Law Enforcement Experience Forum

[ghostoflucretius]

I am pondering a career change in the next few years and I am trying to determine if I should buy an LSAT prep book at Barnes & Noble or if I should shell out for a more comprehensive LSAT prep course.

If this topic has been addressed before, I apologize. I did a search but didn't come up with anything specifically.

I am a commissioned reserve deputy sheriff. In my county, a reserve has the same authority as a full-time officer while on duty, so I do pretty much the same thing as a full-time deputy and get the same training.

The FAQ thread said that law schools favor Teach for America, Peace Corps and Military, my questions is if they might favor law enforcement officers. If anyone has any experience with law enforcement and/or have any first hand information about how it might affect my application, it would be greatly appreciated.

Of course there are a lot of other variables to the competitiveness of an application, and I'd like to think that I am pretty competitive in those other aspects. (I am fluent in Latin and I have taught it for 4 years, grad degree from a top-10 university, pretty good GPA.)

Thanks a lot!

[OLitch]

Don't go to B&N. Do a little research online before you purchase any LSAT study materials. You only want books that go over real LSAT questions from actual tests. Many of the books at B&N have created their own test questions and are not nearly as useful.

I bought all three Powerscore Bibles. Once I completed the Bibles, I took a Powerscore full length course. I didn't much out of the course because the Bibles covered most everything. In hindsight, I would have completed the Bibles and hired a tutor to help me with areas I struggled with.

Sage7 has free online videos to help you with the logic games section.

Your LSAT score and GPA are the most important factors. Work experience is a plus but not a huge boost.

Good luck!

[Alive97]

For law school, LSAT and GPA are by far the most important factors, and that is just a fact unfortunately.

[GreenEggs]

Really won't make a difference, crush the LSAT. The experience may be pretty helpful for summer and full-time employment depending on what you want to do.

[mosesboeba]

no advice here but wanted to say thanks for your service. if there aren't any incentives or scholarships for peace officers entering law school that's a shame imo

[Aeon]

If you can tie your experience as a reserve deputy to your desire to go to law school, that might make a compelling "Why Law?" essay. But as mentioned above, your GPA and LSAT will be the main criteria for admission and scholarship consideration at most schools.

I used the official LSAT practice test books to prepare and did fine. Prep courses are most useful for those who might need the structure to be disciplined about preparing for the test. If you have no problems with self-study, then working through books on your own is probably the more cost-effective option.

[squirtlesquad14]

I don't think law enforcement will help a lot with the application itself, but it very well could help in the job search after law school. I would suggest taking the free practice test from LSAC to gauge where you fall before studying and then use either the PowerScore Bibles (Amazon seemed to have good prices when I purchased mine) to self study or use them along with a tutor/course if you need more structured help to do the best you can on the LSAT -- it will help you far more than any work experience will.

Also while having a grad degree may help as far as softs go, law schools are only going to consider your undergrad GPA...so that with your LSAT will be the strongest indicator of where you may be able to get accepted and with what kind of scholarships. MyLSN can give you an idea of those, or you can hop over to the "What are my chances?" board with your numbers to crowdsource it.