Prospective attorneys searching for the right fit in a law school might be surprised at the rich variation they find when they delve past a school’s rank to the details.

Here are three examples of the many ways law schools are honing their distinctiveness to offer a special experience along with the legal basics.

1. An intensively experiential third year: As an extern for a federal judge in Washington, D.C., last fall, Krystal Swendsboe, 27, spent 25 to 30 hours a week in chambers, “far more” than students from other schools, she says. That’s because her schedule in Washington and Lee University law school’s practice-intensive third year is designed around her real-world workday, shifting the focus from “learning in the classroom to learning in the profession,” says Dean Nora Demleitner.

[Explore data about starting salaries and more with the Best Law Schools infographic.]

So 3Ls spend most of their year in externships and in clinics built into the curriculum, where work ranges from preparing appeals for coal miners seeking benefits from the federal black lung program to assisting defense counsel in death penalty cases. The pace can be grueling, says Demleitner; faculty at the Lexington, Virginia, school tend to treat students like junior partners, calling at all hours if a client is in need.

2. A shorter, skills-oriented option: Students in the new accelerated J.D. program at Gonzaga University‘s law school pack 90 credits into two calendar years, the same number required in the school’s three-year track. Both reflect a curriculum revamp in 2009 responding to feedback from employers that new hires needed better skills.

[Learn how a drop in applications is spurring changes at law schools.]

Along with torts, criminal law and other traditional first-year classes, 1Ls take skills labs in which they draft complaints and contracts, engage in discovery, and conduct client interviews. All students at the Spokane, Washington, school also must take four terms, out of six, of legal research and writing, plus at least 12 credits of experiential learning. Those are earned by doing an externship or by choosing among the eight in-house legal clinics dedicated to such specialties as elder law, Indian law and environmental law.

Jaime Cuevas, 25, says the intensity bonds classmates so they become “war buddies,” not competitors. “I was late for class one day,” he says, “and I got like five text messages saying, ‘Hey, do you want me to take notes for you?'”

3. A global perspective: Interested in practicing in the international arena — or at least gaining a global perspective? Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, has an array of options for students wanting to add international credentials to their degree. The joint J.D. – Master of Laws, or LLM degree, in international and comparative law is the most rigorous, cramming 20 extra credits into the standard curriculum. An international legal studies specialization, by contrast, requires five extra credits.

[See the top-ranked law schools for international law.]

Alternately, students may opt for a dual degree adding the law of one of three countries (as long as they are fluent in the language). Those choosing the J.D. – Master en Droit, for instance, spend two years at Cornell and two at the Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne; there is also a Sorbonne option that can be completed in three years. Students also have dual-degree options in Germany and South Africa. And the simpler semester or summer abroad program, with 28 possible destinations from Cairo to New Delhi, remains the most popular experience by far.

Exposure to international law is critical these days even for lawyers who never leave the country, argues Laura Spitz, associate dean for international affairs. “We don’t live in a world that’s packaged domestically and internationally,” she says. “That line is increasingly blurred.”

This story is excerpted from the U.S. News “Best Graduate Schools 2016” guidebook, which features in-depth articles, rankings and data.

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Consider Specialized Programs When Choosing a Law School originally appeared on usnews.com