LSAT / Law School

[Anybodyhome]

50 minutes ago, h0llywood said:

I just bought 4 LSAT Prep books (just under $200) and i'm counting on my initiative and self motivation to study hard for the next 3 1/2 months. I know it will be tough based on forums i've been viewing on how long and often students who did well on LSATs did. Most of them studied 3-4 hours a day, every day. Not sure if i'll be that committed (especially with football coming around).

I've been working 50 or so hours a week, finished undergrad taking 4-5 classes over weekends and have a wife and 3 kids so it's definitely been challenging the last few years. I feel like doing this will be an easier transition than for most traditional students, but I'm sure other people in the night program are in some similar situation. 

I have a decent GPA (3.7) and hope to score 170 or above which would hopefully help land me some scholarships. As for work prospects, i'm going into this not wanting to work for a large firm. I will either start my own or partner with another law student. 

Pay one of your kids to take the test for ya... they're far less jaded and, as a result, usually see things with more open minds.

Then again, I think they fingerprint for LSATs now....

...and I want to be a fly on the wall when you tell the wife, "I'm looking for a partner..." 

[thefuzz]

1 hour ago, h0llywood said:

I just bought 4 LSAT Prep books (just under $200) and i'm counting on my initiative and self motivation to study hard for the next 3 1/2 months. I know it will be tough based on forums i've been viewing on how long and often students who did well on LSATs did. Most of them studied 3-4 hours a day, every day. Not sure if i'll be that committed (especially with football coming around).

I've been working 50 or so hours a week, finished undergrad taking 4-5 classes over weekends and have a wife and 3 kids so it's definitely been challenging the last few years. I feel like doing this will be an easier transition than for most traditional students, but I'm sure other people in the night program are in some similar situation. 

I have a decent GPA (3.7) and hope to score 170 or above which would hopefully help land me some scholarships. As for work prospects, i'm going into this not wanting to work for a large firm. I will either start my own or partner with another law student. 

Congrats man, but it will be a much tougher road than you are now imagining.

My sister, who is damn near a genius finished no. 1 in her class at UNC, and no. 1 in her law school was either in class or studying an average of 8-10 hours a day 6 days a week....seriously, all the time.  She was striving for that top grade, as that provided a scholarship, but it's still really hard.

Hat's off to you, I always thought about that route myself, but after watching her, I know I couldn't have done it.

[h0llywood]

2 hours ago, thefuzz said:

Congrats man, but it will be a much tougher road than you are now imagining.

My sister, who is damn near a genius finished no. 1 in her class at UNC, and no. 1 in her law school was either in class or studying an average of 8-10 hours a day 6 days a week....seriously, all the time.  She was striving for that top grade, as that provided a scholarship, but it's still really hard.

Hat's off to you, I always thought about that route myself, but after watching her, I know I couldn't have done it.

I was talking to one of my clients (attorney in St Louis) and I asked him for some advice. He told me how he used to be a Kaplan instructor...etc.. etc...practicing for 20+ years...

The first question he asks me "Do you have a passion to be an attorney and is there a burning fire to make you succeed?" I answered yes. The next thing he says is, "btw, you will still hate it a lot at times and if you can stop and turn back now, do it or atleast after your 1st year of law school before it gets expensive."

This must be really damn hard if multiple attorneys are telling me to be careful/reconsider or to not do it all.

There's an online class that I may take but it's nearly $500 to take for 3 months. This is getting expensive all just to take a test.

 

[TruthVsComfort]

6 hours ago, h0llywood said:

 i'm going into this not wanting to work for a large firm. I will either start my own or partner with another law student. 

Best of luck to you. Seriously. But to clarify, when the statistics, law students, and lawyers are saying the job market is terrible, we are not just talking about work at large firms. We mean that there is not enough legal work for most law students to get any kind of legal job that requires being a licensed attorney to do. Law students are having a very very hard time finding any employment that is legal related - period - whether small or large - private or public, etc.

That said, if you can score 170+ on the LSAT and get into a top 14 or so law school, then your job prospects certainly improve. Prepare as hard as you can for the LSAT. Once you have the basics down, the most productive way to improve your score is by practicing actual past LSAT tests repeatedly. They are available on amazon, etc. If you score 170+ on the LSAT and can get into a top 14 or so law school, then I'd say go for it because your job prospects should not be completely terrible. For perspective, I scored a 164, which is top 10%, and attended UNC School of Law, a top 30 law school (many of my classmates struggled to land any form of legal employment). However, if you cannot get into a very good law school, I would strongly encourage you to run the other direction, far away from law, and apply your skills somewhere that your hard work will actually be rewarded.

[TruthVsComfort]

2 hours ago, h0llywood said:

There's an online class that I may take but it's nearly $500 to take for 3 months. This is getting expensive all just to take a test.

 

You do not need to take a class to do well on the LSAT. I did not take a class. I just learned the basics from the LSAT Bibles (I think they were called that) and then grinded away on past LSAT tests.