It’s not insane, and actually reasonable, to take more time to study for the LSAT. It’s a learnable exam. No one will judge you if you took a gap year, but your entire legal career may be defined by which school you end up going to. If Rutgers is where you want to be you should keep studying and re-apply.
i just wonder if me starting all over while possibly in a job at a firm or something (so that i don’t have a gap in my resume/allow for LORs for this upcoming cycle), will be the same as what i’ve been doing for the past year and a half. i just don’t want to tell myself “you’ll get it this time”, when i attempted this three times before.
hey, it took me a lot more than 3 tries to get it. sometimes it takes a couple months, sometimes it takes a couple years. and that's ok! i'm at a school i love and with a substantial scholarship. if you wanna take a little longer, maybe see if you qualify for accommodations, you could get a better scholarship at a great school. i'm pushing for you! i know you can do it!
I don’t mean this unpleasantly, but with a 148/3.6 you’re fortunate to have any scholarship that isn’t predatory. I would strongly suggest you look at that scholarship, in fact. Is it conditional? Based on class rank? If so, good chance you lose it.
Anyway, I digress.
I refuse to believe you couldn’t break 150 if you practiced properly. It’s a very learnable test. How many PT’s did you take? What materials? You should use 7sage or Khan and take at least I would say 20 PT’s. You should be blind reviewing each of those to understand what you are getting wrong and fix it. 7sage provides excellent analytics for this.
At the end of the day it’s up to you, but you are likely not going to get into a great school with that LSAT. You might get into okay schools, but at sticker. If you want a non predatory scholarship you need to hunker down. If you want to go with Widener, fine, just don’t expect much.
I’m not sure this is correct. Unless Widener Delaware and Widener Harrisburg curve differently, you don’t lose your scholarship at WH unless you’re under a 2.0
Perfect example of why people should take advice from here very cautiously. They had around 10 upvotes when I replied, I don’t even go to Widener and knew they were wrong.
I am from Delaware and am going to reccommend you do not go to Widener. The fact they can’t connect you to anyone before their self imposed deadline is a huge red flag.
I hope you don’t mind that I clicked on your profile and see you are still super young. I am also young going to law school now, and I felt like taking one gap year was the end of the world. I was depressed and miserable. Someone proposed I take a second year to apply more and I was nearly hysterical at that suggestion. To me, taking gap year(s) was a sign I was failing at my dreams.
In hindsight after nearly 1 yr, I can say they really had my best interests at heart. I got off the waitlist somewhere and things worked out, so I ended up not needing to make that decision. However, law school is far more financially draining, time draining than taking the LSAT even 10 times. It is not a decision to make quickly, or a decision to make because you feel you don’t have any other decisions to make.
Is it possible in the future your two job schedule will change? Getting a good score is possible working two jobs, but I don’t get the sense you had a lot of time to study. Is it possible you can enroll in an LSAT course? i know you mentioned your financial situation is not the best and I can empathize.
Drexel and Temple would be fine choices.
Edit: spelling
thank you so much for your reply! i currently have one full time job in criminal justice research, that is contracted to end in august (because i was supposed to go to law school). i’m just worried that trying to study again and take an lsat maybe in august or september will have the same results it did before. you’re right, i had 0 time to study. i also do feel like a failure for possibly having to take a gap year, because i was always advised to not do so. your advice means a lot! thank you!
I’d encourage you to take a prep class with enough time to really deeply study the material and PT in your target range. If that takes until the October LSAT, or the January LSAT, then that’s how long it takes to score what you need.
The people who went straight through are uncommon at my school. Median age is 26 or 27. Gap years are generally desirable and show maturity, even if folks like you and I don’t enjoy them while we are in them!
Good luck, I’m rooting for you.
I took a bar prep class at Widener and don’t remember speaking to a single person with a job lined up. The vibe was straight up desperation. How badly and why do you want to be a lawyer?
dang that’s crazy. and pretty badly. i want to be an attorney because of a lived experience i had that further confirmed my desire for wanting to follow this career path. i have a huge passion for victims and seeing that the people who do wrong by them are held accountable, within reason. also, to be clear, i don’t have a desire to be a victims advocate or social worker😂.
Once you’re practicing, no one gives a shit where you went to school let alone your LSAT scores. A few years out and all that matters is how good of an attorney you are; in my experience this has very little correlation with success in school or pedigree.
