how does society view the lsat? Forum

[05062014]

yesterday, while getting stitches on my finger at the local ER (sliced my finger open fixing my AC), the ER surgeon asked me what I was doing all summer. I told her I was studying for the LSAT and she asked me what my plans were if the LSAT did not work out. On other occasions, friends who were not studying for the LSAT reacted relatively dramatically when they heard I was studying for the LSAT, as if it was an exam to fear. Some say they're glad they pursued social science endeavors post-graduation instead of putting themselves through LSAT prep. People not studying for the test clearly respect it (aside from a few pre-med kids trying to boast about the difficulty of the rote memorization required to do well on the MCAT).

All I have are PT scores which I do take with a large grain of salt. However, the way the surgeon and my friends view the LSAT makes it seem as if succeeding on test day is an accomplishment that only a few can achieve, and even then, that it is far from a sure thing. Maybe I just come off as unintelligent, but I don't think that is it. Other than the lsat, no other pursuit of mine has really been viewed so critically before.

When the surgeon asked me what I would do if the LSAT did not work out, it caught me by surprise. I have not considered not doing sufficiently well enough such that I look to a career outside of law. I have wanted to be a lawyer since I was a little kid. I immediately responded, "I am gonna do well enough; all that matters at this point is how well." Is this an appropriate attitude to have? I think so.

Initially, she seemed taken aback by that comment but I seemed to gain her respect as the minutes passed for saying it. Apparently she told other nurses (some very attractive ones at that) and they gave me a collective good luck studying and 'you will do great' kind of goodbye as I was leaving. I felt encouraged, but simultaneously uneasy, as if I was now destined to try to climb Mount Everest or something.

Maybe I am looking for reasons to doubt myself and that is why this experience is somewhat getting to me. The plus side is that the fact that people view this exam as a huge challenge makes me feel reassured that the time spent is worth it to the outside world. This is not my sole reason for studying, but it certainly does help knowing that others can appreciate my goals, albeit in the form of fear and apprehension, lol.

So anyways, has anyone studying come across real life situations that made them view their LSAT prep efforts differently?

[rad lulz]

yesterday, while getting stitches on my finger at the local ER (sliced my finger open fixing my AC), the ER surgeon asked me what I was doing all summer. I told her I was studying for the LSAT and she asked me what my plans were if the LSAT did not work out. On other occasions, friends who were not studying for the LSAT reacted relatively dramatically when they heard I was studying for the LSAT, as if it was an exam to fear. Some say they're glad they pursued social science endeavors post-graduation instead of putting themselves through LSAT prep. People not studying for the test clearly respect it (aside from a few pre-med kids trying to boast about the difficulty of the rote memorization required to do well on the MCAT).

All I have are PT scores which I do take with a large grain of salt. However, the way the surgeon and my friends view the LSAT makes it seem as if succeeding on test day is an accomplishment that only a few can achieve, and even then, that it is far from a sure thing. Maybe I just come off as unintelligent, but I don't think that is it. Other than the lsat, no other pursuit of mine has really been viewed so critically before.

When the surgeon asked me what I would do if the LSAT did not work out, it caught me by surprise. I have not considered not doing sufficiently well enough such that I look to a career outside of law. I have wanted to be a lawyer since I was a little kid. I immediately responded, "I am gonna do well enough; all that matters at this point is how well." Is this an appropriate attitude to have? I think so.

Initially, she seemed taken aback by that comment but I seemed to gain her respect as the minutes passed for saying it. Apparently she told other nurses (some very attractive ones at that) and they gave me a collective good luck studying and 'you will do great' kind of goodbye as I was leaving. I felt encouraged, but simultaneously uneasy, as if I was now destined to try to climb Mount Everest or something.

Maybe I am looking for reasons to doubt myself and that is why this experience is somewhat getting to me. The plus side is that the fact that people view this exam as a huge challenge makes me feel reassured that the time spent is worth it to the outside world. This is not my sole reason for studying, but it certainly does help knowing that others can appreciate my goals, albeit in the form of fear and apprehension, lol.

