The-4Ls-Experience

I'll be adding you to my blawg roll =) Thanks ...

2011-03-28T07:26:50.794-07:00

I'll be adding you to my blawg roll =) Thanks for reading. Much appreciated

Must be nice to have the flexibility to create suc...

2011-02-04T18:55:41.384-08:00

Must be nice to have the flexibility to create such a strict schedule.
If I didn't work 40+ a week it should be able to adapt to a fix schedule. I only had a month and a half to prepare for the LSAT. The last 2 weeks have been exhausted; I am a week away from the test and even though my score has increase by 10 points I am not at 100%. I now believe that it is necessary to sleep and to be active in order to balance the mind and body. Best of luck!

I have been there and you will get through this. ...

2011-02-02T23:57:07.210-08:00

I have been there and you will get through this. I have dedicated a blog post to you my friend: http://thelogicalconstruct.blogspot.com/2011/02/catch-up-response-to-1118.html Stay strong. - P

Best of luck on the December LSAT! It looks like y...

2010-09-22T09:21:35.714-07:00

Best of luck on the December LSAT! It looks like you are well on your way.

I wonder about this same question each time I visi...

2010-07-22T05:47:34.856-07:00

I wonder about this same question each time I visit my "top" scam-blog sites...

When I see a new post I laugh as I say to myself, maybe THIS IS THE DAY I see someone take some responsibility and decide to direct their energy somewhere more positive!

I've been disappointed every time...but one day someone will step up, I can feel it!

This is not meant to say that there isn't some blame/anger that may legitimately be directed at the ABA, at a law school, at a pushy parent, etc. However, unless one was absolutely forced, somehow, to sign on the dotted line for law school, that new car, that home they couldn't afford, then that person has to at least bear SOME (probably most) of the responsibility, no?

JD2B

I like making money from properties and reinvestin...

2010-06-29T12:32:34.876-07:00

I like making money from properties and reinvesting it into more properties. I even keep a spreadsheet of the next best investment.

2010-06-28T11:14:28.338-07:00

This comment has been removed by the author.

Nice Post, stay optimistic! Be careful wandering ...

2010-06-25T09:48:13.093-07:00

Nice Post, stay optimistic!

Be careful wandering back to the "scam-blog" sites too much. It sounds like you got the important points that they point out, but the negativity there is quite excessive and will do you no good.

Better to find friends and bLAWgers that will be uplifting and encouraging once you've made the decision to attend. We can all learn something from each other.

Doug
http://tobeajd.blogspot.com

drake is great! i think success in law school an...

2010-06-24T18:19:12.123-07:00

drake is great!

i think success in law school and law can largely be attributed to a "healthy" attitude and social grace.

if you have that, you're on your way.

I liked this post. :)

2010-06-15T19:11:15.701-07:00

I liked this post. :)

lol. I remember those tests. There was one with a ...

2010-06-15T15:31:34.799-07:00

lol. I remember those tests. There was one with a chicken/egg theme that I used to play often in undergrad. I'd like to play that one again someday.

It's amazing how much time we manage to make for games even when we're under the gun. My last final this yr was due at 9pm on a Saturday night, and I distinctly remember playing farmville around 830ish and writing my last sentence or two around 8:45pm.

Love your bLAWg by the way! NYU is on my radar:-)

These internet games are addictive. They are an e...

2010-06-15T15:05:08.467-07:00

These internet games are addictive. They are an enormous time suck, but they also kept me sane during finals. But my idea of a game were typing speed tests. I have no life.

Thanks for stopping by, Ricky! Love your blog! Yes...

2010-05-25T19:55:30.968-07:00

Thanks for stopping by, Ricky! Love your blog! Yes, you've brought up some good points here. This is probably one of the only posts I have that sounds most like a TLSer, so to speak. But I promise, I'm anything but. I've mentioned in previous posts why I want to be a lawyer, but I can reiterate. I have several reasons:
1) I do public policy research (technical). I chose policy because I want to affect change for the working poor. But the research has brought to light the fact that, while it's interesting to find out what works, its too far removed from the kind of help I want to provide--which is assistance to those at the extremes. Special needs families and individuals, so to speak. I want more hands on experience representing those who need a voice. A law degree will give me the formal experience and versatility that I need to jump into almost any sector I'd like to accomplish this.
2) I want to do my part of this generation's civil rights movement. My motivation is personal experience, not only as an African American, but as a lesbian.
3) Juvenile Justice. SCOTUS made headway in its recent decision to disallow JLWOP for juveniles convicted of crimes that did not result in death. I'm interested in taking this a step further, and need more exposure to the critical issues at hand. Sentencing policy is an intriguing field, that I'd like to jump into some time down the line.

