Hey everyone! I had 2 questions about the admissions process that I was hoping to get some advice on:

Coming into college, I was a student in my college's education school. My major was along the lines of child developmental psychology. But during my first year, I also took some philosophy classes and sat in on a sociology class that I just found far more compelling than my child developmental psychology classes. And so, in my second year, I switched to the Arts & Sciences school and switched my major to philosophy and sociology-- these were also the majors I graduated with. I just thought this school switch on my transcript might be a question mark for the admissions committee. Should I write a brief addendum explaining why I switched schools, citing the exact reasons I mentioned above?

During the fall semester of my junior year, I took 4 classes instead of the typical 5 classes/semester. I was studying for the LSAT during that time and just wanted a lighter school workload. However, the 4 classes I took were all upper-level and graduate-level classes related to my majors. Overall, I still got the credits needed to graduate because I had taken some seminars and classes with labs that offered additional credits during freshman and sophomore year. And so, should I write an addendum for this case? Is taking 4 classes instead of the norm 5 classes even considered an abnormally "lighter" class load?

If anyone had advice at all, I would appreciate it so, so much! Taking a long shot here but tagging @"David.Busis" to see if you had any advice! Thanks so much guys!!

Hey! I'm looking for a study buddy/study group in San Diego. Anyone interested?

This is a paragraph I got from the tips on the logic games section under the syllabus section of "Resources for Taking LSAT"

"If you encounter a question that you cannot solve quickly, skip. Come back on round 2 if you have time. Clearly, something faulty is happening in your reasoning and it's blinding you to the right answer. You want give yourself some time and space away from that reasoning. Let it "go to bed" so to speak. Come back on round 2 with a fresh perspective."

The part I'm confused about is the last bit that I bolded. Lets say you're on game 1 of a LG section and you get to question #3 and you can't get it. In this scenario you would skip the question but does the "skip" referred to above mean that, you skip #3 and go do #4 and #5 and then go on to the next game, (coming back after going through all the other games, similar to a LR type of skip) OR does the "skip and come back on round 2" mean that you skip #3 go do #4 and #5 then come back to #3 before moving to Game 2?

If someone could clear this up for me that would be great. I wrote the Dec. LSAT and I'm confident I tanked the games because of panic, not because of a lack of understanding. So I'm reviewing for Feb and I just want make sure that my overall testing technique is much more improved (as in getting the lowest hanging coconut on all the sections). I feel that if my technique for taking the test is better, the knowledge I have of in/out games, sequencing games, all the different LR type questions, etc. will be implemented better on test day, and make me feel as confident as I did doing PT's in a library lol.

Thank you in advance

This MBT question really threw me for a loop because of the bi-conditional. In this particular question I think it is the "unique, whenever" that indicates that it is a bi-conditional. I am aware of these 4 indicators from the core curriculum:

-if and/but only if

-...but otherwise

-....except

But since this question didn't utilize any of these,-- I am now wondering if there are any other bi-conditional indicators not listed here? Also, does anyone know of other logical reasoning questions that use bi-conditionals?

Thanks so much!

https://classic.7sage.com/lsat_explanations/lsat-82-section-4-question-23/

I have a graduate transcript that only lists an accounting course from September 2015 to December 2015. This is the only graduate course I have taken. Should I include an addendum like the following? I received my B.S. in 2011.

"My graduate educational experience shows I attended xxx from September 2015 to December 2015. I took an accounting course while working full-time to build this skill."

Thank you 7sage Community! I recently learned I got into my top choice school. When I first started studying about a year and some change ago, it really seemed impossible to get to this point. I read posts like this one that I'm writing of people getting into law school and never thought it could be me. 7sage has been extremely helpful and I'm forever grateful for the lessons, BR calls and support from this community. Just wanted to stay that if you are at the start of your studying career and are feeling doubtful, please know I felt the exact same way but just decided to keep going. I know you will do great! Good luck to everyone and congratulations to everyone else who has recently been admitted!

