Has anyone hired an advisor/consultant for their applications?

madeleine

And if so, could you make any recommendations? Thinking of looking into consulting but it's very expensive! All this work however, along with LSAT/law school fees, may make it a wise (and comparatively moderate) investment.

Jonathan Wang

I do some admissions consulting (usually as a result of my LSAT students wanting to stick with me through the whole process), but I don't want this post to be about that. Rather, I want to shed some light on exactly why consulting is so expensive, and why you should not settle.

It boils down to this: when you are actively buying someone's time and attention, it will not come cheap if it's worth having. The people worth working with are the ones that are willing to attach their names and personal reputations to their work, and who have results that demonstrates their expertise. Unfortunately, the people most qualified to help you are also typically the people least likely to give you a bargain basement rate. They've spent years developing and honing a very specific set of very valuable skills; why would they devalue their own services? Try asking a partner at Skadden or a doctor at Mt. Sinai to take on your case for $25/hour and see how that goes for you.

People who try to compete on price tend to be new and (therefore) not as confident that their hourly rate is justified. If that's a chance you're willing to take, then more power to you. Experienced tutors who compete on price don't really exist, and if they do, you don't want to take from them anyway - if after 3 or 4 years they're still not confident that their juice is worth the squeeze, then that says a lot. Put it this way - if you can find someone with a long history of good results (specifically getting students into good law schools, not just nebulous stuff like 'good at editing'), who is willing to attach his name and reputation to his work, and whose prior clients enthusiastically recommend him, and that guy only wants $25/hour? Gold mine. But I think it's fairly obvious how likely finding someone like that will be. Past that, it really just becomes a question of how willing you are to put your law school admissions on the line to save some bucks.

#1 advice - ask questions. Lots of them. Someone who knows what they're doing will happily answer them all, and give you plenty of references on top of that. They will be completely open with you because their reputations are staked on their results. If they're not 100% open with you, or you perceive that they're trying to paper over their weaknesses, red flags galore.

madeleine

Thanks guys! Ttuden, I checked out your friend's website- does he do essays and other elements of the application process? I was only seeing LSAT tutoring

lsattutorinla

@madeleine Ann Levine released a book - It may be helpful to read (or at the very least least skim) it if you are at all interested in consulting. She gives a very thorough, yet succinct breakdown of what she thinks is important in the application process.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Law-School-Admission-Game/dp/0578065215

hyunnysoo-1

What kind of students should look at hiring a consultant or admissions help? If your scores are safely in the median/75% range, and you have a law school advisor at an Ivy League college,would you be okay without one?

sergiokays

Is there a list of well known counselors/advisors one could decide from?

I surely agree that if any advantage can be gained from a counselor for something we are already investing a lot of time and money into, then ill take it, only i'd like to be sure its as valuable to me as 7sage is.

The 180 Bro_OVO

@jonathan

Could you talk more about your admissions counseling?