To Hell and Back: My LSAT Journey

The LSAT broke my heart four times, and I wouldn't change a thing.

I began studying for the LSAT in March 2022. Setting my sights on law school years prior, I was eager to tackle the infamous test that would help to determine my future as a lawyer.

For those unfamiliar with the LSAT, here’s a quick and general run-down of the test. If I miss or confuse anything, please leave a comment below! I want to be as helpful of a resource as I can be.

The LSAT has a score range of 120 to 180 and includes three sections: Logic Games (formally called Analytical Reasoning), Logical Reasoning, and Reading Comprehension. Although each section looks quite different, the LSAT tests your ability to think critically and logically, identify and evaluate arguments, and organize information.

(Disclaimer: the Logic Games section is being removed from the test beginning in August 2024.)

In the lore of law school admissions, you’ll hear about the “T6” and “T14” quite often. This refers to the top six or top fourteen schools, a band of schools that many applicants around the world ache to attend. Unlike undergrad, where the school you attend does not necessarily guarantee employment, the relationship between law school rankings and employment outcomes is much stronger.

Two things are of utmost importance in your application to law schools: LSAT score and GPA. Every law school posts the median LSAT and GPA of their 1L (first year) class, and generally, applicants who are at or above those medians have the best shot at acceptance. Of course, there are and will always be cases of above-median applicants being denied, and cases of below-median applicants being accepted. Applications are reviewed holistically, but striving to be at or above the medians is a useful way to ensure your application is taken seriously.

If you are an underrepresented minority (URM) — someone that identifies as Black/African American, Latinx/Hispanic, Native American, or Pacific Islander — this advice might not apply to you. I do not know much about URM admissions, but here’s a blog post that provides some insight and here’s a podcast with a former Director of Admissions. I can only speak about my experience as a non-URM applicant.

I knew I wanted to land somewhere in the T14 — ideally somewhere in the T6 — and that those schools have median LSAT scores that range between 170 and 174. For context, someone that scores a 170 is scoring at the ~94th percentile of test-takers, and someone with a 174 is at the ~98th percentile.

My goal was to score as close to 180 as possible. I knew that this wouldn’t be easy, but with the right approach, I was confident I could do it. I wasn’t wrong.