Quote:
Originally Posted by pbear19
My apologies if these were addressed in the long thread, I skimmed it but didn't see them.
1. For those of you who took a few (or several) practice tests, how close were your scores on them to your actual LSAT score?
2. What is a realistic expectation for point improvement by practicing for the LSAT?
3. Any idea what score range is considered good enough to be seriously considered for a full ride scholarship?
I have been thinking about law school for a while, and have decided to take the LSAT to see how well I do. I am not planning to go to law school if I have to pay for it myself, I need to get a sizeable scholarship or full ride. I know that's not normal reasoning, but the reasons are my own and I don't plan to change my mind.  I just took my first practice test as a baseline measure, and based on the schools I'm looking at I'd guess I have a fairly good chance for a scholarship at one, and a marginal at best chance at the other (based on their average student body scores). But I'm just guessing right now.
And, I know there is more to it than LSAT, but since that is the part I can now control (I am a few years removed from college, so my GPA isn't going to change), that's the part I am concentrating on.
At any rate, I figured you all would have some ideas.  |
1. I took a number of practice tests, one every week for about a year before taking the LSATs. I didn't take a class, I just bought a few books on Amazon. My final practice test scores (for the month or so before I took the test) were within a point or two of my actual score.
2. I'm not sure about what a realistic expectation would be, as it depends on the person, how comfortable they are with tests, etc. I can tell you that my score went up 6 points from my first practice test to the actual test (although I scored a bit higher on my final practice tests than I did on the real thing). I'm not sure if that's typical or not, just my experience.
3. Your scholarship chances are going to depend a great deal on the schools involved, and your GPA. If you're talking a Tier 1 school, and you want a full ride, you should have an excellent GPA (most likely graduating with honors from your undergrad) and a high LSAT score. As you move through the tiers, that's going to change. From my own experience, I got a halfway decent scholarship to a mid-tier 2 school, but didn't get a whole lot from my current school (lower tier 1). That said, I go to a state school, and I get in-state tuition, so even with less financial aid I went with the cheapest option by far.
My best advice would be that there's a site (I can't remember the name of it) where users post their stats, and their success getting into different schools. A lot of times they'll post whatever scholarships they receive. That would probably be a good baseline. Or, you could call the schools that you're thinking of applying to, and see if you can get a general demographic of the students who received scholarships.
Good luck - full scholarships to law school are rare.