HWS News
15 July 2022 Pre-Law Prestige for Yonten ’23
Tenzin Yonten ’23 earned admission to two prestigious pre-law programs, which include scholarship funding, LSAT prep and a summer program at Harvard Law School.
Through Trials — a partnership between Harvard Law School, NYU School of Law and the Advantage Testing Foundation — Tenzin Yonten ’23 is looking forward to a five-week summer immersion in the legal field in preparation for applying to law school.
Meanwhile, he is one of only 44 students across the nation chosen for the Sidley Prelaw Scholars Program. Sponsored by the international law firm Sidley, the program is intended to increase diversity in law schools and, eventually, in the legal profession. The scholarship subsidizes LSAT prep courses and law school application expenses for diverse, high-performing college students.
Both programs “guarantee financial support,” Yonten notes, but they also “connect you with a cohort of strongly motivated individuals and a network of past prelaw scholars that are available for guidance, something I strongly appreciate as no one in my family went into the field of law.”
With the Trials program, Yonten and his cohort will work closely and strategically with instructors to prepare for the LSAT. Additionally, the program includes lectures presented by prominent lawyers, public figures and legal scholars, including faculty from both NYU Law and Harvard Law School. Participants also meet with and observe lawyers at work, garnering practical experience that complements the academic curriculum.
With the encouragement of his advisor and “number one supporter,” Associate Professor of History and Asian Studies Lisa Yoshikawa, Yonten applied to the programs with an eye toward pursuing civil rights and advocacy.
He says that having seen firsthand the discrimination against his Tibetan family living in India, he “realized that instead of standing on the sides, hoping someone else fixes the problem, I needed to stand up for myself.”
Yonten is the founder of the Colleges’ Pre-Law Club, which he says he started “to build a community of people interested in learning about the law, not just people interested in going to law school.”
Last year, Yonten was one of three HWS students to receive a prestigious ASIANetwork Student-Faculty Fellows Program Award. A triple-major in Asian studies, English and history, he is currently studying abroad in Seoul, South Korea.
“I knew if I wanted to travel and learn at the same time, HWS was the place I wanted to be,” he says. “To improve myself as a global thinker and a global citizen.”
