Top Law Schools

Hi All,

I am planning to apply to law school this coming cycle and I have just been so overwhelmed with study prep. Honestly, I haven't really started!!! During a diagnostic I scored a 151 with no prep. My goal is at least a 165+ however I am just so exhausted from my day to day schedule to truly give lsat studying my all.

How do you all stay motivated? Is it too late to prep and apply this cycle? I graduated 2015, top UG, URM

Why do you want to be a lawyer? or Why do you want to go to law school? Find the answer, and use it as motivation.

It really depends on the individual. For me i've just always hated losing growing up, and anything less than 180 counted as losing to me. Granted, I never pulled a 180, but I did get the score I was willing to settle for lol.

Re: Motivation for LSAT.

"Begin with the end in mind."

As TAD above me said, you need to find out your greater meaning for being a lawyer. Let the end goal motivate you to keep going when you don't want it. I'm a firm believer that if you truly want want be a lawyer, and getting into a good school is important to you and your future, then you'll find the motivation to study.

The way I have always looked at it is: The LSAT is easier than law school. Law school is easier than the bar. The bar is easier than practice. So if you can't find the motivation for this test, you will almost certainly be in trouble in the future. (The above might be a bit simplified, but I hope you get the idea)

Just think of how good it will feel to get into your target school. You might even receive a scholarship worth $100,000+ just for doing well on a test!

Is it too late to start studying for this cycle? No. You can take in December when I am planning. Just make sure you apps are ready to go and submitted so when you get your score your app will move to complete status. Only do this if your PT'ing close to your target score.

You can also wait until next cycle if December feels too rushed. Everyone is different and it really depends on how quickly you are picking things up and how much time you have to dedicate to studying.

Oooo yea see, I am not sure if I want to be a lawyer and i have no end goal. I just need day to day motivation

Get neurotic about studying by realizing tons of people are being neurotic and you're probably not neurotic enough to get a better score than enough of them.

Also, if you badly need motivation at this point you might be screwed. Hope that's motivating.

tl;dr All of the advice above is better than mine

Needdirection wrote:Hi All,

I am planning to apply to law school this coming cycle and I have just been so overwhelmed with study prep. Honestly, I haven't really started!!! During a diagnostic I scored a 151 with no prep. My goal is at least a 165+ however I am just so exhausted from my day to day schedule to truly give lsat studying my all.

How do you all stay motivated? Is it too late to prep and apply this cycle? I graduated 2015, top UG, URM

If you can't get motivated on your own, try to find someone who can get you motivated.
I read it's not a great idea to have study partners, because the test require logical thinking and each person is different in his logic and approach, however, some people can meet up or chat about their progress, and discuss their schedules stuff like that, swap resources etc.

You can do it, you just have to work less, and study more, of course you can't study if you are tired! If you want to be a lawyer, then make some sacrifices.

Not really answering your question but, a side note: If you (or anyone reading this) can't find motivation to study, i would consider not going to law school. I know it's harsh, but it's true.

The LSAT was the easiest part of the journey. I studied 6 months and did feel a little burned out, but it was NOTHING compared to:
1. First year of law school
2. Second year of law school
3. Third year of law school
4. Studying for the bar
5. Job searching when you've been rejected so many times


You lose motivation each year. The amount of work is a million times worse.

The LSAT is by far the easiest part of your legal career. I would think long and hard before committing your life to this field, where everything else seems to get more difficult and demanding as you go along.

.

iliketurtles123 wrote:Not really answering your question but, a side note: If you (or anyone reading this) can't find motivation to study, i would consider not going to law school. I know it's harsh, but it's true.

The LSAT was the easiest part of the journey. I studied 6 months and did feel a little burned out, but it was NOTHING compared to:
1. First year of law school
2. Second year of law school
3. Third year of law school
4. Studying for the bar
5. Job searching when you've been rejected so many times


You lose motivation each year. The amount of work is a million times worse.

The LSAT is by far the easiest part of your legal career. I would think long and hard before committing your life to this field, where everything else seems to get more difficult and demanding as you go along.

I wouldn't agree that this is true for everyone. For OP, however, it might be. For instance, in high school i wasn't motivated at all and slacked. in university i was somewhat motivated cause I assumed it would be harder. I knew the LSAT would be hell so I was motivated more than i had ever been in studying for anything. Some people get motivated more by a challenge. It really depends, I would argue.

I'd organize the way I motivate myself like this:

1) Organize what programs/schools/job career paths interest you.
2) Start doing a little research about each of those schools and what life is like on grounds (for my fellow hoos)/campus is like, how good is their curriculum
3) From there you really want to start assessing the amount of time you have and line it up with the score you'd like to get for entry to that particular school to be possible.
4)Grind like hell baby, and anytime you get a little discouraged, just look at the bigger picture-The LSAT is one piece of the picture, and when you finally get this hog out of the way, you'll be that much closer to getting into the school, career, and perhaps the life you want.

