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If you walk out of the LSAT shaking your head and wondering what went wrong, you’re not alone. Plenty of test-takers are asking the same questions. Should I cancel my score? Should I wait to see how I did? What if I’m disappointed with my score? Do I retake the test? How will schools view multiple test scores? What should I do differently next time?

We hear these questions over and over again so we gathered our panel of  experts to get you some answers. 

  Our upcoming podcast features the following guests:

• William Hoye, Associate Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs, Duke University School of Law
• Sarah Zearfoss, Senior Assistant Dean for Admissions, Financial Planning, and Career Planning, University of Michigan Law School
• Noah Teitelbaum, Executive Director of Academics, Manhattan Prep
• Jeff Thomas, Director of Prelaw Programs, Kaplan Test Prep

So, how do law schools view multiple test scores?

Well, schools may differ, but Duke’s Dean Hoye explains the nuances, “[i]t’s a complicated answer, in that two things are happening.  One is that law schools are trying to use the LSAT in the way that it was intended, and to really understand the science behind the LSAT, and use it in a way that’s appropriate in making decisions for law school.  And second, we also have obligations to our accrediting body – that’s the American bar Association – in that we report data after the end of each year about our entering class, and some of the data that are reported are LSAT medians for an entering class.  And that’s important information; it’s consumer information; and so all schools, of course, cooperate with that.  Many years ago, the American Bar Association asked law schools to report the average of multiple test scores.  Yet, a few years ago a change was made, and the ABA now asks law schools to report the highest score that a candidate received if he has taken it more than once.  But that’s a very different consideration than how we use the test and why we use it in the way that we do. 

 “So what’s important to understand is that the science behind the test shows that when an applicant has taken the test more than one time, in most cases the average score is going to be a better predictor for law school performance in the first year than the high score or any of the scores – and that’s on average.  And so we know those data, and so that means that the average might be something that we consider.  But I think, even more important than that, we’re trying to understand every element of the application file.  So we’re looking at the average score, we’re looking at all the scores individually, and then we’re trying to put all of that into context with everything else we see in the application.  Because for me, when I’m reading a file, the LSAT really doesn’t have a whole lot of meaning in and of itself, unless I put it into the context of one’s academic performance in college, and other kinds of abilities and preparation that we think are important for success in law school.”

So that’s some insight into what multiple scores tell law schools.  But what if you still don’t know what your next move is – cancel, retake, leave your current score alone? We tackle those questions and more – stay tuned for the full show!

A personal statement is really no more than telling a story—one that illuminates the “you” a law school would be lucky to have in its student body. In this series, “Telling Your Story,” jdMission Senior Consultant Mary Adkins discusses how elements of storytelling can—and should—be applied to your personal statement.

Here is a tip that I give myself all the time: Avoid using two sentences that essentially say the same thing.

Here is the reason I have to remind myself of this tip all the time: I do it often, particularly in first drafts.

Take this paragraph:

When I was a kid, my family went to the circus every year. It was a family tradition for us to go see the animals, clowns and trapeze artists, and to eat cotton candy and popcorn until we felt sick yet still incredibly happy. I hated the clowns almost as much as I loved the beautiful trapeze artists. The clowns scared me, but the trapeze artists were enchanting. I used to wish that I could replace every clown with a trapeze artist—then the circus would have truly been perfect.

Suppose this were an opening paragraph to a personal statement. What is wrong with it? You could probably make many criticisms of it, but the issue I want to highlight in particular is that the last three sentences all more or less say the same thing: I did not like the clowns, but I did like the trapeze artists.

When you are revising your personal statements, always take time to look specifically for duplicative sentences—sentences that more or less just restate something you have already expressed. Elaborating on what you have just written is different and completely acceptable, if not encouraged, but reiterating is much less effective. So be thoughtful when making that judgment call. My bet is that you will typically find at least a few sentences that are purely duplicative. Eliminating them will make your essay tighter and stronger.

This is a guest post by jdMission, a professional law school admissions consulting firm, specializing in helping law school applicants identify and showcase the strongest aspects of their candidacy in their application.

You can sign up for a free one-on-one consultation with jdMission by submitting the form found at http://jdmission.com/consult.php.

For more information on this topic, check out these great podcasts:

• Law School Personal Statements & Letters of Recommendation: Where To Begin?
• Law School Strategic Admission Plan: What You Can Do Now to Get Accepted Next Year

Manhattan LSAT is celebrating the introduction of LSAT Interact, their dynamic new self-study prep lessons, by giving one lucky person a free iPad AND a free enrollment in LSAT Interact. Just click here to like their post on Facebook to enter the competition.

In addition to Manhattan LSAT’s one grand prize, for every 50 people who like their post on Facebook, Manhattan LSAT will  give away another enrollment in LSAT Interact. So, if 100 people like their post, Manhattan LSAT will give away the iPad and LSAT Interact enrollment to one person, then two other enrollments to two other people.

Manhattan LSAT will pick the lucky winners at noon EST on March 5th.

CLICK HERE to LIKE Manhattan LSAT’s post on Facebook!

