Veterans Thread Forum

[dannyswo]

For those recently accepted - how did you all score on the LSAT or at least compared to the 25/median/75 for schools accepted?

I was 75th in LSAT, Grad school GPA was median.

[hydrohect]

For those recently accepted - how did you all score on the LSAT or at least compared to the 25/median/75 for schools accepted?

So far I've only heard back (all acceptances) from schools where I've been at or above 75.

[dannyswo]

Here is the link to my updated Excel spreadsheet listing approximately the top 100 law schools, and how much is covered by the GI Bill + Yellow Ribbon Program:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

I've done this every year for the past four or so. Now that all public law schools are required to grant in-state tuition to qualifying veterans, it's only the private schools that fluctuate from year to year. Realize this spreadsheet shows how much someone with 100% GI Bill would expect to pay. Also, I've removed the BAH from each of the schools. It was too much work, and it's pretty easy to go find what BAH is for E-5 with dependents (which is what everyone gets).

Georgetown finally joined the majority of the T14 and now offers full Yellow Ribbon! Baylor decided to do away with the Yellow Ribbon program.

My guess is the amounts that are very close to covering full freight probably do once you chat with the school.

Just wanted to pile on and say thanks for the spreadsheet.

[Wipfelder]

Here is the link to my updated Excel spreadsheet listing approximately the top 100 law schools, and how much is covered by the GI Bill + Yellow Ribbon Program:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

I've done this every year for the past four or so. Now that all public law schools are required to grant in-state tuition to qualifying veterans, it's only the private schools that fluctuate from year to year. Realize this spreadsheet shows how much someone with 100% GI Bill would expect to pay. Also, I've removed the BAH from each of the schools. It was too much work, and it's pretty easy to go find what BAH is for E-5 with dependents (which is what everyone gets).

Georgetown finally joined the majority of the T14 and now offers full Yellow Ribbon! Baylor decided to do away with the Yellow Ribbon program.

My guess is the amounts that are very close to covering full freight probably do once you chat with the school.

Just wanted to pile on and say thanks for the spreadsheet.

MTCicero is a great human being.

[dannyswo]

Anyone had any luck in getting scholarship money as a living stipend?
USD: no; Pepperdine allows you to keep $7000 above and beyond tuition.

[laqueredup]

.

[KPUSN07]

For those recently accepted - how did you all score on the LSAT or at least compared to the 25/median/75 for schools accepted?

So far I've only heard back (all acceptances) from schools where I've been at or above 75.

My undergrad gpa was below 25% for every single law school bad.
So far I'm in at two schools (BC and UVA) where I'm above the lsat 75%. Waiting on a bunch of others.

Very good information - my GPA is below the 25% of each school as well... Was curious how that balanced against the LSAT score

[laqueredup]

.

[trooper10538]

Hello I'm a military veteran (Marine Corps) back in the 80's. Yea I know I'm old 49. I'm currently a Texas State Trooper, who is retiring after 17 due to a severe back injury that resulted in two major surgeries. I've always had an interest in law school. I find the law challenging and rewarding at the same time. I feel I would be a rewarding career. I would like to stay in public service working for the US Attorneys office, state attorney office etc. Just starting to look at the LSAT and what materials to study. May take test in February or June. I live in the Austin,TX area and would prefer not to move. So University of Texas is my first choice with University of Houston and Saint Mary's in San Antonio the last option. I have my Hazelwood hours (from joining Marines as a Texas resident). If not familiar this program pays for college tuition, if school is in Texas and is a public institution. I have a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice. My major GPA is 3.90, but overall it is 3.3 because of lousy grades I got back in 1985 before I joined the Corps. Any advice would be welcome especially on the LSAT. Thanks. Ed

[laqueredup]

