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Lets talk about what could or should have been.... decisions weighed, presuppositions questioned and answered, etc.
(all in the context of law school prep, application, acceptance, and actual student life)

This is an egalitarian brotherhood of 0L to 3Ls... perhaps even 4Ls. (5Ls, you're doing it wrong - blackball to you)

I only have a 0L perspective to start with: Obsess and prepare more for the LSAT. They really don't care how special or unique you are as defined by your PS. Live it, breath it, 172+ it. If my cycle becomes a flop and I only have a few questionable options, I'm doing it over with a healthy obsession on LSAT prep for next year.

This seems like it would be far more useful broken up into multiple threads, some of which already exist.

2009 Prospective wrote:This seems like it would be far more useful broken up into multiple threads, some of which already exist.

Here they converge.

I would have gone to the same regional state school that I went to for UG except I would have gotten a 4.0, which would have required only a small amount of work rather than the zero effort I put into getting my 3.4. I would have worked after finishing my UG rather than wasting my time on an MS, but I still would have waited 3-4 years to go to law school, because being in the class of 09-11 would really suck at any law school. I would have found TLS at least a year before taking the lsat and would have put in a solid 6 months of study and gotten a 172+ rather than the 166 I got after studying for three weeks and taking two practice exams. With my 175/4.0 I would then choose S over Y and H.

All that said, I am actually very happy with how things have worked out and where I will be going to school next year. And for once in my life, I am actually doing all the research and planning necessary to give me a good chance at being successful in law school, and hopefully I will have no regrets in three years.

The list of things that I would do over is too long to count, but since I can't, it's not really worth discussing.

vanwinkle wrote:The list of things that I would do over is too long to count, but since I can't, it's not really worth discussing.

I agree, it is usually best to not worry about what could have been since you can't change the past. There is, however, obvious value in examining past mistakes for the purposes of not repeating them and avoiding similar mistakes in the future.

jcl2 wrote:I agree, it is usually best to not worry about what could have been since you can't change the past. There is, however, obvious value in examining past mistakes for the purposes of not repeating them and avoiding similar mistakes in the future.

This is also true. I would probably not be where I am today if it were not for my past failures. I certainly would not appreciate life and my current place in it like I do now if everything had gone well.

those are very cute and retrospective responses, but i think the point of the thread is so OTHER people can learn from your mistakes...

more recently: prepped harder for the LSAT

about 10 years ago (following HS graduation): pursued a masters in computer science

superman21 wrote:those are very cute and retrospective responses, but i think the point of the thread is so OTHER people can learn from your mistakes...

Very few of the mistakes I made are things that other people will ever have to make choices on. For the rest, I'm very consistent about giving others advice on the questions they ask on here. This thread is stupid because it's so open-ended there's no way to know what's even appropriate to share.

It would take a book to share everything I've learned. Hmm, maybe I should write one...

I would have spared the rachni queen in Mass Effect.

Kohinoor wrote:I would have spared the rachni queen in Mass Effect.

i'm starting that soon haha (i still have to beat the game since i never beat the game on the playthrough where i reached level 60)

i spared the rachni queen in my most recent save, so i'm wondering what that'll do

vanwinkle wrote:

superman21 wrote:those are very cute and retrospective responses, but i think the point of the thread is so OTHER people can learn from your mistakes...

Very few of the mistakes I made are things that other people will ever have to make choices on. For the rest, I'm very consistent about giving others advice on the questions they ask on here. This thread is stupid because it's so open-ended there's no way to know what's even appropriate to share.

It would take a book to share everything I've learned. Hmm, maybe I should write one...

I'm not so sure... jcl2's comments were pretty good. I guess it's a terrible tradeoff to essentially ask "what do you regret" so others can maybe learn from it, but isn't that part of what TLS is about? Later, when we periodically log in during 1 or 2L, we can "give back" then.... seems fair.

I would have attended an undergrad where the administration actually cared about my ass instead of my money.

Start saving for retirment.

I would have gotten an undergrad degree in teaching instead of the useless philosophy major which can't land me a job right now.
I would have taken the lsats during my third year in college instead of my fourth. I would not have gone to gtown where I had tons of debt to pay off (about 30k which isn't that bad... but still). I would have stuck to some instate+way cheeper options. I also could have gotten more merit money at some schools if I focused more on my GPA rather than partying.

Damn. I wish I could reverse time.

I should have waited one more year saving up an additional years worth of salary, deferred, retake, and hoped for either a better school or more scholarship money.

this thread had potential, but has come to fail

GATORTIM wrote:more recently: prepped harder for the LSAT

about 10 years ago (following HS graduation): pursued a masters in computer science

Can I ask why you are now going to law school? I was considering a masters in CS just before I applied to law school, and with job prospects being what they are I am thinking about reconsidering this choice.

All things considered, I have no major regrets as a 0L, but since there is always room for improvement...

1. Worked a bit harder in UG to boost up my GPA. It's tough competing against pre-meds who dope with ritalin and aderol to study.

2. Gone for a joint PhD MPH instead of just the PhD since I'm increasingly interested in health policy.

take my gpa more seriously

and it probably would have been beneficial to be on TLS while i was studying for the LSAT

for the longest time, I had wished that I would have taken HS more seriously and I really beat myself up about it everyday.

But looking back I needed to learn that you can't just coast by because you think you're smarter than everyone else because soon you'll be put in a room with people just as if not smarter than you and willing to put in the work too.

At the moment, I wouldn't change anything big. Maybe little things like not buy this or that and save the money but nothing life changing.

Kohinoor wrote:I would have spared the rachni queen in Mass Effect.

this just made my day

*edit*
also, I would have taken college a 'lil bit more serious. But most of my friends who ARE 4.0 (or close to it) students all wish they could just get up and go party in LA for a week or randomly move across country just cause, all of these things I did. So I guess you could say I chose to live life rather than live in a book, I wish I would have worked harder to find a better balance.

Not a lot, it would've been nice to not have my first lsat score since that makes my chances at HS go from like 20-30% to about 5-10%, but such is life

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