Pre-Law Professional Program
Let your intellectual curiosity shine towards a legal career!
Since our founding, hundreds of New College graduates have successfully pursued legal careers. Our exceptional fearless learning and forward-thinking academic program, along with dynamic experiences outside the classroom, offer New College students the perfect mix of skills and preparation needed to pursue law school. Our Pre-Law Professional Community helps connect pre-law students to special programs, activities, experiences, and preparation that sets them apart from other law school applicants. Through personalized pre-law advising and career coaching, students in the Pre-Law Professional Community have the professional and peer support to achieve their goals.
Join the Pre-Law Professional Community!
Pursuing law school? Please email pre-law advisor Shelli Freeland Eddie, Esq. and join the Pre-Law Professional Community!
Top Law Schools that Accepted New College Graduates
| Top 15* | Top 25* | Top 50* |
| Columbia University | Arizona State University | Boston College |
| Cornell University | Boston University | College of William and Mary |
| Duke University | Emory University | Florida State University |
| Georgetown University | George Washington University | George Mason University |
| Harvard University | University of California-Irvine | Indiana University |
| New York University | University of Florida | Ohio State University |
| Northwestern University | University of Minnesota | University of Alabama |
| UCLA | University of Southern California | University of Arizona |
| University of California-Berkeley | University of Texas | University of Colorado |
| University of Michigan | University of Georgia | |
| University of Illinois | ||
| University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill | ||
| University of Washington | ||
| University of Wisconsin | ||
| Wake Forest University |
*Law school rankings in the 2021 edition of U.S. News and World Report
Pre-Law Advisor
Attorney Shelli Freeland Eddie joins NCF as Pre-Law Advisor and Adjunct Professor. She is a Florida licensed attorney with 18 years of legal experience, in both the public and private sectors. She manages her own law firm, The Freeland Eddie Law Group, P.A., and actively serves in the Sarasota County Bar Association on the governance and Council for Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) committees, as Chair of the Association’s Pipeline Committee, which is committed to creating and expanding access to legal education and employment for attorneys with diverse backgrounds in the Sarasota/Manatee region.
A graduate of the University of Kentucky, Attorney Freeland Eddie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Juris Doctorate degree in Law. She worked as an Assistant State Attorney for the 12th Judicial Circuit, along with work in the private sector, before founding her own law firm, located in the Newtown community near the Ringling College of Art and Design. She also served our community as an elected City Commissioner, Vice Mayor and Mayor for the City of Sarasota for 5 years.
Attorney Freeland Eddie will advise Pre-Law students along with helping connect students to special programs, activities, experiences and preparation that sets them apart from other law school applicants. Through personalized pre-law advising and career coaching opportunities, New College Pre Law students will receive professional and peer support to achieve their academic and future employment goals.
Attorney Freeland Eddie will also be working with NCF Graduate and New College Law Society (NCLS) Founder Rhys Shanahan to coach and prepare the Mock Trial and Moot Court teams for their annual competitions. She intends to work with the local county bar association and NCF alumni to provide attorneys and judges to serve as judges to prepare the students for competition and provide advocacy and litigation skills and techniques through an advocacy ISP (Independent Study Project) offered annually.
Preparing for the LSAT
The Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) is a half-day test offered four times a year: February, June, October and December.
If you are serious about going to law school, as a general rule, time spent preparing for the LSAT will have a greater return on your investment than time spent on nearly any other academic project, be it eight class assignments, finals or even thesis work.
The LSAT is, on average, 60 percent of what law schools take into consideration in determining admission — for a school like New College where we don’t have a GPA, this figure is presumably even higher.
Every reputable law school requires that you take the LSAT. Almost all of those students accepted at the top 25 law schools have LSAT scores which place them in the top 90 percent (or above) of all test takers. While it is difficult to get into a top law school without a high LSAT score, you should take some comfort in scoring anything above average on the LSAT. Working on improving your LSAT score should be at the top of your priorities.
