3.54/160 I messed up the LSAT twice and am concerned Forum

[mpj_3050]

Non-urm
Strong upward trend - went from a 2.2 to a 3.5 degree UGPA with a wonderful 1.11 quarter
Ohio resident, went to lower 50 ranked UG
Military experience: Marine Corps, one year for training in Cali, reserves, never deployed
Couple of crappy side jobs
Single-parent family, we struggled but others had it far worse (asked about this another time)
Sub-3.00 GPA in high school, so I have at least managed to improve things.

I f'ed up the LSAT 160 Sept. 09 and did it again 160 in June (proctor mess up but my fault still) 8-9 below my PT average both times but that is in the past now and there is nothing I can do about it, no-retake.

I want to work in the govt. and I know things are bad. I would like to try for loan forgiveness after 10 years. My career goal is pretty much not to end up living in a shack.

I know about LSN but I am really concerned about my 2 LSAT's and GPA so I just wanted to get some opinions.

Super reaches:
Ohio State
Iowa

Target:
Cincinnati
Case-Western
Penn State
Pitt

Safety: despite my abysmal LSAT performance I don't want to go lower than Tier 2.

I can apply the absolute minute the windows open so maybe a little early help?

Any advice on other schools or basically anything is much appreciated.

[FighterPilotF22]

a 160 is a f up?

the marine corp should of taught you to call a spade a spade

[PlugInBaby]

Well to his standards a 160 is a fuck up.

Anyway those seem like a reasonable slate of schools in my opinion. Definitely consider retaking in October though. You'd have very little to lose and so much to gain.

[09042014]

a 160 is a f up?

the marine corp should of taught you to call a spade a spade

Yes it is.

[09042014]

fault still) 8-9 below my PT average both times but that is in the past now and there is nothing I can do about it, no-retake.\

Yes, retake.

[FighterPilotF22]

1. to Desert Fox....get off your man crush of Rommel. Probably the most over-rated General of wwII btw

2. OP- 160 will obviously not get you into Harvard...maybe you shouldn't view bubble in multiple choice tests so harshly. there's way more to being a lawyer than what school you attended or how well you did on the LSAT. If you feel that you can do better on the LSAT...retake it and reach your goal. best of luck.

[09042014]

1. to Desert Fox....get off your man crush of Rommel. Probably the most over-rated General of wwII btw

2. OP- 160 will obviously not get you into Harvard...maybe you shouldn't view bubble in multiple choice tests so harshly. there's way more to being a lawyer than what school you attended or how well you did on the LSAT

Disagree. Monety, or MacArthur were the most overrated.

Most underrated was Bradley.

[PlugInBaby]

1. to Desert Fox....get off your man crush of Rommel. Probably the most over-rated General of wwII btw

2. OP- 160 will obviously not get you into Harvard...maybe you shouldn't take bubble in multiple choice tests so harshly. there's way more to being a lawyer than what school you attended or how well you did on the LSAT

I fear you woefully and perhaps in a pollyannaish manner underestimate the importance of the LSAT. There are far more people with excellent GPAs than there are excellent LSATs. Thus going from good to excellent will make you stand out more to the adcomms: getting more $$, access into better schools, or possibly both. It's a numbers game and in this economy quality of school won't completely seal your fate, but every little bit greatly helps.

OP you have time for the October test and can get your materials ready before Thanksgiving (sufficiently early). In the mean time figure out what you may have done wrong on the LSAT and figure out a program to correct it. Also work on writing a short and long version of a PS during the summer since different schools have different lengths. As a Marine I am sure you have faced tougher hardships before and will do well.

[Patriot1208]

1. to Desert Fox....get off your man crush of Rommel. Probably the most over-rated General of wwII btw

2. OP- 160 will obviously not get you into Harvard...maybe you shouldn't view bubble in multiple choice tests so harshly. there's way more to being a lawyer and there is nothing more important to your job outlooks than what school you attended which correlates to how well you did on the LSAT. If you feel that you can do better on the LSAT...retake it and reach your goal. best of luck.

[mpj_3050]

1. to Desert Fox....get off your man crush of Rommel. Probably the most over-rated General of wwII btw

2. OP- 160 will obviously not get you into Harvard...maybe you shouldn't take bubble in multiple choice tests so harshly. there's way more to being a lawyer than what school you attended or how well you did on the LSAT

I fear you woefully and perhaps in a pollyannaish manner underestimate the importance of the LSAT. There are far more people with excellent GPAs than there are excellent LSATs. Thus going from good to excellent will make you stand out more to the adcomms: getting more $$, access into better schools, or possibly both. It's a numbers game and in this economy quality of school won't completely seal your fate, but every little bit greatly helps.

OP you have time for the October test and can get your materials ready before Thanksgiving (sufficiently early). In the mean time figure out what you may have done wrong on the LSAT and figure out a program to correct it. Also work on writing a short and long version of a PS during the summer since different schools have different lengths. As a Marine I am sure you have faced tougher hardships before and will do well.

Thank you for the advice - I have already begun to craft my personal statement. I am reluctant to retake given that the first time I suppose could be discounted as nerves and I really don't have an excuse for the second time. I am just hoping to evaluate my chances at these schools without the calculators because I have gone over them quite a bit. I was hoping that I would stand a good shot at the schools listed (except for the hail-mary Iowa/OSU). Cincinnati is my first realistic first choice because of Ohio tuition. Probably just a little nervous because I am right at their median LSAT and their median GPA is a 3.60.