Hello I'm a military veteran (Marine Corps) back in the 80's. Yea I know I'm old 49. I'm currently a Texas State Trooper, who is retiring after 17 due to a severe back injury that resulted in two major surgeries. I've always had an interest in law school. I find the law challenging and rewarding at the same time. I feel I would be a rewarding career. I would like to stay in public service working for the US Attorneys office, state attorney office etc. Just starting to look at the LSAT and what materials to study. May take test in February or June. I live in the Austin,TX area and would prefer not to move. So University of Texas is my first choice with University of Houston and Saint Mary's in San Antonio the last option. I have my Hazelwood hours (from joining Marines as a Texas resident). If not familiar this program pays for college tuition, if school is in Texas and is a public institution. I have a Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice. My major GPA is 3.90, but overall it is 3.3 because of lousy grades I got back in 1985 before I joined the Corps. Any advice would be welcome especially on the LSAT. Thanks. Ed

Have you taken a diagnostic test to see where you are starting?
I basically followed this advice and got a 17x in September, we'll see if I was able to up that any last week.
http://service2school.org/resources/bea ... cored-180/

The JD guidebook on the service to school site is another helpful starting point. It is targeted at people transitioning from military straight to law school but I think most of it would also apply in your case as you are looking at some similar circumstances.

[Sackcrete]

I have made my own thread(s) on this, but wanted to add it to this place as it applies. Thanks, guys!

Part 1:

Greetings Everyone,

I have been browsing these forums ever since the prospect of Law School, and becoming an attorney, first perused through my thoughts. I have been working tirelessly to achieve my goals, and with most things, have hit yet another "speed-bump" that I could use advice for. To get a sure answer, I first am obliged to give you a quick rundown of my present situation.

I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force. I am enlisted, and will have served approximately 8 honorable years by the time my most recent contract expires. I have a family, a wife and two beautiful daughters, and we are all going to separate January 2018 so Dad can pursue his goal of attending a top law school. I will have my Bachelor's completed approximately November 2017 and am graduating with honors (~3.8 GPA). I had originally planned on taking the LSAT in June to give myself ample time to apply to law schools for the August 2018 school year, however I am now being tasked with deploying from approximately March - November. Get your last few months out of me, Uncle Sam!

My main question, although there are many, is how do I go about taking the LSAT and applying to the top law schools for August 2018 if I am going to be deployed until at least November 2017? Does this kill my chances of being accepted or even trying to get accepted by August 2018? I have two little ones and a wife that depend on dads income, and if I cannot get into a law school by 2018, it will be that much longer before we can reap the rewards of the GI Bill we have earned.

I'm scared that I will separate and not find work between January 2018 and whenever I can get accepted into a school. I can only hope it won't be too long of a gap as I am already 28 years old as of this date.


TLDR; Quick timeline:

-Receive Bachelor's degree November 15, 2017
-Won't be back in America until at least November 2017
-Separating from the military January 2018
-Ideally, want to have a chance at going to a top 20 school August 2018
-When do I take the LSAT?


Thank you, so much, to everyone for your time. Have a great day.

Part 2:

Greetings Everyone,

I have been browsing these forums ever since the prospect of Law School, and becoming an attorney, first perused through my thoughts. I know there is no way to determine what your LSAT score will be, especially when one hasn't even begun taking any initial assessments, but I am hoping to at least "curb the stress" a little by posting in this forum. I am going to be in a somewhat unique situation as I will be separating from the Air Force, essentially losing my families income (I have a wife and two daughters), and trying to "get by" while we wait to be accepted into a top 20 law school. I am terrified.

I'm scared that we will lose our income and I will never be accepted and thus will end up in a rut working in a factory back-home in my small town. I won't be able to take the LSAT until at least November 2017 as I have to deploy, and I separate in January 2018. If I can't even apply to a school for the August 2018 school year, so who knows how long it could take before being accepted somewhere.

