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Having never taken the LSAT I signed up for the December one in late October. I did it just to keep my options open but figured in the back of my mind I'd cancel because I wasn't sure I wanted to go anyway.

And then on November 10, I was obsessively studying for the LSAT. Scores back in early Janaury, applied that weekend.


Anyone else? I figure I can't be the only one.

Based on some of the personal statement drafts I've reviewed, you're not alone.

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If you want to become president, get your MBA. That's what this election has taught me.

A pretty big increase in December takers, so I'm guessing the election had something to do with that.

I hope these people think on it more though instead of making a rash and financially detrimental decision.

I'd have to think the next couple of months will dissuade people once they realize spending 3 years in law school for a profession that won't do much to stop Trump is a bad idea.

They will graduate 2020/20212 when Trump will hopefully be out the door anyways.

I became worried about applying this cycle after the election, not encouraged. Since I'm PI focused, and specifically interested in positions that are usually funded by VAWA, I'm worried there will be even fewer of those positions available by the time I graduate. I'm thinking I need to formulate some back up plans in case LSC and VAWA funds are stripped.

BostonOrBust wrote:Having never taken the LSAT I signed up for the December one in late October. I did it just to keep my options open but figured in the back of my mind I'd cancel because I wasn't sure I wanted to go anyway.


And then on November 10, I was obsessively studying for the LSAT. Scores back in early Janaury, applied that weekend.


Anyone else? I figure I can't be the only one.

I think it was criticized that Geroge Mason School of Law named itself after Antonin Scalia.
Not sure if that increased application number or not.

Rigo wrote:A pretty big increase in December takers, so I'm guessing the election had something to do with that.

I hope these people think on it more though instead of making a rash and financially detrimental decision.

My own anecdotal evidence: everyone I know personally applying to law school this year also has an interest in politics and was involved with campaigns on some level (local/state/national) this past election season. Campaign work is notoriously time consuming, so I assume that some of the increase in December LSAT takers due to the election may have been due to timing, not necessarily who won.

Gitaroo_Dude wrote:I'd have to think the next couple of months will dissuade people once they realize spending 3 years in law school for a profession that won't do much to stop Trump is a bad idea.

Well, to be fair, the profession can do quite a bit to stop Trump. But I would hope most of these people figure out that unless he wins a second term, they'll have to settle for affecting a different administration.

Why would the election's results persuade people to go to law school?

cavalier1138 wrote:

Gitaroo_Dude wrote:I'd have to think the next couple of months will dissuade people once they realize spending 3 years in law school for a profession that won't do much to stop Trump is a bad idea.

Well, to be fair, the profession can do quite a bit to stop Trump. But I would hope most of these people figure out that unless he wins a second term, they'll have to settle for affecting a different administration.

There will be a lot to undo when he's done, though. And this class will graduate just in time.

chicagoburger wrote:

BostonOrBust wrote:Having never taken the LSAT I signed up for the December one in late October. I did it just to keep my options open but figured in the back of my mind I'd cancel because I wasn't sure I wanted to go anyway.


And then on November 10, I was obsessively studying for the LSAT. Scores back in early Janaury, applied that weekend.


Anyone else? I figure I can't be the only one.

I think it was criticized that Geroge Mason School of Law named itself after Antonin Scalia.
Not sure if that increased application number or not.

I can say that, right or wrong, I genuinely made the decision not to apply to George Mason on the sole basis that it was Antonin Scalia school of law. Not into going to a school named after a man who thinks that I don't get to make decisions about my own body and that my black peers can't succeed at rigorous academic institutions, and I think it reflects a tone deaf administration. I doubt it will impact their numbers overall, but they definitely lost my application.

BostonOrBust wrote:I can say that, right or wrong, I genuinely made the decision not to apply to George Mason on the sole basis that it was Antonin Scalia school of law. Not into going to a school named after a man who thinks that I don't get to make decisions about my own body and that my black peers can't succeed at rigorous academic institutions, and I think it reflects a tone deaf administration. I doubt it will impact their numbers overall, but they definitely lost my application.

I think that if that was your only reason for not applying to George Mason, you probably should be doing more than just checking whether schools are named after people you don't like.

somedeadman wrote:Why would the election's results persuade people to go to law school?

