Doubt, Fear, Despair: I am a fraud.

[DCJenn]

Chill. Immediately.

You'll be the best kind of lawyer- the kind that doesn't take herself too seriously.

Deep yogic breathing now. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

Jenn

Deep yogic breathing now. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

Jenn

My mom always called that "alternate nostril breathing" and it confused the hell out of me. Yes, it took my mind off of the trauma at hand, but I was busy trying to figure out how to breathe in one nostril and out the other. :!

Lily - any program worth it's salt will ALSO look at the value of life experience. Jenn's right - (those of us who spell it w/2n's usually are) - you'll be the best kind of lawyer.

[Laker]

You can always apply to a lower ranked school and transfer after your first year if you are ranked in the top 10 or so... Study hard. Good luck.

Lily,
Give yourself a break. Your real life experiences may make you a far better candidate than you think! Do your best and ignore the rest!

Lily,
UNC has a terrific law school, really great program and blissful in-state tuition which will better enable you financially to do public interest work.

You need to get a high LSAT score for UNC to be an option. Focus on that LSAT, my friends in law school say the LSAT is HUGE in admissions. Take a review course (I think there is Princeton Review LSAT). Do not skimp on LSAT preparation.

So it should obvious that I’m hung up on applications today…

I took them recently…. I loved the program I used for testprep…. Although, it was soooo expensive, and I think I could have done just as well without spending the $$$. Anyway, I still have some of the materials. I believe I have almost every test from the pass few years (pdf files) and if you want them could probably send them to you…

Let me know, and good luck...
:ra:

It’s sounds like you are in great shape…. You can definitely score in the 160’s….

Practicing helped so much… I started in the high 150’s on my practice exams, I also took about 26… … I freaked out a little on the actual test… I ended up happy with my score (166) but I would have liked to have done a little better… oh well

I generally don’t test that well either and am very easily distracted. My testing center was awful (and I like to blame them, because it’s easier). They were so unorganized, the test started 3 hours late, people hard alarms going off constantly… I could go on forever, but I’ll stop there. My best advice would be to find a test location that is on the smaller side. I think feeling comfortable and as relaxed as possible is really important….

Don’t worry about your scores on practice tests too much though, most of the people I know ended up scoring best on the actual exam….

Good luck with the prepping… it really helps (especially on the logic games section). It was nice to actually talk to someone normal about this whole process… lawschooldiscussion.com was pretty evil

and normal people know the test has very little (if anything) to do with your intelligence… I felt that way too after reading/listening to people. IMO majority of them lie about there scores to freak other applicants out… I guess it freaked me out, so it works…. If you’re evil…

I don’t think I’m that stupid or uninteresting, but when I read sample personal statements I kind of want to jump out the window…. I keep trying to tell myself that’s there is no way everyone applying has saved the world already… but it sure makes me feel inadequate… I’ll be thrilled when/if I finish this…

Thanks for letting me vent about it

and normal people know the test has very little (if anything) to do with your intelligence… I felt that way too after reading/listening to people. IMO the majority of them lie about theie scores to freak other applicants out… I guess it freaked me out, so it works…. If you’re evil…

I don’t think I’m that stupid or uninteresting, but when I read sample personal statements I kind of want to jump out the window…. I keep trying to tell myself that’s there is no way everyone applying has saved the world already… but it sure makes me feel inadequate… I’ll be thrilled when/if I finish this…

Thanks for letting me vent about it

sorry for the 2x post... I need to learn to stop hitting keys when my computer freezes... oops

good tip thanks maybe i'm not all that smart... lol

I’ve read that most top schools almost require work experience...

I am sort of in the middle… have been out of school for a few years, but not enough to really stand out… as far as the PS goes… I feel good about my topic one day, and think it’s terrible the next. I just need to snap out of it and stop being so self-conscious…

I know you have your hands full with the test prep, but if you’re ever bored and want to look at my essay (which basically nonexistent at this point)… let me know

[reciprocity]

Lily, I think I mentioned it before, but I did teach LSAT classes in the past, so if there's anything you get totally stumped on during your test prep, don't hesitate to ask.

Also, I went up 12 points from my last practice test and my actual score, but I think I was pretty lucky (but it goes to show you that one never knows what test day will bring)

I didn't do that well on my LSAT, but I ended up doing well in law school. I personally don't think that the LSAT is a very good predictor of law school success.

I can barely remember anything about the LSAT, so I can't really offer any advice (I took it back in '98). But I found taking a prep class to be helpful. Are you taking one?

I never quite understood how the analytical reasoning section worked. Games was my best section. I am pretty bad at analytical reasoning. But I found in law school that if you were good at memorizing you'd do well on the exams.

[reciprocity]

Thanks Eric - I am having a lot of difficulty with linear games that are unbalanced and overloaded and/or underfunded.

If I can get the stupid scanner to work, can I send you a link to the pages in my workbook? I just need some tips on how to work these faster. I understand the inferences when I read the explanations, but I can't get there on my own. And it's driving me nuts!

I'm averaging about 10:30 per logic game which doesn't give me enough time to do four, so I'm worried about that. My logic reasoning has improved a little but not as much as I was hoping (after reading a 500 page Powerscore bible), and I'm kicking it like a bad donkey on Reading Comp now that I've taken a speed reading course. At this point with LR, I've basically just got to continue endurance testing, and with LG, I just need to get these advanced linears down.

yeah, feel free to, it's been a while, but logic games were my specialty!