[.ca] How To Get Into Harvard Law School (ISBN 0809232529)

you don't have to spend money on this book:
i will tell you precisely how to get into harvard law school: a) buy your admission or b) be related to a dean of admissions or c) earn excellent grades and a high lsat score from a reputable college, and don't come off as a jerk in your essay. beyond that there is no other tactic at your disposal. no book will ever get you into an ivy league law school, and if you are looking for essay advice then you can find it online for free. there is a copy of this book in the career services office of my college. there is basically a copy of this book available on harvard's website (all the info is there). you can only exemplify your worth to harvard through the choices that you have made in your academic career. that means if the extent of your extracurricular involvement was setting up the keg for that frat party frosh year, or you find yourself as a senior with a 3.2 GPA, your salvation will not be contained in this book. allay the desperation, and get some work experience. good luck with your search, and discriminate against anyone who is trying to sell you something.

not a guidebook:
This book quite simply should not be titled "How to get into Harvard Law School." Rather, it should make reference to profiles of applicants who actually got into Harvard Law School. Epps's advice is fairly generic, telling the reader what HLS is like from a social and academic standpoint. He spends more time concentrating on details that the reader probably already knows by just visiting HLS's official website. Other than share some basic information concerning the university, he lacks in any comprehensive detail regarding increasing one's chances of getting admitted. On the other hand, the profiles were useful and the applicants' essays were, if nothing more than remarkable, quite inspirational. The profiles were indeed intimidating, but I would assume that people who have considered buying this particular book are not necessarily the types to be easily scared off by soaring GPA's and perfect LSAT's. I would assume that they themselves know where they stand academically on whether they should even consider applying to Harvard in the first place. If I were you, consider borrowing this book from a local library or buying a used copy. The full price is not worth it. The year the book was made is also quite outdated and does not accurately reflect Harvard's statistics today.

Should have been called "Who Got Into Harvard Law Sc hool":
This book seems to be have done with a minimum of effort. There is no "how" there is only "who". Only 55 pages of it were actually written by the author, and most of that is simply information he took from the Harvard catalog; things such as class offerings, parts of the application and what to do with them. There seems to be no advice whatsoever beyond the basic "only apply if you're really sure you want to go to law school". The only original insights he offers are 1) that he went there and 2) a short section (less than 10 pages) about the positives and negatives of Harvard. The rest of this 367 or so page book is composed of profiles of people who went there (in their exact words; they answer a bunch of questions and he just includes it in the book word for word) and a series of essays that these people wrote. The only benefit I can see from this book is that if you want a LOT of well written sample essays, this is a great place to start. However, one only needs a few to see what type of information and writing style is expected, the rest just serve to show just how good (and self absorbed in many cases) a lot of these people are. I would definitely not recommend this book. It is even outdated; 5 years old now. With law school applications rising steadily since it was originally published and then up drastically this year, the "who" this books gives us may no longer even be representative of who is actually admitted. If pure voyeurism is your game, this book is great, but if you want "how" and actual useful advice try Richard Montauk's "How to get into the Top Law Schools". It has more useful advice in one page than this book has cover to cover.

Must-Read:
I'm still an undergrad and found this to be a wonderful resource. IMHO though, it's especially helpful if you're still in college, mainly b/c it makes you realize how hard you'll have to work if your goal is to enter Harvard law. However the 50 interviews (very candid and honest) leave you w/the impression that for these ex-candidates, all the hard work was well worth it. They seem satisfied, happy, and proud w/the outcome as well they should be. No matter where you come from, what your race is, or your socio-economic status, you are sure to find a few profiles you can relate to. Huge thanks to the author, as well as the Harvard faculty, staff, students & alumni who cooperated. A+++ !!!!

Disregard Previous Poster:
I just wanted to point out to the review who claimed "This book is filled with people who got 4.5 and above GPAs and LSAT scores of 170 and better." It is IMPOSSIBLE to get a GPA of 4.5 in college. The highest GPA one can achieve in college is 4.33 and thats *if* the school awards an A+ for a grade of 100%. Most schools just award ordinary A's which caps the maximum GPA at 4.0.