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Frustrated with my UG Pre-Law
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 1:56 am
by jared6180
I am a little frustrated with the Pre-Law program at my UG. I get an email today from my advisor, and he is telling me that the best person he can come up with for private tutoring scored in the 90th percentile. At first glance that sounded good, I was thinking 170+, then I google it and I find a conversion chart on alpha score...
http://www.alpha-score.com/resources/ls ... onversion/ that puts the 90th percentile at a 164! I can't get into the schools I want to get into with a 164, are you flippin kidding me? For the first 60-75 seconds after I got the email I felt relieved that there was someone in Kansas that did "well" on the LSAT, only to find that he couldn't even get into my goal schools, so he is really not much help to me at all. My goal is the 99th percentile, but at least the 96th.
This is just amazing.
Re: Frustrated with my UG Pre-Law
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 2:02 am
by KingsBench
I don't really know why other people's scores are relevant - just self-study and keep motivated and ace it.
Re: Frustrated with my UG Pre-Law
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 2:04 am
by Tom Joad
Re: Frustrated with my UG Pre-Law
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 2:05 am
by JamMasterJ
tutors are almost exclusively of value for those that are having trouble breaking 150. My UG's prelaw adviser had no knowledge of anything other than the fact that he didn't know much and could point me in the right direction. TLS is a far better resource than anything 99.999999% of UGs can offer
Re: Frustrated with my UG Pre-Law
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 2:28 am
by nsbane
Testmasters. All teachers score in the 98th percentile.
Re: Frustrated with my UG Pre-Law
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 2:30 am
by Errzii
TBF, if it's free you should be happy to get something at all. Some prep courses will charge you upwards of 1000$ for the same instructor. At any rate, most UG "pre-law" programs are pretty terrible and you really shouldn't expect too much. Many of them are especially clueless when it comes to the law schools admission process and can even be horribly misinformed (I met a UG advisor once that told everyone "anyone with a 170+ is a guarantee for Harvard"). "Doing it yourself" both in terms of prepping for the LSAT and researching schools you want to apply to will usually yield better results.
Re: Frustrated with my UG Pre-Law
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 2:48 am
by jared6180
Errzii wrote:TBF, if it's free you should be happy to get something at all. Some prep courses will charge you upwards of 1000$ for the same instructor. At any rate, most UG "pre-law" programs are pretty terrible and you really shouldn't expect too much. Many of them are especially clueless when it comes to the law schools admission process and can even be horribly misinformed (I met a UG advisor once that told everyone "anyone with a 170+ is a guarantee for Harvard"). "Doing it yourself" both in terms of prepping for the LSAT and researching schools you want to apply to will usually yield better results.
The tutor he suggested is not free, but under $50/hr. I guess I expected a pre-law program to know what is going on. Kind of concerns me. Then again, I had a huge
FLAG go up a year ago when the same individual told me that I just needed a 152 to get in, and besides the ivy league schools there was not much difference from one to the next.
I know the schools I would like to get into, and 164 won't cut it, and 168 will barely get me in at WUSTL, I really would feel better at a 172+.
Re: Frustrated with my UG Pre-Law
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:00 am
by Rawlberto
You may not have the numbers for an Ivy but you certainly have the sense of entitlement.
Re: Frustrated with my UG Pre-Law
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:03 am
by FantasticMrFox
KingsBench wrote: just self-study and keep motivated and ace it.
Re: Frustrated with my UG Pre-Law
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 9:31 am
by HWS08
WTF? Why do you need a tutor? I studied alone and got well above what your tutor got. Just study on your own or take a PowerScore class. My UG barely even had a pre-law program, and I never participated in it because I didn't decide to go to law school until after UG. What exactly are they supposed to do that will be helpful to you?
Re: Frustrated with my UG Pre-Law
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:38 pm
by jared6180
Rawlberto wrote:You may not have the numbers for an Ivy but you certainly have the sense of entitlement.
Not sure how you read that into what I am saying. I am about as far away from an entitlement mentality as it gets. I don't expect to just slip into Harvard because I am me. Are you nuts? It takes work to get where you want to go, and if it doesn't you didn't have high enough goals, that is my attitude towards law school and life period.
HWS08 wrote:WTF? Why do you need a tutor? I studied alone and got well above what your tutor got. Just study on your own or take a PowerScore class. My UG barely even had a pre-law program, and I never participated in it because I didn't decide to go to law school until after UG. What exactly are they supposed to do that will be helpful to you?
With already having a family nobody understands that Dad needs an hour or two a day to be alone or at least quiet in the house. I get 15 minutes into studying and SOMETHING needs my attention, it's that way in the morning, at 7pm, 11pm, even at 3am. My house is crazy, and having an obligation to someone else or a course would be the only way I can see around it. I wish I would have done this when I was 22-24 and single.
Re: Frustrated with my UG Pre-Law
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
by rinkrat19
jared6180 wrote:Rawlberto wrote:You may not have the numbers for an Ivy but you certainly have the sense of entitlement.
Not sure how you read that into what I am saying. I am about as far away from an entitlement mentality as it gets. I don't expect to just slip into Harvard because I am me. Are you nuts? It takes work to get where you want to go, and if it doesn't you didn't have high enough goals, that is my attitude towards law school and life period.
HWS08 wrote:WTF? Why do you need a tutor? I studied alone and got well above what your tutor got. Just study on your own or take a PowerScore class. My UG barely even had a pre-law program, and I never participated in it because I didn't decide to go to law school until after UG. What exactly are they supposed to do that will be helpful to you?
With already having a family nobody understands that Dad needs an hour or two a day to be alone or at least quiet in the house. I get 15 minutes into studying and SOMETHING needs my attention, it's that way in the morning, at 7pm, 11pm, even at 3am. My house is crazy, and having an obligation to someone else or a course would be the only way I can see around it. I wish I would have done this when I was 22-24 and single.
Just leave the house for an hour. Go to the library or a coffee shop.
Re: Frustrated with my UG Pre-Law
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:45 pm
by DaftAndDirect
Rawlberto wrote:You may not have the numbers for an Ivy but you certainly have the sense of entitlement.
+1
lulz at the irony of quoting this.
You don't need a tutor.
Re: Frustrated with my UG Pre-Law
Posted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 5:01 pm
by HWS08
jared6180 wrote:Rawlberto wrote:You may not have the numbers for an Ivy but you certainly have the sense of entitlement.
Not sure how you read that into what I am saying. I am about as far away from an entitlement mentality as it gets. I don't expect to just slip into Harvard because I am me. Are you nuts? It takes work to get where you want to go, and if it doesn't you didn't have high enough goals, that is my attitude towards law school and life period.
HWS08 wrote:WTF? Why do you need a tutor? I studied alone and got well above what your tutor got. Just study on your own or take a PowerScore class. My UG barely even had a pre-law program, and I never participated in it because I didn't decide to go to law school until after UG. What exactly are they supposed to do that will be helpful to you?
With already having a family nobody understands that Dad needs an hour or two a day to be alone or at least quiet in the house. I get 15 minutes into studying and SOMETHING needs my attention, it's that way in the morning, at 7pm, 11pm, even at 3am. My house is crazy, and having an obligation to someone else or a course would be the only way I can see around it. I wish I would have done this when I was 22-24 and single.
Didn't see you have a family, that makes it more difficult I'm sure. Still, I don't see why you can't just go to a public library or something for a couple hours and focus there. Maybe even get a study buddy instead of a paid tutor if you feel like you need to have someone else to hold you accountable. One of my parents got a Masters and PhD while we were kids and that was what worked - leaving the house so there aren't any distractions.