New member Forum

[Tom Joad]

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[SUCO]

I went to SUCO and majored in political science as well. I'd recommend taking (Intro to?) Constitutional Law and/or Civil Rights and Liberties with Professor Wilkerson. I'm not sure if i'm getting these course names 100% right but those classes are probably the most similar to law school classes that you can find there. Might be worth doing to make sure reading/studying cases interests you.

[xz01]

Hello everyone!

It's been a long time but I still want to go to law school.
I am now a sophomore and I still have a 4.0 GPA.

I had some questions:
- Next year, I'll be a junior: should I start studying now, this summer, or next fall?
- What books should I start reading? I was thinking of buying the two bibles to start...
- I wanted to take LSAT classes but in my town, we only have Kaplan and I heard it's not better.

Thank you very much!

[Theopliske8711]

Hello everyone!

It's been a long time but I still want to go to law school.
I am now a sophomore and I still have a 4.0 GPA.

I had some questions:
- Next year, I'll be a junior: should I start studying now, this summer, or next fall?
- What books should I start reading? I was thinking of buying the two bibles to start...
- I wanted to take LSAT classes but in my town, we only have Kaplan and I heard it's not better.

Thank you very much!

Based purely on your name: are you Albanian?

To answer: if you are a sophomore: keep up the GPA but also take your time. No need to rush into major decisions. Enjoy the rest of your college life and think about things after. Honestly, there is nothing better. As a sophomore a lot can happen to make you change things, hell even up to your senior year things can change.

[xz01]

I'm from Kosovo but moved to Belgium when I was 2 years old

I thought the end of my sophomore year would be a good time to start thinking about law schools. I'm dead set of law school: that's really what I want to do.
I don't know if it's too early to start studying for the LSAT but English is not my first language so I want to make sure I have enough time to improve on every part of the test, especially the reading comprehension.

[Theopliske8711]

I'm from Kosovo but moved to Belgium when I was 2 years old

I thought the end of my sophomore year would be a good time to start thinking about law schools. I'm dead set of law school: that's really what I want to do.
I don't know if it's too early to start studying for the LSAT but English is not my first language so I want to make sure I have enough time to improve on every part of the test, especially the reading comprehension.

Well then, if that's the thing, keep up that GPA as best as possible and mainly work to develop your English for now, focus on reading as much as possible, especially academic articles and such in order to better develop your English. Perhaps even a good study abroad in England or America would be of use. I would say consider really tackling the LSAT during senior year and perhaps consider a private tutor instead of Kaplan. You have some time and you honestly might do much better if you wait a bit still, especially since you want to focus on keeping that GPA up for now. Even if you're sure of what you want to do, you will still benefit from time to collect everything together. Fat te mbare!

[dowu]

Keep your focus on that GPA bro. Plan on taking the LSAT the June before your senior year.

[stillwater]

how about you get some work experience? I am ever so thankful I didn't do K-JD. I don't think I would have done as well if I went straight through.

[xz01]

Faleminderit Theopliske8711

I feel pretty confident about my GPA, even if it drops, I don't think I'll graduate with a GPA lower than 3.9.
I was thinking of taking the LSAT in June of my junior year but studying for like a year just to make sure...
I guess I will wait a little bit more


By work experience, do you mean after my graduation or internships?
It is very hard for international students to find a good job in the USA with this economy.

[potterpirate04]

You should probably take the lsat June before your senior year, and then if you need to retake (which you probably will and should if you want to go to a good school with a decent scholarship), study the rest of the summer and retake in October. I also agree with the work experience thing, but I'm not too sure about it since you already mentioned that it's tough to find employment here as an international student so I really can't give advice on that.

[stillwater]

You should probably take the lsat June before your senior year, and then if you need to retake (which you probably will and should if you want to go to a good school with a decent scholarship), study the rest of the summer and retake in October. I also agree with the work experience thing, but I'm not too sure about it since you already mentioned that it's tough to find employment here as an international student so I really can't give advice on that.

Internships in undergrad aren't considered work experience. There is no requirement your work experience be in the United States. It could be wherever you are currently residing.

[you'rethemannowdawg]

It's interesting to see this thread pop up as this guy progresses through life...reminds me of the Dr. Who episode "The Girl in the Fireplace."

Anyway, OP, you should really not be worrying about the LSAT as a sophomore. If you're focusing too hard on getting into law school this young you may end up hating your life at a top law firm 10 years from now. Focus on your GPA, live life, and learn about yourself. Maybe you will decide you don't even want to be a lawyer and save yourself wasting a decade of your youth. There are lots of ways to become "successful" as you mentioned earlier that are less risky than law school.

[rad lulz]

I'm from Kosovo

Kosovo je Srbija

[potterpirate04]

Internships in undergrad aren't considered work experience. There is no requirement your work experience be in the United States. It could be wherever you are currently residing.

