Don't Break the 100% Rule for Law School Rankings (Ep. 293)
In an action-packed show, the guys hit all the bases: pearls vs. turds, excuse of the week, the latest news from the law-school universe, law school admissions success stories, advice for 1L hopefuls. The works. Nathan and Ben take a look at how Khan Academy teaches LG compared to building worlds. They talk about Georgetown slipping from the top 14. They try to decipher LSAC’s new policy on how many times you can take the LSAT. They offer some advice to someone who’s hoping to attend Harvard with a 3.2 GPA, and they consider whether it’s too late to consider applying in the 2021-2022 cycle. Plus the dive deep into the murky bowels of Florida Coastal School of Law, which is facing closure after the government declared it would stop loaning money to students planning to attend.
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.
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Important Dates
04.30.2021 – Don’t miss out—it’s the incredibly early registration deadline for the June LSAT
06.12.2021 – Break out the short sleeves, it’s the June LSAT-Flex testing week!
Important News
Thinking of taking the June LSAT-Flex? Join Nathan’s free June LSAT-Flex Study Group, now open for registration at www.lsatdemon.com.
4:47 – Pearls vs. Turds
Khan Academy is at it again. While their other academic or test-taking advice may be sound, it pretty much falls apart when it comes to the LSAT. Ben and Nathan look at how Khan recommends solving for a conditional rule in an ordering game. Sadly, for all the folks who heed Khan Academy’s advice, the method is far more confusing and labor-intensive than simply building worlds. The guys talk through Khan’s method, tear it apart, and share how they might solve the same logic game.
33:03 – U.S. News and World Report Law School Rankings Update
One of the prestigious T14 schools has been de-throned, dear listeners. Yep. One of the east coast greats, Georgetown Law, slipped from the top 14 this past week and UCLA took its place, mixing up the 15th-place holder in the pecking order. Nathan and Ben discuss just how pointless and inconsequential this is for anyone who gives a f*ck about going to law school, except for maybe the admins over at Georgetown Law… The guys also create a new rule to live by when considering law school rankings.
42:32 – Excuse of the Week
"I missed that question but I'm not worried about it because the Demon shows it as a level five difficulty, so that means a lot of other people missed it too." That’s right, y’all. It’s your (sometimes) weekly Excuse of the Week; it’s a segment of the show where the guys discuss an excuse overheard in an LSAT prep classroom. In this week’s excuse, a student is less concerned about their error on one of the harder questions in a section. While it’s important that you nail down questions of easier difficulty, the guys talk about why this excuse reveals misguided thinking. First of all, eyes on your work. Play your own game. Don’t think about the company you’re in when you’re f*cking up. Second of all, level-five difficulty questions still make up roughly one in six questions, so by dismissing them out of hand, you’re leaving a lot of valuable points on the table.
58:18 – LSAC Doesn’t Know its Own Rules
Recently, LSAC updated its policy around how many tests you can take in a given cycle. Unfortunately, the update is awfully confusing. Nathan and Ben go over the change and make a few guesses as to what the actual policy is. This is a developing story, however, as no one seems to be able to get to the bottom of when the cycle begins and ends, and if the new changes affect students who are in the midst of a cycle determined by a previous policy.
1:10:04 – LSAT Demon Success Story
The guys get some fan mail from Nick Rock, who got some help from Thinking LSAT and the LSAT Demon and ended up with a full-ride to law school plus a stipend. Badass, Nick! Glad you’re not paying for law school!
1:10:53 – Going to Harvard?
Sarah is living in Indiana with five kids in a great marriage working in marketing at a compounding pharmacy. Sounds like a pretty sweet life, so the guys wonder why they’re even hearing from Sarah. The reason? Sarah wants to attend Harvard Law and wants to know how she can get there—or if it’s even possible with an undergrad GPA of 3.2. She’s got a bunch of cool skills for their resumé, like being able to speak six languages, but is wondering how much weight this will have on a law school app. The guys give Sarah some tough love and suggest that she get her best LSAT score, apply broadly, and go to school for free. Yep, any law school in the T14 will be difficult to get into with plenty of scholarship money with a GPA of 3.2. Ben and Nathan recommend that Sarah think long and hard about whether law school is even the right move.
1:28:39 – Too Late for the 2021-2022 Law School Admissions Cycle?
Ava is graduating next May and is considering applying for law school this fall. But she’s wondering if she’s already too late to consider applying in the upcoming cycle. Nathan and Ben agree that the answer is “maybe…maybe not.” They recommend Ava sign up for the June LSAT, start studying now, and plan to get her best score by the August test. If she does, she’ll be ready to apply in the fall. If not, maybe it makes sense to wait a year…or two.
1:32:43 – Florida Coastal School of Law is FUBAR
Florida Coastal School of Law is in the sights of the federal government. After years of delivering subpar law school education, the department of education is putting the brakes on offering loans to students who attend the school. Ben and Nathan go over the implications of this decision—that FCSL is likely out of business in a few years. The guys wish this type of action would happen more to law schools that are basically preying on students and scamming the government for loan money.