Advice/help...please? Forum

[sdspainhour]

Hey guys,

I am a junior at Rhodes College. I am a psychology major with a good GPA (about a 3.62). I have experience as a Court Appointed Special Advocate here in Memphis and I work really hard within the juvenile court system to advocate on behalf of abused and neglected kids. I stay involved in campus politics (I am the Vice President of my class) and I really do all I can to be a good student. I took the LSAT in february and honestly, I didn't do so well- when I say that I didn't do so well, I mean that I got a 151. I have always been weak with standardized tests. I am really becoming discouraged, because I know that for some reason, all law schools seem to think that one of the best indicators of law school performance is the LSAT (standardized tests are so problematic to begin with because there is no way to control for all possible situations and testing personalities). I really would like to attend a school like University of Washington in Seattle or somewhere similar, however, I really just do not feel like my LSAT is good enough. I will take it again, of course, but I am quite discouraged. I was hoping some of my court work might make me stand out, but I really don't know. Do you all have any advice or tips for me? I am becoming quite discouraged. I realize that this question is somewhat vague, but I figured I might as well ask.

Thanks, all. I really would appreciate some help.

S

[msesquire2b]

I am a CASA also.. I am hoping that is a good soft. If you are a junior in undergrad, I think you should retake the LSAT. (You have the time)

[MagicallyDelicious]

How did you prepare?

[sdspainhour]

I took a Test Masters course last summer and continued to look over the materials until the actual exam. I don't know what I am doing wrong... :/

[kswiss]

151 is waaay too low for UW. Are you URM? The LSAT is very studyable, but you have to go about it the right way.

If you need some tips on LSAT prep, this is how I did it (link to blog post):
http://doctorklon.wordpress.com/2009/12 ... -the-lsat/

[Rowinguy2009]

You seem to have a good handle on the situation. It sucks, but the LSAT is the single most important part of your app. Don't get discouraged, people have gotten lower scores than that on their first test and gotten into great schools because of succesful retakes. Take a formal class, and buckle down and study. You have plenty of time to put in the time needed to improve your score. Good luck!

[MagicallyDelicious]

I took a Test Masters course last summer and continued to look over the materials until the actual exam. I don't know what I am doing wrong... :/

What was your PT average?

[sdspainhour]

PT avgs really varied; some days I got a mid 150, some days I got in the 160's.

[MagicallyDelicious]

Try simply taking a lot of preptests for a greater sample and seeing where your average settles. This will give you a better idea of your ceiling.

[sdspainhour]

Oh...am I URM? Not overly, no. I am a middle-class white male. I am gay (I have no problem recognizing that fact) and I have heard that disclosing this information may help to increase my chances of admission, although I am somewhat uncertain as to how this might be the case. What is the opinion on that? At any rate, yeah, I just am worried about the LSAT more than anything. I have studied for long periods of time. Most of my studying consisted of taking practice test after practice test after practice test. I guess I just need to continue doing that. I am really unhappy with my current score, and although I do not doubt my potential as a law student, I am doubting my ability to get into a good law school. Law school prestige really does matter, and I am quite worried.

[jcl2]

There is great lsat study advise on this site. Spend some time browsing the lsat prep forum. My advice would be to retake in September to give yourself a full six months to study. It is a pretty learnable test, so you can definitely make some significant improvements if you put serious effort into it. With your GPA, I think you would need at least a 164 to have a good shot at UW, which is a tall order, but doable. Good luck!

[Kiersten1985]

Oh...am I URM? Not overly, no. I am a middle-class white male. I am gay (I have no problem recognizing that fact) and I have heard that disclosing this information may help to increase my chances of admission, although I am somewhat uncertain as to how this might be the case. What is the opinion on that? At any rate, yeah, I just am worried about the LSAT more than anything. I have studied for long periods of time. Most of my studying consisted of taking practice test after practice test after practice test. I guess I just need to continue doing that. I am really unhappy with my current score, and although I do not doubt my potential as a law student, I am doubting my ability to get into a good law school. Law school prestige really does matter, and I am quite worried.

While being gay isn't considered a URM (only black, Mexican or Puerto Rican) it can make for quite a compelling personal statement if you have a good story to tell. I think the fact that you're open and comfortable with your sexuality can help you, too, because you will in fact contribute to the diversity of the school.

Unfortunately, it's not going to overcome a bad LSAT. You said you have a history of poor standardized test taking, right? If that's true, you should perhaps try to dig up some documentation of that (e.g. official SAT scores) and perhaps write an addendum. Of course, you should still try to figure out where you're going wrong. I would recommend really taking the time to REVIEW YOUR PTs. EVERY QUESTION, EVERY ANSWER(right and wrong) and really get to know the exam and how the test creators think.