Will I stand a chance for HYS? Forum

[Ytomato29]

Hello,
I have recently decided to take a shot for law school. Currently 24yo, I studied music since high school and frankly speaking studying isn't one of my strength. But I've always wanted to study and finally decided to do it.

It's been two months into studying lsat. I had tough time because my reading skill was far below average. I started at 130s and now score 152 haha... To make long story short, at first, I thought I would be thankful if any of the law schools accepted me (+ was going to take November lsat this year for 2020 admission), but now that I find lsat quite fun, I want to devote myself more and aim for a higher institution such as HYS for 2021 admission.

I can commit about 50hrs/ week (which I am doing now) and take April LSAT in 2020. Then I would spend rest of the time prepping the application and apply in September 2020.

My strategy is, for 30% of the day, to work on to improve my reading skill, and study for the lsat rest of the day.

I majored in music at CUNY in NYC. My gpa is 3.91. If I get 175+ on lsat, will I stand a chance for HYS?

Thanks a lot for reading and would appreciate some thoughtful suggestions.

[The Lsat Airbender]

If you can get a 175 then yeah, you’re a shoo-in at Harvard and/or Stanford. Not sure why you want to go to law school if you have a hard time with reading skills, though.

[jacketyellow]

You can do it! You have a fabulous GPA. I would search around on TLS and find out some strategies on how to improve reading skills.

Also, that is a big jump in your score. I started at a 133 on my diagnostic, so I know how it feels to improve that much! You got this! Congratulations!

[QContinuum]

Ytomato, welcome to TLS!

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but your post baffles me a bit. Why do you want to go to law school, and specifically YSH? What are your goals after law school? You say that your "reading skill was far below average," that "studying isn't one of [your] strength," and that until now, you've been an aspiring musician. None of these militate in favor of attending law school.

I ask this not to criticize or discourage you in any way, but to probe whether law school would actually be a good fit for you. For many folks, unfortunately, law school proves to be a (very) expensive mistake.

If you can get a 175 then yeah, you’re a shoo-in at Harvard and/or Stanford. Not sure why you want to go to law school if you have a hard time with reading skills, though.

I would add a note of caution that getting a 175 is very difficult and the vast, vast majority of LSAT takers - including many who end up attending YSH - never reach that score. It is also - and again, not to demean or discourage OP in any way - extraordinarily improbable for someone who started out PTing in the 130s to improve all the way to the upper 170s.

[duk1040]

Ytomato, welcome to TLS!

I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but your post baffles me a bit. Why do you want to go to law school, and specifically YSH? What are your goals after law school? You say that your "reading skill was far below average," that "studying isn't one of [your] strength," and that until now, you've been an aspiring musician. None of these militate in favor of attending law school.

I ask this not to criticize or discourage you in any way, but to probe whether law school would actually be a good fit for you. For many folks, unfortunately, law school proves to be a (very) expensive mistake.

If you can get a 175 then yeah, you’re a shoo-in at Harvard and/or Stanford. Not sure why you want to go to law school if you have a hard time with reading skills, though.

I would add a note of caution that getting a 175 is very difficult and the vast, vast majority of LSAT takers - including many who end up attending YSH - never reach that score. It is also - and again, not to demean or discourage OP in any way - extraordinarily improbable for someone who started out PTing in the 130s to improve all the way to the upper 170s.

Hi, Thank you for your reply. I will answer your questions out of order in the way it best explains my situation. Now that I read my post again, I realize I didn't fully explain "most" of my points.

To explain why specifically YHS is not because I particularly want to go to these schools but because it seemed that thinking of getting into these schools were motivating and made me study harder. So it was not a specific preference but a general goal to stay motivated. I apologize for not explaining this fully.

The reason I study for admission in law school is that though I don't have a precise sense of what the reality is like (being in law school and being a lawyer), I like LSAT stuff. A few months ago, my decision to go to a certain conservatory of music was not realized and I decided to take another year of prepping + Since college, I've had some ongoing doubts about pursuing music for life. So, someone suggested studying for lsat on the side because unlike other fields, law school accepts people from a diverse background. so I skimmed through the material and started studying it without much specific objective in mind. It was tough but I liked the process and wanted to do better so I made it a high priority. Also, during my research, I came across Traditional Logic and Critical Thinking, which gave me a partial solution to questions I've had in my life (= I found it interesting and fun).

As for my poor reading skill, I mentioned it because compared to the people in my age group who went to college for academic purposes such as Philosophy, English, etc, it is true that my reading skill isn't good enough. I read slow and my vocab is limited compared to these people. Not being used to academic reading probably is the biggest reason why my cold score is so low. But in college, I liked elective courses such as History, English, Classical Lit classes and did very well. So I felt that if I work on it I can improve it.

As for studying not being one of my strengths, I mentioned it because, again, compared to the people in academia, I don't have good studying skillsets. But I've worked on this for the past few months. For example, at first, I could focus about 2-3 hrs a day. Now I can study for about 8 hrs with some bathroom breaks.

My goals after law school are... hard to say since I am not even yet good at LSAT. With my vague sense of job options after law school, International Law or being a trial lawyer interests me. But again, because I don't know the reality, it can change. But one thing for sure is that property law, immigration law, human rights law are not for me. Apart from just not being interested, I am a first-generation immigrant and an ethnic minority so I had ENOUGH of them.

Lastly, the reason I want to get a good score is that first, I just want to do well. I started it and I liked doing it so I want to become good at it (getting 50 wrong and 50 right spurts some angry magma out of my system). And secondly, I want to study in law school. I like the LSAT material and I am curious what will really happen to me in law school. Perhaps I might feel more at home than pursuing music. And because this is an extremely expensive option for trying and exploring, I want to get scholarships. I know this may not be an adequate goal for some but it is motivating enough for me to study hard for this test.

I apologize for some of the misleading points in my previous post. I hope this clarifies my situation and would appreciate your advice.