Students are often tempted to take the official LSAT before they’re ready or to apply to law school late in the cycle “just to see what happens.” On this week’s episode, Ben and Nathan explain why such plans are dangerous. They advise listeners to take a different approach: one that makes it impossible to settle for less than your best. Also on the pod, the guys discuss law schools with abysmal bar passage rates, compare “evidence” and “premises” in Logical Reasoning arguments, and offer advice on conditional scholarships.
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0:25 - 3+3 Program - Listener Abe considers a course of study that consists of a three-year undergraduate degree followed by a three-year JD at the same university. Ben and Nathan discourage this idea because it could limit Abe’s opportunities to attend a better law school for free.
9:10 - Failing Law Schools - Three law schools have recently failed to meet the ABA’s minimum bar passage rate. Nathan and Ben suspect that the ABA is unlikely to take any meaningful action against these schools.
16:56 - Withdrawing from the January LSAT - Ben and Nathan assure Demon student Nate that it’s not too late to withdraw from the January LSAT. Withdrawals don’t appear on your record, so law schools won’t know.
18:05 - Score Conversion - The guys walk student Abby through the process of merging individual sections to get a full test score in the Demon. Convert your raw score from any official PrepTest to an LSAT score at lsatdemon.com/converter.
20:40 - Make Failure Impossible - An anonymous listener plans to take the January LSAT, despite not feeling ready, and then apply to law school in February just to see what happens. Nathan and Ben think this plan is a recipe for failure. You should plan to act in a way that makes failure impossible.
26:44 - “Evidence” vs. “Premise” - Ben and Nathan respond to listener Alex’s question about whether “evidence” and “premise” mean the same thing in LSAT Logical Reasoning. (They do.) The guys also discuss what it means for a conclusion to be implicit, how the LSAT rewards accuracy over speed, and why they no longer trust Malcolm Gladwell.
41:20 - LSAC PLUS - An anonymous listener describes their experience with the LSAC PLUS program at Alabama Law. They received some questionable counseling on how to afford law school. Nathan and Ben remind listeners that most advice about financing your education is designed to convince you that it’s okay to take on massive debt.
47:37 - Conditional Scholarships - Ben and Nathan break down conditional scholarships: what they are, whether you should accept one, and what to do if a law school reduces or eliminates your scholarship.