Top Law Schools

Hi all-

I'm wondering if anyone can offer advice on how receptive schools are to hardship. I am scheduled to take the LSAT tomorrow and, well, let's just say that this week has been one of the most, if not THE most mentally and emotionally trying weeks of my life. It has been the culmination of two years of hell.

My mother and father finalized their divorce yesterday after a drawn out battle of two years. Basically, without getting into the huge backstory, my father straight up stole all of the retirement money that had ever been saved up and blew it on a call girl. Not another woman with whom he had a relationship, but a call girl. He never let my mother see the finances and would get very combative and abusive (it started out as verbal, but it became physical towards the end).

Throughout this entire process, my mother kept trying to just come to a settlement. Why? Because she knew that 95% of the retirement money was gone and would not be seen again. So both her and her legal counsel thought it best to just split what was left. You think that my father would have agreed, yeah? Nope!

He tried to blame my mother for everything (Right, she forced him to steal all of the retirement and blow it all away). He lost his job and tried to blame her (It turns out he was fired for massive expense report fraud at his company) and also tried to blame her for discrepancies in his taxes (Oh hey, yeah! He was also lying to the IRS!).

Unfortunately, since this thing carried all the way out to a jury trial, there is barely anything left (of what little remained to begin with) to divvy up. It was a Pyrrhic victory, but hey, at least the bastard is still stuck with his credit card debt and joint credit card debt (yep, he was opening up joint credit cards, getting cards in my mother's name, and then charging them to hell...this has left her credit in the toilet).

So I come home today and find out the following: my mother's house has to be put on the market immediately (Oh hey! Another fun fact about my bastard of a father who is now dead to me....he wasn't paying the mortgage the entire time everything was going down before he was caught. Why? Because he intended to run away and stick the debt to my mother, myself and my siblings), my mother has to declare bankruptcy, and she is applying for food stamps and welfare.

Oh wait, I forgot the best part: She is waiting to hear back on whether or not she has...wait for it..... CANCER! YYYYYAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!!! /s

Here I am less than 24 hours from the biggest test of my life and I'm a damn nervous wreck. All of this came to light not long after I graduated college. Once I decided that I wanted to pursue law school, I left the tech start-up I was with ( it was a dead end) and got a Paralegal job with a V50 Firm in my city, as it was too late in the last cycle to realistically sit for the February LSAT and expect good results. On top of working for the law firm, I contract out to a client at night to help their GC and work as his assistant. I find myself working ridiculously long days. 18 hours in one day two weeks ago, 12-13 hour days and weekend work at least once every other week. Average work day is 10 hours....this is not normal for an entry level Paralegal/Project Assistant at this firm...the junior associates and I laugh about how I'll cross the associate bonus goal...as a freaking paralegal/PA) But hey, I need the money to help my mother. Hell, I even moved home to help out with upkeep, maintenance, etc. and just so she'd know she's not alone in this.

This is a long post, I know. But I'm freaking out right now. I always knew going into this that I'm not just fighting for myself and doing this for myself, but I'm also fighting for my mother and doing it for my mother.

Can anyone just offer advice? Are schools really receptive to hardship to the point where you can be admitted with lower softs (ex. 3 years of WE) and something that can really only be described as a life altering event? This is literally the worst week that two years of pure hell

Can't you just cancel the LSAT try by midnight tonight? This way you can take later hopefully under better conditions...

sorry to hear what you're going through

You can submit an addendum with your application to explain a lower LSAT score. How much breathing room it'll grant you is unclear and will vary by school and depending on what your actual score is.

But i think it's important to remember that you haven't actually done worse on the LSAT yet, it's tomorrow. Don't resign yourself to doing poorly before u take it. Do your best to block out the noise and focus on the questions in front of you during the test (easier said than done even under normal conditions I realize). Then forget about the test for a day or two, everyone thinks they bombed the LSAT immediately after they take it. After a few days you can think about whether you wanna prep for a re-take in December. Schools take the highest score anyway so retake is always on the table.