Is a 3.8 GPA, eight years of military experience with tons of awards/recognitions and a personal vouch from my Colonel writing me a Letter of Recommendation a good start? Are those things that I am blowing up on too large of a scale? I'm scared I'm going to bomb the LSAT. Also, will my degree being from an online school (American Military University) hurt me at all in the admissions process? I mean I've been active duty for 8 years, so it's not like I could've gotten a degree anywhere else. Is a top 20 school a little too high of a goal? I'm from a very small town, and no one from my family has ever done anything like this, so I'm naturally inclined to be just a little unsure of my future with this stuff.

Thank you, everyone, for your time!

[Wipfelder]

I have made my own thread(s) on this, but wanted to add it to this place as it applies. Thanks, guys!

Part 1:

Greetings Everyone,

I have been browsing these forums ever since the prospect of Law School, and becoming an attorney, first perused through my thoughts. I have been working tirelessly to achieve my goals, and with most things, have hit yet another "speed-bump" that I could use advice for. To get a sure answer, I first am obliged to give you a quick rundown of my present situation.

I am an active duty member of the United States Air Force. I am enlisted, and will have served approximately 8 honorable years by the time my most recent contract expires. I have a family, a wife and two beautiful daughters, and we are all going to separate January 2018 so Dad can pursue his goal of attending a top law school. I will have my Bachelor's completed approximately November 2017 and am graduating with honors (~3.8 GPA). I had originally planned on taking the LSAT in June to give myself ample time to apply to law schools for the August 2018 school year, however I am now being tasked with deploying from approximately March - November. Get your last few months out of me, Uncle Sam!

My main question, although there are many, is how do I go about taking the LSAT and applying to the top law schools for August 2018 if I am going to be deployed until at least November 2017? Does this kill my chances of being accepted or even trying to get accepted by August 2018? I have two little ones and a wife that depend on dads income, and if I cannot get into a law school by 2018, it will be that much longer before we can reap the rewards of the GI Bill we have earned.

I'm scared that I will separate and not find work between January 2018 and whenever I can get accepted into a school. I can only hope it won't be too long of a gap as I am already 28 years old as of this date.


TLDR; Quick timeline:

-Receive Bachelor's degree November 15, 2017
-Won't be back in America until at least November 2017
-Separating from the military January 2018
-Ideally, want to have a chance at going to a top 20 school August 2018
-When do I take the LSAT?


Thank you, so much, to everyone for your time. Have a great day.

Part 2:

Greetings Everyone,

I have been browsing these forums ever since the prospect of Law School, and becoming an attorney, first perused through my thoughts. I know there is no way to determine what your LSAT score will be, especially when one hasn't even begun taking any initial assessments, but I am hoping to at least "curb the stress" a little by posting in this forum. I am going to be in a somewhat unique situation as I will be separating from the Air Force, essentially losing my families income (I have a wife and two daughters), and trying to "get by" while we wait to be accepted into a top 20 law school. I am terrified.

I'm scared that we will lose our income and I will never be accepted and thus will end up in a rut working in a factory back-home in my small town. I won't be able to take the LSAT until at least November 2017 as I have to deploy, and I separate in January 2018. If I can't even apply to a school for the August 2018 school year, so who knows how long it could take before being accepted somewhere.

Is a 3.8 GPA, eight years of military experience with tons of awards/recognitions and a personal vouch from my Colonel writing me a Letter of Recommendation a good start? Are those things that I am blowing up on too large of a scale? I'm scared I'm going to bomb the LSAT. Also, will my degree being from an online school (American Military University) hurt me at all in the admissions process? I mean I've been active duty for 8 years, so it's not like I could've gotten a degree anywhere else. Is a top 20 school a little too high of a goal? I'm from a very small town, and no one from my family has ever done anything like this, so I'm naturally inclined to be just a little unsure of my future with this stuff.

Thank you, everyone, for your time!

Save money during your deployments and study in your off-time (I'm assuming AF deployments = shift work), use the time to develop your LSAT strategy and problem identification techniques and stuff like that. Save your leave then take a month or so off before the DEC test and crush studying. Then you can retake in FEB, after another 2 months or so of hard-core studying.

