Pre-Law Program offers opportunities to Florida A&M University students

Students can get a taste of law school from new opportunities offered by the Pre-Law Program on campus.Florida A&M offers a year round program for any student interested in law school. FAMU has worked with other universities to send students on a summer program structured with a law school experience. Tyra Mason, the assistant director of pre-law, said the program is a great opportunity and students should take advantage of it.“We are here to help any student at the university who has an interest in going to law school,” said Mason.Delton Travis, 20, a third year political science student from Tallahassee, said he was completely unaware of the program, but fully intends to apply.“I never knew they had places you can go [and] spend weeks at a time to get a full glance of law school,” Travis said. “I plan on applying to attend and get prepared for the law school experience.” FAMU has served as a feeder program to law schools for students across the country. The schools offer summer programs to help prepare students for law school, beyond the on-campus experience. These schools include Chicago-Kent College of Law and the University of Arkansas. Both schools offer stipends in their programs for any individual who is accepted upon meeting all requirements of the application. Mason also expressed her passion for helping students take full advantage of these programs.“These programs are geared towards freshmen, sophomores and juniors,” said Mason. “They don’t charge; they usually pay you to attend, including traveling expense. My goal is to get as many students as possible in.” Mason said FAMU has been ranked number two in the nation for the past eight years for feeding the most African American applicants into law schools. “These programs allow the students who are accepted to have the opportunity to be in a law school setting for four weeks,” said Mason. “They will take law school classes and receive LSAT preparation; our job is to get the individual ready overall.” Percy Hicks,a third-year political science student, was excited to learn of the opportunity. “To learn about this is like…wow,” said Hicks, barely masking his excitement about the program. “I plan on getting more information, and taking advantage of the on-campus help offered through the pre-law program here.” The programs are currently accepting applications. FAMU students are encouraged to apply and take advantage of the opportunities to gain a better knowledge of law school. Mason said the pre-law program does not help students find jobs but does prepare students for law school. “We make sure that the student is a successful candidate in applying for law school; we help get the student into any law school of their choice in the United States,” said Mason.