Asking for a Friend (Ep. 169)
Ben’s up and at ‘em. Nathan’s shaking off the cobwebs after a rowdy evening. And the guys kick off the last month of 2018 with a show packed with some hilariously bad writing. Before they dive into your questions, though, dear listeners, Ben and Nathan talk about how they get distracted by social media and what they’d rather be doing with their time. On today’s show you’ll learn Ben’s favorite Tesla feature, how to study after you’ve bombed the LSAT, what to do if you’ve got some awfulness on your transcript, and what not to put in your personal statement. Boom.
As always, if you like the show and you want to get more from the Thinking LSAT community, check out the links below. You can connect with other folks studying for the LSAT, and get more useful resources from Nathan and Ben.
5:35 – Email 1—As Ben discusses the benefits of the LSAT Demon, he reads some feedback from a recent LSAT Demon convert. It turns out the user found an error in one of the question sets (thanks for letting us know!), but aside from the typo she could find nary a bad thing to say about the service. In fact, it’s been keeping her honest in moments where she would otherwise be messing around on Instagram or whatever else.
8:26 – PSA—The guys take a brief aside to talk about the cost of the Thinking LSAT personal statement review service. Yeah, at almost $2,000, it’s expensive. You’re right. But it’s good. Real good. And presenting your best self to law school could save you hundreds of thousands of dollars. So…yeah. There’s that. The guys talk about how your LSAT score could be directly correlated with the quality of the first draft of your personal statement. They talk about why it’s important to hear tough feedback. And Nathan rants about how he would like to charge for the service.
15:57 – Did you ever have an idea that you were sure of, but then everyone else told you it was fucking dumb? Well don’t write those ideas off too soon, dear listeners. Ben shares an article that lauds the once-maligned “bio-weapon defense mode” in Tesla vehicles for being a godsend during the tragic wildfires in California. Folks were driving around with relative safety, thanks to Tesla’s air filtration system. Nathan and Ben gush over Elon Musk for a moment, and then move on.
18:33 – It’s your weekly segment of Pearls vs. Turds. And so far, the leaderboard may grimly foreshadow the many segments to come with TURDS ranking in at 2 and PEARLS, 0. This week, the guys assess some wisdom about how college admissions staffers review your range of scores. The guys are quick to judge.
28:06 – Email 2—Sometimes you’re out minding your own business, playing a game or something, and a fucking softball crashes into your skull. Such was the situation for poor Kylie. Bad, bad luck. Before the softball incident, her practice test scores were doing ok. But after, she had trouble focusing. She surmounted the issue and got her practice test scores back up to the mid-160s. When she finally sat for the test, she bombed: a 142. She asks the guys how to study again after a huge disappointment on test day. Nathan and Ben weigh in.
45:40 – Email 3—Confidential writes in to ask a question for a friend. Confidential’s friend was suspended from school for a year due to sexual misconduct. And it says so on their transcript. He wants to know if this essentially disqualifies him from going to law school. Ben and Nathan concur that this is some pretty bad shit that may indeed disqualify one from going to law school or practicing law. Their pro tip—aside from “don’t go to law school”—is to call your state bar.
1:03:12 – Email 4—Nicholas asks the guys to review his personal statement. His request? Be as brutal as possible. The guys do not disappoint. They burn the statement to the ground—big time. But Nicholas’s statement is an excellent example of a piece that is a rather terrible story, even though it’s mostly well written. Tune in to hear some decent writing on topics you should never ever write about in a document like this.