Dean Z Rejects “Don’t Pay for Law School” (Ep. 369)
Thinking LSAT
Nathan Fox and Ben Olson
4.8 • 868 Ratings
🗓️ 26 September 2022
⏱️ 94 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Admissions officers may say that you have to pay for law school. Nathan and Ben disagree. On today’s pod, the guys review financial aid advice from Dean Z of Michigan Law. They then discuss how applicants can improve their scholarship bargaining power. Later, the guys vibe to some soulful advice from Ray Charles, evaluate the diminishing returns of higher LSAT scores for “splitters,” and consider the advantages of applying as a “non-KJD.”
4:43 - Dean Z on Financial Aid - Listener Anthony shares a recent video in which Dean Z from Michigan Law downplays applicants’ ability to negotiate scholarships. Ben and Nathan respond and inform listeners on how to empower their bargaining positions.
27:54 - Pearls vs. Turds - Listener Krista proposes a color-coded mindfulness practice used by her daughter’s kindergarten class.
34:36 - Testing on an Unlicensed OS - Nathan and Ben discuss listener Sarah’s brush with LSAC over an unlicensed copy of Windows.
38:00 - Full Rides for Splitters - Demon student “Savvy Splitter” presents their research on the diminishing returns of LSAT scores for people with low UGPAs.
43:05 - Pearls vs. Turds - An anonymous Demon student shares some wisdom from Ray Charles. Nathan and Ben discuss why you need to take the time to “play the right notes” on the LSAT.
45:54 - Controversial Work History - Ben and Nathan counsel LSAT Demon student Gracie on how to present some work experience that admissions officers might view unfavorably.
49:27 - Drink the Demon Facts - LSAT Demon student BV claims to have drunk the Demon Kool-Aid but has flouted some of Nathan and Ben’s advice. The guys encourage BV to stick to a career they already love.
57:05 - Criticizing Law School - Listener Eddie recommends an episode of 5-4 titled “Welcome to Law School (Again).” Ben and Nathan agree with the conclusion that law school is a terrible idea for most people.
1:01:22 - Get Even Greedier - Nathan and Ben encourage a listener with a 173 on record to get greedy.
1:07:26 - Broaden Your Horizons - An anonymous listener asks Ben and Nathan for their thoughts on two Seattle-based schools. The guys advise Anonymous to broaden their horizons.
1:12:23 - False Confidence - Nathan and Ben warn Demon student Benjamin that watching video explanations isn’t a substitute for actual practice.
1:18:40 - Latin Roots - Demon Student Cassandra recommends studying Latin word roots to expand your vocabulary.
1:22:01 - Focus on the LSAT - Ben and Nathan implore Demon student Max to ignore other application components until he’s crushed the LSAT.
1:30:26 - Is There a “Non-KJD Bump”? - Nathan and Ben analyze an anonymous listener’s claim that non-KJD applicants have a statistical advantage in law school applications.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and |
| 0:05.0 | welcome to episode 369 of the Thinking Elsap Podcast. |
| 0:10.0 | I'm Ben Olson, that's Nathan Fox. |
| 0:13.0 | Together we're the co-founder of Elsat Demon.com and the Elsad Demon Daily Podcast. |
| 0:18.0 | If you want to get on an upcoming show, email Help at thinking Elsat.com. We record every Tuesday and |
| 0:24.8 | this is going to come out on Monday, September 26, 2022. The next registration deadline |
| 0:31.5 | is Thursday, September 29th. |
| 0:33.2 | That's for the November 2022, L-SAT. |
| 0:36.1 | You can find all these dates at L-SAT. |
| 0:38.3 | link forward slash dates. |
| 0:40.8 | If you have not come to Nathan's free shit yet, you should. |
| 0:44.5 | It's every other Thursday at 4 PM Pacific, 7 PM Eastern. |
| 0:48.1 | The next one is Thursday, October 6th, and the title is, |
| 0:51.9 | what it takes to score 170. |
| 0:54.0 | You can sign up for that at L-Sat. link forward slash Nathan. |
| 0:58.0 | Nathan what do you want to say about that? |
| 1:00.0 | I mean there's no secret to it really, know it's that's a click-bady |
| 1:06.2 | title to be honest what it takes to score 170 because what am I gonna say I'm gonna say |
| 1:11.2 | you need to understand one question at a time. |
| 1:15.0 | And ultimately you need to understand almost all of the questions if you're going to get a 170, |
| 1:21.0 | not all of them by the way, almost all of them. |
| 1:24.1 | So what you need to do to get to 170 is you need to start with the easy ones, |
... |
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