I guess I worded my OP wrong. It was more like, I was always probably headed down a law school path eventually but had put it off already for a couple years post UG and was ready to put it off again. Then post election realized I needed to stop screwing around and get my stuff together. Like, this country is way worse off than I thought, there are a lot of people that will need my help once I graduate (because I'm going into PI), I shouldn't continue to put this off because I'm lazy.

Not like, "I'm a mechanical engineer, aw crap, Trump is president, I have to drop everything and go to law school." Which would be stupid.

cavalier1138 wrote:

BostonOrBust wrote:I can say that, right or wrong, I genuinely made the decision not to apply to George Mason on the sole basis that it was Antonin Scalia school of law. Not into going to a school named after a man who thinks that I don't get to make decisions about my own body and that my black peers can't succeed at rigorous academic institutions, and I think it reflects a tone deaf administration. I doubt it will impact their numbers overall, but they definitely lost my application.

I think that if that was your only reason for not applying to George Mason, you probably should be doing more than just checking whether schools are named after people you don't like.

Nah. I stand by my decision. Everyone has random dealbreakers for schools. I'm not applying to any schools in Michigan because I don't want to live in the middle of nowhere. I'm not applying to certain schools whose campuses I don't like. And I'm not applying to George Mason. That's the beauty of it being my cycle-- I get to pick what's a fit. I, personally, would never feel good about going to a school named after Antonin Scalia, so I didn't apply. Instead I applied to a lot of schools that are great fits. It's a good enough reason.

BostonOrBust wrote:

cavalier1138 wrote:

BostonOrBust wrote:I can say that, right or wrong, I genuinely made the decision not to apply to George Mason on the sole basis that it was Antonin Scalia school of law. Not into going to a school named after a man who thinks that I don't get to make decisions about my own body and that my black peers can't succeed at rigorous academic institutions, and I think it reflects a tone deaf administration. I doubt it will impact their numbers overall, but they definitely lost my application.

I think that if that was your only reason for not applying to George Mason, you probably should be doing more than just checking whether schools are named after people you don't like.

Nah. I stand by my decision. Everyone has random dealbreakers for schools. I'm not applying to any schools in Michigan because I don't want to live in the middle of nowhere. I'm not applying to certain schools whose campuses I don't like. And I'm not applying to George Mason. That's the beauty of it being my cycle-- I get to pick what's a fit. I, personally, would never feel good about going to a school named after Antonin Scalia, so I didn't apply. Instead I applied to a lot of schools that are great fits. It's a good enough reason.

I'm pretty sure Cav was just saying that George Mason has not great employment prospects and isn't a good choice for a lot of people because of that.

Rigo wrote:

BostonOrBust wrote:

cavalier1138 wrote:

BostonOrBust wrote:I can say that, right or wrong, I genuinely made the decision not to apply to George Mason on the sole basis that it was Antonin Scalia school of law. Not into going to a school named after a man who thinks that I don't get to make decisions about my own body and that my black peers can't succeed at rigorous academic institutions, and I think it reflects a tone deaf administration. I doubt it will impact their numbers overall, but they definitely lost my application.

I think that if that was your only reason for not applying to George Mason, you probably should be doing more than just checking whether schools are named after people you don't like.

Nah. I stand by my decision. Everyone has random dealbreakers for schools. I'm not applying to any schools in Michigan because I don't want to live in the middle of nowhere. I'm not applying to certain schools whose campuses I don't like. And I'm not applying to George Mason. That's the beauty of it being my cycle-- I get to pick what's a fit. I, personally, would never feel good about going to a school named after Antonin Scalia, so I didn't apply. Instead I applied to a lot of schools that are great fits. It's a good enough reason.

I'm pretty sure Cav was just saying that George Mason has not great employment prospects and isn't a good choice for a lot of people because of that. .

I see! Sorry to misunderstand, Cav. No, haha, I hadn't gotten that far when I realized what it was called and nixed it straight off. Probably correct that I would not have ended up there if I had started looking into numbers.

BostonOrBust wrote:

cavalier1138 wrote:

BostonOrBust wrote:I can say that, right or wrong, I genuinely made the decision not to apply to George Mason on the sole basis that it was Antonin Scalia school of law. Not into going to a school named after a man who thinks that I don't get to make decisions about my own body and that my black peers can't succeed at rigorous academic institutions, and I think it reflects a tone deaf administration. I doubt it will impact their numbers overall, but they definitely lost my application.

