If you are thinking about becoming a lawyer then you may well be at the stage where you are thinking about applying to law school. The route that you take from this point could well shape your future in employment terms so it is important to make the right decisions here.

As with any type of educational facility law schools are often ranked by their performance and overall ability. The top ranked law schools will fairly obviously be the ones that employers will aspire to hire from -- for this reason these schools are the ones that most students in their turn will aspire to attend.

But, it is important to make sure that you make realistic choices when it comes to applying for law schools. There is little point wasting your time by applying for schools to which you know you won't be accepted. You also don't want to make things hard for yourself by going to a law school that won't suit you and your study methods.

The best tip that you can have when you are thinking about which law schools to attend is to look at their admission criteria. Any law school will publish information that could be useful to you such as average LSAT (the exam you have to take to get entry into any law school) scores and expected GPAs. So, if you think that you cannot achieve the right level of LSAT score and know that your average GPA is too low for the first law school you would like to attend on your list then you can work out that this probably isn't the school for you.

It is actually far better to work down the ranking list until you find a suitable school on this basis. Remember, you want to be challenged here -- this isn't the time to be looking for an easy ride -- so don't necessarily ignore schools that are just above your results. Do also bear in mind that all law schools will also take other stuff into consideration as well as specific test results. So, if you have specific work experience, great letters of recommendation and have aced the essay question on your application then you could well buck the trend.

It's also worth your while to try and visit law schools f you can to take a look around and to see how they work. If this isn't possible then check out websites and any student blogs/sites that relate to the school to try and get a feel of what it is like to study there.

Remember, it isn't worth breaking your back to get into the best law schools if you won't be happy there. So, do look for schools where you think you will settle down and enjoy yourself as well. Three years is a long time to study in a place you don't like and you'll simply get better grades and have a better study experience overall if you are happy in the school that you choose.