A Woman in Law School

June is just around the corner, which also means the LSAT is too. So I thought I would discuss my relationship with Le LSAT. I hated it. The first time I took it, (yes you read that correctly) I studied approximately two hours a day for a month prior to the Dec. exam. Looking back I don't think I took it seriously as an exam.

Some things to know first: I received a fee waiver to take the LSAT twice and register with LSAD which made my day because at the time I didn't know if law school was a serious option. I am still unable to say that I am 100% confident regarding my choice for law school but I can say that I'm now 80% confident. So the fee waiver was huge for me. They also sent me a free copy of The Official LSAT SuperPrep which wasn't great but had some actual LSAT exams. I also borrowed study guides from friends and purchased two recommended guides: The Powerscore LSAT Logic Games Bible and The Powerscore LSAT Logical Reasoning Bible. I found the format of these two guides easy to follow and understand. I experienced several AHA! moments with these two guides. I should mention that I wasn't bad at logic games, however this guide trained me on how to get near perfect scores in the logic games section. My worst section was logical reasoning by far! I had a difficult time dealing with my poor performance in this section and wished it didn't make up such a large portion of the exam.

So I took the December exam and felt confident until I learned how poorly I did. And I don't mean poor in terms of a 160 or high 150s. I'm talking worse than those. Knowing that I could take the Feb. exam free of charge (with the exception of the opportunity cost of studying) I decided to sign up for a paid study course. I chose Powerscore because I liked how they covered the material in their books and only used actual previous LSAT questions. For the month of January my life was the LSAT. I studied at least twenty hours a week, took twelve practice exams and saw major improvement throughout the process. I was skeptical regarding studying but can firmly say that it worked. My second LSAT score was much better and I attribute it to all the hard work I put into studying for it. The Powerscore online class sessions didn't benefit me a great deal but I did complete every lesson in their books which is an accomplishment in itself since I averaged 3-4 hours a lesson and there were ten lessons.

I also scanned the internet for LSAT tips and in general found what Ann, over at Law School Expert, had to say helpful. More on her later! Knowing that I never have to take that exam is such a relief! For all those who are gearing up for the LSAT ride good luck! But try to remember, it's not everything!

An interesting piece popped up today on The XX Factor, How the Billable Hour Hurts Women and Families. There is not much I can disagree with regarding how the structure of billable hours hurts women and families. However I did disagree with the author in that half of graduating law school classes are women and that women make up half of the top class rankings. Every law school I applied to has more male students than female. This is also true of the top five law schools according to the current rankings via U.S. World News and Reports. I'm positive that if I were to continue analyzing the data for the rest of top fifty schools I would find the same. Is there a law school out there where women outnumber the men?

One of the questions I have for my number 2 school is how they are tackling female retention (which is significantly higher than male retention). There is also a disproportion in faculty with 75% men for this school. I know that other schools have better statistics regarding these areas but I can't help but disagree that women make up half the class and half the top rankings. It has even been said that the LSAT is biased toward the way men think.

As a woman I am concerned about these statistics, what they mean and how I fit into the larger picture. The billable hour is a huge aspect of the job and possibly a determining factor in why women choose to have children during law school and not afterward. Interesting issues to ponder over while I still wait to hear from other schools.