Waitlist Mania (Ep. 280)
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We’re well into the law school admissions cycle and letters are beginning to come back to 1L hopefuls. Included in letters that make and dash dreams are the occasional, inevitable “you’ve been waitlisted” letter. The guys hear from a listener who’s been waitlisted and answer a few questions about how to let school’s know they’re still your top choice. Plus they offer some help to someone whose practice scores are always higher than their official test scores, they hear from a junior in college who’s racing toward law school, and they answer another LR question from Prep Test 65.
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Important Dates
02.03.2021 – January LSAT-Flex scores released
02.20.2021 – It’s the February LSAT-Flex, loves!
02.24.2021 – It’s not ridiculous at all that this is the registration deadline for the April LSAT-Flex
04.10.2021 – It’s raining LSAT! The April LSAT-Flex testing week begins!
15:37 – Underperforming on Official Tests
Kendyl’s been taking practice tests “under exact Flex conditions.” And the best part about her practice? She’s never scored below 170. The worst part about her practice? It’s never resulted in an actual Flex test—of which she’s taken three—higher than the 160s. She wants to know how she can take her practice Flex performance to prime time. The guys consider the myriad ways that Kendyl may be hamstringing herself when it comes to the actual test. The bottom line advice? Try to have fun with the test—don’t take it too seriously. Prepare, and head to the actual Flex relaxed and ready to play like you practice.
41:08 – Junior In College Seeking Advice
A college junior is looking ahead to 2022 when they plan to apply to law school. They want to know how they can “speed up their run” and present themselves as a strong candidate. The only catch is that their GPA is currently 3.0. And while it’s trending upward, they’re worried their undergrad performance will hurt their chances of attending a west-coast regional school. Nathan and Ben take a look at some ABA 509 reports and the LSAT Demon Scholarship Estimator and determine that this Junior has a lot of options if they maintain or raise their GPA—but they also ask why they’re in such a hurry to get to law school in the first place.
54:27 – Waitlist Questions: Question 1 – Waitlisted at Georgetown
Several listeners write in with some questions about being waitlisted. The first is from Anon, who is currently waitlisted at Georgetown. Anon asks the guys if there’s anything to be done to scoot off that waitlist and into sweet acceptance. Ben and Nathan offer some tips about how to communicate with a school where you’re waitlisted, but they also recommend simply withdrawing your application and seeing what happens. You can always shoot for a better LSAT score and apply again, or you can simply head to a school that gives you a full-ride. If you’re waitlisted at Georgetown, there are probably a bunch of schools that would love to have you at the top of their class.
1:02:24 – Waitlist Questions: Question 2 – How to Show Continued Interest
A’s been waitlisted and has written a letter of continued interest. But he’s been hearing out in the wild that it can be a good idea to continue to keep in touch with admissions staffers even after that initial email. The guys share some tips on how to communicate with your dream school “like a normal person,” and recommend just being transparent, casual but professional, and brief in your correspondence. It can be helpful to have a face-to-face relationship with staffers, so if there are virtual tours, Q and A sessions, or interviews you can take part in, take advantage of these so that staffers can put a friendly face to your name.
1:11:49 – Waitlist Questions: Question 3 – Waitlist Limbo
Matt’s in limbo. He’s waitlisted at his dream school and is worried about when he’ll find out about his acceptance. If it’s May—or later—he’s worried he won’t be able to decide for the fall of 2021. He’s planning to take the LSAT again this spring in hopes that a higher score will nudge his desired school in the right direction. The guys recommend that Matt absolutely take the test at least one more time and consider re-applying in 2021. You never know, withdrawing your application might make your dream school look at you a little differently…
1:19:08 – LR Question 17 from Prep Test 65
Nathan and Ben head back into the bowels of prep test 65 and rip up another LR question. This time it’s a parallel reasoning question about music videos. They take you through the question step by step and share how they think abstract the “descriptive” layer of the passage and take a look at the underlying building blocks of the argument, which help them sniff out the right answer in a flash.