Account Lockdown and Other Application Woes (Ep. 279)
Application season can be stressful, you’re gathering up your documents, your letters of rec, your personal essay, your transcripts. It can be a mess, especially if you’re waiting for your autumn LSAT scores to roll in. And it can get even messier if LSAC locks your account down because you applied for an LSAC fee waiver. In this episode, the guys hear a tale of woe from the 2020 application cycle, they field some questions about whether someone else can submit your application for you in 2021, and they offer advice for someone is looking for a job ahead of attending law school in 2022. Plus, the guys consider some advice about LG setups, they get the insider scoop from a current 1L, and they slice and dice an LR question from prep test 65.
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.
Important Dates
01.16.2021 – Y’all ready for this?! It’s the January LSAT
02.20.2021 – It’s the February LSAT, loves!
02.24.2021 – It’s not ridiculous at all that this is the registration deadline for the April LSAT
04.10.2021 – It’s raining LSAT! The April LSAT Flex testing week begins!
10:15 – Pearls vs. Turds
It’s your (sometimes) weekly segment, Pearls vs. Turds, in which Nathan and Ben weigh some wisdom “from the field” and determine whether it is a useful pearl of wisdom or a wouldn’t-touch-it-with-a-ten-foot-pole turd of wisdom. Today’s piece of advice to be considered comes courtesy of Sam (thanks, Sam!), and it’s about logic games. Sam suggests that for some LG problems where the game allows for two reasonable setups, it can be useful to glance at the first question to help you determine which door to go through. While the guys understand how this could work for Sam, it’s not the advice they would give in class and discuss all of the ways this could fall apart in practice.
18:37 – LSAC Fee Waiver Nightmare
Poor Andy got effed trying to do the right thing. He applied for an LSAC fee waiver soon after he took the October LSAT and just a week before results were released. Upon receipt of Andy’s application, LSAC—instead of working quickly on Andy’s behalf—put his account on severe lockdown. As a result, Andy didn’t get his October scores until well into December. That kinda cramped his style when it came to applying to law school early in the cycle. The good news? Andy received a fee waiver, and not only that but his unplanned delay is causing him to reconsider the 160 that he nabbed in the fall. He’s planning to take the April LSAT to shoot for higher and apply next cycle. The guys discuss the pros and cons of Andy’s situation (hint, it’s mostly upside). They also share Andy’s insights about standing desks when it comes to LSAT testing accommodations.
28:10 – Book Recommendation from 1L, Matt Dumont
Longtime listener and current rock star 1L, Matt Dumont writes in with a book recommendation for all of you law school hopefuls out there. Matt’s reading the book as he heads into his spring semester, but he wishes he had read it before he even set foot on campus. Heed this pearl of wisdom from Matt. If you’re interested in becoming a lawyer, check out this book.
Getting a Running Start: Your Comprehensive Guide to the First Year Curriculum
35:42 – Having a Friend Submit Your Application
J is in the military and plans to go to officer candidate school next autumn—smack dab in the middle of application season. So J wants to know if he could entrust someone else to submit all of his applications for him—granted that J will be the one creating all of the materials for said app. The guys agree that a third party could help J out, but it’d have to be a solid friend. There’s a lot…a lot of nitty gritty logistical shit you need to pay attention to when applying to law school. If you’re going to have a friend do it, be ready to buy them a significant quantity of beer once you return from OCS.
39:40 – Working Before Law School
F is planning to apply to law school this year and attend law school in 2022. They’re wondering if they can make some savvy career moves in the meanwhile. F asks Ben and Nathan if there’s a specific job that will give them a leg up when it comes to attending law school. Here are some pro tips:
- Choose a job in (or adjacent to the) law to get a sense of whether you’re interested in this field. The guys discuss a bunch of law jobs you don’t need a JD for in episode 274.
- Pick something that might interest you way outside the law—you just might find a few reasons to not become a lawyer or some great fodder for a personal statement.
- When you go to law school, you’ll be competing with folks who have been paralegals and working in the law for years. There isn’t a career decision that you could make now that would give you an outsized advantage when it comes to applying to law school.
51:04 – LR Question
Ben and Nathan tackle a reasoning question from prep test 65. They’re on to LR question 16 from section four and it’s a gnarly one. Though it’s written in piss-poor, ass-backward legal speak, the guys rip the argument down to the bones and show you how to breeze through an otherwise complicated question.