Alright, strap in. Today we’re going to talk about how to pay for law school. Waitwait, come back. Get a fortifying beverage, because we need to talk.

Law school isn’t going to pay for itself. So how are we, the prospective law students, supposed to deal with the terrifying dollar signs that float ominously in the corners of rooms, casting cold shadows and humming with portents of financial doom (or is that just me…)? Let’s, uh … let’s look at some options.

I’m not gonna lie, this topic is a bummer. So to help break the tension, I’m going to try to keep things interesting by sprinkling some non-standard tips* (in green) for financing law school every couple paragraphs, okay? Okay.

This topic is huge. We’ve written about it before. We’ll write about it again. For now, we’re going to go through a bit of a greatest hits approach.

Alternative financing method break #1:
• Come into a massive trust fund. No, a bigger one than that.
• Become a wildly charismatic cult leader.

Before jumping into how to pay for law school, let’s talk about how much your legal degree will actually cost. There are a number of ways to try to figure this out, but a loan calculator is going to make the math much easier. A loan calculator will help you tally up any current student loans (including interest), tuition and fees, and living expenses. A good loan calculator will also let you factor in some of the more “hidden” costs of law school, like books, parking and transportation, and prep classes for the bar exam.

Take a deep breath. All right. Now that you have a clearer idea of the amount of money that your law school journey might coast, let’s start looking at how to pay for it.

Alternative financing break #2:
• Marry a dean of a law school. No guarantees, but it’s worth a shot.
• Actually, just marry rich! Surely there’s some nouveau riche dilettante somewhere who’d love to have a bright, idealistic up-and-coming future lawyer as a spouse. Surely.

When it comes to financing law school, there are three main avenues for exploration:

1: Grants and scholarships — money that you don’t have to pay back.
2: Federal student aid — remember your friend from undergrad, the FAFSA?
3: Private loans — buyer beware, this is the danger zone

Order is important here. Not all financing options are created equal, and some have more sting on the back end than others. LSAC has information about all of the above at their website. Aren’t they thoughtful.

Alternative financing break #3:
• Convince the American Bar Association that your living room actually houses a law school that should be accredited, c’mon, guys, be cool.
• Sell that $160,000 yacht that’s been sitting out in the garage gathering dust for years.

Starting with the first. The best kind of money you can get is the kind that’s (more or less) free. Applying for grants and scholarships, while somewhat time-intensive, is the option that’s least likely to land you in any debt. There are dozens of places to look for legal scholarships, but LSAC is a good place to start your search. Yale Law also has a decent starter list. And, of course, any school you apply to will likely have some information about scholarships particular to their program. Once you’ve applied to a school, start filling out scholarship applications ASAP. Even if you don’t ultimately decide to attend, having a fuller idea of the amount of money involved can only help your decision making process.

Alternative financing break #4:
• Avocado toast. Statistically speaking, you’re probably a millennial. You can turn avocado toast into cash, right?
• Commit truly ridiculous amounts of credit card fraud.

After you’ve looked through your options for money that doesn’t have to be paid back, it’s time to look at loans. Politics aside, federal loans are still your safest bet when it comes to borrowing money. Remember filling out the FAFSA when you applied for undergrad? I hope so, because you’re gonna want to do it again for law school! There are some helpful guides — not to mention LSAC — that’ll help walk you through the process in case it’s been a few years since you last did the paperwork.

Federal loans come with some benefits that private loans don’t necessarily cover, like fixed interest rates and deferred payment. Federal loans are also more likely to be covered by loan forgiveness programs.

Alternative financing break #5:
• Pull a Walter White. I’ve only seen the first episode, but I’m assuming it worked out well.
• Just straight-up rob a bank. Construct an elaborate heist scenario and rob a bank.

And if grants, scholarships, federal loans, work-study, and your own savings don’t cover the full cost of your legal education, then you can turn to the private sector. Private loans tend to be more expensive, but sometimes it’s a choice between going to law school and taking a private loan or passing on law school. That’s a choice that only you can make. Study up and pick your loans carefully. We here at Blueprint are rooting for you.

*Note: Blueprint does not officially endorse any of these alternative methods. Unofficially? What are you, a cop? Still no. Mostly.

The post How to Pay for Law School appeared first on Blueprint LSAT Blog.

You’ve finally got your application all together — LSAT score, transcript, letters of recommendation, and personal statement all uploaded to LSAC and ready to be sent out to the 203 ABA-accredited law schools. But clearly you don’t want to waste valuable time and money on all of them, so you’re going to want to prioritize that list down to schools that are both good fits for you, personally and professionally, as well as ones that you have a good shot at being admitted to.

