If your child is the type that says “lawyer” whenever someone asks them what they want to be, you’re not alone. Lots of students out there want to be lawyers, and it is absolutely achievable.
However, it’s more about what your student will be inside the courtroom, than the fancy gowns and the colourful celebrations. The school plays a huge role in determining what kind of lawyer you’re yet to have, and despite having a bunch of universities in Uganda that offer the course, there are certain things that differ.
Here are a few factors to consider as you pick a law school for your child.
1. Your budget/ financial status.
It is always important to establish earlier, on whether you’ll be able to pay for your child until they complete their university education. This is because it typically takes 4 years for a student to graduate in law school.
You can do so in the following ways;
- Make long term goals, by setting proper income streams or setting money aside to fund your child’s education journey.
- Pick good but rather affordable schools
However, it is quite hard to get a university that’s affordable, but offering high quality education, therefore you have to be cautious about that too.
2. Credentials for entry
You should worry whenever you find a university that is open to all kinds of students regardless of their performance. It means they haven’t set a minimum standard, and you wont have to expect a lot from them.
Every university should set entry requirements like;
- Performance results
- Pre- entry tests
- SAT tests
- Aptitude tests
- Mature entry tests
Such constraints usually indicate that the school cares deeply about good academic performance, and they prioritize quality over quantity of students.
3. Legacy of the college
If you pick a school because it has set a record of the best performing students of law, you probably won’t go wrong because;
- The education is probably as credible as it seems
- It probably has the best teachers
- Your child might excel as well
- They probably produce the best lawyers.
This puts your child at a potential advantage if they study at this school.
Picking a school that hasn’t set any record yet, is a risky bet.
4. The alumni
Taking your child to a law school that has produced the best alumni in the country, will probably put your child in the best position because;
- It is easier to build connections with these people.
- It is easier for alumni to recommend one another, increasing chances of employment
- A university with powerful alumni looks good on any applicant’s resume.
However, this can also be negligible since there are many schools that have the best alumni, but have remarkably declined in academic standards over time.
5. Stability of the school
No matter how good a school is, peace and tranquility are as essential as anything else in ensuring the academic excellence of a law student. These are the benefits of a peaceful environment;
- Gives students room to conduct all learning activities.
- Avoids risks of school closure due to an unstable situation.
- Assures students and teachers of their well-being in terms of physical and mental health.
Being a highly bookish course, Law requires the most peaceful and stable climate for the students to flourish and use their brains to the best of their capacity.
6. System of education
This takes as much as visiting the school premises, interacting with students and lecturers to find out a couple of things about the system that the school follows. Some of the things you should look for include;
- The learning timetable
- Alternation of lecturers
- The existing learning infrastructure
- Learning materials like books in the libraries.
With the examination of all these factors, you can come up with a well informed decision on whether the law school is good for your child or not.
7. Current performance of the school.
Since lots of schools tend to see their academic performance decline after a while, we have no time for surprises. This means you have to do your research and find out what they are doing right and wrong. This will help you make well informed decisions.
With the existence of various sources like newspapers, online sites and social media, you can have access to all the information you need, and base on that to make your comparison.
Conclusion;
You can never be a hundred per cent right about a school, and you might never even follow these steps as religiously as I’ve stated them. However, I hope you get the picture of what a good law school looks like. Falling into the trap of a low standard law school, just because it’s affordable or the standards are favourably low, is a misstep that you might regret sooner or later.