Good luck!!

You call the shots on this one! Set your own LSAT study schedule, but get all the benefits of an “elite”  live course!

Manhattan LSAT’s ‘LSAT Interact’ is a fully interactive self-study program that allows students to study on their own time, at their own pace, without having to passively digest information for hours on end. Designed by Manhattan Prep’s resident LSAT guru Noah Teitelbaum, the program was created to force students to think, just like they would if they were in a live class with a real teacher asking them questions. Each lesson is adaptive, so the direction of the lesson is dictated by the inputs that students make in to the program.

‘LSAT Interact: Complete’ includes all three Manhattan LSAT Strategy Guides, a detailed, customizable syllabus, access to every PrepTests released by LSAC since the test has been in its current form, as well as a host of other resources. Students can request to try the first lesson for each section for free by contacting studentservices@manhattalsat.com or calling (646) 254-6480.

And there’s even a discount code that takes $100 off of LSAT Interact,  now through April 30^th, 2013.  Use code LSATINTERACT100. 

See for yourself! Check out this great video introducing LSAT Interact!

If you’re thinking you might want a career in public interest law, it’s not too early to start planning, even while  you’re still a law school applicant!  

We recently devoted an entire podcast to this topic.  Our show covers everything a law student heading to the public sector should focus on, from curriculum offerings at law schools, law school career services, financial support and much more. 

 In this Law School Podcaster segment, we gathered the following panel of experts to get their take on these questions and to take a closer look at this career path: 

• David Stern, Executive Director, Equal Justice Works,
• Luke Bierman, Associate Dean for Experiential Education, Northeastern University School of Law
• Christina Jackson, Assistant Director, Public Interest Specialist at American University Washington College of Law
• Mark Kantrowitz, Publisher, Fastweb.com and FinAid.org

Our experts recommend you start by relying less on rankings and more on specific course offerings.  As American University Washington School of Law’s Assistant Director, Public Interest Specialist Christina Jackson explains, “[t]he interesting thing is, particularly if you’re interested in the public sector, rankings, US News rankings, that type of thing isn’t quite as important, for two basic reasons. The first is the types of employers that you’re going to be targeting don’t necessarily use GPA, class rank, those type of… journal or law review, that type of criteria, as their defining criteria.

And the second thing is you need to look at what your school is going to offer you, in order to give you the experience that you need, to go to the employer that you’re targeting. So for instance, when you’re looking at law schools if you want to go into the public sector, you need to look at what are the experiential learning opportunities? What are the clinics? What are the externships? How are you going to get practical experience? Because for some public sector employers, there is no lag time, and there’s no training time — you must be ready to go directly upon graduation.

“You also need to look at what are the course offerings. The public sector employers tend to be a little bit more focused on subject matter knowledge than the private sector may be, or maybe going forward.

 “The other thing you need to look at is the places that the alumni are going. Is the school known for being a public sector school? Or is it known for being a private sector school? And therefore, how are the resources allocated? What are the student organizations that you can join? What are the alumni that you’ll be able to be exposed to? Where are there gonna be the connections for the type of employers that you’re looking for? And that’s really the key. If you are interested in a public sector employer after graduation you need to look at the schools that are going to help you get connected with those employers.”

Tune in to the full show to hear more!

Once you hit “submit” on the LSAC website, you begin yet another challenging part of the law school application process.

Welcome to the waiting room…  It’s easy to obsess over checking your emails constantly and viewing the law schools’ “online status checkers.”  We know -  it’s a good idea to check these online status checkers periodically to make sure your application has been received by a law school, to determine if there’s anything missing from your file, and confirm your application is complete.  But don’t get carried away and make a full time job of it! 

Once you confirm your application is complete at all the schools you’ve applied to, here’s some tips for what to do while you wait:

1.  Assume with confidence you’ll gain admission to some of your top choice schools.  If you’ve done your research carefully, and used the appropriate LSAT/GPA precentile data provided by law schools, you should receive some good news. 

2. Assume you may not get into all the schools you’ve applied to. If you’ve applied to a range of schools (and you should have), there’s a good chance that one of those ”reach” schools may pass on you.  No worries; there will be good options for you.

3. At some point soon, you’ll be making some tough choices about which school to choose. That’s when the shoe is on the other foot and YOU get to decide!  So now is the time to find out as much as possible about which school is right for you.  

• Consider all the key factors, including location, cost, reputation, type of facilities, available financial aid, quality of faculty, composition of student body, atmosphere.  Focus on what’s most important to you before you start hearing back.
• Talk to those (students and recent law grads) who have gone to law school before you. Straight from the horse’s mouth and all.
• Plan to visit a few of your top choices once you’ve been admitted.  You’ll want to meet with students, admissions and financial aid representatives and you should try to sit in on some classes!

4. Don’t call the admissions office every day, every other day or every third day.  As we heard from the Dean of Admissions at one top law school, “it’s a good idea to keep in mind  that the admissions committees now have as large a job going through the applications as the students did in filling them out.” 

