Tutor's Ethical Responsibility Forum

[LSATWIZ]

Your not a life coach-you are a tutor. They've hired you to improve their LSAT score. Telling them they should give up, even if you are right, is arrogant and is not your place.

Here's what I do with my clients: I talk frankly about the state of the legal market, the relationship between the USNWR rankings and that market, and what it takes to get into the T14, T1, T2, etc. I give them all the info they need to make an informed decision for themselves, and once they do, I work as hard as I gain to help them achieve the results they desire. This, by the way, is not entirely dissimilar to what an attorney does with their clients, so you might want to reconsider your chosen career if being an LSAT tutor is giving you such ethical fits.

I have had that conversation. The followup was "I know. That's why I'm trying to get a 180 on the LSAT." This student does not have the intellectual capacity to get a 180. I've had people go from a 150 to a 175, because they started off confused but very sharp. The student does not have that sharpness.

I don't want them to give up, the opposite. I just don't want them to think my job is to "get them into aforementioned top 10," which they do.

[sundance95]

Do you have your students sign a services agreement? I do, and it specifically says that no guarantee is made as to admissions to any law schools. If they don't get it after signing that, then it's really not your problem anymore.

[LSATWIZ]

Do you have your students sign a services agreement? I do, and it specifically says that no guarantee is made as to admissions to any law schools. If they don't get it after signing that, then it's really not your problem anymore.

I guarantee a higher score if they have a registered LSAT score. Other than that, I don't worry. Nobody is going to sue you because they don't get into Harvard. That would be ridiculous unless you told them, "Oh 2.6? Harvard? Starting at a 128? No problem."

[tomwatts]

I'm doing some admissions consulting right now to help a girl get into Tier 4 schools. It reminded me of this thread.

[LSATWIZ]

LOL I could have used for that. I am the only person who can turn a mid-170 into tier 2. I'm exaggerating, but still. Though, admissions with a 180 should not be too hard.

[suspicious android]

Wow, self-denial is a powerful force. He's probably avoiding taking a full practice test because he hasn't actually studied for more than 20-30 minutes outside of your tutoring sessions and/or he knows his score will be low and doesn't want to know how low. I've had students like this, they are aggravating as hell and are unlikely to improve unless they can actually face reality and focus on their weaknesses instead of their dreams.

I remember one guy I tutored who would reply to just about anything I said with "oh, yeah, I understand that, got it, no problem", even before I had gotten into the substance of my statement. He was scoring in the 130's maybe low 140's, and he really had no idea what was going on. He kept hoping I'd have some magic advice that would shoot him into the 160's, but whenever I tried anything that wasn't a quick fix, I'd get "yeah, yeah, yeah, I understand that, but--".

I think he spent around $1500 on tutoring and maybe increased his score 2-3 points. Usually I love tutoring but by the time we were finishing I felt like I needed to take a couple of shots of whiskey before we started to get through our hour.

Long story short, you can't help everyone, you can just try your best. Pearls before swine, lead a horse to water, etc.