BY MICHAEL BEDER

Communication senior Priyanka Ghosh says she first thought of becoming a lawyer when she was 9 years old.

She got law internships for the past five summers and geared her undergraduate curriculum to develop her analytical and rhetorical skills.

But though she considered working for a few years after graduating from Northwestern, the current job market convinced her that going straight to law school was the safer course.

“The economy’s so bad that I don’t think I would have gotten anything,” Ghosh said.

Ghosh is not alone. Applications to NU’s Law School increased 10 percent last year and 18 percent the year before, said Don Rebstock, the Law School’s associate dean of enrollment.

Nationwide the number of Law School Admission Tests administered rose more than 23 percent in the 2001-02 academic year and another 10.3 percent in 2002-03, according to the Law School Admission Council.

But as the job market improves, there are signs applications might level off, Rebstock said.

“The earliest signs say applications should be about the same number” as last year, he said.

An improving economy might be one explanation for this reversing trend.

Lonnie Dunlap, director of NU’s University Career Services, also noted that on-campus job recruitment activity has been slightly higher.

But law school remains a popular option for students in a still-uncertain economy.

“I think a lot of students who weren’t sure what they wanted to do after graduation are looking at law school,” said Weinberg senior Kavitha Sivashanker, president of the NU chapter of the Phi Alpha Delta pre-law society.

She noted that, unlike many medical school or other graduate programs, most law schools do not have required undergraduate majors, making it easier for a wider range of students to apply.

UCS career counselor Tracie Thomas said some students hope to gain an advantage by earning a law degree.

“It’s a professional degree,” Thomas said. “It’s a very versatile degree as well. People perceiv it as an edge in the job market.”

And students still might need an edge, considering that improvements in the labor market have been modest.

“I want students to realize (finding a job is) still going to be challenging,” Dunlap said.

Applicants to law school also will face greater competition.

Applicants with prior work experience have a competitive advantage over graduating seniors. NU’s Law School has a strong preference for applicants with work experience, with more than 90 percent of last year’s applicants having spent time in the work force, Rebstock said.

Such preferences place seniors like Ghosh in a difficult position.

“It’s a Catch-22, I think,” said Ghosh, noting that graduating seniors must compete with more-experienced candidates both in the job market and in law school admissions.

“For seniors that are applying here, it’s really important that they interview,” Rebstock said. “The interview is the place to demonstrate the maturity, interpersonal skills, focus and motivation we get from students with work experience.”

Though Ghosh compared getting into law school to “winning the lottery,” she isn’t taking any chances. She is applying for 16 fellowships and internships, as well as jobs in fields such as marketing and consulting.

Not to mention admission at 12 law schools.