Most Strongly Supported LSAT Blogs

It’s not a secret that we are not the biggest fans of the US News Rankings here at MSS. Trent has had multiple postings on the subject of the rankings and there’s no real reason to delve back into it except to say that the rankings themselves may or may not be an insidious plot by a evil mastermind living in a volcano.
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I haven’t had television broadcast into my home for about five years. Don’t worry, I’m not one of those self-righteous “Kill Your TV” jerks. I have an LCD and waste as much of my life in front of it as any other obese American; it’s just that I switched to watching everything on DVD a long time ago. If you couple that with Netflix Watch Instantly, you really won’t miss cable at all. The things you do technically miss out on (news and sports and being able to watch TV shows when they come out) should really be viewed differently (sports should be watched drunken in a bar or not at all, if you still watch televised news you’re probably not reading this because you’re elderly and afraid of computers, and watching TV shows back-to-back is a million times better than having to wait weeks or months between episodes – it took me days, not years, to realize that Lost was going to turn out to be really, really stupid).
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In an era where Humanities faculty are dropping like flies, law school faculty members have flourished. A study from the National Jurist indicates that the average law school increased its faculty by 40% over the past ten years.

This is a good thing, as it allows students to be in smaller classes with more access to the instructor and provides law professors with more time for scholarship. On the other hand, the increase in staffing accounts for 48% of the tuition increase from 1998 to 2008. Hmmm.

If asked, would a student desire a lower student to faculty ratio for lower tuition? Based on a highly technical and carefully conducted office survey that included two receptionists, a marketing assistant, and the IT guy, the answer was a resounding yes.
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Rumors about the legal profession’s demise have become so common lately that one can almost be faulted for not knowing its dismal state. The WSJ legal blog and Above the Law were among the earliest and most vocal critics of the profession’s future, but recently even the mainstream media have started banging the drum. Both the Los Angeles and New York Times have run a variety of stories about the dearth of jobs for law school graduates, their mountains of non-dischargeable debt, and the responsibility law schools have to reduce their admissions.

I’m not sure if it’s that I like a good challenge or that I can’t stand to be on the winning side of an issue, or simply that I don’t want to have friends, but I’d like to take on the whole world in this debate. I think they’re a bit myopic and unduly alarmist about the relative state of the legal profession.
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If you ever feel bad that you’re going to law school as a simple extension of getting a relatively useless liberal arts degree, console yourself with the fact that plenty of Olympic athletes are joining or have joined you.

Olympian lawyers run the gamut from pseudo-sports like biathlon, curling, and race-walking to real sports like triathlon. No doubt their Olympic training has prepared them well for the trials and tribulations of litigation. If you’re looking for analogies:
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You have until Friday to decide. No, I am not talking about your destination for Valentine’s Day or your excuse for making this weekend a super-long weekend. Friday is the deadline to cancel your February LSAT score.

For some students, this decision brings sleepless nights and lots of overeating. A bad LSAT score is not a great thing to have on your record. Not as bad as a conviction for international espionage or anything, but not great.
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As many of you know (or should know), today is the day we observe Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday. Before his assassination on April 4, 1968, King had become the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize (for efforts ending segregation and discrimination through non-violent means, back before the Nobel Peace Prize was rendered meaningless by Barack Obama winning it for…well, we’re still trying to figure that out).

King led initiatives such as the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, the Albany Movement, marches for African American’s right to vote, desegregation, labor rights, and reportedly once wrestled a tiger shark into submission. He had received at least 7 awards, some even posthumously, and around 50 honorary degrees from universities around the U.S. His legacy lives on by continuing to influence equality in the U.S. and other countries, as well as having his name on more streets and boulevards than almost any other public figure.
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The New York Times reports that the number and percentage of minority students enrolling in law school is declining. According to Columbia law professor, Conrad Johnson, Mexican American and Black students accepted to law school decreased from 1993 to 2008. Hispanic Americans in general made negligible gains in enrollment during the same period.
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I know, the last thing you want to do after you’ve finally finished getting that New Year’s celebratory bottle of Peppermint Schnapps out of your system is to think about the LSAT. But if you’re going to take February and you’re not enrolled, it’s time to get your post-hangover butt in gear as the deadline is January 5th. Because we know there’s a distinct possibility that you’re not thinking clearly right now, we’ve outlined the steps for you to make it as easy as possible.
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It has been a very eventful year.

The United States swore in our first black President. The King of Pop kicked the can. We finally achieved health care reform… sorta. We started to bounce back from the recession… kinda. A Tiger became a cheetah. And the Yankees won another World Series.

Well, all of that is well and good, but it has been an equally eventful year for those of us in the LSAT world. And I would like to take this opportunity to take a stroll down memory lane. Some highlights…
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