Law School Rankings Are BS (Ep. 362)
Thinking LSAT
Nathan Fox and Ben Olson
4.8 • 868 Ratings
🗓️ 8 August 2022
⏱️ 84 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The guys unveil LSAT Demon’s new Law School Rankings page, which charts U.S. News and Above the Law rankings over the years. Spoiler: Rankings are basically worthless for deciding where to go to law school. Plus, Ben and Nathan develop a simple formula for LSAT success, discuss why score “plateaus” don’t actually exist, and give advice on writing addenda.
1:29 - Law School Rankings - Nathan and Ben discuss the Demon’s Law School Rankings page, which illustrates the extreme variability in law school rankings from year to year. The evidence is clear. Rankings are bullshit.
7:06 - A Formula for LSAT Success - Dr. Joel Furhman says Health = Nutrients / Calories. If nutrition can be reduced to a simple formula, then why can’t the LSAT? Ben proposes a formula: LSAT Success = Clicks / Time.
10:41 - Plateaus Don’t Exist - Can listener Jacob overcome a score plateau, or has he reached his LSAT peak? Nathan and Ben worry he’s looking for an excuse to stop pushing. They discuss why plateaus don’t really exist and how to measure your progress in “clicks” of understanding.
20:24 - Demon Lessons from a Redditor - Ben and Nathan review a Reddit post that summarizes their teachings. They agree with most of it but clarify some points on their world-building approach to Logic Games and on the shortcomings of categorizing Reading Comprehension passages in abstract terms.
38:37 - Get a Job - Listener Pablo wants to move out of his parents’ house and jumpstart his life as an adult. The guys think that’s a bad reason to go to law school. Want to move out? Get a job.
44:31 - The LSAT Is Your Priority - What should listener Jay prioritize during his gap year before law school? Nathan and Ben remind him that he has only one priority: the LSAT. They also recommend The Law Career Playbook, by Rachel Gezerseh, as a guide to networking with lawyers before, during, and after law school.
54:00 - Don’t Chase Fantasies - Ben and Nathan worry that listener Heather’s high school fantasy of what lawyers do has compromised her decision-making. They counsel her to stick to her current successful career.
1:02:28 - Addressing Withdrawals - Thomas crushed the LSAT but worries that two years of withdrawals on his undergraduate transcript will raise eyebrows. The guys discuss how to address the issue in a way that highlights Thomas’s accomplishments.
1:10:08 - Obstacles in Addenda - Alyssa has overcome major obstacles in her life and wonders how to address them tactfully in a GPA addendum or supplemental essay. Nathan and Ben advise her on which details to include.
1:16:14 - Apply Next Cycle - Sheldon’s practice scores are below his goal. Ben and Nathan suggest that he withdraw from the August LSAT and apply next cycle. They suspect his “goal score” is interfering with his performance on the test and remind him to play the game at his own speed.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to episode 362 of the Thinking Elsat podcast I'm Nathan Fox |
| 0:11.5 | that's been Olson together with the co-founder of |
| 0:13.9 | El sat demon.com and the El sat demon daily podcast please email us help at |
| 0:20.0 | thinking else at com if you'd like to get on an upcoming agenda. This show will |
| 0:25.2 | air on Monday, August 8th. You still have a few weeks before the sign-up deadline |
| 0:30.1 | for the |
| 0:35.0 | deadline for that is on Thursday, September 1st. |
| 0:36.0 | You can go to L-Sat. link forward slash dates |
| 0:39.0 | if you want to see all of those dates. |
| 0:42.0 | Next free class that you have an opportunity to come to on Thursday, August 11th. |
| 0:46.8 | I'm going to be teaching a class called the L-SAT is easy. |
| 0:50.8 | I do these free classes every other Thursday 4 p.m. Pacific 7 p.m. eastern and you can just go to |
| 0:56.3 | L.sat. link forward slash Nathan if you would like to sign up for that class. |
| 1:02.4 | I hope to see you there. We have a great show today. I think we talk |
| 1:09.7 | about a formula for success on the L-SAT right at the top of the show. I hope people will enjoy. I weirdly predicted exactly the formula that Ben had predicted, |
| 1:22.0 | which was kind of amusing. |
| 1:24.0 | And then we have a bunch of emails from listeners, |
| 1:27.2 | which we really appreciate. |
| 1:29.0 | You know, Ben, before we dive into all of that stuff, |
| 1:31.4 | there is one more thing that I wanted to talk about that we forgot to talk about as part of our discussion. |
| 1:36.7 | rankings? Yeah we have a new page on El-Sat Demon. It's El-Sat Demon. |
| 1:40.8 | It's El-Daman.com forward slash rankings. Yeah. And we it's a there's a tab at the top or a I don, what do you call that? |
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