And I leave open the possibility that my interest will be peaked in other areas of law and policy. But my interests have always be concentrated in these 2 realms. I've already got the MPP and the work experience. law is up next.

Now, the reason I'd like to attend a tier 1 is for another group of reasons:
a) I want to settle in NYC. This is unrelated to my career. It's the first place I've ever lived where I feel at home. I'm unwilling to give that up.
b)Given my location preference, I want to attend the school that fits my work ethic best and will give me the most options without sacrificing my happiness. I got into Tier 2s and 3s in NYC. These could work, but I can't, in good conscience, make that choice without knowing what all my options are for future success. My LSAT performance didn't give me that opportunity. So I have to retake.

I think that if I didn't retake and either decided to attend any school and hope for the best, or give it up all together, I'd be left with that "what if" and that's not good enough for me. I can't move forward without having as full information as possible about what's going to happen, especially when lots of money is involved, as I mentioned. I didn't even secure 1/2 scholarships at those schools I got into, so I couldn't justify paying for it.

I've asked myself many times the same questions you've presented. And I wasn't afraid to come up with a scenario that didn't involve law school. But this is where it converged. But I'm blessed to have options on how I might achieve my career goals, but I think I owe it to myself to try all my options.

So in summary: a lot is going into this decision, including the opportunity to acquire: multiple career windows, less debt, full information, a break from school to refocus my energy, time to visit my family/friends, have some fun, give my partner time to secure a job in NYC before I quit mine, and most of all, to demonstrate what I'm really made of. I've always envisioned my success. And this is a critical time for me to bring it to fruition. The self-confidence is something I'm always working on, but this is more about establishing a sufficient basis for my career trajectory, and I can't afford to let anything else stand in the way of it. Insofar as law school is the best choice(and I believe that it is), I feel better making a law school choice given a range of quality NYC law schools...not merely the "least competitive" in the legal market.

I hope this clears some things up.

My only piece of advice is to think about why you ...

2010-05-25T18:51:22.420-07:00

My only piece of advice is to think about why you want to be lawyer and what you want to get out of your career. That in my mind should be the biggest factor in deciding which law school is the best fit for you.

For me, I got into around almost all the law schools I applied to and I ended up going to the worst ranked (according to USNWR) because it was the best fit for me. I got a nice fellowship offer with a very well connected prof. I have a very nice scholarship offer and the "if nothing works out option" isn't a bad one either.

From what you've written on this blog (or perhaps I can't find the post), you have not written about why you want to be a lawyer. If you don't know that, then you really can't determine whether a T1 school is the best for you. From what I've been able to gather from this post alone is that you want to go to a T1 school partly for the prestige factor and because you think a T1 school offers the only way for you to go to school and not be drowning in debt. But simply becoming a lawyer because you think its a good viable career change or move is not a sufficient reason to invest that time or money.

Lastly, think about the time you are putting into studying for the LSAT. This is time you won't be able to get back. True, it might be worth it in the end, but that's only true if you have a vague idea of what you want to do.

With all this said, I have complete faith that you can get into a better school if that's in your career interest. As an African-American you can probably get into many T1 schools with an LSAT score of just a 161, a mere 3 points higher than your previous score. I suppose I wouldn't want someone to take the LSAT just to prove to themselves they can get a "good score" and just to show themselves "they can get that T1 acceptance." Both of these things I'm sure are and would be gratifying. They would also be misplaced goals if they are the only reason you were taking the LSAT again. As I've said earlier, I don't know your motivations for wanting to become a lawyer. But it would be ashme if you went to all this trouble just as a self-confidence boost about how "good" you are.

Best of luck whatever you decide to do.

Thanks! I'll be declining. I'm sitting out...

2010-05-24T21:25:48.313-07:00

Thanks! I'll be declining. I'm sitting out for another year.

Congratulations! I'll be going to Hofstra this...

2010-05-21T08:38:16.448-07:00

Congratulations! I'll be going to Hofstra this fall. Where are you going?

Hi Danielle, Congrats again on your nomination! P...

2010-04-27T09:28:57.574-07:00

Hi Danielle,

Congrats again on your nomination! Please make sure you contact 'bob' at 'clearadmit' dot com to receive your ballot and cast your vote. Ballots must be submitted by the 30th!

