How can I stand out for my dream schools?(yale,brown,duke and Georgetown)

Answered

Hi @Chels,

Being a criminal lawyer is a fine choice. To become one, first, you should do an undergrad and a master's degree in criminal justice before applying to Law School. So it will take you 4 years of undergrad, another 1 year for a master's, and then law school is 3 years. If you apply to a T14 (Top 14) law school it's more common than not for admits to having 1-3 years of work experience. This can be working for the justice department, FBI, CIA, a prosecutor's office, or something related. Even social work for a public defender is often a great resume builder.

While Y,B,D and GTown are great colleges, none of them are tailored to criminal justice for an undergraduate major. Therefore, you can certainly apply to them if you wish but you will not be majoring in either criminal justice or criminology.

So you have a lot to think about before you apply to college because you might change your mind about a career path or a major when you apply as a senior. Keep in mind that the average college student changes their major about 3 times prior to graduating so it's quite normal not to lock yourself into a major or a career unless you are 90-100% sure about it.

If you want to stick with that path, here are the classes I would take in HS:

AP US History, AP Government and Politics, AP Euro History, AP Statistics, AP Psychology, AP Bio, AP Chemistry, and AP Calc. And if you can take a course in Constitutional Law, all the better.

These are the school-based ECs I would do: Debate Team, Con. Law Competitions, Student Government (either ASB or Student council), and any kind of EC that involves writing like a Newspaper.

Here are the out-of-school ECs I would do: Any kind of leadership role with your cities like sitting on a Board of Directors as a student advisor, internship at a Law Firm or public defender, volunteering for a campaign, for example, someone running for District Attorney, or a Judge Position. Joining various advocacy organizations and volunteering for them. Doing independent research on the criminal justice system. Taking online courses in criminology/justice etc.

I made 3 lists of colleges for you, undergrad schools, grad schools, and law schools.

Best Undergrad colleges for Criminal Justice and Criminology- CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice., Northeastern University, UPenn, Pennsylvania State, Michigan State, University of Cincinnati, University of California, Irvine, Sam Houston State University, Florida State University, Boston U, U of Miami, UofArizona (criminology), UMD (criminology), SUNY Albany (criminology), Rutgers (criminology), GeorgeMason (criminology)

Best Master's degrees in Criminal Justice-

UCIrvine, Florida State, Univ. of Central Florida, Michigan State, Northeastern, Boston U, Sam Houston State U, East Carolina State, Univ. of Nebraska, Univ of Cincinnati.

Best Law School for Criminal Law - NYU, UC Berkeley, Georgetown, Harvard, Stanford, UPenn, UVA, Columbia, UCLA, UChicago, and Yale.