When to Apply to Law School (Ep. 386)
Thinking LSAT
Nathan Fox and Ben Olson
4.8 • 868 Ratings
🗓️ 23 January 2023
⏱️ 77 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nearly 35,000 people have already applied to law school this cycle, according to data from LSAC. And many top law schools have already begun handing out scholarships. On today’s pod, Ben and Nathan examine the current application data and advise would-be late applicants to wait until next year. Later, the guys discuss how to use scholarship offers in negotiations with other law schools. They consider the impact of affirmative-action legislation on the “URM bump.” And they read admissions updates from LSAT Demon students.
0:27 - New Test Dates for 2023–2024 - Ben and Nathan examine the new test dates for the upcoming LSAT cycle.
6:08 - Your Most Valuable Asset - Ben shares some wisdom from Sam Harris: your most valuable asset isn’t your time, it’s your attention.
16:07 - Application Data - The guys analyze LSAC’s current application volume statistics.
25:54 - Scholarship Negotiations - An anonymous listener asks how to leverage a scholarship offer from Michigan in their negotiations with other schools.
33:32 - Denied the Bar Because of Debt? - Listener Carol shares a Forbes article about someone who was denied admission to her state bar—despite passing the bar exam—in part because of her massive student debt.
40:46 - URM Bump - Listener Hodari wonders whether Proposition 209, which prohibits affirmative action in California public schools, means that underrepresented minorities receive less of a “bump” when applying to California law schools. Nathan and Ben review data on LSD.law that suggest otherwise.
50:12 - Improving LSAT Demon - A student suggests a way to improve written explanations in the Demon.
54:12 - Preparing for Law School - Listener Sam asks how to prepare during the summer before law school. The guys recommend The Law School Toolbox as well as a few books.
1:03:28 - Waiting to Apply - Listener Aloe isn’t sure whether retaking the LSAT and waiting to apply next cycle will improve their admissions chances. Ben and Nathan see nothing but upside in that plan.
1:05:27 - Admissions Updates - Several LSAT Demon students share their admissions and scholarship success stories.
1:07:37 - Not Going to Law School - Demon student Krista has decided not to attend law school. Instead, she’s embraced her current career and found peace in her life as it is. Krista thanks the Demon team for helping her reach her decision.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to episode 386 of the Thinking Elsad Podcast |
| 0:10.7 | on Ben Olson with me is Nathan Fox. We're the co-founder of Elsat Podcast on Ben Olson. With me is Nathan Fox. |
| 0:13.0 | We're the co-founders of Elsat Demon.com |
| 0:15.0 | and the Elsat Demon Daily Podcast. |
| 0:17.2 | If you want to be Elsat famous, share some news, |
| 0:19.5 | and ask some questions. |
| 0:20.5 | You can do so on our website, that thinking L-Sat.com. This will |
| 0:24.4 | air on Monday, January 23rd. The L-Sat test dates for 2023 and |
| 0:29.8 | 2024 just got just came out. Yeah, I don't think it's anything new or surprising but it is nice to have them. Yeah. We know that there is going to be an August, September, October, and November test this year. |
| 0:45.1 | So four new tests announced in 2023. |
| 0:49.2 | Yeah. |
| 0:49.4 | And four tests in 2024, so that's January, February, April, and June. |
| 0:57.0 | Okay. |
| 0:58.0 | So it changes like slightly, but I don't know that it's really any super big news there. |
| 1:03.2 | They haven't announced registration deadlines or score release dates for those tests, |
| 1:07.2 | but who cares about those things? |
| 1:09.1 | So yeah, it's just we've got fall tests now to plan for. |
| 1:13.2 | The point that we can make here is that with these new test dates, |
| 1:18.4 | now students can, if they want, plan to take it five times in calendar year 2023. |
| 1:26.4 | You can take the Elsat five times in calendar year 2023. |
| 1:30.6 | Yep. |
| 1:31.4 | That's kind of news because the way they announce it or the way they always talk about it they're talking about these cycles so people you know what I bet people latch on to this like they look at the web page they they look at the list of test dates from |
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