Save like crazy during the deployment, so you can make it without much income from January 2018-August 2018.

Good luck!

[ArmyRN]

For those recently accepted - how did you all score on the LSAT or at least compared to the 25/median/75 for schools accepted?

So far I've only heard back (all acceptances) from schools where I've been at or above 75.

My undergrad gpa was below 25% for every single law school bad.
So far I'm in at two schools (BC and UVA) where I'm above the lsat 75%. Waiting on a bunch of others.

Very good information - my GPA is below the 25% of each school as well... Was curious how that balanced against the LSAT score

Yeah I think that's a trend. When I interviewed with UVA I asked about it and they seemed to get that the Academies are a bit more difficult and have a different grade dist than most schools. Or maybe its military in general since the GPAs are generally a ways behind us. I wouldn't call it a bump, maybe just a willingness to overlook gpa if you bring other things to the table (good LSAT, grad school GPA, experience).

I was in the same boat as most of you: LSAT > 75%, GPA < 25%. This is how I did last year, http://lawschoolnumbers.com/murse

[chili_davis]

Looking for someone to critique my "Why NDLS? Statement" PM me if you're willing! Thanks

[AFtoLawschool]

.

[BNA]

Anyone had any luck in getting scholarship money as a living stipend?
USD: no; Pepperdine allows you to keep $7000 above and beyond tuition.

Depends on the school. Some will, some might, and some won't. I recommend calling admissions after your acceptance and raising the topic. If they say anything but "yes," gently tell them it's as simple as reclassifying the tuition scholarship into something - anything - else. A "living expense stipend" is the most common, I think. The main take-away is that you have to get "tuition" out of the equation. The VA is a last payer, which means they distribute the difference in tuition after all other monies are applied. By moving the money away from tuition, you're avoiding the paid-first scholarship, and the school won't list it as a deduction on their submission to the VA.

[Specter1389]

Does anyone know how someone's retirement would be affected if they got out to attend law school and then came back in as a JAG? I tried applying for Air Force FLEP the last two years but was unable to receive a release from my career field. If I don't get picked up next year, I will definitely be getting out and going to law school on my own as it is my last year of eligibility. I don't really like the new blended retirement system that is due to hit in 2018. I know if you enter active duty prior to 2018, you have the option of staying under the current system but am unsure if this would still be the case if I left active duty and returned. If anyone has any input, I would greatly appreciate it.

[CenterFringe]

Does anyone know how someone's retirement would be affected if they got out to attend law school and then came back in as a JAG? I tried applying for Air Force FLEP the last two years but was unable to receive a release from my career field. If I don't get picked up next year, I will definitely be getting out and going to law school on my own as it is my last year of eligibility. I don't really like the new blended retirement system that is due to hit in 2018. I know if you enter active duty prior to 2018, you have the option of staying under the current system but am unsure if this would still be the case if I left active duty and returned. If anyone has any input, I would greatly appreciate it.

The language used is "Date of Original Entry", so you will still be eligible for the old system. Additionally, I've never seen a grandfather program use the date of re-entry as the baseline, it's always based the first day you went on Active Duty or (occasionally) the date you commissioned.

[Specter1389]

Does anyone know how someone's retirement would be affected if they got out to attend law school and then came back in as a JAG? I tried applying for Air Force FLEP the last two years but was unable to receive a release from my career field. If I don't get picked up next year, I will definitely be getting out and going to law school on my own as it is my last year of eligibility. I don't really like the new blended retirement system that is due to hit in 2018. I know if you enter active duty prior to 2018, you have the option of staying under the current system but am unsure if this would still be the case if I left active duty and returned. If anyone has any input, I would greatly appreciate it.