Anyone else get an undergrad degree in something other than philosophy? I know this test doesn't require outside knowledge, but I'm sure knowing some aspects of formal logic definitely helps. Any thoughts on this? If anyone sought outside logic sources, what were some good books you've read?

Happy Saturday everybody!

Is anyone interested in doing a PS swap? We can discuss more details in PM or on the comments, let me know!

Trying to get as many eyes on my PS as possible :D

Hi everyone!

I realized my flashcards are all over the map. I wanted to ask fellow 7sagers: what are you flashcarding?

Thank you!

TWO QUESTIONS TO ASK! Thank you in advance!

/N->P

/O->P

/K->P

/N->J

/O->J

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I took a break to study for the LSAT and I did not do that well on the LSAT so I would rather not say that.

On job applications I just wrote that my part time job conflicted with my school schedule so I had to quit to finish my undergrad on time. I started a new job as soon as I graduated. (my work break was from August - July).

As I finished my undergrad in 4 years, its pretty clear that I was in school full time, so I think it's kind of a given that I wasn't just f*cking around for 11 months and I don't need to explain it? or should I explain just in case?

So I did write the December test but I have already registered to write the Feb one.

RC has been my weakest section and I honestly thought I had it down until I started doing some of the newer PTs.

How would you guys recommend going about this? I was planning on doing one to two passages untimed for the next couple of weeks and then start timing in January. I was fairly decent on doing the earlier RC passages untimed (-3/-5 on a section) . Though, I noticed a drastic change in my score when approaching the 60s and 70s.

What do you guys recommend? What has worked for you?

Hey all,

I got an e-mail from Georgetown requesting a 1-on-1 interview with an alumni. First, is this a good sign? Does it mean I'm being strongly considered or that I'm a "marginal" candidate?

Second, for those of you that have done a Georgetown interview, what should I expect? What questions should I expect them to ask? And how should I prepare?

Thanks,

Paul

Hi everyone, I’m panicking because I didn’t score as well as I was PTing in September. I got a 151, so I also sat for the December exam and feel decent about it. The problem is I am dying to go to the University of Georgia, and all of my former classmates are already getting acceptance letters from there, and I’m straight up PANICKING because I won’t get my score until January, and my GPA is below the median at 3.53. I have much more work and extracurricular experience than my former peers, so I feel like I still have some kind of shot if the December exam went as well as I thought. But I know there are limited spots, and they all had higher scores and GPAs than me. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hello all! I can't find that list of suggested tutors. I'm looking for either a Portland, OR based tutor, or an online tutor, who focuses on Logical Reasoning and the hard questions. Thanks for any/all help!

Hey guys,

Did anyone just receive a fee waiver from Columbia?

I know fee waivers don’t mean anything in terms of my chance of admission, but it was kind of surprising to see I received one from Columbia, considering my LSAT score is 167. (Hopefully I scored higher on the Dec. LSAT)

What do you guys think?

Hey 7sagers! I just wanted some advice. I am a first generation college grad. I have mentioned it in my personal statement. Do you guys think it is worth writing a diversity statement as well? Or is it something that is fairly common?

didn't know what other word to use for unnecessary BS

I started this LSAT journey with a quick pass through of the Kaplan logical reasoning approach and, honestly, there were still some pretty gaping holes in my comfort with logical reasoning translation. At first, I felt like the 7sage approach helped a lot... it is much more mechanical and requires memorization of those four groups and the translation strategy. This worked well for me while going through the initial lessons, but now that it's all mixed together, I am realizing that it's just not intuitive for me to translate the group 3 and 4 words so mechanically.

For example, I find it much easier to treat UNLESS as a logical indicator for the necessary term. Then, I simply replace the word "unless" with my arrow and negate the sufficient term (this was the part I often forgot while doing the Kaplan practice problems). However, Kaplan's way definitely made things easier when the sentence also contains a negative, so a group 4 word. In that case, it means what it is... that term is just a negative term. I don't have to flip things or rearrange the sentence to translate it.