As you may already be aware, law schools are ranked by U.S. News & World Report. This ranking is the clearest indication of the prestige of a given school. Although these rankings are not perfect, they provide a decent enough picture of the likelihood, everything else being equal, of a new graduate being hired by a law firm. This is important since you’re going to need a good job to keep making payments on the soul-crushing debt incurred over the three or four years it takes to become a juris doctor, so you’ll want to go to a school that gives you the best chance of being gainfully employed even before sitting for the bar exam.

So how to know if you have a chance at Harvard or Yale? Go by the numbers. The same logic that goes into choosing undergraduate choices applies to law school. If your LSAT and GPA are somewhere between the 25th and 75th quartiles, you’ve at least got a decent shot. Below the 25th percentile is a reach, but if it’s a school that interests you it may be worth taking a flyer on it and seeing what happens. Just know the odds are against you in that situation. And if you’re a splitter (high GPA, low LSAT) or reverse splitter (high LSAT, low GPA), you still may have a shot, depending on the school. You can input your numbers into our law school predictor (well, we call it a Law School Compass) to see your chances of admission to any law school in the country when you make a Blueprint account.

Lastly, if you’re determined to go to law school next year, then have at least one or two safety schools where your scores are comfortably at the 75th percentile or better for their admissions. There are other factors that go into admissions (life story/experience, race/ethnicity, veteran status, undergrad major, etc.) so any specific individual’s chances are highly variable, but LSAT followed by GPA are by far the two biggest contributors, on average.

There is one note on the overall rankings, if you have a particular specialization in mind already, look at the specialization rankings. These often differ from the main rankings, and can provide some hidden value in the admissions process. Most law students don’t specialize until their summer internship after their second year and are hoping for a job offer, so these rankings only apply to most students in retrospect. However, if you already have a specialization in mind, you might be surprised to find you’re a competitive applicant at some law schools that are highly ranked in the field you’d like to practice.

Another major concern, especially for older law students, is geography. If you need and/or want to be in or near a specific city, your choices will be naturally narrowed down. This will also likely be the city in which you do most of your internship work and networking, which are crucial efforts to getting a job offer out of law school if you’re not graduating from one of the T-14 schools. Try and visit as many potential schools as possible, and make sure that you’re only applying to ones you’d be happy to be at for at least the next three years, if not the rest of your career.

Last, but certainly not least, is cost. The most highly ranked schools tend to have high tuition, although some with large endowments also offer quite a bit of financial aid. The simple truth is that all law schools are quite expensive, and almost all new lawyers graduate with tons of debt. There are only two ways to effectively deal with this problem (as currently the federal student loan forgiveness program is broken): pay less upfront, or make more on the backend (i.e., the job market). So know the current tuition fees at the schools you’re applying to, and also any financial aid or scholarships they may be able to offer you. In the long run, your best chance at making enough money to pay off your debt is to go to the best possible law school and then get the best possible starting salary afterwards. So apply to the best possible schools you have a reasonable shot at getting into, and take advantage of any and all possible financial aid.

The post It’s Application Time: How to Choose Your Schools appeared first on Blueprint LSAT Blog.

Hi! I am a college freshman hoping to go to law school! What should I be doing?

Best,
Has-their-life-together-college-freshman

My first reaction to questions like the above is a simple, “Wow.” While most college freshman are worrying about who they’ll sit with in the dining hall, some nerds pre-law freshman are worrying about LAW SCHOOL. Ugh.

Don’t worry, the purpose of this post won’t be to just make fun of ahead-of-the game college freshman. Being over-prepared isn’t a bad thing! With all the time in the world, there are definitely some things you can do now to ensure you’re sufficiently prepaared for a life of the law. Here are our best tips for college freshman on how to prepare for law school:

1. FOCUS ON YOUR GRADES: We cannot emphasize this enough! You can always retake the LSAT, or postpone your test date until you’re ready, but you can NEVER re-do your GPA.

2. Choose a major you actually like: Unlike pre-med, there is no list of acceptable pre-law majors. Literally, anything goes! Do you like theater? Sing and act your heart out for four years! Also, going back to the grades thing, if you’re taking classes for a major you actually enjoy, your grades are likely to be higher. Time to declare that Fashion Merchandising major!

3. Get involved in your community: Join extra-curricular activities (yes, they’re not just for high schoolers) and take advantage of volunteer opportunities. Build up your resume with things that will impress law school admissions committees and give you good content for your personal statement.

