study it takes to do well on the LSAT, law school may be even harder to manage. This can be a moment of truth for many older applicants.
[Read: How to Address a Low GPA in Law School Applications.]
Application Materials
Law school applicants of any age need to submit all their academic records and ideally at least one letter of recommendation from a professor to the credential assembly service.
Applicants unable to track down an academic reference should try to find professional references who can speak to academic skills and other relevant personal qualities.
Generally, law schools don’t expect applicants who have been out of school for at least eight years to submit an academic reference letter, but there’s no shame in reaching out to a professor you haven’t spoken with in years. Just give the professor ample notice and offer to provide a life update and details about old grades and examples of past performance.
As an older applicant, try to demonstrate your academic capabilities through work experience. In your resume, recommendation letters and personal statements, highlight examples of skillful uses of research and analysis.
Part-Time Programs
As an older applicant, you may have more life responsibilities to juggle with law school. You may be limited in geography or time commitment. Fortunately, there are increasing options for part-time and low-residency programs.
There are now multiple fully online J.D. programs, and even more hybrid online programs, that allow students to earn a law degree fully or primarily from home.
[Related:How to Overcome Fear of Applying to Law School]
Campus Resources
If you’re worried about what it will be like as an older law student, keep in mind that many law school students feel atypicalin one way or another. As an older law student, your mindset may be worlds apart from younger peers more concerned with finding free drinks than child care, but you should not feel alone.
Many law schools have associations of Older, Wiser Law Students, or OWLS, to socialize, commiserate and share advice. Older students with kids might also consider Parents Attending Law School, or PALS.
Nowadays, law schools offer a range of resources for parents, from flexible schedules to lactation rooms.
Personal Challenges
Some older applicants may be looking for a second chance rather than a midcareer change.
Law schools of all tiers have students who overcame hardships like addiction, incarceration, disability or fleeing a desperate situation. Schools value such students because they arrive with more motivation and more direct experience of the legal system than traditional applicants.
If your path to law school has been rocky, use your personal statement, optional essays or an addendum to provide this context. Make clear your career goals, uniquely informed by your past challenges, and your readiness for the rigors of law school.
Most importantly, stay mindful of your strengths as an older applicant. While you may face hurdles like age discrimination in the legal field, you may also benefit from greater life experience, more resources and connections, and higher clarity of purpose.
For example, I once met a retired woman in Alaska who was working as a cook to save money for law school. She planned to spend her twilight years aiding the Alaska Native communities that she had grown close to while working on the North Slope oil fields.
Her plan to study Native American law wasn’t easy, and she would have to leave Alaska to find an accredited law school. But considering the hard life she had lived in the Last Frontier, such challenges didn’t seem to daunt her.
More from U.S. News
7 Things I Wish I Knew When I Applied to Law School
13 Ways to Get Ready to Pay for Law School
What to Do After You Submit Law School Applications
Advice for Older Law School Applicants originally appeared on usnews.com