Choosing a Law School Personal Statement Topic

This post is the first of a series on navigating the personal statement.

It's by the author of A Comprehensive Guide to the Law School Personal Statement, Margaret Klein, PhD, a personal statement editor.

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Logic and Games

* People who went to law school without acquiring too much debt (or for free). [Above the Law]

* A Canadian law school graduate paid off his $114,000 student loan in cold hard cash. [Daily Mail]

* Cops and courts re-evaluate their use of eyewitnesses. [ABA Journal]

* Coffee drinkers may live longer, according to a study that avoided many typical Logical Reasoning flaws. [NYTimes]

* This guy flew over the Canadian oil sands at 1000 feet and took a bunch of photos. [Business Insider]

* Oklahoma State University tries to patent a steak. [Ars Technica]

Getting Started With LSAT Prep: LSAT Diaries

This installment of LSAT Diaries comes from Erika, who's taking the October 2012 LSAT.

In this diary, she talks about getting started with her LSAT prep after a false start 4 years ago.

If you want to be in LSAT Diaries, please email me at LSATUnplugged@gmail.com. (You can be in LSAT Diaries whether you've taken the exam already or not.)

Please leave Erika some encouragement and advice below in the comments!

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LSAT Cultural Bias Interview

I recently interviewed Stephen Harris, former LSAT question-writer and author of Mastering Logic Games, about whether the LSAT is culturally biased.

(He's written hundreds of the questions that appear in your books of LSAT PrepTests.)

Our discussion follows.

You can also:

1. Read ALL of my interviews with him (more than 5!)

2. Get them all in a free book I put together.

***

Do you think the LSAT is culturally biased? If so, what steps can be taken to correct for that? In writing questions, did you take measures to reduce your own cultural bias or does the question selection process correct for that? Is the LSAT a test of acculturation?

“Biased” is a word that is used in different senses. In some sense, the whole point of a test is to discriminate. A good test discriminates on the basis of reasonable considerations; a bad test not so much. For most tests, the basis for this discrimination will be cultural factors. Is a spelling test biased against bad spellers? In some sense, the answer is clearly yes. And that’s the point, even though spelling is a cultural phenomenon.

Likewise, the whole point of the LSAT is to help determine the extent to which test takers possess certain abilities, and these abilities are clearly cultural in some sense, like reading and drawing verbal inferences. But does this mean that either a spelling test or the LSAT is culturally biased in a troubling way? Not necessarily. They might be, by choosing idiosyncratic words to spell, for instance, or allowing extraneous factors that privilege one group over another to play a role on the LSAT. We can, and will, argue over which skills are the important ones, and whether a tool tests these skills in idiosyncratic ways that disadvantage otherwise qualified students inappropriately.

By any reasonable measure, it seems to me, the LSAT tests generally relevant skills in a manner that rarely prevents students who are likely to perform well in law school from gaining admission to some school or other. But bias in this pejorative sense is more like crime – you can never eliminate it, only combat it, especially since the standards by which inappropriate bias is judged are subject to dispute and undergoing constant change as a result of larger cultural conversations.

As for socioeconomic bias specifically, undoubtedly LSAT performance is correlated with socioeconomic status; life expectancy, quality of health care and education, and virtually everything else that people think is good is correlated with socioeconomic status. It would be really surprising if LSAT scores weren’t. But it seems to me that the problem with LSAT bias in this sense isn’t the LSAT per se as much as these other factors, and I doubt that there is an LSAT-specific remedy for this issue.

The most reliable way to limit one’s own inappropriate biases, I think, is to choose item topics carefully. Topics that one group might be more familiar with than another are generally poorly suited for test items. As an example, questions about sports very often risk the possibility of gender bias, since for some sports whether people play or follow them is pretty strongly correlated with gender.


Photo by 51170735@N02

Logic and Games

* Looks like I'm not the only one into LSAT GIFs. [YOlsatO]

* Rutgers at Camden Law dean defends marketing pitch touting salaries of $130K for ‘many top students.' [ABA Journal]

* Largest compilation of exonerations ever finds over 2,000 falsely convicted over past 23 years. [Washington Post]

* Supreme Court to decide if journalists can sue over warrantless wiretaps. [Ars Technica]

* Yet-another reason why you shouldn't lie on your résumé. [NYTimes]

* A lot of law school gunners have answer syndrome. Do you? [io9]

Taking LSAT Practice Tests Timed: LSAT Diaries

LSAT Blog commenter "Proxy" left this advice on a previous LSAT Diary, and I thought it was worth sharing with everyone in its own blog post.

Proxy talks about the importance of strictly timing yourself when taking full-length timed LSAT practice exams as you approach Test Day.

If you want to be in LSAT Diaries, please email me at LSATUnplugged@gmail.com. (You can be in LSAT Diaries whether you've taken the exam already or not.)

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Law School Writing Competition

In this week's Law School Diaries column, law student "Elle Woods" describes the process of competing for admission to UPenn's Law Review by entering the Writing Competition.

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Logic and Games

* Columbia Law students worked with their professor to demonstrate that Texas executed an innocent man. [Above the Law]

* I know the suburbs are boring, but playing "Urban Skittles" will do more harm than good when it comes to law school admissions. [ABA Journal]

* The 7 funniest lawyer ads. [Martindale]

* The harmful side effects of drug prohibition. [The Volokh Conspiracy]

* A Russian Facebook knockoff got in big trouble for promoting file-sharing. [Ars Technica]


Previously on LSAT Blog:

* I've reorganized the blog's Logic Games section.