4. Figure out what lawyers actually do: We hate to break it to you, but not all lawyers are Atticus Finch or Erin Brockovich. (Do all of you born-in-2001 college freshman know who Erin Brockovich is, or are we seriously exposing our age here?). Being a lawyer can mean a ton of different things! A federal prosecutor is not the same as a tax attorney at a big law firm. Perhaps research what lawyers actually do before committing to $300,000 of debt. Once you find an area of the law you like, you can get some valuable experience and bolster your application (see tip #3) by interning or volunteering in that field.

5. Build relationships with some professors: Since you’re eventually going to need a couple of letters of recommendation when you apply to law school, it makes sense to start scoping out some potential references now. It never hurts to get started early, especially if you go to a large university. Start forming some relationships with professors now, so you can get a personal, positive reference later on. A little bit goes a long ways! Stay after class to ask some questions and attend a few office hours, and you’ll make an impression that pays off later — and who knows, you might make a real personal connection while you’re at it!

Notice that studying for the LSAT is not on this list. As an LSAT tutor, it’s extremely strange to give this advice, but you should probably not study for the LSAT as a college freshman. Unless you’re strangely gifted at solving the current format of the Logic Games and can’t bear the thought of any potential change in four years (read more on that here), there is really no benefit to studying for or taking the LSAT now. An LSAT score is only good for five years, and who knows if you’ll even be applying within five years? So, focus on those grades and extra-curricular activities and check back in a few years! We’ll definitely still be here for you!

The post How to Prepare for Law School as a Freshman appeared first on Blueprint LSAT Blog.

You’ve invested in LSAT prep, spent an embarrassing amount on fancy lattes to get you through study sessions, registered for the LSAT … and your next step is sending off your applications, right? Unfortunately, no. There’s one more step: registering for the CAS.

CAS? Who even is she? Or it? A law school? Not quite — CAS actually stands for “Credential Assembly Service.” That’s basically just a fancy way of saying, “It’s how LSAC will send your information to schools.” CAS is how LSAC makes applying to law school “easier” for students. They will summarize your grades, compile your letters of recommendation, and send everything in one big report to each law school you apply to. You don’t have to do anything (except pay a kingly ransom)!

Here’s the rundown on the most important things you need to know about CAS and what it includes:

1. Academic transcript: You will need to request transcripts with your grades from every higher education course you took before getting your undergraduate degree. Each institution you attended or took classes at will need to send these transcripts to LSAC. This includes grades from dual-enrollment community college courses (even if you took these classes in high school), transfer institutions, study abroad programs, and summer school. LSAC will then calculate these grades into an “LSAC” GPA. If you have any concerns about how LSAC will weigh each grade in their calculation, it’s broken down pretty nicely on their website. (Fun fact: if you were lucky enough to attend an institution with “A+” grades, that’s weighted at a 4.33, much to the chagrin of everyone who didn’t attend an A+-granting institution)

2. Letters of Recommendation: Does anyone remember applying to college? If not, here’s a refresher: you generally “waived” your right to view your letters of recommendation and they were sent directly to College Board (wow, throwback). The same applies to law school admissions — this time with LSAC. You may be thinking, “But how can I send LSAC my letters of recommendation without looking at them?” Thanks to CAS, all you will need to do is enter in your recommenders’ information such as their names and email addresses, and LSAC will send them instructions on how to send in their glowing recommendations. Worry free and easy!

3. Cost: LSAC released a few different “bundle” packages that include CAS. However, if you’re purchasing CAS on its own it’ll cost you $195 (plus a report for each school — more on that below). Evidently, sending law schools electronic reports of scores, letters, and transcripts is more expensive than you’d think!

4. Do I actually have to buy this? The short answer is yes. The majority of law schools do require applicants apply with CAS. So, in order to apply to most law schools, you will need to purchase CAS.

5. What does this not include? Mainly, application fees — most schools have an application fee of their own and LSAC charges an additional $45 “CAS fee” for each school you apply to. Essentially, this $195 fee simply includes transcript summarization and letter of recommendation compilation. (Unfortunate fact: This means that the CAS fee does not also include a puppy to provide emotional support during this stressful time. We know, sad.)

Long story short, you will need to purchase CAS for $195 in order to apply to any law school. It’s probably in your best interest to do so sooner rather than later. This way, you can submit your transcripts and letters of recommendation as soon as possible. Although this can be a stressful and expensive process, think of the upside: CAS makes the application process easier for you! We love easier. Imagine having to summarize your own transcript for every school you apply to — that would be a nightmare. So, make sure those transcripts are ready to be sent and your recommenders are writing letters that explain just how great you are. Soon enough, you’ll be a law school applicant!

