Most Strongly Supported LSAT Blogs

Since more students took the LSAT in October 2009 than in any single administration in the history of the test, it’s not surprising that law school applications are up. However, we were shocked just to see how up they are. The Herald News reports a 132% increase in applicants over last year at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. Yes, you read that correctly. Other schools around the country are reporting increases in their applications, too. Does the news mean you’re doomed? That it’s time to trade in the dream of a JD for a hair net and a name tag?

Three weeks to wait for an LSAT score is a long time.

Three weeks is one week longer than the Olympics, and that at least has curling. In three weeks you can lose five pounds the bad way, watch enough LOST to wonder how it became a global phenomenon, and finish the entire Twilight series. (The last of these is presented as a fact, not as an accomplishment).

So I write you this week from about 3,200 miles above the ground, as I sit on a trans-American flight and pound into my keyboard as hard as possible to annoy the girl in front of me who has decided, despite the fact that it is not even seven o’clock, to recline her seat into full sleep mode and co-opt every last ounce of legroom she can. Luckily, I’m vindictive, and figure in the next four hours I can easily scratch out enough blogs that I can finally stop worrying if MSS is going to fire me in the exceedingly near future, and Queen Head Lice Dreadlocks in front of me can feel the wrath from now until JFK. That’s right honey. Enjoy it.

Of course, as much as I’m sure the Pre-Law community would enjoy hearing about my airborne woes for the next thousand words, today I do not bring extended tidings of such issues. (Although, I will say, if I ever do go to work at a firm, you can rest assured that the ability to afford first class seats was one of my primary motivations.) Instead, I hope to share with you some information that may make your future travel plans a little more fruitful, as you jet around the country to check out various admitted student days and other law school events to decide on your home for the next quarter decade or so. Keep these three things in mind, and your experiences should be both enjoyable and help make the final decision a little easier.

As a successful web-blogger of some renown, it has become increasingly difficult to maintain a semblance of normal day-to-day life. Why, just the other day a man in the street, with whom I am quite certain I was not previously acquainted, asked me out of the blue for change!

“Well!” I replied, “if you don’t like my blog, then you needn’t read it! I shan’t change myself for the likes of you, a mere beggar. Good day, sir!”

That seemed to assuage his pestering, as he bothered me no more. And in hindsight, I should be glad that he was a reader at all. After all, someone who is an unsatisfied fanatic is better than someone who is not a fanatic at all! But I thought that perhaps he had a point. Perhaps the time had come for sweeping innovative change.

Most Strongly Supported asked me to write a guest post about what it’s like to get a 180 on the LSAT – likely expecting a feel-good piece, full of wisdom and wit, which would inspire others to excel on the test. This, however, is not my style, nor would it be truthful. Why you ask? Well because getting a 180 on the LSAT really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, it’s almost a curse. Don’t believe me? Well here are the top 6 (okay so I was aiming for 10 but The Office came on) reasons behind the curse of the 180.

Everyone loves a comeback, a good underdog story.

Just look at the Olympics currently taking place north of the border. Seth Wescott became a star with a valiant comeback in snowboard cross. Bode Miller, the incredible disappointment from 2006, came back to win bronze in the men’s downhill. Lindsey Vonn bounces back from a leg injury (and some questionable bikini photos) to capture gold in the downhill. Shoot, even Shaun White came back (down to Earth) after spinning around what seemed to be 18 times in the halfpipe.

However, there is a comeback of another sort that also seems to be taking place. The return of… Logic Games. (Cue the sounds of screaming children.)

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:

Allow me to start with a slightly belated congrats for everyone who took that February test. I got a little bogged down last week in actual law school work, and MSS graciously allowed me a week off. (In other words, I’ve been filtering all their emails directly into my spam box for the past 14 days.) [Editor's note: She really has. And it's not even finals.]

Regardless, I’m back now, and I recognize that many of are you caught in a flurry of admitted student letters, feverish nail biting and mailbox stakeouts. So, as you start to make that decision (to go or not to go), I bring you the closest thing I can to law school reality TV. I’d upload actual footage, but I’ve taken enough questionable videos over the years that I would sooner burn the memory cards than risk an internet leak accident. So, instead, you get my class notes. Don’t get too excited.

The signs are all around us. You’ve seen them: listless bodies walking blankly around town at dusk, a preponderance of frighteningly pale and sickly young people lurking about your neighborhood bars and restaurants, and an ever increasing number of confused individuals emerging from the shadows, devoid of people skills and all-around cleanliness. No, this is not a casting call for the next George Romero zombie flick, nor is it at all related to the ubiquitous and thoroughly tired vampire fad. My friends, what we’re dealing with is a massive outbreak of PLWD: Post LSAT Withdrawal Disorder.

The LSAT, thank God, is not a vocabulary test. Unlike the GRE, you don’t have to sit down with a bunch of flashcards learning words that you would never see outside of a David Foster Wallace novel. LSAC is testing your logical reasoning ability, and they know that your knowledge of esoteric words doesn’t really say anything about your law-student potential, so you not knowing what “defenestration” means isn’t going to defenestrate your score (figuratively speaking). So there’s no need to supplement your LSAT books with a thesaurus.

“But reading comp asks you the meaning of strange words all the time!” you say. That is true. And yes, I know what I just said about the LSAT not requiring knowledge of advanced vocabulary. The thing is, the test writers know that not many of you were English majors or read Joyce for fun. When you get vocab questions in RC, what they expect is for you to get the meaning from context. You will rarely know the word, but you will always be able to answer the question nonetheless. So again, no major vocab needed. But don’t get all quiescent just yet.