So anyways, has anyone studying come across real life situations that made them view their LSAT prep efforts differently?

Huh?

[cahwc12]

Don't worry about any of that shit and study to make or exceed your target score. All of this extra crap you're talking about is exactly that.

Also in my opinion the MCAT is far more difficult than the LSAT, and I don't think you understand or appreciate just how difficult the MCAT is if you talk about it like that. You can consider most of the concepts of mathematics and science to be "rote memorization" but that doesn't make them easily apprehended.

Rather than brag or boast or care about what other people think about your LSAT studies, shut up and don't talk to them about it and just study for your score.

[TommyK]

Huh?

[top30man]

Huh?

[JamMasterJ]

tl;dr

[AC Vegas]

We don't care about the LSAT.

Regards,
Society

[DCDuck]

Most of society has no opinion on the LSAT. A lot of people on this site have this belief that the LSAT is the most important thing in the world. It's not. Life goes on. Other people have full lives and have never even thought about the LSAT. Not once. Life goes on through Law school and the bar, too.

Stop worrying about how your LSAT preparations are being perceived by others. Won't help you at all.

[cc.celina]

On Suits, Rachel the paralegal is prevented from going to law school for a while because she keeps bombing the LSATs. That's what they call it. "The LSATs." If a TV show about lawyers (that presumably has lawyers hanging around for consulting purposes) can't even call it by the correct name, I doubt people with no interest in a legal profession know anything about it either.

[crumpetsandtea]

LOLOL

She was 'taken aback' because what you said sounds super cocky and maybe even a little douchey.

Basically, you think way too much about shit like this. Society doesn't give a shit, they were just trying to be nice and make you feel like you were doing something challenging.

[hopper123]

Don't worry about any of that shit and study to make or exceed your target score. All of this extra crap you're talking about is exactly that.

Also in my opinion the MCAT is far more difficult than the LSAT, and I don't think you understand or appreciate just how difficult the MCAT is if you talk about it like that. You can consider most of the concepts of mathematics and science to be "rote memorization" but that doesn't make them easily apprehended.

Rather than brag or boast or care about what other people think about your LSAT studies, shut up and don't talk to them about it and just study for your score.

This is babble talk. You can also memorize logic formulae but that doesn't make them easily apprehended as well. The MCAT is not an easy test, but with enough study you can score well enough to get into a decent med school, where ranking doesn't really mean much or at least no where near the level of what rankig matters in law. I will make a bet that a premed major will find scoring a 165 + harder than scoring a 30+ on the mcat. For the bio/org section there is tons of rote memorization, even for physics. In fact the level of undertanding required for the mcat is definitely less than for the lsat.

[cahwc12]

30 MCAT would be 160 LSAT (75th percentile scores).

Also, I don't think anyone would agree with you that logical reasoning skills are more difficult to apprehend than calculus or organic chemistry. It's a losing argument that I don't want to have with you.

[bartleby]

30 MCAT would be 160 LSAT (75th percentile scores).

Also, I don't think anyone would agree with you that logical reasoning skills are more difficult to apprehend than calculus or organic chemistry. It's a losing argument that I don't want to have with you.

It's like that one time on these boards when someone kept arguing a philosophy major was harder than physics

[cc.celina]

30 MCAT would be 160 LSAT (75th percentile scores).

Also, I don't think anyone would agree with you that logical reasoning skills are more difficult to apprehend than calculus or organic chemistry. It's a losing argument that I don't want to have with you.

You have a high angry posts/post count ratio

[CanadianWolf]

Society views the "lsat" as a misspelling of the word "last".

[05062014]

LOLOL

She was 'taken aback' because what you said sounds super cocky and maybe even a little douchey.

Basically, you think way too much about shit like this. Society doesn't give a shit, they were just trying to be nice and make you feel like you were doing something challenging.