My question is, if I treat "unless" and "without" in the way that Kaplan explained it to me, do I need to ignore the whole entire 7sage translation system? Or, I guess to say that differently, I am specifically wondering about translating in groups 3 and 4. Has anyone else found these two approaches conflicting or am I just looking at it the wrong way?

According to Spivey's data, there has been an overall increase in the number of applicants, specifically those scoring in the 160s to 170s, notably with a 262% increase in those who scored a 175! Does this mean that the cycle is going to be more competitive going forward, with the unlimited retake policy? How will schools treat splitters and reverse-splitters?

Heres the link: http://blog.spiveyconsulting.com/december-2017-data/

My name is Mark. Ill be travelling to NYC for the week next week and would love to grab a coffee with a few cohorts. I'm thinking Monday afternoon, 2pm-ish, but I am pretty flexible. Sort of a nomad for the week.

A little about me. 49, my oldest is in the city for his Masters degree work at Juilliard. I just (emotionally) finished taking the LSAT for the last time, so I am one of those that is working with what they have. (This test beat the crap out of the CPA exam I have to say, and that exam lasted for days not hours).

Whether you are seasoned, or fresh out of school, it makes sense to me to reach out and share stories, strategies, or just general fears.

We can target a location as we get closer.

And to save the discussion boards some clutter, we may move the convo "offline". I'll keep checking in periodically to see if anyone's interest has been peaked.

I graduated last June and took the December test, short story is I am 95% sure that I did poorly. I am currently registered for the February test.I have called the schools I am interested in applying and they said that I will still be in consideration even after February. They will just hold my application while they wait for my February results. I am not applying for any scholarship money, since I am well aware its too late to even apply. But is it too late to apply to law school with the February LSAT result?

I have read people saying that most admission spots will be filled, and this is highly discouraging... Why the heck would the school even take my application (and money) if they already filled their roster for 2018...

I graduated from undergrad this past May, did a fulfilling internship abroad, then came home to start studying for my LSAT. I thought I would take it in Dec but my PS course didn't adequately prepare me and I found 7sage too late. Planning to take in Feb, but even considering taking it in June if my scores aren't consistently in the 170s by the Feb date.

I can't help but feel embarrassed that I've taken time off to come home study for this exam while my impressive, high achieving friends are off with their shiny new post-grad jobs. I decided to take time off/study at home because I know personally that I'm pretty anxious with standardized exams and wanted to feel fully prepped. My diagnostic was also much lower than I wanted it to be. I feel lesser telling them "I'm studying for the LSAT."

Now I can't help but feel even more embarrassed with the thought of pushing the date back and them knowing/judging me, etc.

Has anyone been in a similar situation with friends? How did you deal with it? I feel dumb for even typing this out, but it's getting to the point where I think it's affecting my studying bc I feel like I'm doing something wrong.

Hey! I’m starting to foolproof games now and I was wondering if and why it’s necessary to keep your old game papers and setups as opposed to just the data? Do you ever go back and look at ur game setups ? Thanks!

Hey everyone,

Columbia is currently the #5 law school in the nation. But relative to other schools within its ranks, its 25th/50th/75th percentile GPAs are incredibly low: 3.56/3.70/3.81.

Their LSAT scores are more on par with their ranking: 168/172/174.

To me, this could be the result of two competing explanations:

If scenario #1 is true, that is a really good case for GPA splitters - people who have good GPAs but meh LSATs. For example, a 3.90 GPA with a 167 LSAT might just get you into Columbia.

But if scenario #2 is true, then sorry GPA splitters! It doesn't really matter.

I was wondering what y'alls' thoughts were on this topic. I've always been dumbfounded as to how comparatively low Columbia's GPA standards are. Is this because people who apply their don't have as stellar GPAs, or because they just don't care about GPA as much? Or something else?

I'd love to hear your thoughts and theories.

Thanks,

Paul