Hello all, long time lurker here. I am a non-traditional student finishing up my applications for Fall 2017.
I thought a thread dealing with problems faced by OWLS (older, wiser law students/applicants) might be useful.
Here are some questions I have. Some are specific to OWLS; others might apply to everyone.
1) I did OK on my first LSAT but thought I could do much better because I was PTing much higher. With more practice I took the LSAT again in December but got sick with a virus on test day. Even though I was sick I went through with the test. Score went DOWN five whole points. Ugh, I guess I should have cancelled. I would like to take again (maybe I will, in June) but due to family situation and finances I absolutely have to go ahead and apply now for 2017 admission or I probably can't go to law school. So I am faced with a decision. Some of my schools say that even though they take the highest LSAT, in the case of multiple LSAT scores one should write an addendum if a score change is "significant." I think a 5 point drop is significant; but what does everyone else say? How would you deal with this?
2) How are you OWLS handling the employment section on applications? I've worked in many jobs going back several decades. Applications say to list all employment but do they really mean jobs like 2 weeks in a mini-golf back in the summer of 1986, which is now out of business and the owner is probably dead? Is there a limit to how many jobs can be listed in this section? (I haven't started entering mine yet, so any advice is appreciated.)
3) What about the Activities section on the same page with Employment... it says to rank your activities in order of what they mean to you. But seriously at this point in my life was my membership in the state champion Women's College Glee Club in 1988 more or less important than my volunteer work at a local church nine years ago? It's like comparing ancient apples and oranges, plus these things are on my resume anyway.
4) Resume -- how many pages? One admission dean I spoke with said that for someone my age he wants to see me take as many pages as I need and list pretty much everything (I ended up with three pages) but what do you all think?
Please fellow OWLS, throw out more questions and answers. Let's help each other. Thanks in advance, and to any admissions pros who reply too!
Thanks, yes good thread... have seen it. Looking for more specifics about the LSAT and application process and how it affects us old-timers. It's definitely different for someone with a few decades to document in his or her app.