I got my first acceptance letter!!! (Baylor)

[ElizaB]

The environment in the law school is EXTREMELY friendly, not cut-throat.  The recent announcement that we are the "nations most competitive law school" came as quite a surprise to everyone.  Truly the students are not out to beat each other, rather we just want to make it through together.

That is very odd, since the poll is based on a survey of the student body.

Wasn't this "poll" done by the Princeton Review? If it was done by PR, I would not put much stock in it. I have good reason to think the methodology that they use for some of their "surveys" is highly flawed.  

I think they are great at test prep, but I am now be suspicous of anything in the way of a survey that the Princeton Review puts out!  The Princeton Review told me that, based on their Tap Report compiled by supposed "hundreds" of test takers across the country, the LSAT test version I had from this October (Args, Args, RC, Args, Games) was a non-typical outlier version and that I should cancel my score. In reality, this was a common test type and I found that a whole bunch of people on this site alone had this version of the test. I find it hard to believe that they had hundreds of people across the country take a test and yet none of them came up with a relatively common test layout. I'm really glad that I did my own research and disregarded their "highly accurate" tap report!

[LSATGuru]

Don't kid yourself--Princeton Review isn't good at anything, especially LSAT test-prep.  If you're someone who initially scores a 138 and feels that TestMasters moves way too fast and requires too much homework, PR might be a decent option and bump you to a stellar 147. 

Every thing I've read by PR, including surveys, suggestions on LSAT tactics, and even the web board where desperate law school hopefuls ask retarded questions, reeks of "hack."

I talked to a guy from my UG who had a 4.00 in political science and STILL only scored ~153 after taking Princeton Review.  We started with the same diagnostic, and I got a 163 after doing TestMasters.  PR is crap_!all_over.

[help101]

I know someone who had a 4.0 and took PR and only got a 140 on the LSAT (and this was w/one of their personal TUTORS!!)

[ElizaB]

I took PR and, generally, was pretty happy with it....I made a 155 on my first diagnostic, a 172 on my last diagnostic and a 166 on the real Oct LSAT....(I think the nasty October curve and a combination of nerves played a big role in not doing closer to the 172).
However, I can also say that alot of my "satisfaction" had to do with the teachers that I had and not with the overall quality of the material or the course.  I had two "teachers" who were pretty good and I felt like really made the course. I also did a lot of practicing outside of the class.  There weren't any real strategies that they taught me that I really felt like made a difference....it was more just practicing. 

I must say that all of the talk about Testmasters and Powerscore makes me wonder if I did make a mistake. At the time, I was pretty happy with my score jump...but who knows? Maybe I could have increased my score up to a 175 or something if I would have taken one of the other courses instead of PR.   

[LSATGuru]

You can't really argue with an 11 point increase.  Starting at a 155 is good no matter what prep course you take, and anyone who starts there and studies hard should expect to and be happy with scoring in the mid 160's. 

I think if you would have taken TestMasters you MIGHT have scored a few more points, but who cares now.  TestMasters was all about giving you the homework to do, and I firmly believe that that was 80 - 90% of why I improved, not because my instructor was constantly crapping out golden nuggets of wisdom.  He did have a 179, but it was more apparent that he was sort of milking TestMasters as a cush job avoiding law school at all costs because he was very lazy and irresponsible (he constantly showed up late and ended class early).


I wouldn't worry about it, you're in a better position than 95,000 peple who are applying to law school out of the 100,000 this cycle.

Plus, you're hot. 

Good luck.

[vagrant]

I talked to a guy from my UG who had a 4.00 in political science and STILL only scored ~153 after taking Princeton Review.  We started with the same diagnostic, and I got a 163 after doing TestMasters.  PR is crap_!all_over.

The critical part of this statement is "in political science". 

[LSATGuru]

Yeah, while it is true that you can be mildly retarded and hack out  a 4.00 in Poli Sci, if you take a 3 month prep course and STILL get a 153, you shouldn't be in law school IMO. 

This guy is now graduating and can't find a job anywhere.  His dad is a lawyer in Peoria (graduated from a very good law school and seems successful) and I think this kid assumes by default that he has to be a lawyer.

He wouldn't believe me that I know people (personal friends) who scored in the mid-170's.  He thinks nobody gets these scores.  Idiot.

I talked to a guy from my UG who had a 4.00 in political science and STILL only scored ~153 after taking Princeton Review.  We started with the same diagnostic, and I got a 163 after doing TestMasters.  PR is crap_!all_over.

The critical part of this statement is "in political science".  I've seen Kiwi's that could get a 4.0 in political science.

[TLFKARG]

Yeay!  I got my acceptance letter from Baylor today w/ scholarship.

Nothing from UT, though!  They have not even requested my LSDAS report!!!!

What were your numbers again?

[ElizaB]

Ruskiegirl -
I think I put it somewhere else on this board, but I got a 1/2 tuition scholarship with a 166/3.5. At least one other person on here had similar numbers and got the same and a couple of people had better numbers and got full-tuition.

RobotPimp....-
Thanks for the compliment.  I'm not really complaining about my score and I consider myself lucky compared to most people of the people in my class. I don't know why, if they didn't spend anytime outside of class practicing or if LSAT just wasn't their thing, but a lot of people in my PR class didn't see much of an improvement....or if they did see one, it was marginal. I agree with you in the fact that it probably was the work outside of class and not the genius of any instructor that made the difference on if someone improves or not. 

[TLFKARG]

Ruskiegirl -
I think I put it somewhere else on this board, but I got a 1/2 tuition scholarship with a 166/3.5. At least one other person on here had similar numbers and got the same and a couple of people had better numbers and got full-tuition.

RobotPimp....-
Thanks for the compliment.  I'm not really complaining about my score and I consider myself lucky compared to most people of the people in my class. I don't know why, if they didn't spend anytime outside of class practicing or if LSAT just wasn't their thing, but a lot of people in my PR class didn't see much of an improvement....or if they did see one, it was marginal. I agree with you in the fact that it probably was the work outside of class and not the genius of any instructor that made the difference on if someone improves or not. 

Something funny is going on over at Baylor this year.  I had a buddy apply last year with a 164/3.7 and he got waitlisted.