The post CAS Me If You Can appeared first on Blueprint LSAT Blog.

Hello, overachieving sophomore! Sophomore year of college is an exciting time, is it not? You’re finally getting to pick your own classes rather than take core requirements, navigating the party scene campus life, and may even be applying to internships.

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, you may be brainstorming potential answers to Aunt Linda’s favorite question: “What are you going to use that degree for?” After giving some thought, we’ll just admit it: “law school” is a tempting, impressive answer.

The list for what to do as a sophomore if you want to go to law school is rather short. The good news is, although you’re slightly closer to the actual application process than a college freshman, you’ve still got quite a bit of time before you make an Elle Woods-style admissions video for your spot at Harvard*. More importantly, it might be a bit too early to take the LSAT, but it’s never too early to start researching how you’re going to prep for the LSAT. In the meantime, here are some suggestions to bolster your application:

1. Focus on your GPA: Law school admissions heavily depend on your numbers. Blueprint is here to help you out with the LSAT via LSAT prep courses, but it’s in your best interest to help yourself out with grades by maintaining a strong GPA.

2. Legal Internship? Sophomore year is generally the time that college students begin to pursue internships. What better way to figure out if you want to be a lawyer than by shadowing real ones? Perhaps try reaching out to local law firms and see if you can be an intern. After all, what law firm doesn’t need a smart, organized, and motivated addition to their team?

3. Explore your other interests: We really want to emphasize the fact that you should be focusing on participating in activities you are passionate about! The legal world collides with many people’s day to day interests — you’d be surprised to see how you can make a difference! If anything, by being ultra-engaged in something you care about, you can build qualities that make for a good lawyer! Get that personal statement content!

4. Connect with your pre-law society: Although pre-law advisors can be a hit or miss, the pre-law community at your university can be a great resource! Reaching out to pre-law gropus will also allow you to meet others who want to go to law school — maybe you can plan on being classmates again (or, if you are particularly evil, you can strategically apply to schools you know for a fact they won’t be applying to). This could also allow you to form study groups or find internship opportunities!

5. Junior deferral program? 3+3? Some schools, such as Harvard, have a program for their own undergraduate students who are certain they’d like to go to law school. If you are attending a school which either has a deferral program or a 3(years of undergrad)+3(years of law school) program that you are interested in, this summer may be the time for you to begin studying for the LSAT. Do your research now so that you won’t miss the opportunity later!

Well, that’s all you really need for now, college sophomores! We hope you’ll have fun (but not too much fun — remember, law schools do have a character and fitness requirement) during the next few years of your undergraduate experience. We hope you’ll still be as starry eyed about the legal field when the time comes for you to apply — we will still be here to help you!

*We are not suggesting you actually make an admissions video for Harvard.

The post How to Prepare for Law School as Sophomore appeared first on Blueprint LSAT Blog.

Post-Thanksgiving leftovers sandwiches have been devoured and the smell of roasting chestnuts has invaded Christmas markets the country over. Rather than basking in holiday cheer, let’s Grinch it up in here and talk about law school applications.

That’s right, we’re talking about law school! There’s plenty of advice out there about how to apply for law school, but today we’re going to focus on the negatives: happy holidays, we got you a what-not-to-do list!

Here’s a list of five mistakes you don’t want to make when you’re putting your law school applications together. Good luck!

1. Your personal statement is about a person, but that person isn’t you

If you finish your personal statement and think, huh, this could apply to a dozen of my classmates, then you’ve done yourself a disservice. The goal of writing a personal statement is to let the reader see who you are beyond a list of your accomplishments (that’s what the résumé is for)). It should be anything but generic.

When writing a personal statement, you want the admissions board to feel like they know why you, in particular, will be an asset to their law school. A single story with a honed message will serve you much better than a scattershot summary of some pre-law kid who’s done all the right activities.

2. The résumé you use to apply for a job and your law school résumé are identical

It almost feels like a misnomer, calling a law school résumé a “résumé.” Although there are clear similarities in content — both list jobs you’ve held — the goals of the two documents are actually quite distinct. Law schools don’t particularly care about your salary history, nor are they interested in your proficiency with the Microsoft Office suite of products. Think of your law school résumé as more of a curriculum vitae.

