I will take the June LSAT for the first time in my life. I saw that we can't bring a cellphone to the testing center, but can we bring a backpack and put the cellphone in the backpack during the test? I was wondering if they provide some designated areas for us to put personal belongings like a backpack, etc.

Hi! I may not be a typical LSAT student at least in terms of age. I graduated from college in 2002 (Mechanical Engineering) and received a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering in 2005 and Ph.D. in Bioengineering in 2010. Then I spent two years as a postdoctoral researcher in neuroscience and then I worked as an assistant professor at a state University for two years. Before it gets too late, I wanted to try something else other than academia, so I left academia and got a government job two years ago. So I am an engineer and scientist by training, and I have published more than 30 peer-reviewed scientific journal papers.

My experience in the government over the past 2 years has motivated me to go to law school. It’s been a while that I took a test since my graduate school and I was quite nervous and I think I significantly underperformed on the June LSAT last Monday than my usual PTs. Do you think if my background (PhD in engineering, research paper publications, grant funding and student teaching/mentoring history, work experiences as a university professor and in government) could be considered as a strong soft in law school applications? Also, if any of you have a similar background or have seen similar cases, I will appreciate if you could please share your stories how your work experiences or soft helped your law school admissions. Because of my current job, I'd like to go to part-time programs in the DC areas. Thanks!