Feb LSAT Applicant... Forum

[est1980]

So I decide to peace out of graduate school (social sciences) and make my way to law school, although this decision came about 6 months too late for me to apply this past cycle. Funny side note, I did apply to some PhD programs this year (I finished my MA this month) and got a fatty 8 rejections out of 8 applications. Well, I guess it is not that funny of a side note, but oh well you do what you can with what you have. At any rate, I now have a year to kill before I head to law school, and since I have already withdrawn from my fellowships and assistantships, I can’t just hang around the ivory tower doing nothing. So I need a job. I delayed my job search until late April, because: one, I was fairly certain I was going to be accepted into Teach for America (ouch rejection number 9 of the season); and two, I had to present a paper at a conference in London. Problem is I have no actual skills or training in any field. Moreover, I lack any real work experience -- unless companies are all of a sudden looking for people who worked retail on and off for 4 years. So after I turned in my lackluster thesis (seriously I don’t think my committee even read it) I have been searching the internet for jobs, but to no avail. I am now on the brink having to…move home with my parents… which is totally where I thought I would be at 27, chillaxing on mom’s couch. Seriously, my lease is up at the end of the month and I am totally fucked, but at least I will be able to study for the LSAT full time…

[est1980]

Could things be on the upswing for our intrepid hero, don't want to jinx anything but maybe just maybe a lead has been discovered!!! It would be a big move half-way across the country but it would be super fun and maybe make for a good PS...

[est1980]

I got a higher than expected final grade in my last grad class, and it made me wonder if maybe i should stay in grad school -- well it is whether i should go back next year instead of going to law school, because i have given up my funding/assistantships... i think law is where i want to be/go but it is tough because i could be happy as an academic -- i feel so like reese witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama, but as her dad told her, "you cant ride two horses with one ass!"

[est1980]

okay so 4 months later i land the job, but it means moving across the country only 3 weeks before LSAT and it also means having to switch testing centers, ahhhh this could put a crimp in my style....

[est1980]

exciting job half-way across the country is now complete, but it did derail my LSAT train, so now i am taking the february LSAT which has limited the number of schools i can apply to as i really want to start law school in the fall. that being said i had a decent PS ready to go when i left, which i now find trite and insipid. so i am writing a new one which i need to get wrapped up in the next day or two... i also haven't cracked an LSAT prep book in four months -- although was studying full-time for two months before i left... at any rate i am just procrastinating i need to get back to writing...

[est1980]

so i am no longer recommending taking four months off in between studying for and taking the LSAT, my average has dipped about ten points (ouch) although interesting to note that LG is like riding a bike, but LR is not... @#$! i am not ready, but full steam ahead, hopefully rock this thing like i rocked the iowa test of basic skills back in 4th grade!

[est1980]

So I took the LSAT yesterday at my local community college...

The room was really big lecture hall, the kind with huge desks/tables and comfy little swivel chairs attached, very nice, only 30 people showed at my test site, out of 48 registered, very odd. Before sign in started one of the proctors (the less experienced on) said that she thought like 10-12 people wont show, but the more experienced guy was like, yeah more like 20. Guess experience pays. One girl shows up like 5-10 minutes late, but they were still checking people in so she made it in, and of course she had like eight mechanical pencils a digital timer, a 2-liter bottle of coke, some cake, a hat, ball point pens, and a calculator. So they sent her back to her car to drop off her not-allowed super-pack. Of course on her way in she spots my zip lock bag of perfectly sharpened no 2 wood pencils, I gave her the only dull one in the lot and felt both compassionate and superior. Before the test there was a guy doing like stretches and running up and down the stairs, very intense, he kept giving me the eye like he wanted to fight, a little over the top for my tastes.

The proctors had pre-assigned seats and told us our seat number and row when we checked-in, the tables had 3x5 index cards with numbers on them. I mean this is not a difficult thing to work out the number you are told is written on a card somewhere, just find that number and sit there. Now if the proctors had randomly placed these cards I could see some confusion, but 4 was both before 5 and after 3, so it shouldn't have cause such a stir. All the same two different people asked me how the numbers worked. I said the start at one, at the bottom and continue up to the last row.

It was at this point I began to think that I was a part of what may have been the most 'special' group of lsat-takers on earth. It took us, I kid you not, 15 minutes to complete the portion of the test where you transcribe the little paragraph saying that you are taking the lsat to go to law school and wont cheat. Fifteen minutes? I mean you just re-write three sentences, was that tough? The girl next to me, instead of writing the paragraph was bubbling in her name, and I would have admired her get it done quick attitude, but the proctor was like, 'hey please don’t do side one yet because we cant do that until everyone finishes the paragraph and the only way I know if your done is by looking up and putting your pencils down.' Well my little friend looked up heard this then went back to her bubbling, to complicate the issue she actually had not done the paragraph, so the proctor flipped over her sheet and explained the paragraph thing. So she finally wraps up her paragraph, and comedy of comedies, she wasn't even the last one done... then we get to the other side of the sheet and another 15 minutes is spent bubbling. Three different people ask where the test form number is -- never mind the proctor explained this, and it was in fact printed on the back of the test booklet. Finally I almost lost it when one test taker legitimately asked, "What do we write in the box where it asks for our address?" Seriously and this guy wants to go to law school?

I was the only person in the room smiling but I was just so jacked up for the LSAT, and I was legitimately happy to get it started. so first three sections had two games sections which was nice because I like games, and I figured the second was experimental because it was ridiculously easy, it was like four linear game where you could infer everything in like 3 minutes, oh and I had a misstep on the first games section, which meant it had to be the scored section.

Second half of test was pretty laid back... The writing section was hilarious, I finished in like 15 minutes, then looked around and the kids were furiously writing, I mean they were getting after it, the girl ahead of me went through 3 pencils and most everyone was still writing when time was called. Well hopefully their writing samples pay dividends for them this cycle.

On the whole I think the feb administration is a good choice because of the lower number of test takers, although I am remised that the test is a non-disclosed test. All that is left now is to wait three weeks for my scores. I am pretty sure that I am going to submit my application even without knowing my score, I am pretty sure where my score will be based off practice tests and my gut feeling after the test. I have thought about not looking at my score and then trying to guess what I got based off of my admissions, rejections, and waitlists. To do so would mean that I have a lot of will power, and I am sure that I wouldn’t even make it two days into my don’t look at the scores plan.