The goal of your résumé is to highlight the kinds of accomplishments that mark you as someone who is likely to succeed in law school, which will likely involve spending some time on your academic history as well as sketching your job history. It’s a bit of a balancing act, of course. If you’ve been out of undergrad for a decade, you may want to spend more time talking about your leadership in the business world than some classwork you haven’t thought about in ages. Or if your only work history is babysitting for neighborhood kids, it will probably benefit you to devote more space to the poster you presented at an academic conference.

3. You waited until now to ask for letters of recommendation

Asking for letters of rec is nerve-racking, and the natural instinct to procrastinate is hard to overcome. However, the clock is ticking and the tide of rolling admissions waits for no law school hopeful. Professors, managers, volunteer coordinators, and community leaders are busy people. Expecting a turnaround of a few days, or even a few weeks, for a letter of rec is setting yourself up for failure. Try to give potential recommenders two to three months of lead time, and be prepared to hand them a brief summary of information about you and some of the work that you’ve done together that you may want them to include in their letter.

4. Yuo have a couple a typos in your materials

A bit self-explanatory, but important nonetheless. If you don’t care enough to use spell check, why should an admissions board care about your application?

5. You ignore some of the application rules

Rules: they apply to you too! If a law school application gives you an instruction, follow it. Let me say that again: if an application gives you an instruction, follow it.

The law is a profession of nitpickers who read the fine print. Don’t tempt fate by playing fast and loose with application requirements. It may seem obvious, but it’s stunning how often people neglect clear rules. Fill out every box on application forms, keep your writing within the word count/page limit, and if there are notes on preferred formatting or ordering follow them to the letter.

The post Five Law School Application Errors appeared first on Blueprint LSAT Blog.

We all hate a reductive generational stereotype … but if there’s one thing that’s true of Millennials and Gen Zers or Zoomers or whatever we’re calling them now, it’s that they love a good meme. Taking an image from SpongeBob SquarePants or The Office or anime and relating it to some shared experience — it’s every person under thirty-five’s favorite instant yuk generator.

And, this has been just a banner few years for memes. Who could forget the oblivious but inquisitive gentleman and the butterfly? The focus group guy? Or the heated argument between an emotionally distraught lady and a sneering cat? These memes proved remarkably adept at capturing the emotional journey of people studying for the LSAT. Those studying for the LSAT go through a few peaks and many lows, so it’s no surprise that we see so many test takers use memes as a way to take a break from the LSAT, share their ups and downs of preparing for this test, and connect with fellow test takers experiencing similar travails. So we decided to scour the internet and high and low to bring you the best LSAT memes y’all made this year.

You probably notice a common theme with these LSAT memes — almost all are about how intractably difficult the LSAT is. But you know, making memes and taking the test aren’t all that different. Memes are nothing more than analogies — you’re analogizing your experience to some pop culture ephemera. Analogies are among the most common devices used on the LSAT, both on Logic Reasoning and Reading Comp. Plus, making a meme involves taking a template, and following the rules established by that template. You have the template of a lady yelling at a cat. The first rule is that you have to put some complaint many people have under the screaming, distraught woman. The second rule is that you have put a sassy rejoinder underneath the hissing cat. You have an intuitive understanding of how to do this. Even if the LSAT seems counterintuitive, using a template and following rules sounds a lot like a logic game to this LSAT instructor. So know that if you can make a meme happen, maybe you can still make your law school dream happen.

(OK, OK, sorry. Just trying to be a little positive here.)

Anyway, you’ll be happy to learn that meme-ing won’t stop once you take the LSAT. You’ll be sharing the same emotional tribulations with your fellow 1Ls in law school next year. Memes will once again provide an apt format to express yourself for your fellow law students. As a bonus, here are some of the best law school memes of 2019.

For those who wish to serve the public interest …

Cold-calling can be an intimidating experience …

…but the real heads know life is much easier with that Quimbee outline ..

Just don’t be that gunner in class …

This bit of jargon will probably make a bit more sense after taking Evidence …

But maybe it’ll all be worth it in the end?

The post The Best LSAT Memes appeared first on Blueprint LSAT Blog.

It’s December 18th … which is pretty late in the game to be thinking about holiday gifts. Shouldn’t you have that chore all … ahem … wrapped up by now? But if there are people in your life who are studying for the LSAT or in law school, you almost certainly haven’t seen them in quite some time. They’ve been totally occupied by conditional language or promissory estoppel, and haven’t been able to make much time for you. So you can be forgiven if you’re just remembering now that you need to buy them a gift.

