Understand the interview format, know your application materials well and do practice interviews, experts advise.

Admissions interviews are a way law schools gauge the fit of a prospective student.

This means identifying some of their strengths from previous academic and social experiences, as well as understanding their future goals, career aspirations and how their presence could benefit the climate of a school campus.

Here's some advice from experts about how law school applicants can get ready for these important conversations.
Know Whether the Interview Is in Person or Virtual

“Definitely check with the (school) before to find more information and if it's asynchronous or if it's a live interview,” says Michelle Martinez, a third-year law student at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law.

That school’s interviews have been asynchronous, or virtual, for the last five years.

“For me, I had to prepare by recording myself answering these questions,” Martinez says, “so that was definitely very helpful because they didn't put the stress of actually being in front of someone and having to answer those questions.”

At UT Austin's law school, students submit 90-second video recordings of themselves answering a few questions.

“Each of the categories encompasses a particular attribute that we're looking for,” says Mathiew Le, the school’s assistant dean for admissions and financial aid. “Those attributes include their motivations for pursuing law school, their communication skills and areas of particular interest."

Some law schools offer interviews to all students while others offer interviews by invitation only. Some don't include interviews in the admissions process at all.
Review Your Resume and Do Practice Interviews

Le says prospective students should treat the interview as if it were a job interview, reviewing their resume beforehand and preparing through mock interviews with friends or family.

“You want to research the school and all of the things that the school has to offer you,” he says. “I would also go a step further and encourage students who are preparing for their interview to go back into their resume and look at their various experiences to help remind them of the things that they've done that will be helpful in their responses to questions.”

Le encourages remote interviewees to make sure the environment they’re doing the interview in is free of distractions like friends and family talking in the background, or pets.

Making the most of an interview also means being prepared to present yourself as a prospective law student and to learn more about the school from your interviewer.

“You're treating it like a professional job interview, and that means things like having your resume handy and being prepared to answer questions about it, and preparing questions for your interviewer about the school or the legal profession," says Todd Morton, assistant dean and dean of admissions at Vanderbilt Law School in Tennessee. "But in the end, what matters most is that you help your interviewer get a sense of you as a person and your interest in becoming a lawyer.”

Morton says business casual attire is most common in interviews, but presentation and conduct matter more.

Vanderbilt takes a holistic approach to candidate interviews, in which the admissions team takes into account a student's academics, community engagement and work experience, he says. Another consideration is the resources and opportunities an applicant had and how they took advantage of them to advance themselves and to have a positive impact on others.
Have Good Questions to Ask

“The other thing that sometimes applicants don't really think about is what questions they should bring,” Morton says.

The interviews are a great opportunity to help prospective law students understand the different programs and aspects that the school has to offer, he says, as well as what distinguishes one school from another specific to an applicant’s interests and long-term goals.

Related: What to Ask Law School Admissions Officers During Interviews

Vanderbilt is also interested in what's propelling an applicant to attend law school and how the student plans to take advantage of the law school's resources and opportunities to launch themselves into the legal profession, Morton says.

Understand Types of Interviews

Beyond impressing law school admissions offices, interviews are opportunities for applicants to begin exploring the legal profession and areas of practice, Morton says. That includes looking into the types of clients who personally motivate and interest an aspiring attorney, which most applicants don't have a good sense of until they start law school and complete their first year, he adds.
Alumni Interviews

Vanderbilt uses an alumni interview program, which Morton says is rare nationally. The school has between 700 and 900 alumni interviewers across the U.S. in a given year, and prospective students indicate during the application process whether they’d like an interview.

After a request, an alumni interviewer nearby will reach out to the prospective student and meet online or in person for a 30-minute interview.

These optional interviews were created in 2007, Morton says, and with an average pool of about 5,000 applicants, typically 800 to 1,000 take advantage of the interview.

“An alumni interview gives you a chance to talk with someone who’s attended a school you’re interested in and who may even be practicing law in a location in which you are interested,” Morton says. “It's a good opportunity to not only present yourself as a prospective law student, but also to ask questions of and to get connected with a person working as a lawyer, possibly in an employment market that you are considering after graduation.”

Read: What Law School Applicants Should Know About the Legal Market

The alumni interviews aren’t make or break, but the alum will send a written report to Vanderbilt's admissions team detailing how the meeting went.

Random Interviews

The J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University in Utah has a random interview process.

“Not all applicants will receive an interview, but we do select some applicants, either at random or if we are considering admitting them, and we reach out to them for a phone interview,” says Anthony Grover, the school’s dean of admissions.

Grover says the interviews allow him to ask questions about the application and get to know an applicant better outside of those materials. He says students who aren’t selected for an interview shouldn't worry, as having an interview doesn't mean an applicant is more likely to get admitted.

And those who may not have excelled in the interview should not panic, as that step is just one part of the school’s holistic application review, he says.

“It isn’t some formal thing where we score the interview and throw it into some formula, so to speak, and to spit out a decision. But if there's something that I have a question about on their application, and they explain it to me, then that gives me some more context on their background and experience.”

BYU gives an admission decision four to six weeks after an application is submitted. Interviews are held during that time.

Grover says students should come to the table ready to articulate the factors that led them to apply to the school, what they’re looking for in a law school experience and how they can add to the law school community.

For applicant preparation, this could mean reviewing school-specific programs, research, employment outcomes, faculty and more. They should be well versed in the application materials they submitted so that they can clearly answer any questions the interviewer may ask, Grover says.

Since the interviews at Texas are asynchronous, Le says students need to speak in a way that is easily understood across generations, since there’s often a wide age range of people who will review the video responses.

“You should also assume that the interviewer or the admissions committee has already read your file at least once or twice,” he says.

Random Interviews

The J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University in Utah has a random interview process.

“Not all applicants will receive an interview, but we do select some applicants, either at random or if we are considering admitting them, and we reach out to them for a phone interview,” says Anthony Grover, the school’s dean of admissions.

Grover says the interviews allow him to ask questions about the application and get to know an applicant better outside of those materials. He says students who aren’t selected for an interview shouldn't worry, as having an interview doesn't mean an applicant is more likely to get admitted.

And those who may not have excelled in the interview should not panic, as that step is just one part of the school’s holistic application review, he says.

“It isn’t some formal thing where we score the interview and throw it into some formula, so to speak, and to spit out a decision. But if there's something that I have a question about on their application, and they explain it to me, then that gives me some more context on their background and experience.”

BYU gives an admission decision four to six weeks after an application is submitted. Interviews are held during that time.

Grover says students should come to the table ready to articulate the factors that led them to apply to the school, what they’re looking for in a law school experience and how they can add to the law school community.

For applicant preparation, this could mean reviewing school-specific programs, research, employment outcomes, faculty and more. They should be well versed in the application materials they submitted so that they can clearly answer any questions the interviewer may ask, Grover says.

Since the interviews at Texas are asynchronous, Le says students need to speak in a way that is easily understood across generations, since there’s often a wide age range of people who will review the video responses.

“You should also assume that the interviewer or the admissions committee has already read your file at least once or twice,” he says.