I don't know if you're PMSing or your RC skills are inadequate. Someone proactively asked me a question about what my plans were if I hypothetically did terrible on the LSAT. The fact is, I don't plan to do terrible on the LSAT, so I told her I would do well because my efforts are there and I have put the time in. I actually don't think about society's views. I have goals and I am pursuing them regardless. I wanted to share my experience with people to see if anyone could relate. I don't go around telling people I am studying for the LSAT or brag about my abilities. I found it surprising that society (via this surgeon) offered an opinion that ran counter to my frame of mind. Clearly they felt the lsat was challenging prior to my departure, as the opinion held called for me having a Plan B if the LSAT fell through

[moneybagsphd]

Society views the "lsat" as a misspelling of the word "last".

TCR

[094320]

..

[cc.celina]

as the opinion held called for me having a Plan B if the LSAT fell through

This may be more of a reflection on how bad the job market is for lawyers, which calls for everyone to have a back up plan, no matter how smart they think they are.

[crumpetsandtea]

LOLOL

She was 'taken aback' because what you said sounds super cocky and maybe even a little douchey.

Basically, you think way too much about shit like this. Society doesn't give a shit, they were just trying to be nice and make you feel like you were doing something challenging.

I don't know if you're PMSing or your RC skills are inadequate. Someone proactively asked me a question about what my plans were if I hypothetically did terrible on the LSAT. The fact is, I don't plan to do terrible on the LSAT, so I told her I would do well because my efforts are there and I have put the time in. I actually don't think about society's views. I have goals and I am pursuing them regardless. I wanted to share my experience with people to see if anyone could relate. I don't go around telling people I am studying for the LSAT or brag about my abilities. I found it surprising that society (via this surgeon) offered an opinion that ran counter to my frame of mind. Clearly they felt the lsat was challenging prior to my departure, as the opinion held called for me having a Plan B if the LSAT fell through

(start a thread asking how society views the lsat)

(says he never thinks about society's views)

Look, I don't want to be rude or mean, but you're making it so easy. Let's just be friends, k?

[Verity]

Is this your personal statement and you want us to critique it?

[05062014]

as the opinion held called for me having a Plan B if the LSAT fell through

This may be more of a reflection on how bad the job market is for lawyers, which calls for everyone to have a back up plan, no matter how smart they think they are.

I actually brought this up to her afterwards as a reason why I needed to do well. She did not consider the market for lawyers until I told her.

[Mal Reynolds]

Oh well if you're putting in effort to LSAT studying, there's no way you won't achieve your goal. This plan B talk was condescending and unreasonable.

[05062014]

LOLOL

She was 'taken aback' because what you said sounds super cocky and maybe even a little douchey.

Basically, you think way too much about shit like this. Society doesn't give a shit, they were just trying to be nice and make you feel like you were doing something challenging.

I don't know if you're PMSing or your RC skills are inadequate. Someone proactively asked me a question about what my plans were if I hypothetically did terrible on the LSAT. The fact is, I don't plan to do terrible on the LSAT, so I told her I would do well because my efforts are there and I have put the time in. I actually don't think about society's views. I have goals and I am pursuing them regardless. I wanted to share my experience with people to see if anyone could relate. I don't go around telling people I am studying for the LSAT or brag about my abilities. I found it surprising that society (via this surgeon) offered an opinion that ran counter to my frame of mind. Clearly they felt the lsat was challenging prior to my departure, as the opinion held called for me having a Plan B if the LSAT fell through

(start a thread asking how society views the lsat)

(says he never thinks about society's views)

Look, I don't want to be rude or mean, but you're making it so easy. Let's just be friends, k?

1) correction: I didn't think about society's views until yesterday.
The encounter forced me to consider the economy and the job market etc. and how crucial it is I do well on this test. Although I do this regularly, the pressure of this reality was exponentially worse after this encounter.

2) k, we can be friends

[05062014]

Is this your personal statement and you want us to critique it?

Yeah