That smiley face is incredibly scary for some reas...

2010-04-16T10:51:02.328-07:00

That smiley face is incredibly scary for some reason. The law school in the eyes definitely adds a sadastic twist to our normally bubbly friend.

Anyways, good luck with whatever you decide. I'm sure you'll figure it out.

Dear LSAT Lifer, As you might not know, you were ...

2010-04-12T12:57:58.940-07:00

Dear LSAT Lifer,

As you might not know, you were recently nominated for Clear Admit's annual Best of Blogging competition (http://blog.clearadmit.com/law/2010/04/best-of-blogging-nominees-2009-2010/). To receive your ballot and cast your vote, please email 'bob' 'at' clearadmit 'dot' com.

Thanks!

I'm going through the similar situation...I go...

2010-04-05T08:49:03.804-07:00

I'm going through the similar situation...I got accepted to a top 25 law school (very prestigious) with a scholarship (but it's not a lot of money); on the other hand I got accepted to a tier 2 with a really nice scholarship. I'm very indecisive...prestige=job and connections versus a really awesome scholarship=coming out of law school with little to no debts. :-/ I'm talking to as many ppl as possible to get some guidance.

awesome! take it! :-)

2010-03-28T13:03:21.875-07:00

awesome! take it! :-)

love it! Listened to this at just the right time!!...

2010-03-28T12:56:00.443-07:00

love it! Listened to this at just the right time!!!! I definitely have to post this :-)

Hahaha. Oh man. I could go off about TLS for days,...

2010-03-12T19:33:03.068-08:00

Hahaha. Oh man. I could go off about TLS for days, probably weeks. I already have to some extent, but I digress.

The main problem with TLS and the T14 or Bust mentality is that they first assume that everyone should go into law school wanting the possibility to be a SCOTUS clerk, go into academia, or make 160K right out of law school. If those are not your career objectives then something is "wrong with you."

For the rest of TLS, they assume that because law school tuition is for the most part around 40,000 with 15K-20K CoL that you need a Biglaw job to pay off the debt. Frequently, people have scholarships (though every school outside of the T14 section-stacks, so any scholarship you get you will lose) or are simply OK with the job prospects and debt. If you are applying to law school then you are at least 21 years old.

The real problem with TLS (in response to the anon commenter) isn't even necessarily the content of the posts; it's the tone they take on. There's simply a nicer way of saying 99% of the posts on that board.

Sorry for the rant. But I look forward to more posts!

Just because something is true sometimes or even m...

2010-03-08T08:01:04.299-08:00

Just because something is true sometimes or even most of the time, doesn't mean it's true all the time. Cmon. But that wasn't the point.

The point is that people should have some agency in their future too. Just because someone decides they want to pursue a legal education doesn't mean they have to do it the way you want them to. No one likes debt. No one likes to get under a 180 on the LSAT. People do what they can. And some folks have higher thresholds for struggle than others. And yes, struggle is a good life lesson for anyone who wishes to be successful. I'm absolutly willing to do whatever it takes for an excellent legal education. But guess what? That's me.

And if someone truly wants to pursue law school, with full knowledge of what it entails, then it shouldn't matter how much it costs. You get out of law school what you put into it. That's my opinion. And I think this is true for any career field. I'm THAT dedicated. And I give people the benefit of the doubt and believe that they are too.

One critical point you may be missing is that people with 150s get into tier 1 law schools too. And do well. And some end up at tier 4s. And they are successful, too. And guess what, some people who end up at Yale are losers. What's all this prove? Nothing. I have 3 family members who went to tier 3 law schools, and all of them are judges. All of them. So please don't tell me what's probable. I'm already aware of what's possible. And that's what matters to me.

I encourage everyone to do the best they can. Always. But it would be remiss of me to define what that is for them. No way. TLSers talk too much about probability. And I have a degree in math, and the most valuable lesson I've learned is that there are infinitely many real numbers (or possibilities) between 0 and 1.

All those bullet points are true!!! Why bother goi...

2010-03-08T07:05:12.461-08:00

All those bullet points are true!!! Why bother going to law school if you're going to go to a crappy school (tier 3/4) and get yourself at least with a $150,000 is student loans? When you graduate from one of those schools you will not make that much money to be able to pay all your student loans unless you'd like to work as a prosecutor and have the gov't pardon your debt. One should aim to go to the best school one can get into!! Even if it takes retaking the LSAT 2 or 3 more times. Trust me if you get a good score 166 or higher you will get scholarships! Let's all aim for the best!!