Next week is going to be pretty fantastic. Now, I know what you’re thinking—Memorial Day, three-day weekend, barbecues, and lounging pool-side. But that’s not what I’m talking about. Next week, on May 31st, there are going to be not one but two Blueprint webinars!
Student loans are in the news again. This time, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos has announced that her department is rescinding some policies issued by the Obama administration. It’s all a bit complicated, but the rescinded policies were aimed at changing how student loans are serviced, with some emphasis on protecting borrowers by ensuring adequate customer service.
It’s hard to tell exactly how the new approach will shake out. But let this be a reminder: student loans are something to approach very carefully. Lenders aren’t on your side. In today’s environment, only you can protect yourself.
Harvard Law recently decided to allow applicants to submit GRE scores in lieu of LSAT scores. The move has added fuel to the fire that law schools are needlessly lowering their academic standards. Good news for those who are about to apply, right? Well … lower standards come with ramifications both positive and negative.
In the aftermath of President Trump’s initial travel ban, ACLU lawyers became heroes—donations surged and people around the country (all right, maybe not so many people in the deep red states) applauded their efforts. Some suggested that Trump would inspire more applicants to law school, but the applications are about stagnant from last year. If you’re considering taking the LSAT and applying to law school, this might strike you as a discouraging sign for your career prospects. Quite the opposite, however. The longer applications stay stagnant, the better for applicants.
Important news for people who hate the LSAT: Harvard Law School just announced that it will begin considering GRE scores in lieu of LSAT scores.
For the uninitiated, the GRE — Graduate Records Exam — is the standardized test that students headed for graduate school usually take. This is true for math majors and English majors alike. As you might have guessed from that brief list, the test is a broad survey of the skills necessary — or at least helpful — for school in general: verbal/written skills and quantitative skills. Missing from the GRE is the logic and argumentation bent of the LSAT.
The law school application cycle rolls on, and that means that in addition to receiving a lot of acceptances (hopefully), you may also start receiving some not-so-good news. Being placed on a school’s waitlist can be discouraging, but the good news is that being waitlisted for a law school is not a kiss of death, the way it often is for undergrad admissions – schools only waitlist candidates they’d seriously consider, and people are accepted into law schools from the waitlist with some regularity. In the meantime, here are some things you can do to improve your chances:
Did you hear that applications to Hofstra University’s law school have nearly doubled in a year? No? Well, it’s true. Of course, it’s fallacious to assume that one law school on Long Island is representative of what’s happening in general — I’d argue it’s generally a bad idea to extrapolate from Long Island to the
The number of LSAT takers took a nosedive in 2010, and continued to slide through 2015. While still far off their 2009 high, the number has definitely stabilized — also known as “hitting rock bottom” in famous musician parlance. The 2015-2016 LSAT year (June ’15, Sept/Oct ’15, Dec ’15, February ’16) saw year-over-year increases averaging a little less than 5%. 2016-2017 started off flat, with June drop of about 1% and a Sept/Oct jump of about 1%.
Last week, the Department of Education flagged five law schools for failing to meet its gainful employment standard, a measure of graduates’ debt-to-income ratios. If the law schools in the hot seat fail the standard again next year, their students will no longer be eligible for federal student aid.
So you took the LSAT and, like the good pre-law student you are, you submitted the rest of your application materials so you’d be good to go. Then you got your LSAT score back and thought “you know, I could probably do better.” What now?