Hi all,

I would like to ask what are the opportunities for undergraduate law student as me to get the best credentials during my studies?

I am a second year student at an ancient university in Europe which is ranked in 300 best universities in the world (the best in my country). Unfortunately, in my first year, I had rather average (or slightly above average) grades. Now, in my second year, I have got excellent grades so far and studying really many subjects in order to improve my GPA. I also underwent some practise in a students' association, internships, going to participate in summer law school, extra seminars...

I want to keep excellent grades for further three years of my studies (in my country we have a 5-year combined BA+MA degree). Then I would like to apply for an LL.M. programme in the U.S.

What might be your advices for me to improve my credentials? I really started to be keen on law so I have found out these extracurricular activities so far:

- international moot court competitions
- summer law schools
- distance learning programmes (there are oppurtunities to gain diploma from prestigious foreign universities at our law school)
- internships (Which internships are appreciated most highly? Parliaments? International law firms? High Courts?)
- student associations
- law reviews (not really many law reviews at our law school)
- publications (I am not good at writing actually... Is it valuable?)

Anything else of which I am not aware of?

And does it really matter if I had average grades in my first year if later I will have got much better?

Thanks for your comments!

Hi Sarkan, it sounds like you are definitely on the right track. I think what extracurricular activities will be best for you will depend on what you want to study in the US - if you are keen on academia, a high court internship or writing on a law review would be a good idea, whereas if you are more interested in private practice and internship at a law firm and moot court competitions might be better. In relation to your grades - if they improve, then I don't think that your first year grades will matter too much. I've written a blog http://llmstudent.aussieblogs.com.au/llmtips/ which has some tips about preparing for your LLM application, which you might find useful

Thanks for your answer. I will definitely try to push upon it.

Just wondering... I heard also that these universities appreaciate if applicants demonstrate a strong sense of social responsibility. That means, in practise, that one shall work as a volunteer for some NGO, is that right? I am doing summer workcamps every year, does that demonstrate sufficient commitment? Anyone has got experience with this?

I have 0 social responsibility on my CV and wrote nothing about social responsibility in my applications. in fact, a multinational law firm could not care less whether you picked shells from a beach in tansania. what counts is work experience, so make sure you get as much as possible in the fields of your likely future career choice.

instead of the summer work camps, make sure you get some valuable experience at an international firm or at a court (like the person above me wrote). there are a million other applicants with NGO/summer camp experience and your application will be as bland as theirs, unless you spice it up in whatever way you feel is right.

Unless you intend to study human rights / environmental law and become a barrista at starbucks, you should not worry about social responsibility. in the corporate world, nobody does.