If you’re having trouble thinking about what to get the absentee pre-lawyer in your life, we got you. We’ve helped thousands of people get through the LSAT and law school process, and have even been through that process ourselves. We know these people well. They are our people. So we think we can help you find a gift for them. Without further ado, here’s the official Blueprint 2019 Last-Minute Holiday Gift Guide … with all the gifts you can give that budding lawyer in your life.

A sanctuary of peace and quiet

Image from poppinpod.poppin.com

Presumably you have a spare $14,000 laying around — I mean, who doesn’t, right? If so, one thing that anyone studying for the LSAT or law school desperately needs is a quiet place to focus. So gift them the White PoppinPod Kolo 2, a 89″ x 48″ sanctum of solitude. Even if your pre-lawyer has to share space with roommates, the hermetically sealed pod will provide them a quiet, personal space to study complete with power outlets, motion-activated lights, and a fan.

Or, maybe don’t get them a small chamber to study in … OK, onto our real holiday gift guide.

A backpack

Image from osprey.com

I am of the (perhaps controversial) opinion that adults shouldn’t wear backpacks. However, LSAT takers and law students are definitely not normal adults, so we can make an exception for them. They’ll upgrade to fetching briefcases and handbags once they hit the job market, but for now, it’s still backpack time. When gifting a backpack for these types, think function over form. You’re not fitting laptops, notebooks, giant booklets full of practice exams, and tomes about torts and contracts in a Fjallraven. Make it big, make sure it has many compartments, get those straps extra padded — hell, put wheels on it if you have to. If it looks good, that’s the icing, but the appearance is definitely not the cake itself.

Tools to inject caffeine into their veins

Image from amazon.com

No one needs to be reminded that studying for the LSAT is a huge time commitment, or that the reading in law school practically amounts to a full-time job. Nothing will help those students get through those long hours and late nights — well, nothing that isn’t federally classified as a Schedule I or II narcotic — like a healthy dose of caffeine. Gift cards to national coffee chains are nice, but you can give something a little more lasting. If you want to ball out for this student there are a number of very fancy, third-wave coffee house-approved coffee and espresso machines on the market. But if you’re looking for something a little more reasonably priced, there are fun gadgets like the Aeropress or Clever brewer. Speaking from personal experience, my most intimate relationship in law school was with my Clever. I used it multiple times, every day. It took just long enough to make coffee to provide a much-needed break from studying, but not so long as to feel like a chore. The coffee was delicious, and — unlike the fussy pour-overs preferred by snobby baristas — basically impossible to mess up. Alternatively, if your loved one’s tastes run more towards tea, there are plenty of places to turn for handsome teaware or elaborate tea sets or fancy tea collections.

A suit

Image from shutterstock.com

Eventually, that pre-law or law student is going to have to don a suit for some job interviews. Odds are they could use a little help in that department. Personally, I believe few things can instill more confidence than wearing a totally bespoke, made-to-measure suit. Those things can get pretty expensive, so you may want to team up with a few friends or relatives, or just give them a gift card that gets the legal neophyte part of the way there. Or, you can get a suit off the rack — a little bit of tailoring can make it feel like customized suit. Either way, make it understated — greys and navys are the preferred colors of the still-conservative legal field. And don’t get crazy with the patterns — those power-stripes are for partners only.

A cookbook

Image from barnesandnoble.com

Law students gotta eat, but most lack the time or money to cook elaborate, delicious meals. They may be over-relying on the Trader Joe’s frozen section or cheap takeout, so a cookbook with simple recipes featuring affordable ingredients — that happen to produce meals that are healthy and delicious — like Ottolenghi Simple or Power Vegetables can help them level up, meal-wise.

A houseplant

Some people need to study outside their home; others get their best work done within the homestead. Those in the latter group will spend a lot of time at home while studying for the LSAT or law school, so try enlivening that legal padawan’s living space with a bit of greenery. Just don’t get a plant that’s too demanding. A low-maintenance plant like a succulent or ZZ plant can add a lot of life to the homebody’s house, without giving that stressed-out student a whole other thing to worry about.

A bit of stress-relief

Image from euromedspa.com

Let the pre-lawyer in your life take a little “me” time, with a gift card to a spa or massage or just some other form of stress relief that might take their mind off of logic games and proximate causes. Or maybe let them bring the calming ~vibes~ home with some essential oils or candles.

