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LSAT Advice, please!

inactiveinactive Alum Member
in General 12637 karma
Hey 7Sagers,

Someone sent this question to me and I thought you could help out! Here's the question:

If you don't mind, I wanted to get some real advice from you regarding my LSAT scores and law schools.
My first LSAT score was 160 (June 2014), and the second time I received 155 (December 2014). I applied to law schools afterwards, and got accepted to University of Illinois, and waitlisted on UC Irvine. I already signed up to attend the University of Illinois Law, but I am still hesitant mainly because I want to clerk for Supreme Court or get into a big law firm upon graduation, but I am afraid that the University of Illinois Law would not provide me with those opportunities due to its low school ranking (#41). Since my LSAT score went down the second round, I think I am afraid to take another LSAT to see my chances with higher ranked law schools next year, but if I could raise the score, I would like to take once more.

In my situation, what advice would you give?
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Comments

  • ddakjikingddakjiking Inactive ⭐
    2116 karma
    I would definitely recommend using that last retake! Trying to clerk for the Supreme Court would be an unicorn type of position but biglaw is realistic out from top schools.

    The biglaw placement rate out of UIUC is ~25% which is not bad but also not good. I think most of the T14's except for Georgetown have biglaw rates of over 50%.

    What's your GPA like?
  • jdawg113jdawg113 Alum Inactive ⭐
    2654 karma
    proper studying and time allocation can push past that initial 160... I say go for it but make sure its done right. Don't blow off studying for anytime a friend asks to hang out, go through all the lessons/chapters. Get them fundamentals down and drill drill drill with CRAZY review (especially since I assume most PT's will now be retakes) but get super familiar with the test and type of questions (not the questions themselves) and get that better score and go to a better school
  • PacificoPacifico Alum Inactive ⭐
    8021 karma
    It would be helpful to know what kind of prep was done for the first two attempts. If you're set on going to school this year I would push for Irvine since they have a top 7 faculty and pretty good clerking numbers which probably has to do with the connections that their awesome faculty has.

    Otherwise if you really want to aim higher then go ahead and get 7Sage and the Trainer and get to work for the October LSAT. You've got plenty of time but need to make good use of it and there is a great support network here to help with that. Best of luck in whatever you choose!
  • NYC12345NYC12345 Alum Inactive Sage
    1654 karma
    Biglaw isn't unrealistic coming from a regional school; however, those jobs are reserved for the exceptional students that manage to be in the top 5-10% of the class. T14 schools send more than half of their graduates to large firms, and many more have the opportunity but choose PI or BigFed instead.
  • MichelleMichelle Member
    16 karma
    My GPA is 3.4 from UC Berkeley as an Econ major. Not that high, so I would have to get a higher score on the LSAT on the third attempt, if I were to retake. I think I'm now scared to restart on the LSAT study (even thinking about it makes me nauseous), thinking it's not learnable... :(
  • ddakjikingddakjiking Inactive ⭐
    2116 karma
    @Michelle

    If you were to go all out and get a 170, here's what your chances at T14 can be.

    http://mylsn.info/v6cans/

    Since you also mentioned your UG, are you from California or want to work in the state after law school? It would be tough to get CA biglaw from UIUC.
  • jdawg113jdawg113 Alum Inactive ⭐
    2654 karma
    @Michelle its totally learnable. Some people do have caps but Im sure you have not hit yours yet. 3.4 isn't the highest but it is not all that terrible. What kind of prep did you do for your other attempts? the LSAT is a rough beast but sometimes it takes a nice break and a new perspective to break new ground. I know more than 1 person that got practically the same score twice and then jumped a solid amount for a killer score. You may feel down and out but there is always something more you can do to better prepare yourself
  • MichelleMichelle Member
    16 karma
    If I could come back to CA, I would love to, but if not, staying in Illinois is fine, too. I didn't finish all the last 36 preptests, so I still have some pristine tests to study on. Wish me luck! and thank you for all your comments!
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