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Your Options Now that the October LSAT is Over

BPPshinners-lsat-blog-post-exam-options
The Shawshank Redemption: greatest movie of all time?

Arguably.

Nonetheless, it features a special bit of advice by the Irish-played-by-Morgan-Freeman character Red: “Get busy livin’, or get busy applyin’.”

Alright, so I took some dramatic license with that quote there. However, now that you’re done with your October LSAT, those are your two options. Let’s examine them.

1) Get busy livin’

While preparing for the LSAT this past weekend, I’m sure you’ve been neglecting your friends, significant others, hobbies, and probably some basic hygiene. Well, it’s time to get back in the groove.

Take your sweetie out for dinner (yes, I’m still in the 1950s). Pick up your guitar and strum away some of that rockabilly. Go out for a few drinks at the local speakeasy (1920s now?). Take a shower.

Maybe do that last one first.

After what you just put yourself through, you definitely deserve a break. Have some fun and get some sun (if you can; it’s turned decidedly chilly in NY these past two days).

2) Get busy applyin’

Option 2 has you ignoring the real world for another month to get your applications all in order. You’ve got a score coming out by the end of October; it would be nice if you could hit submit as soon as it’s released and wash your hands of the whole deal. Plus, this will allow you to ignore your social responsibilities for another month.

Based on your perceived performance (which, if you feel it went well, will probably be around your PT average heading into the exam), finalize the list of schools to which you plan to apply. You should have 2-3 reach and safety schools (any of which you’d be happy to go to. Don’t apply somewhere you wouldn’t go), and four or so target schools. Read their applications in full to see if they require any additional documentation or essays (the most popular being a “Why X?” essay), and get writing if any of your schools do. Finish up that personal statement (i.e. have several other people read it to make sure your essay flows well and doesn’t have any stupid mistakes, and it doesn’t make you sound conceited). Write any additional essays that might be required. Go back in time and have professors write you Letters of Recommendation, if you haven’t already (Seriously? You haven’t asked yet?). Fill out all the forms.

Then, when scores are released, you can hit submit and be done.

3) Wait, there’s a third option?

As anyone who has taken a Blueprint class will tell you, “or” is inclusive. So when I said, “Get busy livin’ or get busy applyin’,” there was always the option to do both. That’s what I would recommend.

If you haven’t already, get the ball rolling on your letters of rec.

Then, go out, have some fun, grab a few drinks. Shower, shave. Apologize to your friends and loved ones for your harried attitude over the past few months.

Work on your essays, get your apps together, but also get back into your normal routine. The LSAT and law school applications have already taken too much time away from your life. Andy Dufresne spent twenty years in that prison to learn to live; hopefully, you learned that lesson after a few months of LSAT prep.

Yes, I’m equating twenty years in prison to three months of studying. Afterall, isn’t this how you felt after taking the LSAT?