I've earned an official 170+ LSAT score. How do I best take advantage of it?

Congratulations! You've really got the "right stuff," in the minds of law school admissions decision makers. They are going to be extremely interested in you. But be aware that you need to protect your interests carefully. Given your high LSAT score, law schools will be eager to present you with opportunities that benefit their interests. You need an advocate and advisor who will help you make the most of such a high LSAT score, someone who will put your interests first.

Recognize these points:

1. Understand why the law schools are so strongly attracted to persons with high official LSAT scores. The US News & World Report ranking phenomenon creates enormous incentives for law schools to seek high-LSAT students. If they can attract them, their numbers go up, and in time they can move up in the rankings. The USN&WR ranking system is enormously influential. Love schools love to have bragging rights to enrolling students with high LSAT scores. The law school admission process is a competition for cognitive talent.

2. Don't rely on a high LSAT alone to carry you into an elite, top 10 or top 5 law school. You need to present the whole package, to the maximum extent possible: a great GPA, a strong undergraduate school (or at least a highly respected path through a lesser undergraduate school), a brilliant personal statement, the right timing, and strongly supportive recommendations from properly selected and prepared recommenders. Look to PrelawAdvisor.com to assist you in hitting this "sweet spot."

3. Include in your strategy a plan to win some law school admission offers that include a full-tuition scholarship. You might not end up taking it, but at least work carefully to create such an option. You can save yourself and your family thousands and thousands of dollars this way. But you have to craft your message just right. I can help you do this. I've actually seen a law school make this offer to get a highly attractive candidate: (1) A full-tuition scholarship for all three years; (2) free room and board; (3) free books; (4) a $1,000 month stipend; and (5) a no-cost LL.M degree (the advanced law degree one can choose to earn after earning a JD degree). The price for law school can be quite variable, for highly attractive candidates.

Maximize the potential of your high LSAT by working with PrelawAdvisor.com. To begin, send an e-mail to me at BradDobeck@aol.com.

I have a sub-140 LSAT score in practice. What should I do now?

The bad news: You certainly aren't ready for real LSAT. Do not apply to law school...yet. The law schools regard the LSAT as more or less the IQ test for law school. At a practice score of say, 138, you are at a point where over 90% of official LSAT results are above you. Law schools will have the gravest concerns about your abilities, if you give them this score officially.

The good news: The LSAT can be mastered. If you are below 140, you are currently extremely low on the LSAT learning curve. But you can move forward.

Let me share the most positive story of LSAT mastery I've come across over the years. Note that this path was inexpensive. It did not require high-priced LSAT tutoring or courses. But it did require a considerable amount of time, in a disciplined and effective program of self-development.

"It took me about half a year to prepare for the test since I was still in school and had other exams to cope with. What I did was really simple! I took a test under simulated conditions on Monday. On Tuesday, I went over the test again, problem by problem, and analyzed the answers and marked the questions I didn't really understand well, without any time restraint. On Wednesday, I took a break. Thursdays through Saturdays I repeated my Monday through Wednesday schedule. On Sunday, I restudied the difficult questions in the two sets I took in that week. The entire process took me 17 weeks. I took two weeks off to deal with school exams. In total it took me 19 weeks. At first glance, you may think I spent a great deal of time preparing for the LSAT. I took 34 practice tests! But counting the hours, it's not that much. I believe I spent an average of six hours on each test, including two review sessions. That adds up to around 200 hours in total. My score improved from 151 on the first test (a 49^th-percentile score that would definitely not be attractive to top law schools) to low/mid 170s on the last five tests. My actual test score was 177.” (This is a stunning 99.8^th-percentile score that will cause law school admissions officials to fall out of their chairs).

“My improvement from the low 150s to the low 160s was quick, about seven to eight tests. But it took me 15-20 tests to go from 160 to 170. Once I broke 170, I stayed in the low to mid 170s for the remaining seven to nine tests. It seems to me that about three weeks and six to eight tests are needed to consolidate a level. That's why I think it's important to take as many real tests as possible (at least 25, 30+ is preferred).”

“I graduated from a college in northeast and am going to law school in the same region next semester."

He was admitted to Harvard Law School with his 177.