Alcohol. Just alcohol

Image from quora.com

Provided they don’t abstain, no pre-lawyer is going to reject the gift of fermentation this holiday season. Studying is stressful, so they might want something to make their extracurricular activity a little less so. Honestly, just a bottle of something nice and strong would be warmly received. However, if you want to class it up a bit, you can get them started on a wine or beer of the month club. I went to law school during the Four Loko Era, so class was not a priority for me. But who knows … with a wine of the month club, perhaps that law student will eventually impress a partner with their knowledge of the Loire Valley at a holiday party.

Cash

Image from wsj.com

Let’s be honest. You know the pre-lawyer in your life better than we do. What are they like? A little bit picky? Highly opinionated? Thinks they know best? Yeah, most pursuing this legal life truly be like that. These sorts can be tough to please, but the gift of cash will let them buy whatever their persnickety selves could possibly want or need.

The post Blueprint’s 2019 Law Student Gift Guide appeared first on Blueprint LSAT Blog.

Valentine’s Day is this week. Maybe you heard? We almost missed it — the only flowers we received were from game three of the September 2019 LSAT. Anyway, while our instructors are more likely to canoodle with an armful of LSAT practice tests than with another human being, we still like to think we can set the right mood for the most romantic of holidays. So enjoy this bouquet of Valentine’s Day posts this week from your friends at Most Strongly Supported. We hope that you can choo-choo-choose the right answers on all your practice questions this week.

Online dating is so prevalent now that it’s barely worth calling it “online dating” as opposed to just “dating.” How does that relate to the LSAT? Well … Let me tell you about the five pre-law students you’ll meet in heaven on law school forums.

THE GUNNER
Unpaid but *Highly Prestigious* Internship
The Ivy You Most Wanted to Get Into
Manhattan, NY

About me? Great, me is my favorite subject. I’ve wanted to be a lawyer since I first learned the word “no,” and I haven’t stopped aiming for the top since. I’ve made a science of stacking my CV to become an irresistible law school candidate. I’m not playing around here — I’m in it for the long haul. I’m gonna make it into every one of the T14, and then laugh at everything but HYS. Best try to catch me now, because by the time I’ve got my JD in hand, I’ll be unstoppable.

Interested in: Comparing our most recent practice test results. I only got a 178 this time, but I’m pretty sure it was just because of a tricky parallel reasoning question.

THE PUBLIC INTEREST ADVOCATE
Volunteer Coordinator: PPFA, UWW, HHI, BGCA, ARC…
A Small Liberal Arts College, Don’t Worry About It (Wellesley)
Organizing a bone marrow donation drive — have you registered?

Haha, I’m not really one to talk about myself, but since that’s why we’re here… I’m going into law for the right reasons. To save the planet! To stand up for underserved communities! To help, well, everyone! Since I know that a JD is important in order for me to achieve my dreams, I’m going to take studying seriously. So if you’re looking for someone to run flashcards with while knocking doors for Vote.org, I’m your gal!

Guilty pleasure: Looking at adoptable animals on Insta — from no-kill shelters, of course! I know I could be out there fundraising, but … they’re just so cute!

THE CORPORATE CAREERIST
Cravath, Swaine & Moore (future)
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania
Local Networking Event, Invite-Only

Pros:
• Effective
• Efficient
• Killer instinct

Cons:
• [this space intentionally left blank]

Show I Last Binged: Billions

THE SCIENTIST
Graduate Student (fmr)
MIT
Anywhere But Lab, God, Please

I know, I know. What’s a nice scientist like me doing in a law school forum like this? Truth told: Intellectual Property. I’m here for that sweet, sweet IP bank, and to get the hell away from wetwork. I figure, well, I’m smart enough to have earned a degree or two in the sciences so, how much worse can a JD be?

Perfect first date: Having a couple of drinks with someone who won’t tell me about techniques for culturing yeast while I’m trying to finish my beer.

THE SINCERE SCHOLAR
Honorary Reference Librarian
BA in Poli Sci, minor in Philosophy
Office Hours With My Favorite Prof

I’m just looking for someone who won’t say “why?” when I tell them I want to go to law school. I can’t help it; I really, sincerely think Con Law is fascinating. Like, who doesn’t stalk SCOTUSblog on big decision days! Surely everyone has a favorite podcast or two about legal minutiae! We all check in to see how #AppellateTwitter is doing from time to time, right? … Right? Uh, well, nobody ever got to be a law professor without acing law school first!

My golden rule: Don’t quote Justice Potter Stewart in bed … unless you mean it ;)

The post Five Pre-Law Dating Profiles appeared first on Blueprint LSAT Blog.

