December LSAT, kaplan, and non-traditional chances

werbito · #1 09-30-2004, 03:12 PM

Okay I guess I'm what you call a non-traditional student... As I've been out of school for a few years. I was wondering, as a non-traditional student are my chances lesser than a student fresh out of undergrad? How heavily is work experience considered (even if it's outside law)?

I'm taking the LSAT in December and I'm about to start Kaplan next week. I'm hoping that even though my GPA is not stellar (3.33) that if I get a good lsat score of say 163-165 I might have a chance at getting in my top schools. My two top schools are UoFL and UGA.

Any input on the probability or does anyone else have a similar story?

On a side note before I give kaplan my cc info -- does anyone have any horror stories or praise?

Thanks in advance,

werbito

AChiOAlumna · #2 09-30-2004, 03:17 PM

It depends on the program...when I went back for my M.S. five years after my B.A., my program actually wanted people with life experience...not just straight from their undergrad...so the average age of our program was about 40 years old.

GeekyPenguin · #3 09-30-2004, 03:28 PM

If you have any idea of how to take a standardized test, saving $1000 and just buy a few prep books instead.

Sites you might want to check out include lawschoolnumbers.com (you can look at stats and profiles of admittees) and jd2b.com. There's another law board that's very realistic but also scathing so I'm not sure if you'd want to look there or not.

Most law schools tend to like work experience so long as it wasn't just flipping burgers or something like that. Florida is a T1 school and Georgia is a T2 so admissions should be somewhat rough, but I don't know much about either of them since I'm mostly applying to northern schools.

werbito · #4 09-30-2004, 03:57 PM

Yeah I have a few books (Logic Games Bible by powerscore, a bunch of practice tests by powerscore and Barron's How to Prepare for the LSAT) but without personally knowing anyone that's studied without any kind of help and made their goal I am a little worried.

GeekyPenguin · #5 09-30-2004, 04:01 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by werbito
Yeah I have a few books (Logic Games Bible by powerscore, a bunch of practice tests by powerscore and Barron's How to Prepare for the LSAT) but without personally knowing anyone that's studied without any kind of help and made their goal I am a little worried.

Take some diagnostics and see how you do. Granted, since you are working, maybe you have the money to spare, but I sure didn't.

I really liked LSAT 180, you might want to try that too.

breathesgelatin · #6 10-01-2004, 01:34 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by GeekyPenguin
I really liked LSAT 180, you might want to try that too.

My best friend loved that book too.

werbito · #7 10-01-2004, 09:39 AM

Thanks for the input.... I've heard good things about that book as well. I'm still up in the air though on the Kaplan thing. I'm not exactly rolling in the dough but if the course can buy me an extra 5-10pts on the score then I guess it's worth it eh?

valkyrie · #8 10-01-2004, 11:08 AM

I don't have any insight about LSAT numbers and admissions, but I can tell you this -- when I was in law school, it always seemed like the people who spent a year or more working after undergrad were a little more, I don't know, normal -- they were a bit more laid back and not so freaked out about every little thing as the people who came directly from undergrad.

When you're writing your application essays, you could probably relate what you've done to law in some way. I worked in social services before law school, and wrote my essay about how that work convinced me that I wanted a career in law because it was a natural progression from what I was doing and a way to work on a larger scale to help people.

werbito · #9 10-05-2004, 08:56 AM

What is the diff between T1 and T2? T1 is the top 47 schools and the rest down to 100 are T2?

UGA is ranked 31 according to the latest usnews rankings... That makes it a T1?

GeekyPenguin · #10 10-05-2004, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by werbito
What is the diff between T1 and T2? T1 is the top 47 schools and the rest down to 100 are T2?

UGA is ranked 31 according to the latest usnews rankings... That makes it a T1?

It's supposed to be T1 = schools 1-50, however with the tie, I'm not really sure where it cuts off - whether it's after the Utah/Pitt grouping or the Baylor grouping. But yes, UGA would be a tier 1.

http://lawschoolnumbers.com/graphs.p...0304&code=5813

There's the graph for UGA - it looks like they're GPA whores since they rejected applicants in the 3.5/low 160s area.

werbito · #11 10-07-2004, 03:52 PM

Okay I bit the bullet and started the Kaplan course yesterday (classroom). I hope it's worth it. We took the diag exam and I'm anxiously hitting refresh on their website awaiting my score.

The logic games where actually a lot harder than the ones I did in practice... Well it could've been since it was the last section and my brain was partially dead already.

Anyone else taking kaplan?

WCUgirl · #12 10-07-2004, 03:54 PM

I just finished the Kaplan course about 2 weeks ago, and of course had the LSAT on Saturday. I'm not commenting on my satisfaction w/ the class until I get my score back!

I will say that it was very eye-opening.

werbito · #13 10-07-2004, 04:00 PM

Do let me know after you get your score!

Good luck... kinda? I was supposed to take it in Oct and pushed it back.

WCUgirl · #14 10-07-2004, 04:09 PM

ktsnake also took a Kaplan course if you want to ask him about it.

Betarulz! · #15 10-08-2004, 01:55 PM

I don't know about the LSAT Kaplan course, but I took kaplan for the MCAT and loved it. It really, really helped me out a lot. But obviously there are going to be some big differences between the two.

The best thing about Kaplan will probably help you with is strategies to make it through passages, figuring out why certain answers are wrong, and experience in taking the test through simulation of the test day. The experience factor was a huge asset for me on the MCAT. The 5 previous Saturdays leading up to the MCAT, I was taking a full length practice test, so I got really used to getting up early and focusing for 8+ hours.

The strategies Kaplan will give you should help in going from section to section, and should maximize your score.

The biggest thing that impressed me about Kaplan was how "complete" the advice was. I got help on everything from what to bring for lunch, to advice on how to calm myself down during the test and get in the zone. My test day (other than actually taking the test) ended up being very calculated and geared towards doing all the little things I could to get a better score...