Some questions & concerns about law school admissions as well as physical disability

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>I am a 21 year old college junior at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. I am double majoring in philosophy and political science. </p>

<p>I am a transfer student from Arkansas State University at Mountain Home (two year branch of ASU) where I graduated cum laude with a 3.70 GPA with an Associate of Arts degree. I was a member of Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society and received the Over all Academic Achiever award in philosophy in the spring 2012 semester. </p>

<p>I currently have a 3.80 GPA at the University of Arkansas. I am involved in a few RSOs (Colleges Against Cancer, College Republicans, Red cross), but no leadership positions. I am considering a fraternity next semester. I am also planning to work some. What I have listed is pretty much it. In other words, I have very little to show for outside of the classroom. </p>

<p>I want to go to law school. Due to convenience I hope to be accepted to the University of Arkansas school of law.</p>

<p>I was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at the age of two and have used a wheel chair since age 13. I have just started studying for the LSAT and I have taken one 'cold' full prep test from '10 NEW ACTUAL, OFFICIAL LSAT PREPTESTS' with time constraints and I only scored 139. However, due to physical writing difficulty, I ran out of time on all sections, and significantly on the analytical reasoning section, due to diagramming. I am confident that I can bring my score up significantly, and plan to take a prep course. I also understand that I might could get some extra time on the LG section as well? </p>

<p>Now to my questions: Obviously my GPA is pretty sound. However, my extra curricular and especially my LSAT needs work. I understand that the 75th percentile on LSAT is around 157 for the U of A school of law. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>Is a gain from 139 to 157 a reasonable goal, especially if I can eliminate running out of time as badly? </p></li>
<li><p>Do you think my disability would help or hinder in any way of admissions? </p></li>
<li><p>How likely is it, assuming I reach at least my 157 LSAT goal, that I could get into a school ranked substantially higher, which would be worth moving out of state for? </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Any advice as to what else I could be doing to improve my potential would be greatly appreciated as well.</p>

<p>I apologize for the lengthy thread.</p>

<p>Thanks,
Larry.</p>

2

<p>Larry,</p>

<p>I know nothing about muscular dystrophy or applying to law schools with disabilities, but I did teach the LSAT for several years and have some other thoughts for you.</p>

<p>First thing is actually the last thing: what do you want out of your career? Do you want to clerk for a judge as a career, be a small-town lawyer, work in government? Or do you want a big firm job in Fayetteville, Little Rock, or Nashville? If it’s the former, then go to U of AR, save yourself a bunch of money, and have a degree that will get you whatever job you want in Arkansas. </p>

<p>If you want the big-time job, are you setting yourself up for misery? If you’re working for the government and need 45 hours a week to complete a 35 or 40 hour a week job, you’re still going to have a great life. However, many people are miserable in big firms, and you may have to work even longer hours than they do. Would you be happy being at work for 90 hours a week?</p>

<p>These are questions that you can answer - they aren’t rhetorical!</p>

<p>Moving only a bit further back: what about the bar exam? Success on the LSAT is correlated with success on the bar exam, but the bar is much less lenient about giving extra time. There is, however, much less physical pencil-paper writing on the bar, as you can take the essay portion on a laptop. The multiple-choice section requires very little writing (outside of filling in bubbles). Consider going to U of AR’s law school and asking someone there about testing accommodations, what LSAT score is generally correlated with being able to pass, etc. </p>

<p>LSAT: the LSAT is a very, very teachable test. Also, if you are aiming for a 157 or so, you only need to get (IIRC) about 75% of the questions right. You can skip an entire Logic Game, an entire Reading Comprehension passage, and some Logical Reasoning questions and get that score. (This is not the advice I would give to students who are looking for 170+, FYI.) A good test prep class will teach you enough about the test so that you will know which questions are time-consuming, which logic games are the hardest, and how to eliminate wrong answers. You may need a lot of time to study the test to get your score up to the high 150s, but it’s doable.</p>

3

<p>Here’s some info about accommodations:
[Accommodated</a> Testing | LSAC.org](<a href=“http://www.lsac.org/jd/lsat/accommodated-testing.asp]Accommodated”>http://www.lsac.org/jd/lsat/accommodated-testing.asp)</p>

<p>Note that you have to request them way in advance and that you will need a lot of documentation.</p>

