Top Law Schools

First, I apologize in advance for the length.

Here's the issue: I planned on entering law school this fall for the last 4 years of my life. My mind was set and decision firm. Then in July 2011, I tore my ACL, MCL, and Meniscus in an athletic injury (I worked for a professional baseball team as a part-time gig). Thankfully, the organization paid for all medical expenses; however, surgery would be scheduled for September 8th, 2011 - one month before I took the October LSAT.

Surgery went well, ended up having to spend the night. For those who are familiar with these types of injuries, a patient has a very long recovery and rehabilitation to endure to become even close to 100%. To this day, my knee is still only 70%. Anyways, I would experience effects such as pain for approximately 4 months after surgery; yes, 4 months. This required my doctor to prescribe and direct me to take painkillers such as Vicodin and Oxycontin during this time. Let's just say taking the October LSAT in a huge brace and on painkillers was not a great idea - scored a 147.

December rolls along... Took a Powerscore class (online month) and began to make large strides in score. They were fluctuating a lot but maxed out at a 163 - the WEDNESDAY before the LSAT. I was still taking the painkillers periodically. Scored a 148 on the real thing 3 days later. WTF?! I got so drunk that night I couldn't get out of bed till 5 o clock the next day.

Courtesy of today's legal market, I have pretty much decided that I am not going to pay any of these Tier-3/4 schools full price in fear of massive debt and a potential inability to repay as comfortably as I would like. As a disclaimer, I am not accusing these schools of being bad schools. As a matter of fact, I think some of these schools are good schools being sabotaged by the ranking system that has contributed so heavily in the destruction of the legal industry. Just a personal opinion though…

Here is my question… am I making the right call here? Recommendations for retake?

Age: 22 white male
GPA: 3.2
Majors: Political Science and Communication Studies
College athlete; plenty of extracurriculars; worked part-time throughout college.

Thanks everyone.

r7cobraice wrote: Courtesy of today's legal market, I have pretty much decided that I am not going to pay any of these Tier-3/4 schools full price in fear of massive debt and a potential inability to repay as comfortably as I would like. As a disclaimer, I am not accusing these schools of being bad schools. As a matter of fact, I think some of these schools are good schools being sabotaged by the ranking system that has contributed so heavily in the destruction of the legal industry. Just a personal opinion though…

This is a good couple of sentences.

It sounds like you've got a clear head about this decision and you seem much more in the know than a lot of people who WOULD pay sticker for T3 or T4, even in the face of debt and bad employment prospects, because they can't wait to go to law school.

Here is a good thread for preparing to study for a retake. There are also lots of threads about how to study for retakes in general on TLS. Best of luck, hope you are less plagued by medical issues this time around!

Sorry to hear of your injury. I've been through some real bad ones myself. However I think I have about the only case of a health problem BENEFITING me on the LSAT lol. About 6 months ago I went completely deaf in one ear, and lost much of my hearing in the other. There's a (disfiguring and painful) surgery that can fix it, but I'm waiting till after my retake. A little deafness can go a long way to tuning out distractions

As for the rest, you sound like you have a good idea. I wouldn't retake till you were scoring very consistently in your target range. You'd be out of luck for a few years if you didn't nail it.

Appreciate it guys.

Yeah, I just do not understand some of these schools. They post these statistics about the average income out of law school being 70k (let's not get into the scam discussion); but then charge kids with living expenses 50k a year in a market like this. Sorry, but no thank you.

Also, I'm considering entering the Air National Guard. I would go away a Saturday and Sunday for training once a month and 2 weeks out of each year while reaping the benefits. Do you think that a law student would be able to handle this? What knowledge do you guys have with law schools and military service? I have been considering JAG for awhile but if I'm approached with a 6 figure salary out of law school, I doubt that I would go that route.

Thanks for the help - and the link!

Scott