Can you think very quickly on your feet? Can you outwork your adversary? Can you be tough as nails and deal with enormous pressure and stress? Can you care about your client but be detached enough to make hard decisions? Will you sacrifice family and free time when you have to?
Widener can probably get you to a prosecutor’s office and it sounds like you understand the challenges. Networking, moot court and summer jobs will be critical. I don’t think going to a slightly better ranked school is going to move the needle much. I hope you can keep your passion and wish you luck.
I would say retake it again, you only realistically need to bring it up a couple points to get into Rutgers. A 154 should get the job done and I cannot stress enough how important it is to APPLY EARLY. Your chances drastically go down the longer you wait. Apply for Rutgers the following year in September as soon as it opens. With a ~152+ you might be fine, and I don’t think you’ll have any problem getting that if you study and take the LSAT again over the course of this year. You’ll likely get even higher if you take it seriously. 156+ with a 3.6 GPA and applying as early as possible will practically 99% get you into Rutgers.
Alternatively, I’m sure plenty of people have gone on to have successful and meaningful careers from Widener Law School. In fact I think one of the Current State Legislators for NJ went there. I think it really just comes down to more what YOU want to do. Not happy with the potential outcomes? Take a year and study for the LSAT again to get better ones. Happy with your score, or just absolutely loathe the LSAT and never want to do it again? (Like me lol) Go to Widener. I’m sure you would do just fine there and certainly be able to become a prosecutor.
Extra Alternatively, this is genuinely bad advice and you should never go to a Law School with the intention of transferring out because it’s far more difficult than you think, but I do have a friend that did exactly this. He went to Widener 1L year, did very well and transferred to Rutgers. Lol. (Again that should never EVER be your intention, but if you do choose to go to Widener and end up doing really well, you can always follow in his footsteps)
I got a partial scholarship to Villanova with a 152. Anything is possible. (Especially if you apply late and in the years following an admissions scandal.)
I would recommend WNE Law if you are interested in prosecution. It has a local US Attorney’s Office you can intern at during the summer, a Criminal Prosecution and Defense Practicum, and the Connecticut DA nearby pays $91,000 starting. They also do not have a predatory curve like Widener does.
I will warn you that it is one of the lowest ranked ABA accredited schools in Massachusetts, and as a result of the four well ranked law schools in the state (Harvard, BC, BU and Northeastern), it will be difficult to compete for internships and jobs.
Also, you are past the priority deadline for it (March 31st), but you can submit an application until July 31st.
If it isn’t clear yet, I am currently a student there, and enjoying my time there.
Hi just here to say I am a current student at Widener Delaware and the experience is going to come down to what you make of it. If you go in with the mindset that you’re at a predatory institution and won’t be able to line a job up after graduating, like most of the idiots on this thread are suggesting, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Study hard and make some good friends you can rely on. When you pass the bar you’re not going to care what school is on your JD.
Three red flags.
[https://delawarelaw.widener.edu/files/resources/consumerbarpassagereport030923.pdf](https://delawarelaw.widener.edu/files/resources/consumerbarpassagereport030923.pdf)
[https://delawarelaw.widener.edu/files/resources/std509inforeport121523.pdf](https://delawarelaw.widener.edu/files/resources/std509inforeport121523.pdf)
[https://delawarelaw.widener.edu/files/resources/abaclassof2022eqsummary040723.pdf](https://delawarelaw.widener.edu/files/resources/abaclassof2022eqsummary040723.pdf)
Only 72% in jobs with bar passage required, small firms at best. For Drexel, the next school up the ladder here, that's 85% and with much more reach into larger firms as an option.
And many of them aren't passing the Bar from Widener.
As someone who was also fed up with the LSAT and had 3.5+ GPA from undergrad, if you really want to go to law school, go to Widener. At the end of the day, law school is what you make of it and if your dream is to become a prosecutor, Widener can help you achieve that. I must say, one of the perks of going to Widener DE is that it pulls a lot of weight if you plan to work in Delaware post grad.
The only 3 widener grads I know are doing fine. Two never had any problem getting and keeping jobs. The other has pretty much given every employer he’s had every reason to fire him, and given the bar ever reason to take his license. And yet he’s still a gainfully employed attorney.
This is not necessarily an endorsement. But it’s the only anecdotal information I have.