5.  We know you’ve heard it before, but it’s really important.  Get your financial house in order now. Pay off (or reduce) as much consumer debt as possible before you go to law school. Save money wherever and whenever ou can.  Live now like a well-disciplined student – borrow as little as possible.

6. If you haven’t done so already, it’s a good time to complete the applications necessary for financial aid consideration,  include the FAFSA, and sometimes additional forms at particular law schools.  Do your homework now and find out what the requirements are for receipt of financial aid. You can’t get too much of this type of info.

7. Think long and hard about why you really want to go to law school.  Is it really the best next step for you?  Consider carefully how this investment in your future really fits with your specific career goals. 

While you do all these things, remember to work out, listen to music, make the most of whatever you’re doing now (finishing  college, working, enjoying your family), and maybe master “Words with Friends.”   That’s also the stuff that will carry you right through to success as a 1L.

Good luck!

Deep within the Manhattan LSAT Geek Lair (a real place, by the way, located somewhere in the mountains of Colorado), a team of master LSAT teachers has been dissecting and deconstructing the December 2012 LSAT. While it was Socrates who said “the only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing”, we’re never going to stop in our relentless mission to fill the world with all of the geeky truisms of being a top scorer the LSAT.

Join Manhattan Prep on Tuesday evening, January 8th, at 8pm EST for a free live online review of the December 2012 LSAT. Manhattan Prep’s executive director of academics Noah Teitelbaum will be joined by curriculum developer Dmitry Farber to break down the exam’s more difficult questions, as well as to address that age old question of whether or not to retake.

Admit Advantage has got you covered with a free webinar tomorrow!

The Dos and Don’ts of Personal Statements

Thursday, December 13, 2012 7pm CST/ 8pm EST

The right personal statement can make all the difference and help you overcome less than stellar LSAT scores or GPAs! Even applicants with great numbers, need top-notch personal statements to make them stand out. The Admit Advantage law director will teach you how to make the best impression with your personal statement and put your application over the edge.

Detailed Q&A to follow.

Click on this link to register now:  https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/321455574

There’s a lot of talk these days about changes in the traditional law school curriculum.  Until recently, a law student’s educational experience hadn’t changed much in the past several decades: law students read and brief appellate cases, and law professors use the Socratic Method to pose a sequence of questions, leading students to think through legal concepts and problems (to supposedly ”learn to think like a lawyer“).

But the tighter legal job market has forced some changes.

Law firms, businesses, and the clients they serve, are demanding that more be done by law schools to train and prepare properly future lawyers while they are still in school. We recently delved into this topic in our podcast, Beyond Thinking Like a Lawyer: What Changes in Legal Education Mean for Law Students.

This trend by law schools toward curriculum reform is confirmed by Kaplan Test Prep’s 2012 survey of law school admissions officers . The Kaplan survey finds that 68% of law schools have already revamped their curriculum to make their students more “practice ready”; 5% say they’ve decided to so, but haven’t implemented the changes yet; 9% say they are considering making curriculum changes; and 18% say they have no plans to make curriculum changes. Among the curriculum changes some schools have made or are considering making: more clinical work opportunities and giving students more opportunities to specialize in a specific field, which can give them a competitive edge in a field that values specialization.

In our podcast, Beyond Thinking Like a Lawyer: What Changes in Legal Education Mean for Law Students, we heard from those on the front lines of developing new paths in law school to help bridge the gap from law school to law practice, including William D. Henderson, Professor of Law at Indiana University Maurer School of Law.  Henderson detailed what’s being implemented at Indiana University. “We’ve been going down this road for the last four years. We have a 1L legal professions class where students are put into teams, and they… it’s professional responsibility, but it’s also, in addition, satisfying that ABA requirement. It also focuses on giving students the tools to make intelligent career decisions. So, they learn a lot about the legal profession, they meet a lot of practicing lawyers, they… we go through a series of fairly critical readings on the legal profession. We’re hoping that our students can, (A), find a practice setting that resonates with their values, and (B), begin to acquire the skills that are necessary to distinguish themselves in that practice context, all the while using team-based learning to learn the role of lawyering and the model roles of professional responsibility. And it seems to be working fairly well, because we map… or we track the progress of our students on a thing called ‘Law School Survey of Student Engagement’, which allows us to see how our students are doing in a variety of outcome measures over time, and also allow us to benchmark our students against students at other law schools. And because it’s a 1L curriculum, it makes it — which is standard throughout most law schools — it allows us to see how much progress we’re making, and I think that the early results are that we’re making progress. And our faculty is beginning to think about, what are we going to do in the second and third years to extend the competencies that we focused on in the 1L year?”

We heard what’s happending at other law schools from Paul Schiff Berman, the Dean of George Washington University Law School and from Nancy Rapoport, the Gordon Silver Professor of Law at University of Nevada Las Vegas. We also interviewed Patrick J. Lynch, Co-Founder and Policy Director of Law School Transparency, a consumer advocacy group for law school students. Together they provide insight on the recent measures being taken to meet the new challenges and opportunities in law school education.

Listen to the full show for more on this topic!