LSAT – The results are in!

So, my LSAT results came in on Monday night. That was like a week earlier than I was expecting them so it was a nice surprise. The magic number was 154. I will get to how that number makes me feel, but I thought first I should tell the story of seeing the results…

On my handy, dandy little pink phone, I can check my email with just the touch of a button. So, as I grabbed my phone on Monday evening with the purpose of checking out what football games were going on (Nick and I had just made the decision to spend our Monday night having buffalo wings and beer), I quickly hit the magic e-mail button and scrolled through the new messages. There it was, between an email from the Improv Comedy Club telling me about their weekly schedule and Victoria Secrets offering me end of the year savings on their entire line… the subject “LSAT SCORE”. My heart stopped for a second as I touched the subject to open the email.

Nick was laying on the couch in the dimly lit living room. I don’t think my expression could be clearly read in the light provided so he continued to wait for me to give him the football schedule. I opened the email and slowly read through it. Now, what I want to explain here is that everything law school related is handled through one website (the Law School Admission Council). So the email is from this council and I am fully expecting the email to say that I need to log into the LSAC website to see my results. So I scrolled down and there, out of the blue, with no warning – not even a bold font – was the sentence…

“Your score is 154 and you are ranked in the 60th percentile.”

I am not kidding when I tell you that I almost threw my phone across the room! Not because the score was bad, but because I wasn’t prepared to see it. I was prepared to pull out my computer, log onto the website and take a deep breath before clicking the link that revealed the scores. But no… it was as if someone had come by and ripped the bandaid off before I had a chance to know what was happening. I believe I said something like, “I was NOT ready to see that!!” to which Nick, who if you remember was lying on the couch, anxiously asked, “WHAT?”. “My LSAT score is in!” He said he thought I had just got an email telling me someone had died… a response I found humorous because it tells something about my initial reaction to seeing it. I was stunned that was for sure. But there it was, a 154. All the anxiety, all the preparation, all the waiting… there it was.

So now, you are probably wanting to know what exactly a 154 means. So here is the breakdown. The lowest you can get is a 120, the highest is 180. I had sincerely hoped I would get at least a 155 or higher… but, that being said, all of the practice tests I had taken had landed somewhere around 153-155 so in a way, I hit the consistent number I had been hitting. I guess the most important thing is that I didn’t choke and bomb it. A 154 is not going to get me in to Harvard, but I wasn’t planning on applying there anyway. My cumulative GPA for all my undergraduate experience is a 3.91, so when you combine that with my LSAT score and my life/work experience, I think the whole package puts me into a pretty competative market for the schools in this area.

From here, what happens? I am waiting on my letters of recommendation to be received by LSAC and then the entire package will be ready for delivery to the law school and then I wait for the accpetance letter. THAT is the day I really celebrate. The thing about the LSAT is this… it is simply a test to get me in the door. I am an overachiever (I know – you all are shocked, right?) and so it is in my nature to have wanted more… to wish that I had scored a 157 or a 160. But I know that my score is good enough… because once that acceptance letter comes, the score will not matter anymore… the slate is wiped clean and I start fresh, busting my butt in law school. Woohoo!

Ahh.... the holidays :)

So, I have done it! I have survived another Christmas! Amazing, right? Okay, so maybe "amazing" isn't the right word... but I am glad it is over. All that buildup, all the waiting, the trying to find just the right presents... all of that and then in a day, its all over. I never really felt the Christmas spirit this year. I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that December was so full of other thoughts. For one, I had the LSAT and all the subsequent law school application stuff to get through. Then, I had the trip to Louisiana to see my little brother graduate college. Just trying to plan that weekend was enough to distract from most of my Christmas plans. But, I would have gladly skipped Christmas to see him walk across that stage. All in all, it has been a really busy month.

Now it is the weekend after Christmas, the weather (which was snow-worthy five days ago) has now warmed up to the point of needing the air-conditioning to be turned on, and I am sitting in my slightly cluttered apartment trying to figure out how to enjoy the last 2 days of my extended weekend. Santa brought Breighton the Active Outdoor Challenge for the Wii and so he and I played that last night and again today... we worked up a sweat and I am really hoping my downstairs neighbors are out of town for the holidays because I think they will hate me and this horribly addicting game! You have to run, jump, lean, row, and much more as you go through various outdoor adventures. It is truly a workout!! I believe Nick and I are going to take both boys and go to see the ICE exhibition at the Gaylord Texan tonight. It is this amazing indoor ice sculpture exhibit where they keep it at 9 degrees throughout and they have gigantic ice sculptures of just about everything. If we go, I will get pictures and upload them to share. It will be a nice way of having the "wintery" cold feeling despite the 75 degree temps outside!!

Other than that, I suppose it is business as usual. Just getting through the end of 2008. What a year!! Every year, as the end approaches and the new year is on the horizon it seems I reflect back and think about all the things I have experienced and I am always so excited to see what the year will bring. 2008 was not a year of a lot of changes (which is fine since 2007 was FULL of them), it was more a year of getting a steady flow in life again. 2009 will be monumental, that is for sure... especially if I get accepted into law school... it will be the beginning of yet another turning point. I can't wait!!!!!

The LSAT

Sorry it has been forever since I posted... again... but I just wanted to post a quick message to let everyone know that I FINALLY took the LSAT today! I waited a little to long to register for my test (because I was trying to decide if I was going to take it here or if I was going to try to make it to Louisiana for my little brother's art show and take it there) so by the time I registered, all the DFW testing sites were full so I had to register for a test at Texas A&M-Commerce which meant I had a small road trip to get to my testing site. Nick was nice enough to drive me out there on Friday night and we spent the night at a hotel in a town that literally has nothing more than a Wal-Mart, McDonald's and Pizza Hut. The lady at the front desk informed me that of the 300 rooms at the hotel, all but 5 were booked with people taking the LSAT! She said they had driven from Houston, Austin, Dallas and more because they missed their test registration at their local centers (so I wasn't the only one!).

So, we got there about 10pm on Friday and went straight to the hotel to try to go to bed at a decent hour. Unfortunately, my mind was reeling so I don't think I went to bed until close to midnight only to wake up at 5am unable to sleep any longer. So, we crawled out of bed, got ready and made our way to... you guessed it... McDonald's. After a "well rounded" breakfast and a couple of vitamins, Nick dropped me off at the test site and I entered a room where I would spend the next 5 hours.
















Here I am walking into the test!!


The good news?? I fell pretty confident about how I did... The scary part??? I have felt pretty good in the past on practice tests and didn't do any better than "median". Of course, the logical side of me says that "median" is still good enough with my GPA. But since most of you know me, you know that I just don't feel great settling for median. So, just so you all know, I will not know the results until January 5th. And yes, I PROMISE to post immediately... even if it is just one sentence!

Okay, my computer (and brain) battery is dying... so I am cutting this short. I will TRY to write slightly more frequently. :) Thanks for all the support!