Firstly, I'm really really sorry OP, your dad sounds like a huge dick. Best of luck to your family, especially your mother.

Second, DO NOT, DO NOT, DO NOT, take the LSAT tomorrow. You're nowhere near level headed, and should work and postpone the test for however long need be. If you can take it in Dec. that's great, but if you have to wait for another year or two, it is infinitely better than taking and bombing the test tomorrow and having your confidence shot to hell.

While the individual people on admission committees will be sympathetic to your plight, that wont get them to change their minds about a candidate whose score isn't in the ball park, so unless you're PT'ing 5+ points above your goal, you shouldn't take the test.

Best of luck in everything.

I really wish I could wait much longer, but it's getting to a point where I can't push this off for two years and pushing off for a year would also be a hard pill to swallow. Hey Yale, want to let me be your yearly "white buffalo"? Please, pretty please! Ah..haha...humor is all that helps right now.

I know that I'll more than likely be taking it again in December. However, as for tomorrow, I'd be happy if, given the circumstances, I could just keep my score above the 75th percentile for a certain TTT in my state. It'd have me in position for a full ride and I do not intend on working outside of this state. The firm has a strong historical relationship with the school, so I know that if I hit necessary class rank, the old guard at my firm from said school will go to bat. If that doesn't work out, I could still leave with no debt and pursue family law because hey, after what myself and my family have gone through, I see the value in that field.

Would pushing off a year be a harder pill to swallow than handicapping the rest of your professional career resulting in lifetime underperformance/bitterness and untold millions in unrealized earnings? Nah, you should go ahead and apply this cycle and hope for the best.

I'm sorry your family is going through this.

If you can postpone your test until December, you should. Taking it tomorrow if you don't have to (ie won't use up one of your tries) isn't brave or noble, it's bad judgment. You aren't going to be able to overcome a bad score with an addendum, you are going to need to retake. And if you can, it is better to preserve all your retakes for optimal times, since they are limited.

A better score in December is what you need to focus on. If you can't postpone, the go in tomorrow with all the pressure removed -- it's a practice test and a chance for you see where the floor is. December will be the real test for you, and since schools don't average anymore, you are just fine.

0.

Wow. I'm so sorry for you and your mother and I respect you for working hard and moving home to look after her.

Think of when the last time when you productively studied. If it was a long time ago, chances are you might not be able to bring your A-game even despite all this turmoil.
Think of the average of your last 5 practice tests. Are you averaging where you want to be?

It's a judgement call only you are in the position to make.
If you were on track score-wise before today, I say put your game face on and push through the next 20 hours.
If you haven't been able to focus the past few weeks and you haven't maxed out your potential score-wise, then it is a wise decision to withdraw before midnight tonight.

Whatever your decision, I am wishing both you and your mother the strength you need to persevere in the face of this adversity.
If you do withdraw or decide to retake, we would love to provide support in the December Prep Thread.
http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=224012

Hang in there!

sorry to hear about your personal situation, but unless your GPA is above their median/75th, schools will give you zero latitude on the LSAT. You can always take it another time, which is what I would recommend. December is still plenty early for nearly all schools.

PropaneAccessories wrote:I really wish I could wait much longer, but it's getting to a point where I can't push this off for two years and pushing off for a year would also be a hard pill to swallow. Hey Yale, want to let me be your yearly "white buffalo"? Please, pretty please! Ah..haha...humor is all that helps right now.

Bullshit. I have known people in their 40s who have successfully launched seriously prestigious legal careers. And in the abstract current employers will very often have a job for you someday if you need it. When you actually need it though . . .

It sounds like your family could really benefit from you setting yourself up for success, not limping into a situation where you will spend $60,000 minimum on a degree that might not carry you where you need to go.

Step back and get some perspective. Right now it probably seems like you don't have choices. Someday, though, you will realize that right now you are fighting some demons of your own making. Don't let the battle leave real scars on your career.