CLEO, LSAT, AND HELPFUL BOOKS AND WEBSITES...

[law1906]

I WILL BE ENTERING MY JUNIOR YEAR AS A UNDER GRAD. IN JAN. I HAVE NOT STARTED WORKING ON THE LSAT. I RECENTLY HEARD ABOUT THE CLEO. PROGRAM. IS THERE ANY MORE PROGRAMS THAT IS RELATED TO THE CLEO PROGRAMS? DOES COMPLETING THE PROGRAM MEANS I WILL GET INTO A LAW SCHOOL? WHAT ADVICE WILL YOU GIVE ME ON PREPARING FOR THE LSAT?

[LawDog3]

I WILL BE ENTERING MY JUNIOR YEAR AS A UNDER GRAD. IN JAN. I HAVE NOT STARTED WORKING ON THE LSAT. I RECENTLY HEARD ABOUT THE CLEO. PROGRAM. IS THERE ANY MORE PROGRAMS THAT IS RELATED TO THE CLEO PROGRAMS? DOES COMPLETING THE PROGRAM MEANS I WILL GET INTO A LAW SCHOOL? WHAT ADVICE WILL YOU GIVE ME ON PREPARING FOR THE LSAT?

No guarantees by attending these programs. CLEO, Indiana CLEO and CHH (at Georgetown University) are good. CHH is very selective. Maybe one in 20 students gets in for a class of 20-25 students, and the majority of those students have been admitted at top-50 schools or Howard Law. Minority Georgetown 1L's are automatically admitted to CHH when they apply.   

The national CLEO Program is a good bet and offers scholarships for your legal education. Students study at one of four campuses around the country (east, south, midwest, west). At one time, attending CLEO could get students an admissions boost at schools on their lists, but it no longer works that way. CLEO might be able to assist you in gaining admission to a T4 like Florida Coastal, Golden Gate or (gulp) Cooley, but the days when it could get an "outlier" (an applicant with below 25% numbers) into a top school are long gone.

Indiana CLEO (aka ICLEO) works the same way the National CLEO Program does, only applicants must have applied to at least one of the following four Indiana law schools: N.D., Indiana-Bloom, Indiana-Indi, and Valparaiso.

[rnl623]

I WILL BE ENTERING MY JUNIOR YEAR AS A UNDER GRAD. IN JAN. I HAVE NOT STARTED WORKING ON THE LSAT. I RECENTLY HEARD ABOUT THE CLEO. PROGRAM. IS THERE ANY MORE PROGRAMS THAT IS RELATED TO THE CLEO PROGRAMS? DOES COMPLETING THE PROGRAM MEANS I WILL GET INTO A LAW SCHOOL? WHAT ADVICE WILL YOU GIVE ME ON PREPARING FOR THE LSAT?

If you have never worked on the LSAT, you need to take a diagnostic LSAT. There are several ways to achieve this:

        1. Go to Kaplan or Princeton Review and find a practice test event near you.

        2. Take a free online practice test at Princeton Review or at Kaplan.

        3. Through the CLEO website, sign up for the Juniors Jumpstart the LSAT seminar. I think there is only one more for this school year in Washington DC in March, but there will be more next school year, starting in September. I went to one in January, and the first thing we did was to take a diagnostic LSAT. We got our scores that day and had a free strategy session.

After taking a diagnostic and learning your score, you can better judge how much studying you will need to do to get the score you want. You will then be able to decide if you need a LSAT prep course.

You may also want to look into LSAC PLUS programs that are 6 week LSAT courses for students that are juniors or seniors. Just do a Google search of "LSAC PLUS programs". A new program that I received an e-mail about is a brand new program that is similar is the TRIALS program. It might be a little late to apply for some of these programs this summer, but if you are a junior, you may be able to apply for Summer 2010. 

As for other programs like CLEO, the JD Project is the only other program I have come across that is similar to it. Another good resource is For People of Color. Go to your school's pre-law advisor or career center, both will have information on such programs or resources that may have info on such programs. CLEO is the best program that I have come across so far, I went to their ASAP program and Juniors Jump the LSAT and I recommend that students attend these programs.

I hope this helps, if you have any more questions on CLEO, just PM me or send me an e-mail.

[LawDog3]

I WILL BE ENTERING MY JUNIOR YEAR AS A UNDER GRAD. IN JAN. I HAVE NOT STARTED WORKING ON THE LSAT. I RECENTLY HEARD ABOUT THE CLEO. PROGRAM. IS THERE ANY MORE PROGRAMS THAT IS RELATED TO THE CLEO PROGRAMS? DOES COMPLETING THE PROGRAM MEANS I WILL GET INTO A LAW SCHOOL? WHAT ADVICE WILL YOU GIVE ME ON PREPARING FOR THE LSAT?

If you have never worked on the LSAT, you need to take a diagnostic LSAT. There are several ways to achieve this:

        1. Go to Kaplan or Princeton Review and find a practice test event near you.

        2. Take a free online practice test at Princeton Review or at Kaplan.

        3. Through the CLEO website, sign up for the Juniors Jumpstart the LSAT seminar. I think there is only one more for this school year in Washington DC in March, but there will be more next school year, starting in September. I went to one in January, and the first thing we did was to take a diagnostic LSAT. We got our scores that day and had a free strategy session.

After taking a diagnostic and learning your score, you can better judge how much studying you will need to do to get the score you want. You will then be able to decide if you need a LSAT prep course.

You may also want to look into LSAC PLUS programs that are 6 week LSAT courses for students that are juniors or seniors. Just do a Google search of "LSAC PLUS programs". A new program that I received an e-mail about is a brand new program that is similar is the TRIALS program. It might be a little late to apply for some of these programs this summer, but if you are a junior, you may be able to apply for Summer 2010. 

As for other programs like CLEO, the JD Project is the only other program I have come across that is similar to it. Another good resource is For People of Color. Go to your school's pre-law advisor or career center, both will have information on such programs or resources that may have info on such programs. CLEO is the best program that I have come across so far, I went to their ASAP program and Juniors Jump the LSAT and I recommend that students attend these programs.

I hope this helps, if you have any more questions on CLEO, just PM me or send me an e-mail.

I just told the OP about programs that were similar to CLEO. And if you don't know that CHH (run at GULC, where CLEO was once taught) and Indiana CLEO are both modeled after the national CLEO, you haven't done your research.

CHH is the best because of the small class size and the intensity of the competition. Moreover, Professors Everett Bellamy (also an Assistant Dean at GULC), program founder Donald Temple, esq, Kim Keenan, esq, Hon. Jennifer Long, GULC Prof. David Simmons, eminent Harvard Prof. Charles Ogletree, and GULC library science/legal research professor Barbara Monroe are as strong as any cast of profs you will find. D.C. Is the best place to spend a summer and study.

Trust ME...I am a CHH grad and I would never choose CLEO over CHH. That said...if you don't get into CHH, CLEO isn't a bad option.

Now, if you have any questions...feel free to PM ME.