*Important note, if all you're doing is studying, try to find something to occupy your free time in the morning in the afternoon. Why? Well because, at least in my case, no matter how motivated I may be, I always find myself saying "oh well I have 8 hours left in the day or 6 hours left here or 2 or three months." Don't get caught in this trap! That's why have a strict regimen I adhere to everyday and it's worked quite well for the past few months!

I really believe a lot of us had that "holy crap, I don't know what I want to do for the rest of my life, or I don't know if law school is for me" moment. I see it like this, prepping for the LSAT is a trade off/ risk you have to take to find out if you're really up for this career path! If you never put the energy in the first place you'll be plagued with the nefarious thought of "what if and maybe." I say go in it all the way and if you find out you don't like it that's one step closer to figuring out what you want in life whether it is or is not to be a lawyer!

Hope this helps.

It's as simple as this: In order for me to continue being frat star, I must have a good job.

There's a song by HH Lil Wayne, actually several songs, that really help me stay motivated and focused on what matters. But that's just what motivates me, the question is what motivates you bruh?

• * Pop Bottles
  * Money In the Bank
  * Money Cars Clothes
  * Brand New
  * Walk In
  * Money on My Mind
  * Shooter
  * I'm Raw (i gets money all day, like the toll [expletive])
  * Cannon
  * Where the cash at?
  * Hustlin
  * Get High Rule the World

mukol wrote:There's a song by HH Lil Wayne, actually several songs, that really help me stay motivated and focused on what matters. But that's just what motivates me, the question is what motivates you bruh?

• * Pop Bottles
  * Money In the Bank
  * Money Cars Clothes
  * Brand New
  * Walk In
  * Money on My Mind
  * Shooter
  * I'm Raw (i gets money all day, like the toll [expletive])
  * Cannon
  * Where the cash at?
  * Hustlin
  * Get High Rule the World

C.R.E.A.M.?

Easy motivation... every point could be the difference between admissions and rejection. Every point could be the difference between paying ticket and being effectively paid $30,000+.

If you want to be a lawyer, you will motivate yourself to get through a standardized test. Yes the test sucks, but if you truly want to become a lawyer, you have to do it. Figure out if you actually want to be a lawyer (from your previous posts it feels like you don't but aren't sure), and try to find a reason why, and use that reason as motivation.

TheMikey wrote:If you want to be a lawyer, you will motivate yourself to get through a standardized test. Yes the test sucks, but if you truly want to become a lawyer, you have to do it. Figure out if you actually want to be a lawyer (from your previous posts it feels like you don't but aren't sure), and try to find a reason why, and use that reason as motivation.

Yeah... 3 years + hundreds of thousands of dollars for something you may not want to do isn't necessarily prudent.

34iplaw wrote:

mukol wrote:There's a song by HH Lil Wayne, actually several songs, that really help me stay motivated and focused on what matters. But that's just what motivates me, the question is what motivates you bruh?

• * Pop Bottles
  * Money In the Bank
  * Money Cars Clothes
  * Brand New
  * Walk In
  * Money on My Mind
  * Shooter
  * I'm Raw (i gets money all day, like the toll [expletive])
  * Cannon
  * Where the cash at?
  * Hustlin
  * Get High Rule the World

C.R.E.A.M.?

Easy motivation... every point could be the difference between admissions and rejection. Every point could be the difference between paying ticket and being effectively paid $30,000+.

I listen to HH Wayne almost exclusively for motivation. The great prophets of the Wu actually depress me in a similar way that the BTaH's First of the Month does.

Serious response to OP though, if none of those wayne tracks motivate you to study, you should reconsider (likely) going into significant debt and being out of the job market for 3 years to maybe want to be a lawyer.

Think of it this way - every point you increase is worth $10k+.

Write down "(Insert name) scored a 180 on the LSAT" (or whatever score you want) 15x a day; you won't lose focus then

I have a competitiveness about me, so doing well on this has consumed me quite a bit. It's just a drive to succeed and not be overcome by this damned test!

If I stop studying, there's someone out there that's still studying that might take my seat at my #1 choice.

mukol wrote:There's a song by HH Lil Wayne, actually several songs, that really help me stay motivated and focused on what matters. But that's just what motivates me, the question is what motivates you bruh?

• * Pop Bottles
  * Money In the Bank
  * Money Cars Clothes
  * Brand New
  * Walk In
  * Money on My Mind
  * Shooter
  * I'm Raw (i gets money all day, like the toll [expletive])
  * Cannon
  * Where the cash at?
  * Hustlin
  * Get High Rule the World

Reminiscing of '06-'08 Wayne thanks to this. This actually got me motivated. I'M RELOADED