I think that if that was your only reason for not applying to George Mason, you probably should be doing more than just checking whether schools are named after people you don't like.

Nah. I stand by my decision. Everyone has random dealbreakers for schools. I'm not applying to any schools in Michigan because I don't want to live in the middle of nowhere. I'm not applying to certain schools whose campuses I don't like. And I'm not applying to George Mason. That's the beauty of it being my cycle-- I get to pick what's a fit. I, personally, would never feel good about going to a school named after Antonin Scalia, so I didn't apply. Instead I applied to a lot of schools that are great fits. It's a good enough reason.

I did the exact same thing, Boston. I didn't get past that to look at it more closely as an option.

Rigo wrote:A pretty big increase in December takers, so I'm guessing the election had something to do with that.

I hope these people think on it more though instead of making a rash and financially detrimental decision.

I have a feeling the big increase in December test takers had more to do with the disastrous September LSAT

floatie wrote:

Rigo wrote:A pretty big increase in December takers, so I'm guessing the election had something to do with that.
I hope these people think on it more though instead of making a rash and financially detrimental decision.

I have a feeling the big increase in December test takers had more to do with the disastrous September LSAT

The data shows that the number of retakers taking in December was actually lower than 2015 despite the large increase in takers, so I don't think you can blame it on an especially disastrous September 2016 LSAT.

BostonOrBust wrote:

chicagoburger wrote:

BostonOrBust wrote:Having never taken the LSAT I signed up for the December one in late October. I did it just to keep my options open but figured in the back of my mind I'd cancel because I wasn't sure I wanted to go anyway.


And then on November 10, I was obsessively studying for the LSAT. Scores back in early Janaury, applied that weekend.


Anyone else? I figure I can't be the only one.

I think it was criticized that Geroge Mason School of Law named itself after Antonin Scalia.
Not sure if that increased application number or not.

I can say that, right or wrong, I genuinely made the decision not to apply to George Mason on the sole basis that it was Antonin Scalia school of law. Not into going to a school named after a man who thinks that I don't get to make decisions about my own body and that my black peers can't succeed at rigorous academic institutions, and I think it reflects a tone deaf administration. I doubt it will impact their numbers overall, but they definitely lost my application.

I think it reflects a money hungry administration willing to alienate half the country to placate conservative donors. And hey, for every liberal like us on TLS, there's some College Republican out there who's just overjoyed at the prospect of studying at the ASSoL.

BostonOrBust wrote:

chicagoburger wrote:

BostonOrBust wrote:Having never taken the LSAT I signed up for the December one in late October. I did it just to keep my options open but figured in the back of my mind I'd cancel because I wasn't sure I wanted to go anyway.


And then on November 10, I was obsessively studying for the LSAT. Scores back in early Janaury, applied that weekend.


Anyone else? I figure I can't be the only one.

I think it was criticized that Geroge Mason School of Law named itself after Antonin Scalia.
Not sure if that increased application number or not.

I can say that, right or wrong, I genuinely made the decision not to apply to George Mason on the sole basis that it was Antonin Scalia school of law. Not into going to a school named after a man who thinks that I don't get to make decisions about my own body and that my black peers can't succeed at rigorous academic institutions, and I think it reflects a tone deaf administration. I doubt it will impact their numbers overall, but they definitely lost my application.

If you really think that is what Scalia is about you have a lot of work ahead of you (putting it nicely)

BostonOrBust wrote:

chicagoburger wrote:

BostonOrBust wrote:Having never taken the LSAT I signed up for the December one in late October. I did it just to keep my options open but figured in the back of my mind I'd cancel because I wasn't sure I wanted to go anyway.


And then on November 10, I was obsessively studying for the LSAT. Scores back in early Janaury, applied that weekend.


Anyone else? I figure I can't be the only one.

I think it was criticized that Geroge Mason School of Law named itself after Antonin Scalia.
Not sure if that increased application number or not.

I can say that, right or wrong, I genuinely made the decision not to apply to George Mason on the sole basis that it was Antonin Scalia school of law. Not into going to a school named after a man who thinks that I don't get to make decisions about my own body and that my black peers can't succeed at rigorous academic institutions, and I think it reflects a tone deaf administration. I doubt it will impact their numbers overall, but they definitely lost my application.

Fun fact: Antonin Scalia School of Law is abbreviated as ASS Law