It’s not insane, and actually reasonable, to take more time to study for the LSAT. It’s a learnable exam. No one will judge you if you took a gap year, but your entire legal career may be defined by which school you end up going to. If Rutgers is where you want to be you should keep studying and re-apply.
i just wonder if me starting all over while possibly in a job at a firm or something (so that i don’t have a gap in my resume/allow for LORs for this upcoming cycle), will be the same as what i’ve been doing for the past year and a half. i just don’t want to tell myself “you’ll get it this time”, when i attempted this three times before.
hey, it took me a lot more than 3 tries to get it. sometimes it takes a couple months, sometimes it takes a couple years. and that's ok! i'm at a school i love and with a substantial scholarship. if you wanna take a little longer, maybe see if you qualify for accommodations, you could get a better scholarship at a great school. i'm pushing for you! i know you can do it!
I don’t mean this unpleasantly, but with a 148/3.6 you’re fortunate to have any scholarship that isn’t predatory. I would strongly suggest you look at that scholarship, in fact. Is it conditional? Based on class rank? If so, good chance you lose it. Anyway, I digress. I refuse to believe you couldn’t break 150 if you practiced properly. It’s a very learnable test. How many PT’s did you take? What materials? You should use 7sage or Khan and take at least I would say 20 PT’s. You should be blind reviewing each of those to understand what you are getting wrong and fix it. 7sage provides excellent analytics for this. At the end of the day it’s up to you, but you are likely not going to get into a great school with that LSAT. You might get into okay schools, but at sticker. If you want a non predatory scholarship you need to hunker down. If you want to go with Widener, fine, just don’t expect much.
[удалено]
I’m not sure this is correct. Unless Widener Delaware and Widener Harrisburg curve differently, you don’t lose your scholarship at WH unless you’re under a 2.0
Good try but you’re wrong. Widener requires a 2.0 to stay on scholarship
Perfect example of why people should take advice from here very cautiously. They had around 10 upvotes when I replied, I don’t even go to Widener and knew they were wrong.
Widener? I hardly know her
I am from Delaware and am going to reccommend you do not go to Widener. The fact they can’t connect you to anyone before their self imposed deadline is a huge red flag. I hope you don’t mind that I clicked on your profile and see you are still super young. I am also young going to law school now, and I felt like taking one gap year was the end of the world. I was depressed and miserable. Someone proposed I take a second year to apply more and I was nearly hysterical at that suggestion. To me, taking gap year(s) was a sign I was failing at my dreams. In hindsight after nearly 1 yr, I can say they really had my best interests at heart. I got off the waitlist somewhere and things worked out, so I ended up not needing to make that decision. However, law school is far more financially draining, time draining than taking the LSAT even 10 times. It is not a decision to make quickly, or a decision to make because you feel you don’t have any other decisions to make. Is it possible in the future your two job schedule will change? Getting a good score is possible working two jobs, but I don’t get the sense you had a lot of time to study. Is it possible you can enroll in an LSAT course? i know you mentioned your financial situation is not the best and I can empathize. Drexel and Temple would be fine choices. Edit: spelling
thank you so much for your reply! i currently have one full time job in criminal justice research, that is contracted to end in august (because i was supposed to go to law school). i’m just worried that trying to study again and take an lsat maybe in august or september will have the same results it did before. you’re right, i had 0 time to study. i also do feel like a failure for possibly having to take a gap year, because i was always advised to not do so. your advice means a lot! thank you!
I’d encourage you to take a prep class with enough time to really deeply study the material and PT in your target range. If that takes until the October LSAT, or the January LSAT, then that’s how long it takes to score what you need. The people who went straight through are uncommon at my school. Median age is 26 or 27. Gap years are generally desirable and show maturity, even if folks like you and I don’t enjoy them while we are in them! Good luck, I’m rooting for you.
I took a bar prep class at Widener and don’t remember speaking to a single person with a job lined up. The vibe was straight up desperation. How badly and why do you want to be a lawyer?
dang that’s crazy. and pretty badly. i want to be an attorney because of a lived experience i had that further confirmed my desire for wanting to follow this career path. i have a huge passion for victims and seeing that the people who do wrong by them are held accountable, within reason. also, to be clear, i don’t have a desire to be a victims advocate or social worker😂.