Eeny meeny miney…degree?  Much as I’d like to believe that readers of this blog are only here to bask in the sparkling wit and charm of our lovely authors, I know a self-serving fallacy when I see one.  We’re all here for one reason:  To absolutely decimate the LSAT—Blueprint is great at that, BTW.  But is that the only reason we’re here?  What’s after the LSAT? More importantly, do you even need to take the LSAT?

Sometimes it’s worth taking a moment to remember that the LSAT is only an intermediary conclusion.  After all, there’s still law school to conquer.  But what exactly does that mean? Is a legal education just the LSAT, three years of law school, the Bar exam, and then you’re out the door and into practice?  It certainly can be. But that’s not the only path out there. There are a number of “law degrees” out there and each one can determine if you’re capable of suing or getting sued.

When people talk about a “law degrees,” generally they have something quite specific in mind.  But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t a number of options available to an enterprising legal scholar.  Here’s a brief overview of some of the different programs that can contribute to a legal education. 

What is a Juris Doctor (JD)?

A JD is the gold standard of a legal education.  When you think of “law school,” this is the kind of program you’re likely picturing.  Elle Woods got her JD in “Legally Blonde.”  On “How to Get Away With Murder,” Viola Davis teaches students earning a JD.  

According to LSAC, a JD degree is typically earned in three years, requires a Bachelor’s degree to enter, and often relies on a killer score on the LSAT in order to ensure admission—this is why you prep for the LSAT.  A JD provides the background knowledge needed to pass the Bar exam, which allows lawyers to practice law in state and federal courts.  

Most JD programs will cover a core set of courses, including contracts, torts, and civil procedure—concepts that make up a huge amount of what lawyers actually do when practicing law.  Students fill out the rest of their class hours with electives in different areas of study, like environmental or international law. Regardless of focus, successful graduates of these programs walk out the door with a JD degree in hand, ready to take the Bar (hopefully), and then practice. 

What is a Legum Magister (LLM) Degree?

But what about people who want to continue their legal education beyond a JD?  An LLM program can be used to augment the legal education earned while pursuing a JD.  

Augment is the keyword there:  a JD is required for admission for an LLM program. (One might say that a JD is necessary to obtain an LLM.  See what I did there?  We have fun here at Most Strongly Supported.)  LLM programs are aimed at lawyers who are seeking to deepen their professional credentials in a particular area of law, like taxation or human rights.  An LLM might make a US attorney a more attractive hire for a particular law firm, or it could be used to help a lawyer from another country familiarize herself with U.S. law. These programs typically take one year to complete. Most law schools offer an LLM and some even offer joint or dual JD-LLM programs. However, whether or not you need an LLM is ultimately up to you and your career goals. 

What is a Legal Certificate?

Legal certificate programs appeal to the widest group of potential students. Both practicing attorneys with a JD and people working in law-affiliated careers like court reporting can, and do, enroll in certificate programs. Some certificates are cross-disciplinary and available to business or med students.

These programs also tend to be on the shorter and more affordable ends of the spectrum of legal education.  Before deciding on a Legal Certificate program, be sure to do your research to make sure that the program is aimed at the appropriate content and level of expertise.  A paralegal hoping to expand her general knowledge of contracts is looking for a different program than a practicing attorney looking for a cybersecurity crash-course.  

Master’s Degree

Let’s say that, theoretically, you’re someone who is deeply interested in the law, but might not be interested in being a practicing lawyer.  A Master’s program may be what you’re looking for.  

There are a few different degrees available for people in this position, including Master’s in Science in Law (MSL), Master of Legal Studies (MLS), and Juris Master (JM).  Like other secondary degrees, candidates looking to apply for one of these programs should have a Bachelor’s degree. However, it is rare for students with a JD to pursue a Master’s degree of this kind.  

The key difference between one of these Master’s degrees and an LLM is in how those degrees are used. Lawyers pursue an LLM as a professional degree; students earn an MSL or MLS in order to learn more about the law from a non-practicing point of view. 

In summary, a chart:

*Note: currently four states allow people to take the Bar exam without going to law school—California, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.

As you can see, not all law degrees make you a lawyer. The only sure-fire way to practice law is by going to law school and taking the Bar exam. But, in order to get into law school, you’ll need to get a good score on the LSAT. Helping students to achieve that happens to be our forte. Schedule a free consultation with an LSAT Advisor to talk about whether a live online LSAT class, in-person LSAT class, or online LSAT prep makes sense for you. 

The post The Different Law Degrees appeared first on Blueprint LSAT Blog.