Take TLS with a grain of salt

Earlier in my blog I recommended that potential law students check out the website Top Law Schools (otherwise known on this blog as TLS). TLS is an invaluable source for information on most ABA-accredited law schools, and the forums and boards help you connect with other people in your exact same position -- which goes a long way in cutting down the stress and neurosis during the process!

However, as GREAT as I think TLS is, I think people who are going to be using it as a resource or reference during their application cycle NEED to take it with a grain of salt.

TLS is geared towards people planning on attending the TOP law schools in the country -- the top 14 or 20 schools. This isn't to say that they shun people who maybe can't get in to those schools, or that there's nothing for you on the site if you're not Harvard- or Yale-bound. However, a lot of the students on that site have the grades and scores and softs to score full-rides at any school outside of the T14, and don't mind sharing their "words of wisdom" with students that might not have as many opportunities available to them.

For example, almost anyone considering attending a TTT or lower school will be lambasted on the boards for making dangerous assumptions about the profession and BAD financial decisions. Anyone with an LSAT score under a 165 will often be told to retake the test, because a score of 170 or over is the only legitimate score, and ANYONE can get that. And anyone considering going to a non-T14 school (even if it's still in the top tier) without at least a 3/4 scholarship is just foolish.

I'd like to take a moment to allay your fears. This is a website full of self-admitted gunners and overachievers, whose high test scores and GPAs give them the (often correct) sense that they are the sought-after pupils, and can take more than where they've actually been accepted into account when deciding which law school they'd like to grace with their presence.

If you have a 164, you are still in the top 90% of all students taking the LSAT. Seriously, don't stress out. You may not get into Harvard with that score, but barring a sub 2.0 GPA you'll get in SOMEWHERE.

If you have a sub 3.4 GPA, you are not doomed to a lifetime of burger flipping. You can still go to law school.

Sure, you do need to evaluate whether you have the mental faculty and discipline to attend law school. It will be a three-year long grueling commitment, a sort of pie eating contest where the prize, three years down the road, is more pie. Being a lawyer isn't for everyone, and if you're not sure this is what you want to do then you DEFINITELY should take some time off to evaluate what it is you're looking for in life. Law school is expensive, and odds are you'll have a mountain of debt to pay off when you're done, so you won't have the luxury of waiting for the perfect job.

But, just because you can't get in to Yale, or get a full ride from Duke, doesn't mean you shouldn't be a lawyer, and it doesn't mean you can't do well in law school.

So, by all means, use the boards for information. Connect with other 0Ls who are in your same boat. But don't get discouraged because there are a few people on those boards who scoff at your numbers, or seriously devalue the opportunities available to you. Take TLS with a grain of salt.