* 7 with top scores share LSAT tips

* Law schools stalk you on Facebook, Google to find dirt

* More LSAT GIFs

Rutgers Law School Takes GMAT Scores

Last week, Rutgers School of Law at Camden sent out an email blast suggesting that the school would accept GMAT scores as an alternative to LSAT scores. (HT: Above the Law; Campos)

Why would they do such a thing? Well, amid declining applicant numbers, lower-tier law schools must work harder than ever to maintain their class sizes in order to keep tuition money coming in.

They apparently sent out this email to people who hadn't even expressed interest in law school. Given how intimidating the LSAT may seem at first, Rutgers Camden is looking to make it easier than ever to apply [emphasis added]:

The traditional law school program is a three-year program, which is extremely attractive to most graduate students given the difficult economy. The program is open to all students who have completed their undergraduate education with a 3.3 GPA or higher and scored in the 70th percentile or higher on any one core section of the GMAT.

You might ask, "But what about the LSAT requirement? That's not fair!"

No, it isn't. I haven't ever heard of a study on the correlation between GMAT scores and 1L grades. On the other hand, the LSAT is known to have a good correlation (0.58) with 1L grades.

The ABA's so-called "LSAT requirement" doesn't actually require law schools to use the LSAT in particular. It just requires them to use a "valid and reliable admission test." Low-tier law schools are free to interpret that however they like.

So, yeah, it's not fair that some get to take the GMAT instead of the LSAT, but, on the other hand, they have to go to Rutgers-Camden, rather than a law school actually worth attending.

In the past, I've heard of law schools accepting GMAT scores in lieu of LSAT scores, but only for joint JD/MBA programs. For example, Northwestern Law School:

Do I need to take the GMAT and LSAT?
Candidates are required to submit only the GMAT score; the LSAT is not required.

This makes a bit more sense, as such programs will typically require the applicant to have a stellar overall score on one of the two exams. And the applicant is definitely going to business school if accepted.

However, Rutgers' minimal standards here are only requiring 70% or higher on one of the GMAT's core sections for admission to law school alone, and the school's marketing this fact via email to solicit applications a mere 3 months before classes will start. (I searched the Rutgers-Camden website and found no mention of the fact that GMAT scores would be accepted in lieu of LSAT scores.)

Anyway, here's the Rutgers email reproduced in full. Be sure to check out the links below for some analysis of the numbers the dean tosses around.

Date: May 17, 2012 5:40:21 PM CDT
To: Subject: Rutgers School of Law - Camden 

Dear __________, 

In the ever-volatile job market, you may be considering graduate school. Consider this - Rutgers School of Law - Camden is giving high-achieving students, such as you, the opportunity to enroll in the Fall 2012 class. The traditional law school program is a three-year program, which is extremely attractive to most graduate students given the difficult economy. The program is open to all students who have completed their undergraduate education with a 3.3 GPA or higher and scored in the 70th percentile or higher on any one core section of the GMAT. If accepted at Rutgers law School at Camden, you will join other bright, talented students who are pursuing their legal education at our law school. To encourage you to participate in the program, the Law School is waiving the application fee, and if accepted, the $300 deposit fee. Joint JD/MBA degrees with the Graduate School of Business are also possible. Scholarship awards and in-state tuition are available. 

The School is proud to carry on the tradition of excellence at Rutgers University, which is one of the oldest and largest public institutions of higher learning in the nation. As a direct result of the quality of legal education at Rutgers, of those employed nine months after graduation, 90% were employed in the legal field and 90% were in full time positions. Our average starting salary for a 2011 graduate who enters private practice is in excess of $74,000, with many top students accepting positions with firms paying in excess of $130,000. In a recent Forbes publication, Rutgers School of Law-Camden was ranked 18th nationally as one of the "Best Law Schools for Getting Rich". Rutgers is also ranked high in the nation at placing its students in prestigious federal and state clerkships. 

I hope that you will consider this opportunity and join this class. Please apply on-line at our web site at http://camlaw.rutgers.edu. We are a direct student loan institution so financial aid is easily processed. We also have newly constructed on-campus law school apartments available, adjacent to the Law School and the Federal Courthouse, and guaranteed for our law students. 

Sincerely, 

Camille Andrews
Associate Dean of Enrollment 

For further reading:

LST Calls for Dean’s Resignation and ABA Investigation [Law School Transparency]

Law School Sales Pitch Doubles Down On The Getting Rich Rationale For Law School [Above the Law]

Rutgers-Camden goes old school [Inside the Law School Scam]

LSAT Requirement May Be Eliminated [LSAT Blog]

Law Schools Stalk You on Facebook, Google to Find Dirt

We all know employers google and facebook job applicants to find additional information about them, but did you know law school admission officers do the same thing?

While you might be looking up your law school admission deans on Facebook and Google, they're doing their own background research on you, too.

(See, LSAT scores and GPAs aren't all they care about.)

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Logic and Games

* Columbia Law will publicly shame professors who don't submit final exam grades on time. [Above the Law]

* But your professors are off the hook for putting book chapters on e-reserves. [Ars Technica]

* 6 ridiculous lies you believe about the founding of America. [Cracked]

* How your professors feel about grading papers. [McSweeney's]

* It turns out that Skechers' Shape-ups won't actually give you curves like Kim's. [NYTimes]

* Some communities are fining people for texting while walking. [USA Today]