[FighterPilotF22]

Desert Fox- you didn't deny the man crush....atleast you're honest.

[theskippa10]

Not to derail the thread, but Rommel was overrated. Manstein>Kesselring>Guderian>von Rundstedt>>Hoth> Rommel. He wasn't bad, but Germany had a ton of generals better than him. Monty wooped him every time they fought. Agreed about the Americans being overrated, MacArthur espicially

[PlugInBaby]

1. to Desert Fox....get off your man crush of Rommel. Probably the most over-rated General of wwII btw

2. OP- 160 will obviously not get you into Harvard...maybe you shouldn't take bubble in multiple choice tests so harshly. there's way more to being a lawyer than what school you attended or how well you did on the LSAT

I fear you woefully and perhaps in a pollyannaish manner underestimate the importance of the LSAT. There are far more people with excellent GPAs than there are excellent LSATs. Thus going from good to excellent will make you stand out more to the adcomms: getting more $$, access into better schools, or possibly both. It's a numbers game and in this economy quality of school won't completely seal your fate, but every little bit greatly helps.

OP you have time for the October test and can get your materials ready before Thanksgiving (sufficiently early). In the mean time figure out what you may have done wrong on the LSAT and figure out a program to correct it. Also work on writing a short and long version of a PS during the summer since different schools have different lengths. As a Marine I am sure you have faced tougher hardships before and will do well.

Thank you for the advice - I have already begun to craft my personal statement. I am reluctant to retake given that the first time I suppose could be discounted as nerves and I really don't have an excuse for the second time. I am just hoping to evaluate my chances at these schools without the calculators because I have gone over them quite a bit. I was hoping that I would stand a good shot at the schools listed (except for the hail-mary Iowa/OSU). Cincinnati is my first realistic first choice because of Ohio tuition. Probably just a little nervous because I am right at their median LSAT and their median GPA is a 3.60.

Perhaps you need some input from other people to realize a weakness in your approach that could be fixed. For me I underestimated the level of stress in my life and how much all the recent adversity in my life impacted my psychological approach. Hoping to give myself some reason to be optimistic I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed. Instead I psyched myself out and executed horribly. I didn't realize the impact of this until getting input from friends and fellow test takers. So my new approach is to stay fresh on the material and most importantly learn how to deal with anxiety and enter the test with a clear and unburdened mind.

Is there anything that you think you can improve on? How were you doing on your PTs? What was your study regimen?

[mpj_3050]

1. to Desert Fox....get off your man crush of Rommel. Probably the most over-rated General of wwII btw

2. OP- 160 will obviously not get you into Harvard...maybe you shouldn't take bubble in multiple choice tests so harshly. there's way more to being a lawyer than what school you attended or how well you did on the LSAT

I fear you woefully and perhaps in a pollyannaish manner underestimate the importance of the LSAT. There are far more people with excellent GPAs than there are excellent LSATs. Thus going from good to excellent will make you stand out more to the adcomms: getting more $$, access into better schools, or possibly both. It's a numbers game and in this economy quality of school won't completely seal your fate, but every little bit greatly helps.

OP you have time for the October test and can get your materials ready before Thanksgiving (sufficiently early). In the mean time figure out what you may have done wrong on the LSAT and figure out a program to correct it. Also work on writing a short and long version of a PS during the summer since different schools have different lengths. As a Marine I am sure you have faced tougher hardships before and will do well.

Thank you for the advice - I have already begun to craft my personal statement. I am reluctant to retake given that the first time I suppose could be discounted as nerves and I really don't have an excuse for the second time. I am just hoping to evaluate my chances at these schools without the calculators because I have gone over them quite a bit. I was hoping that I would stand a good shot at the schools listed (except for the hail-mary Iowa/OSU). Cincinnati is my first realistic first choice because of Ohio tuition. Probably just a little nervous because I am right at their median LSAT and their median GPA is a 3.60.

Perhaps you need some input from other people to realize a weakness in your approach that could be fixed. For me I underestimated the level of stress in my life and how much all the recent adversity in my life impacted my psychological approach. Hoping to give myself some reason to be optimistic I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed. Instead I psyched myself out and executed horribly. I didn't realize the impact of this until getting input from friends and fellow test takers. So my new approach is to stay fresh on the material and most importantly learn how to deal with anxiety and enter the test with a clear and unburdened mind.

Is there anything that you think you can improve on? How were you doing on your PTs? What was your study regimen?

Thank you for your comments about studying. Well, here it is:
5 sections, timed, analog watch, answer sheets
About 2 tests per week and I took all of the newer tests and went over every question I got right/wrong
The first time I took the test I didn't take many of the newer tests and this time I took all 40-59 PTs
I was minus -1 or -2 LG, -5 RC, -4 or -5 LR. I was about 167-169, December test was a 173, uh.
In June we had the proctor call 5 minutes when 10 were left and like an idiot I panicked and thought my watch was messed up or something. I also panicked on the last game and completely blew it. I am concerned that anxiety could affect me again so I am reluctant about retaking. I just want to go to Cincinnati or Case with a little bit of money and go PI. I know OSU and Iowa are huge reaches.

[mpj_3050]

Bump because I am curious about chances/other possible schools.