Law School Admission
My Personal Experience with TRIALS
By Derecka Purnell
TRIALS is a five-week summer intensive that equips undergraduate students and graduates with the tools to be successful law school applicants and students.
A
partnership between the Advantage Testing Foundation, Harvard University School of Law, and New York University School of Law, the program invites about 1% of its applicant pool to live as a cohort on the law school campuses that alternate each year. Travel, tuition, room and board, and preparation materials are all covered, along with a competitive stipend to replace summer employment.
Vision TRIALS changed my life. I was completely engaged by the program’s mission of recruiting students from modest means to diversify the nation’s leading law schools. My cohort consisted of incredibly talented individuals with varying backgrounds, passions, and ambitions. We shared laughter, tears, resources, and many late nights. Although the schedule was very demanding, we took humble advantage of all that TRIALS, Harvard Law School, and Cambridge had to offer.
LSAT I was too intimidated to apply the year before I attended, but I knew that I could not afford missing a preparation opportunity for a very important part of the admission process: the LSAT. During the week, we were in class learning testing strategies, testing, or reviewing questions from tests we had taken. After class and on weekends, we had private and small group tutoring sessions. Not only were the classes taught by some of
84
BLACK
Derecka Purnell is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where she studied Political Science and Black Studies. She is also a 2011 University of California, Berkeley Public Policy and International Affairs Law Fellow, and a 2012 Sidley Prelaw Scholar.
Annual 2013 Edition
the best tutors in the world, the program’s founder Arun Alagappan, is an alumnus of Harvard Law School, and devotes time and energy to the program as an instructor and mentor. Breakthroughs are often celebrated, and challenges overcame. Results varied in an uptrend, and I saw my diagnostic score increase twenty-three points by the end of the summer.
Network The TRIALS network includes alumni, law schools, and law firms that celebrate the success of the program. I was able to meet with law school deans and professors of my top three law school choices, engaging in conversations that ranged from admissions to recent court decisions. A true spirit of investment and commitment relished every encounter with the partners of the program and TRIALS alumni, who remain a constant voice for feedback, encouragement, and assistance. I seriously recommend TRIALS for those committed to preparing themselves to increasing their work ethic while preparing for law or graduate school. The program has proved to be much more than a preparation program, but a opportunity with the advantage and prestige of preparing future leaders.
Training and Recruitment Initiative for Admission to Leading Law Schools Trials is a residential scholarship program that helps talented and motivated college students of modest means gain admission to the nation’s leading law schools. This rigorous five-week summer course enhances opportunities for students of underrepresented backgrounds by bolstering their skills and focusing their goals. For more information, visit their website at http://trials.atfoundation.org/index.