The language used is "Date of Original Entry", so you will still be eligible for the old system. Additionally, I've never seen a grandfather program use the date of re-entry as the baseline, it's always based the first day you went on Active Duty or (occasionally) the date you commissioned.

Thanks, that's great to know. I actually think the new system is better, just not from the standpoint that I would have already missed out on 5 years of matching TSP contributions by the time it kicks in.

[CMac86]

Anyone had any luck in getting scholarship money as a living stipend?
USD: no; Pepperdine allows you to keep $7000 above and beyond tuition.

Depends on the school. Some will, some might, and some won't. I recommend calling admissions after your acceptance and raising the topic. If they say anything but "yes," gently tell them it's as simple as reclassifying the tuition scholarship into something - anything - else. A "living expense stipend" is the most common, I think. The main take-away is that you have to get "tuition" out of the equation. The VA is a last payer, which means they distribute the difference in tuition after all other monies are applied. By moving the money away from tuition, you're avoiding the paid-first scholarship, and the school won't list it as a deduction on their submission to the VA.

That is brilliant advice! If I can pull that off, I should be able to get my undergrad loans paid off while attending law school.

[CMac86]

Is anyone in this thread sitting the February test? I'll be taking it in Rhode Island, and this will be my first real test (I've been working my way through 7sage and prep tests).

My last five PT's were 160-162. For all except my reach school, a 160 puts me at a fairly safe bet (at least according to LSN) of getting in with the potential for a little bit of $$$. For my reach school, it looks like I need a 170+ to have a chance. Due to work commitments, it is highly unlikely I can get the time off approved to take any exam other than the February and October exams (October is a bit doubtful as well though). I'm hoping between now and the exam I can move my actual scores closer to my blind review scores (last 5 BR's are 168-172) with the area with the most room for improvement being LG...so, I'm doing an LG intensive block to help increase my speed and confidence in that section.

[Dcc617]

Is anyone in this thread sitting the February test? I'll be taking it in Rhode Island, and this will be my first real test (I've been working my way through 7sage and prep tests).

My last five PT's were 160-162. For all except my reach school, a 160 puts me at a fairly safe bet (at least according to LSN) of getting in with the potential for a little bit of $$$. For my reach school, it looks like I need a 170+ to have a chance. Due to work commitments, it is highly unlikely I can get the time off approved to take any exam other than the February and October exams (October is a bit doubtful as well though). I'm hoping between now and the exam I can move my actual scores closer to my blind review scores (last 5 BR's are 168-172) with the area with the most room for improvement being LG...so, I'm doing an LG intensive block to help increase my speed and confidence in that section.

Logic games are the most easily improved section. What are you using to improve those?

[Wipfelder]

Is anyone in this thread sitting the February test? I'll be taking it in Rhode Island, and this will be my first real test (I've been working my way through 7sage and prep tests).

My last five PT's were 160-162. For all except my reach school, a 160 puts me at a fairly safe bet (at least according to LSN) of getting in with the potential for a little bit of $$$. For my reach school, it looks like I need a 170+ to have a chance. Due to work commitments, it is highly unlikely I can get the time off approved to take any exam other than the February and October exams (October is a bit doubtful as well though). I'm hoping between now and the exam I can move my actual scores closer to my blind review scores (last 5 BR's are 168-172) with the area with the most room for improvement being LG...so, I'm doing an LG intensive block to help increase my speed and confidence in that section.

Logic games are the most easily improved section. What are you using to improve those?

And can you like, blow off work?

[AJordan]

I've found JY's 7Sage logic game explanations on youtube to be very helpful. Also free.

[CMac86]

Logic games are the most easily improved section. What are you using to improve those?

I'm using 7sage. I cycle through every game that I have had trouble with redoing it (works out to once every few days). The first time that I redo a game, I do my board setup, then watch the video through just the board setup. If my setup lines up with what they do in the video, then I move onto the questions. If my setup doesn't line up with what they do, I start the process over after I figure out why my setup was not quite the same.