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A Drop in Test-Takers Boosts the Value of a High LSAT Score

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I’m not sure if you’ve encountered the same phenomenon, but it’s occurred to me more than once that I see a lot of less-than-intelligent people having kids. I also see a lot of intelligent people not having kids. One could argue that intelligence itself is to blame. After all, if you do a cost-benefit analysis in your twenties, having kids just doesn’t seem to pencil out (to put things in the least emotional terms possible). In other words, smarter people are having less kids because having less kids is the “smarter” thing to do.

I’m going to ask you to apply baby-having to law school because reports indicate that fewer of those with upper echelon LSAT scores are actually applying to law school. Now, this could mean that those with higher LSAT scores merely see LSAT tutoring as an excellent business prospect, but that’s not where I’d place my bets.

It stands to reason that those with high LSAT scores are people who would be in demand in any number of fields. It also stands to reason that they could just as easily get high LSAT scores on other grad school exams or flourish in a number of environments. Those with high LSAT scores may be doing a cost-benefit analysis for law school attendance and deciding that it doesn’t pencil out.

It also stands to reason that those with lower LSAT scores may not be as versatile. They may not be able to acquit themselves well in a variety of careers. Thus, once they’ve taken the LSAT, they decide that they’re locked into applying to law school. After all, they’ve gone that far. It’s a bit like having a second kid even though you can’t afford the first one. It seems as though the smarter people are making the smarter decision.

The upshot here is that the first-year associate that you have doing your legal work in a few years may be of inferior quality to the one you have doing it now. All kidding aside (or was I kidding?), more of those with measurably better logical faculties are apparently deciding that going to law school isn’t the logical choice. But hold on, silver lining alert! A decrease in high-scoring applicants means that things get instantly better for those with lower LSAT scores. It also means that law schools are more likely to accept those with higher LSAT scores (should they choose to apply). As always, the lesson here is that you should study your ass for the LSAT and make sure you really want to go to law school before you head down the legal road.

In other news, Sriracha is still the best condiment ever. Thanks for reading. You may now carry on with your day.