Didn't know that. I thought OP wanted to be K-JD? Although I do agree that it's better if OP takes a year or two off to get work experience.

It's interesting to see this thread pop up as this guy progresses through life...reminds me of the Dr. Who episode "The Girl in the Fireplace."

I was gonna point this out earlier! I'm glad OP's bumping the thread periodically with updates. It's actually really informative.

[xz01]

I'm from Kosovo

Kosovo je Srbija

I'm not here to debate about whether or not Kosovo is part of Serbia but I would just say that we are doing pretty well without Serbia right now...

About work experience: I haven't done a lot of research but I don't know if an american degree is recognized in Belgium. I need to look into that. I don't really want to work in the political field because politics is really boring and it's hard to find a job with a political science degree.

you'rethemannowdawg wrote:
It's interesting to see this thread pop up as this guy progresses through life...reminds me of the Dr. Who episode "The Girl in the Fireplace."

I was gonna point this out earlier! I'm glad OP's bumping the thread periodically with updates. It's actually really informative.

That was my idea, kind of like my journal. It's funny to see how I've changed in two years but I've been consistent about law school and this, since I was like 14, 15 years old.

[acpf29]

I started studying when I was a sophomore, too. I took a few practice tests to find out how I would do without studying at all. Then I started using the workbooks and studying for a few hours a week. Then the summer before my senior year I started studying for at least an hour a day. If you don't plan to take a class or hire a tutor (I didn't have enough money...) you should probably start familiarizing yourself with the test. But don't go overboard.

[Crowing]

There is a lounge poster here who got a 178 as a sophomore in UG iirc. I guess there's not really any reason to not get started now as long as it's not interfering with your grades and things that you want to do while you're in college.

[grapefruits]

.

[star fox]

Start studying for the LSAT right now. By the time your senior year rolls around you'll be PTing 180. I know nobody actually does this for a test so far away. But it probably would be a good idea. I see these LSAT instructors regularly scoring 178-179 and it makes me think if I could just devote years to the LSAT I could probably do that as well.

[Brixton]

Start studying for the LSAT right now. By the time your senior year rolls around you'll be PTing 180. I know nobody actually does this for a test so far away. But it probably would be a good idea. I see these LSAT instructors regularly scoring 178-179 and it makes me think if I could just devote years to the LSAT I could probably do that as well.

I'm planning on taking the LSAT in June 2014, I'm thinking I'll start studying for it in a few months. If 3 months is good, 12 months is better, right? I just don't think you can study too much for the LSAT as long as it doesn't interfere with your GPA.

[BerkeleyBear]

Start studying for the LSAT right now. By the time your senior year rolls around you'll be PTing 180. I know nobody actually does this for a test so far away. But it probably would be a good idea. I see these LSAT instructors regularly scoring 178-179 and it makes me think if I could just devote years to the LSAT I could probably do that as well.

I'm planning on taking the LSAT in June 2014, I'm thinking I'll start studying for it in a few months. If 3 months is good, 12 months is better, right? I just don't think you can study too much for the LSAT as long as it doesn't interfere with your GPA.

It depends on the person we're talking about. I've been studying for the LSAT for a year at a lax pace. As long as you don't wear yourself out and taper off you should be fine.

[Presidentjlh]

Undergrad don't mean crap. You could go to community college for all 4 years, as long as you get a 3.7+ GPA and 175+ on the LSAT, say hello to HYS.

Study reading comprehension and logic. Take a few econ and math classes (good for logic).

[alex.feuerman]

1) YES. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Please visit law school numbers.com
2) Probably yes. If financially viable. Don't take out more loans to go to a better college.
3) No, never too early.
4) No, majors don't matter for shit.

[xz01]

Hello everyone!
I am now in my second semester of junior year. I started studying in January but didn't really get into it yet. I read half of the logic games bible and skimmed through the lr bible.

I just took my first timed practice test with an experimental section ---> I got a 160. I did it with Kaplan online for free and I have to say I am really happy:
-4 on LG
-19 on LR
-3 on RC
Kaplan used practice test 56 (December 2008) and for some reason LG was really easy but I made some stupid mistakes because I was rushing. LR is way too complicated for me: I lose my attention after the first 10 questions and I'm just bored and don't even understand the question stems. I got the first 10 questions right on both sections and then I just start making mistakes...
Reading comprehension, surprisingly, is my favorite section: it is so easy, the questions are straightforward and everything is in the text.
I really think I can do -0 on LG and improve on LR because I just skimmed through the bible and I am planning on buying the manhattan books as well.

This is it for now... I am planning on taking the LSAT in June so hopefully, I still got time to prepare!

[prezidentv8]

If law school doesn't work out (you lose interest, underperform on the LSAT, etc.), you really don't want to be stuck looking for a job with a philosophy degree.

If law school doesn't work out (you lose interest, underperform on the LSAT, etc.), you really don't want to be stuck looking for a job with a political science degree.

Both of these mean the same thing.