How to Ace the Northwestern Law Interview Questions
Law school admissions interviews are making a comeback. After being abandoned decades ago because they were rife with biases, now at least a couple dozen law schools offer interviews to screen out candidates who may look great on paper but come across as unprofessional or immature, potentially causing headaches for the campus community.
Northwestern has been a trendsetter, here, as the first law school to bring back interviews, with the longest-standing admissions interviewing program of any law school in the country.
How Do the Northwestern Interviews Work?
Northwestern Law currently conducts optional interviews online through Kira. This is a deviation from their past practice of mandatory in-person interviews on their Chicago campus or by alumni in other regions. In-person interviews were suspended during the pandemic.
Northwestern interviews will require you to respond verbally to six different questions. You get a little prep time to answer each, then 60 seconds to speak your response.
[Next Read: How to Format Your Law School Personal Statement]
What Questions are Asked in the Northwestern Law Interview?
There's a good mix. Some are pretty generic, like the kind of questions you might see in a job interview. Others are more specifically focused on your interest in Northwestern Law.
Northwestern Law-Specific Questions
Two of the questions you'll be asked are standard and asked of all applicants. They're a variation of "Why Northwestern Law?" and "Is there anything else you'd like the admissions committee to know about you?"
Let's talk about how to answer the first, "Why Northwestern Law?"
Northwestern Law is proud of its location in downtown Chicago (separate from the main campus in Evanston). If you have a connection to the Midwest, emphasize it. If not, explain why Chicago appeals to you from a cultural or professional standpoint.
Do your research on Northwestern's website so you can give examples of programs, clinics, and courses that stand out to you. What looks interesting and relevant to your goals? Pick out one or two specific things to mention to show you’ve done your homework.
For the question about "what else" the admissions committee should know, try to dig in and find something relevant about you, your legal aspirations, or your interests that may not have come across clearly in your law school application.
Look for a response that reflects well on your ability to be a great lawyer or law student. Perhaps a paper or school project or hobby or internship experience that you haven't talked about? Try to come prepared with something. This is unlikely to be one of your strongest arguments for admission, which your personal statement should have already covered, but rather another side of you, conveying that you offer more than just numbers and resume entries.
General Questions
The next four questions are drawn randomly from a fixed pool. They will usually resemble the types of open-ended questions you may see in a job interview.
These questions require you to think on your feet. They'll generally ask you to discuss an example of a past experience, like a time you had to solve a difficult problem, overcome an obstacle, or collaborate with other teammates to reach a common goal.
Occasionally, these questions may be more ambivalent--about past experiences that won't necessarily be "positive," but may be opportunities to reflect on growth or personal change.
Here are a few examples:
"Tell us about a time you changed your mind."
"Reflect on a time you failed at something."
"Talk about a time you had to persuade someone about something."
Practice answers to each. Come up with some versatile stories from your past that may relate to multiple questions. For example, maybe you had a group project for a class where you worked with others to solve a problem. Or maybe there was a time at work when you took initiative to clear a hurdle.
Getting the Timing Right
Practice recording yourself explaining the story clearly and concisely, so that it takes around 30-45 seconds.
If you tend to go longer, think of minor details you can cut. Sometimes when you recall a story, it’s tempting to emphasize the details that stand out in your memory because of your emotions at the time, but those may not be the same as the details needed to get across the point of the story. Put yourself in a listener’s shoes, and imagine what would be most important to them.
For example, let’s say you had to deal with a difficult co-worker. Thinking about the co-worker is upsetting, and at the time you vented your frustration by telling good friends about how unbelievably obnoxious that co-worker was. But to really get into it, you need to provide a lot of context. Before you know it, those details start to flood your whole answer, with little time left for how you actually addressed the issue, which is what the interviewer cares about most. Even worse, the listener might feel like you’re only giving one side of the story.
Think: Does a listener need to know all those details, or can you just summarize it in a sentence or two? Could you just say, “I had to deal with a co-worker who acted unprofessionally, often undercutting me at meetings and claiming credit for my work.” You could even add something more even-handed, like: “While I think he was inexperienced and may not have noticed my frustration, I worried that it impacted my supervisor’s perceptions of my work.”
Speaking concisely helps you stay on track and sound upbeat and focused on the future.
A Final Tip
Northwestern is rare among top law schools in its stated preference for applicants with work experience. While some applicants are accepted straight from undergrad, their proportion is lower than at other schools and they are held to a higher standard.
So, whether you are still in school or long past graduation, use the interview to highlight your work experience. Even if you haven’t been in the workforce long, find examples to highlight your professional experience.
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