In Which I Fail Brilliantly, Part 1
While it's fun to write about pandas, and Bill O'Reilly, and one-eyed kittens, sometimes a higher calling exists. Sometimes, subjects come up that are far more important, relevant, and engaging. Like, say, myself.
No, seriously. At least for awhile, I'm going to try using G&S here as a forum to live out publicly the agonizing turmoil that is Law School Admissions. Capital L, capital S, capital A. Many of our readers are seasoned attorneys. Many of our readers are also shameless self-promoters. We thought this confluence of interests would make my admissions ordeal -- which is in and of itself shameless-self promotion -- educational or at least mildly entertaining.
Not sure what's changed since all of you applied, but here's the basic rundown: you take your LSAT score, transcript, recommendation letters, resume, and personal statement, and you feed them all into the LSAC (Law School Admissions Council) central filing deal online. ...Of course, you have to HAVE all of these things to put into the file.
I'm at the very beginning. One good thing about being a few years out of school is that your friends want to get rid of all their "How To Get Into Law School By Harnessing Your Inner Sargent Shriver" books. So now I have more than a few of them. I already registered (to the tune of $250) for the LSAT, but it's not 'til June. So you'll have many, many more opportunities to be amused at my folly.
Upcoming posts include: evil websites that keep law school applicants up at night; the 10 schools I wish would admit me and the 3 I know won't; the plight of the sheltered white male; and "Why Would Anyone Go To Private School?"
Stay tuned. We've got a looooooong way to go.
No, seriously. At least for awhile, I'm going to try using G&S here as a forum to live out publicly the agonizing turmoil that is Law School Admissions. Capital L, capital S, capital A. Many of our readers are seasoned attorneys. Many of our readers are also shameless self-promoters. We thought this confluence of interests would make my admissions ordeal -- which is in and of itself shameless-self promotion -- educational or at least mildly entertaining.
Not sure what's changed since all of you applied, but here's the basic rundown: you take your LSAT score, transcript, recommendation letters, resume, and personal statement, and you feed them all into the LSAC (Law School Admissions Council) central filing deal online. ...Of course, you have to HAVE all of these things to put into the file.
I'm at the very beginning. One good thing about being a few years out of school is that your friends want to get rid of all their "How To Get Into Law School By Harnessing Your Inner Sargent Shriver" books. So now I have more than a few of them. I already registered (to the tune of $250) for the LSAT, but it's not 'til June. So you'll have many, many more opportunities to be amused at my folly.
Upcoming posts include: evil websites that keep law school applicants up at night; the 10 schools I wish would admit me and the 3 I know won't; the plight of the sheltered white male; and "Why Would Anyone Go To Private School?"
Stay tuned. We've got a looooooong way to go.
Presented for your delectation by the Hired Hand at 12:34 PM
Comments on "In Which I Fail Brilliantly, Part 1"
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Gentleman Farmer said ... (3:30 PM) :
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Selfish Country Music Loving Lady said ... (10:48 AM) :
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Yeoman said ... (2:32 PM) :
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Hired Hand said ... (2:53 PM) :
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Chris said ... (3:20 PM) :
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Anonymous said ... (6:33 PM) :
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Anonymous said ... (7:45 PM) :
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Yeoman said ... (1:46 PM) :
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Chris said ... (1:58 PM) :
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Yeoman said ... (2:38 PM) :
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Selfish Country Music Loving Lady said ... (3:08 PM) :
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Gentleman Farmer said ... (3:38 PM) :
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Yeoman said ... (3:52 PM) :
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Yeoman said ... (3:53 PM) :
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Yeoman said ... (3:58 PM) :
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Chris said ... (4:57 PM) :
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Hired Hand said ... (6:38 PM) :
post a commentAnd, after law school, there's always THIS to look forward to.
Man, I can't wait to sit back and watch the hilarity from the comfort and security of my dead-end job.
The whole LSAT thing is, quite frankly, overdone.
I went into law school from an undergraduate degree in one of the hard sciences. I'd already taken the GRE when I took the LSAT. I didn't study for the LSAT, and, frankly, I didn't need to. I doubt anyone really does, unless they haven't had much exposure to anything yet.
Law School is vastly overrated as a tough experience too. Again, my undergraduate was much tougher than law school. Law school isn't that tough.
Yeoman,
The fact that you majored in the hard sciences put your "application uniqueness" well beyond that of your cohort. Your undergraduate course of study also probably prepared you to think critically in a way most others weren't either.
My academic situation dictates that I probably have to kick ass on the LSAT in order to get into a good school...but of course, more on that later.
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I can't say that I've ever competed for anything important in a context where I assumed that at least half of the competition was better than me.
I feel your pain man. I was once in an auto race with George W. Bush, Nick Nolte, Ted Kennedy and LeBron James' mom. I knew I was, at best, going to finish fourth.
As to when I took the LSAT, that would have been in 1986.
It is a while back.
I recall that when I went in to take it, some were sitting for it a second time, and I was suprised that everyone seemed to have studied for it.
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Very interesing on the increased competition.
Perhaps more interesting yet, for what it is worth, is the increased expressions of disatisfaction with the law as a career I hear every year. Most of us weren't all that thrilled about where we ended up, but figured we'd shot our bolt and would have to try to choke it down. Younger attorneys seem less willing to do that, and correspondingly, much less willing to remain attorneys.
It's an odd deal. I've been a few things over the years, a soldier, a farmer, a miner, and lawyer. The law was the career that people wanted to get into the most, and by far the one that more people were unhappy with once they got in.
Chris, I have an awesome story about Kaplan to tell you, remind me sometime. Unfortunately describing it here would seriously compromise my anonymity, and I'd be forced to quit my job and get a huge advance on a book about my life.
So no one (including no one's father) took the LSAT in 1973? At least we didn't need to remember to bring #2 pencils, as we simply used a stylus to mark our clay tablets.
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Oops, I didn't proofread that, and I'm not a typist. Sorry for the typos.
Here, I'll try my last post again after having proofed it slightly.
You know, in thinking about it, if 30,000 more took the LSAT in 04-05 than did in 87-88, it's almost statistically insignificant.
Indeed, it might indicate a reduction in interest in the law. That would mean that 115,000 took it in 87-88, and 135,000 took it last year, and increase in only 30,000 over a nearly 20 year period in which the overall population of the country increased at a steady clip.
So perhaps that figure really doesn't mean that much, indeed, it would not appear to.
Perhaps preparation services are doing a lot more business now. That may be the case, but even back in the mid 80s, most of the people taking it (to my astonishment at the time) took something, or so it seemed. Not all of us did, however, so maybe more do now.
While it strays away from the main point of the thread, I wonder what the LSAT has really achieved other than the line the pockets of those who generate it. Not much, I suspect. Having practiced a long time now, and having worked with lawyers 40 years older than me, and ones much younger than me, I can't see where the quality of the students is improved by the LSAT. That's not to say it has declined, but it does not seem to be a barometer of likely success in the law.
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Many studies have shown that some weighted combination of LSAT score and undergraduate GPA (adjusted for institution/inflation/whatever) is a very strong predictor of success in the 1L year. Don't ask me to cite. I'm not a lawyer or anything.