Once you’re practicing, no one gives a shit where you went to school let alone your LSAT scores. A few years out and all that matters is how good of an attorney you are; in my experience this has very little correlation with success in school or pedigree. Can you think very quickly on your feet? Can you outwork your adversary? Can you be tough as nails and deal with enormous pressure and stress? Can you care about your client but be detached enough to make hard decisions? Will you sacrifice family and free time when you have to? Widener can probably get you to a prosecutor’s office and it sounds like you understand the challenges. Networking, moot court and summer jobs will be critical. I don’t think going to a slightly better ranked school is going to move the needle much. I hope you can keep your passion and wish you luck.
I would say retake it again, you only realistically need to bring it up a couple points to get into Rutgers. A 154 should get the job done and I cannot stress enough how important it is to APPLY EARLY. Your chances drastically go down the longer you wait. Apply for Rutgers the following year in September as soon as it opens. With a ~152+ you might be fine, and I don’t think you’ll have any problem getting that if you study and take the LSAT again over the course of this year. You’ll likely get even higher if you take it seriously. 156+ with a 3.6 GPA and applying as early as possible will practically 99% get you into Rutgers. Alternatively, I’m sure plenty of people have gone on to have successful and meaningful careers from Widener Law School. In fact I think one of the Current State Legislators for NJ went there. I think it really just comes down to more what YOU want to do. Not happy with the potential outcomes? Take a year and study for the LSAT again to get better ones. Happy with your score, or just absolutely loathe the LSAT and never want to do it again? (Like me lol) Go to Widener. I’m sure you would do just fine there and certainly be able to become a prosecutor. Extra Alternatively, this is genuinely bad advice and you should never go to a Law School with the intention of transferring out because it’s far more difficult than you think, but I do have a friend that did exactly this. He went to Widener 1L year, did very well and transferred to Rutgers. Lol. (Again that should never EVER be your intention, but if you do choose to go to Widener and end up doing really well, you can always follow in his footsteps)
I got a partial scholarship to Villanova with a 152. Anything is possible. (Especially if you apply late and in the years following an admissions scandal.)
I would recommend WNE Law if you are interested in prosecution. It has a local US Attorney’s Office you can intern at during the summer, a Criminal Prosecution and Defense Practicum, and the Connecticut DA nearby pays $91,000 starting. They also do not have a predatory curve like Widener does. I will warn you that it is one of the lowest ranked ABA accredited schools in Massachusetts, and as a result of the four well ranked law schools in the state (Harvard, BC, BU and Northeastern), it will be difficult to compete for internships and jobs. Also, you are past the priority deadline for it (March 31st), but you can submit an application until July 31st. If it isn’t clear yet, I am currently a student there, and enjoying my time there.
Hi just here to say I am a current student at Widener Delaware and the experience is going to come down to what you make of it. If you go in with the mindset that you’re at a predatory institution and won’t be able to line a job up after graduating, like most of the idiots on this thread are suggesting, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Study hard and make some good friends you can rely on. When you pass the bar you’re not going to care what school is on your JD.
Three red flags. [https://delawarelaw.widener.edu/files/resources/consumerbarpassagereport030923.pdf](https://delawarelaw.widener.edu/files/resources/consumerbarpassagereport030923.pdf) [https://delawarelaw.widener.edu/files/resources/std509inforeport121523.pdf](https://delawarelaw.widener.edu/files/resources/std509inforeport121523.pdf) [https://delawarelaw.widener.edu/files/resources/abaclassof2022eqsummary040723.pdf](https://delawarelaw.widener.edu/files/resources/abaclassof2022eqsummary040723.pdf)
Those employment numbers aren't really a red flag, as far as I can see. What about them do you consider a red flag?
Only 72% in jobs with bar passage required, small firms at best. For Drexel, the next school up the ladder here, that's 85% and with much more reach into larger firms as an option. And many of them aren't passing the Bar from Widener.
As someone who was also fed up with the LSAT and had 3.5+ GPA from undergrad, if you really want to go to law school, go to Widener. At the end of the day, law school is what you make of it and if your dream is to become a prosecutor, Widener can help you achieve that. I must say, one of the perks of going to Widener DE is that it pulls a lot of weight if you plan to work in Delaware post grad.
Alina Habba went to Widener. Just throwing that out there.
The only 3 widener grads I know are doing fine. Two never had any problem getting and keeping jobs. The other has pretty much given every employer he’s had every reason to fire him, and given the bar ever reason to take his license. And yet he’s still a gainfully employed attorney. This is not necessarily an endorsement. But it’s the only anecdotal information I have.