University Pre-Law Services hosted a law school fair Tuesday in Talley Student Center drawing in hundreds of students, law school representatives and members of the general public.
According to Mary Tetro, university coordinator for pre-law services and chair elect of the Pre-Law Adviser’s National Council, the event consisted of a series of workshops, as well as a general law school fair, designed as a way to connect a diverse array of law schools with a wide range of potential law school applicants.
“When we decided to organize this fair back in 2002, we especially wanted to be sure that this was an open event,” said Tetro. “We had been to other law school fairs in the area, and we believe that having an open fair is beneficial to law schools since it allows them to talk to everyone.”
Adam Barrett, assistant dean for enrollment management at McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, CA, said this quality is one of the main reasons why so many schools attended the law school fair.
“Our University, and many others from around the U.S., all go on a ‘swing’ about this time where we visit N.C. State and many other universities in the area,” said Barrett. “Diversity is something that is really important to our school in particular because we are one of the most diverse law schools in the nation.”
Barrett, who is moving to North Carolina to continue expanding McGeorge’s recruitment along the east coast, said there is a lot of incentive for law schools in other parts of the nation to come to universities like N.C. State.
“I have been a representative at this fair for many years,” said Barrett. “N.C. State is a great school, and we consistently find really well-qualified and diverse students.”
According to Jessica Montes, Nova Southeastern University alum and representative at the event, schools with much less diversity, such as Florida-based Nova, also looked to increase the diversity of their applicants.
“We are a small private school, so we try to look for a diverse population of students,” said Montes. “We’d like to have a well-rounded set of students.”
According to Montes, attending law school fairs in areas farther away from the university she represents encourages the recruitment of such individuals.
“When you go to schools in other parts of the country, especially in areas like North Carolina, you see such a wide variety of students,” said Montes. “If we can recruit many types of students, it will improve the overall classroom experience because it will include many different cultures, traditions, and perspectives.”
Tetro said this year’s law school fair aimed to correct the common misconception that pre-law events are beneficial only to CHASS students.
“It is a common misnomer that most N.C. State students applying to law school are in CHASS,” said Tetro. “We’ve had students from every college on campus, with the exceptions of design and education, apply for law school. Percentage-wise, there are more CHASS students. However, we have large numbers of students applying from the colleges of management, engineering, and textiles.”
Rob Williams, a junior in political science, said even though he is in CHASS, he recommends this event and others like it to students in all majors and colleges.
“This was a very well organized event, and it was a great opportunity for students to meet representatives from different law schools,” said Williams. “Even if you aren’t interested in attending law school, it is always interesting to see other options in the workforce. There was a lot of information available at this event that you maybe wouldn’t be able to find on their websites.”
