Student Voices

As I reflect back on my first year at Harvard Law, I undoubtedly believe I made the right choice in picking a law school.

I’ll be honest: I’m incredibly attached to the members of the Class of 2021 that I admitted off the waitlist in summer 2018. They’re amazing. And one of them has some advice for you.

As my first year at HLS is coming to a close with COVID-19 affecting the world, I still believe that my decision to transfer to HLS was the right one.

Deciding whether to transfer law schools is an incredibly daunting decision that affects the course of your entire life (trust me, I know).

One of the numerous student groups here at Harvard Law School is Mock Trial. We recently sat down with co-presidents of the HLS Mock Trial team Tiffany Li ’21 and Nick Beachy ’21 to ask some questions and learn more about this unique organization.

I believe the learning and perspective I gained from participating in both programs made my time at Harvard significantly more fruitful.  Without HKS, I do not think I would have gotten the deep dive into international relations that I was looking for, and without HLS, I wouldn’t be a lawyer who plans to (at least for now) tackle complex international problems in international courts of arbitration.

There are many paths to law school. Increasingly, people choose to take a year or two off before pursuing their law degree. Many choose to use those years to gain work experience in banking or consulting, others work for non-profits or in public service roles,… and some spend six years earning a Ph.D. in the humanities.

Last week, you learned about the HLS dorms. This week, we’re featuring a unique housing opportunity at HLS: serving as a residential advisor for undergraduate students at Harvard College. All residential advisors at Harvard College are graduate students, known as “proctors” for first-year students and “tutors” in the twelve undergraduate Houses (where sophomores, juniors, and seniors live).

Over the coming weeks, we’re going to feature some of the places you can live while you are at Harvard Law School. First up: the on-campus dorms. HLS dorm options include Hastings Hall (one- and two-bedrooms), North Hall (singles), the “Woodframes” houses, or the Gropius Complex (singles).

Current students Reiley and Katie traveled to Utah last month to meet with students at Brigham Young University and the University of Utah. Read about their trip, and their reflections on supporting Latter-day Saint women aspiring to Harvard Law School.

"Every time I speak with prospective HLS students, I offer the same piece of advice: look up every once in a while. It’s so easy to get completely caught up in reading, studying, journals, clubs, etc., but I think it’s vital to set all of that aside every once in a while and appreciate what an enormous privilege it is to be at HLS."

The Harvard Association for Law and Business (HALB) recently went to Tokyo, Japan on their third annual International Trek. We sat down with Ope Adebanjo '20, Genevieve Antono '21, Leo Ding '20, Elizabeth Ferrie '19 and Caroline Shinkle '20 to learn more about their trip.

We spoke with 3L J.P. about his path to HLS, his passion for tech, and the law and technology resources available at Harvard Law.

Rising 2L Sheridan Cunningham shares their perspective on working with the Prison Legal Assistance Program (PLAP), one of the Student Practice Organizations (SPOs) at HLS.

Rising 2L Kenneth Pearson reflects on the size of Harvard Law School and how that impacted his first year experience.

Ashley Maiolatesi reflects on her experience transferring to HLS and jumping right into the public interest community.

For another inside look at the transfer admissions process, we spoke with 2L James about joining the Harvard Law Review.

Considering applying to Harvard Law as a transfer student? We recently spoke with 3Ls Sophie and Matt to hear their advice for prospective transfer students.

"Morehouse surrounded me with role models who could point me down the paths I should take in order to chart my own path to HLS."