If you are struggling with a low LSAT score in practice, you will benefit by having a comprehensive plan developed for you by me at PrelawAdvisor.com. Don’t act solely on your own assumptions about how the law school admissions process will work. Don’t trust the law schools to lift you to your goal. Law schools are better understood as simply creating an obstacle course for you to conquer and solve effectively. Send an e-mail to BradDobeck@aol.com, and we can go to work together, building a solid, multi-year plan for your career progress.

How do I transfer to a better, higher-tier law school?

The law school transfer application process works most effectively in the following scenario.

An applicant applies to a top law school, with a strong file, a strong GPA, but with a relatively low LSAT. Because of the top school's LSAT sensitivity, the applicant is rejected, but reluctantly.

The applicant is admitted to a lower-tier school. The applicant, now a 1L law student at the lower-tier school, works very effectively, earning top grades. At the end of year one, when the grades come out, this student is easily within the top 5% of her 1L class. Maybe she's even number one or number two in her 1L class. She has cultivated an excellent relationship with three professors--over the whole year--never once mentioning a transfer desire. Now, with top grades undeniably earned, she asks for their help as recommenders on a transfer application to the higher-tier law school. They reluctantly agree, not wanting to lose a top student, but certainly understanding her desire, and recognizing that their law school does benefit to some degree if a few of their top students can win a transfer to a higher-tier law school. These professors regard her as one of the best students they've ever had. They say so, in writing. She writes a brilliant personal statement, which has zero whining. She employs the principles advocated by PrelawAdvisor.com. She launches this carefully crafted application, early in the target school's transfer cycle (late spring, early summer).

Because the LSAT scores and college GPAs of transfer students are not publicly measured (like enrolling 1Ls are in the US News & World Report), these don't play any great role. A check back at her original application reveals that she previously had a deal-making application--except for her LSAT score. But her brilliant performance at the lower-tier school in her 1L year convinces them that she really has tier-one talent. She is admitted.

So, what you have to do is build a brilliant first year, and then "market" it to thoughtfully and realistically chosen target schools. At PrelawAdvisor.com, I'm ready to help you.

I have of course helped people with less than this dream scenario. Let me know about your situation, and I'll help you move forward, to the best of my ability.

Who can answer my law school admission questions?

I can. Right here.

Send your question to me, attorney Brad Dobeck, president of PrelawAdvisor.com. My e-mail address is BradDobeck@aol.com. I've worked in law school admissions since 1996, and have served law school applicant advisees privately since 2000 at PrelawAdvisor.com. I've helped over 1,000 people since 1996 in one aspect or another of the law school admissions challenge.

If you need a private answer, I am happy to provide that. Otherwise, good questions that will help others find important answers will be published by my blog "The Prelaw Advisor."

For more information that will assist law school applicants, please see my website www.PrelawAdvisor.com

Do Law Schools "Buy" Students with High LSAT Scores?

You bet they do.

This point is powerfully demonstrated yet again by the bold, creative, aggressive advertising of third-tier Quinnipiac University School of Law (Hamden, Connecticut) in recent issues of the Wall Street Journal. (See the 9/7/06 edition of the WSJ for a copy of the ad.)

Quinnipiac announced the availability of "2007 Dean's Fellows Scholarships." If one has an LSAT of at least 160 (an 82nd-percentile score) and an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.5, Quinnipiac might offer such a student a "full-tuition award." (Note that the advertisement did not specify whether such a full-tuition award covers only the first year, or all three years, and what other qualifying or disqualifying terms might be.)

Why is Quinnipiac doing this? Because their current public numbers are a 25th percentile score of 155 and a 75th percentile of 159, with 25th percentile and 75th percentile GPAs of 3.08 and 3.53, respectively. (In the ad, they claim even higher more recent numbers, 157 and 160, but they may not be using the USN&WR methodology in calculating these numbers.) They want to move their numbers up, via the 2007 Dean's Fellows (and their innovative Wall Street Journal advertising), and they are willing to pay, by offering a significant tuition discount.

The lesson here for present or future law school applicants is that you can use an above-75th percentile LSAT score (as reported by your target law school) to not only interest that law school in you, but to get them to reduce their price, sometimes enormously. Thus an investment in LSAT preparation is strongly recommended. Consider this advice in dealing with the LSAT: Top 15 LSAT Tips. For other information helpful to law school applicants, please see my website www.PrelawAdvisor.com.