Just Decided To Go To Law School Last Week

[Captain Graybeard]

It just sounds a little far fetched.

Ummm, okay.  I get off on tricking Internet strangers into thinking I'm smart.    I do that by telling them how much of a screw-up I used to be.  Then, I have optimistic expectations, and work my butt off to try to make them happen.  I am proud of the person I am today and the changes I have made in my life, so forgive me for being hopeful about the future.  I thought I was posting in a community of mature people, it being the non-traditional board, and figured I may as well be honest about who I am and what my hopes are.  Thanks for the warm welcome.

Anyone else have any actual input?

[saradsun]

It isn't you. Truly, the standard response to someone asking about their chances without a real LSAT is "come back when you have a real score." If you go to the LSAT board today, for example, scores just came out and there are a lot of disappointed people who scored a lot lower than they had been practicing at.

I don't have any idea about the record aspect. But if you have a 3.75 and score in the 170+ range you should get into a t14 though.

I'm 39, and was only planning to go to my local law school (tier 2) until I started reading here, and seeing that my practice scores at least put me in range. I was one of the lucky (few) that scored right at or even slightly above my practice range. Adrenalin has always been very good to me and it didn't fail me on test day. Anyway, I'm uprooting my family, changing my whole life, and I'm gonna go for it. I'm in at Chicago, Berkeley and Virginia (in the t14) so far. I'm still holding out hope for 1 of the big three.

Have you been LSN to check what kind of numbers combos go where? Any of the LSAT/GPA calculators? Those would be a great place to start.

Good luck!

[Phineas]

It isn't you. Truly, the standard response to someone asking about their chances without a real LSAT is "come back when you have a real score." If you go to the LSAT board today, for example, scores just came out and there are a lot of disappointed people who scored a lot lower than they had been practicing at.

I don't have any idea about the record aspect. But if you have a 3.75 and score in the 170+ range you should get into a t14 though.

I'm 39, and was only planning to go to my local law school (tier 2) until I started reading here, and seeing that my practice scores at least put me in range. I was one of the lucky (few) that scored right at or even slightly above my practice range. Adrenalin has always been very good to me and it didn't fail me on test day. Anyway, I'm uprooting my family, changing my whole life, and I'm gonna go for it. I'm in at Chicago, Berkeley and Virginia (in the t14) so far. I'm still holding out hope for 1 of the big three.

Have you been LSN to check what kind of numbers combos go where? Any of the LSAT/GPA calculators? Those would be a great place to start.

Good luck!

Obama is a socialist.  I'd vote for him if I were poor or a pot-smoking hippie.

[Captain Graybeard]

Get a grip

 

Good luck at George Washington, and I sincerely hope you get into BC or BU.

[rhombot]

your past might work for you or against you. on one hand, you might have done something that would cause the bar to reject your application, or law schools to believe that the bar would reject your application. on the other hand, it may well give you "overcoming adversity" points. contact the bar of states where you're thinking of practising or going to law school to see about the former. on the latter, it sounds from your introduction like you know how to present your history favorably.  if i had to guess i'd say that, assuming you're representing yourself honestly, you're a shoo-in for T14 and competitive at the top schools, if that's what you're into.

[Pigeon]

. . . on the other hand, it may well give you "overcoming adversity" points.

DO schools view "overcoming adversity" in a favorable light, for the most part?  Or do they, instead, view applicants who've overcome adversity as "damaged goods," even if the applicant is not at all damaged?

I ask this for myself and others I know.  I'm not saying anything about anyone else being damaged.  I've heard both sides of this argument and I don't know what to believe.  I put my adversity in the best light possible but one never knows.  Maybe admissions people aren't really as nice (i.e., understanding and accepting of people who've been though difficulties) as they say they are in their literature and on their web sites.

[Captain Graybeard]

. . . on the other hand, it may well give you "overcoming adversity" points.

DO schools view "overcoming adversity" in a favorable light, for the most part?  Or do they, instead, view applicants who've overcome adversity as "damaged goods," even if the applicant is not at all damaged?

I ask this for myself and others I know.  I'm not saying anything about anyone else being damaged.  I've heard both sides of this argument and I don't know what to believe.  I put my adversity in the best light possible but one never knows.  Maybe admissions people aren't really as nice (i.e., understanding and accepting of people who've been though difficulties) as they say they are in their literature and on their web sites.

Great question!  Just a guess, but it probably depends on the school and the admissions official.

This issue is pretty important to me also, being that I have a checkered past, plus I have Multiple Sclerosis.  The past I will have to deal with, whether I like it or not.  The MS is another question.  It could make for a very powerful personal statement, but will admissions officials see me as having overcome a potentially debilitating disease, or will they see me as "damaged goods?"  Should I even bring it up?

[rhombot]

seriously? i don't think any school would penalize you for MS. i doubt it's relevant, and it may well be illegal.

overcoming adversity is a plus, but it usually means overcoming unfavorable circumstances beyond your control, like poverty or abuse, not screwing up and then correcting yourself. but i think for a lot of law schools screwing up and learning your lesson would be a plus.

you never know what a particular school or admissions officer will get hung up on. when i was applying, i disclosed that i had been placed in administrative withdrawal because i participated in some organized resistance to a discriminatory student fee. for most schools, that probably set me apart in a positive way. but cardozo freaked out about it and wanted for all kinds of documentation, with the end result being that they never made an admissions decision on my application.
i suspect that if you apply to a range of schools, and you spin your story right, it will generally be seen as a positive, though it might bite you in some particular schools.

all of this is said impressionistically, not authoritatively.

[Captain Graybeard]

seriously? i don't think any school would penalize you for MS. i doubt it's relevant, and it may well be illegal.

My situation may be irrelevant to the practice of law, and weighing it negatively in admissions decisions may be illegal, but discrimination is a fact, and I have been a victim of discrimination for having MS.

[insomniac]

seriously? i don't think any school would penalize you for MS. i doubt it's relevant, and it may well be illegal.

My situation may be irrelevant to the practice of law, and weighing it negatively in admissions decisions may be illegal, but discrimination is a fact, and I have been a victim of discrimination for having MS.

Sadly, you are probably correct. How has your course been? Are you relapsing/remitting or progressive? Particularly if your MS is behaving more like the former, I think you could write a great personal statement without jeopardizing your admissions too much (sure one or two programs might feel you're a risk, but do you really want to go to a school which is so unaccommodating?). You can really highlight the ways in which managing a frustrating and chronic disorder has influenced you positively, while (semi-subtly) showing that it has not, in the whole, slowed you down. Heck, you can probably link this to your relatively recent life changes (no more misdemeanors)/career direction changes, if you want. As long as you are able to reassure them that you can handle the load, I really don't think it will hurt you. It is probably very useful that you are finishing school right now- clearly you are managing an academic workload without major exacerbations of your disease. That may be better than had you finished college at 22. If you have had an interest in health policy/ADA/etc sparked by your experience, I'm guessing they would love to hear it also.
Cynically speaking, look on the websites- they ALL love to point out their classes' diversity. Whether or not you will end up as a poster child, I would think your age, unusual career path, and medical difficulties will, in combination, be pretty attractive to a lot of schools.
Wow- that could really be a fantastic statement....
Best of luck to you, and keep us updated