<p>Now…why did you get a 139? Was it really due in large part to the time constraints? If so, that try to find out how much of an accommodation time-wise you’re likely to get and retake the test using that amount of time to get a more realistic assessment of your score.</p>

<p>You might also want to get some physical accommodations. See the list of some of those offered.</p>

4

<p>I certainly appreciate both replies thus far! You both have been very helpful. </p>

<p>I know I am going to have to do some research and make a few visits to find out about the accommodations. We agree that I need to come to a more accurate assessment of where I stand on the LSAT as far as skill level. I will get right on finding out what kind of time accommodations I might be eligible for and then take another prep test with the appropriate time. </p>

<p>We agree that I could benefit from an LSAT prep course. When do you suggest I take the course? I would like to take the LSAT this June if I feel that I am prepared by then. Should I take the course now throughout the up coming semester, then use the remaining time up to June to practice? Or wait until closer to the end? </p>

<p>Also, I will be taking 15 credit hours this semester as well as studying for the LSAT. Should I really worry about extra curricular? Or would it be a wiser use of my time to devote it to LSAT prep and maintaining if not raising my GPA? </p>

<p>Again thanks for any and all replies! </p>

<p>Larry.</p>

5

<p>Study as much and as long as you can for the LSAT. You are looking to go from the 12th percentile to the 70th percentile - not an impossible task, but one that will require you to really understand the test. That type of understanding rarely comes in a few weeks, or even months.</p>

6

<p>It will likely take a LONG time for you to achieve the accommodations. (That is just a pure guess on my part, because I have zero information on it. Yet, they are hard to achieve.)</p>

<p>Thus, I would advise taking a gap year, if your were my kid. That will give you time to prep exclusively for the LSAT for a few months after graduation, while appealing to LSAT for accommodations.</p>

7

<p>Watch the video at the link. Start working on the accommodation request.</p>

<p>Personally…I would suggest the October sitting. (Normally, I suggest June.) That would give you the summer to study. Make sure that your transcript, your LORs, dean cert, if applicable, are into LSDAS BEFORE you take the LSAT so that when the scores come back your file will be ready to go. </p>

<p>I don’t think any of us can tell you how long it’s going to take you to study for the exam because we don’t know if you’ll get the accommodation–though to me it seems highly probable that you will–and we also don’t know what your score WITH the accommodation and WITHOUT studying is. Going from 139 to 157 would normally be a difficult task, but your situation isn’t the usual one. Try taking the test with time and a half and see what kind of score you get. If it’s still around 139, you’re going to need to study a lot. However, if it goes up 10 points or more, you won’t need to study as much, assuming you get the accommodation. A summer would probably be enough.</p>

<p>You might want to try taking the test with the regular time constraints but using an amanuensis, i.e., having someone write down the answers for you. That person could also draw diagrams and do the underlining for you–but YOU have to tell him/her what to write. For some physically handicapped people, that’s a better approach. Moreover, based on purely anecdotal info, I think it’s an easier accommodation to get. </p>

<p>You actually have to register for a specific date before you can request specific accommodations. Again, watch the video. Don’t rely on anything other than the OFFICIAL information.</p>

<p>I’d also suggest that you take a look at the info on the LSAC site about the accommodations different law schools offer. That should probably factor into your decision as to which law schools you should send applications.</p>

8

<p>Considering the time to get the accommodations and the fact that I will be spending $1,200 + on a prep course, the October test is looking like it might be the more prudent decision, given that I don’t know how difficult the spring semester will be to keep A’s. I don’t want to neglect any classes, and I want to get the full benefit from the course. I also don’t want to commit to the June sitting now and then not be prepared. </p>

<p>How does this sound for a plan: If I studied hard on my own between now and summer break, then as soon as finals are over jump right into the prep course giving it my full attention, then practicing what I learn up until test day in October. The only con I can see in this plan would be that I would have to take the LSAT in the middle of the fall semester. However, Would’t it be better to use the summer time for prepping, given that by taking it in June I would have very little of my summer break to prepare?</p>

<p>I guess my question is: wouldn’t the beginning of the summer be the best time to take the course?</p>

9

<p>Did you ever answer what you want to do? My advice would be completely different if you want to do an A3 clerkship or want to work in Big Law outside of Arkansas.</p>