Return to Blog Homepage

The Curse of the LSAT 180

colin_scary_lsat-1

Most Strongly Supported asked me to write a guest post about what it’s like to get a 180 on the LSAT – likely expecting a feel-good piece, full of wisdom and wit, which would inspire others to excel on the test. This, however, is not my style, nor would it be truthful. Why you ask? Well because getting a 180 on the LSAT really isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. In fact, it’s almost a curse. Don’t believe me? Well here are the top 6 (okay so I was aiming for 10 but The Office came on) reasons behind the curse of the 180.

1. No matter how many times I casually drop my score into my pickup lines (“How’d you like to let Mr. 180 LSAT buy you a drink?” “You know, my LSAT score is at least 10 points bigger than 90% of the people in this bar”), my LSAT mastery has yet to get me any action with the opposite sex of any kind, whatsoever.

2. You still have to write a personal statement. Apparently perfection is not good enough for law schools. I have to craft (make-up) a heartfelt (contrived) story just like everyone else (like that summer I spent building orphanage hospitals for disabled refugee children in Vietnam…).

3. Any pre-law student (including each and every one of my students) who hears my score is compelled to ask if they can buy my score or, from the more bold, if they can simply have it. This gets old – quick. So, let me settle this once and for all – first, do you really think you were the first person to ask if you could have my score? Really? And, if for some glorious reason (fingers crossed) LSAC allowed me to sell my score, do you really think I would sell it to your broke ass and not upload it to EBay for some frenzied pre-law bidding?

4. Outside of the narrow world of Law School, it’s just a 3 digit number, as useless as dialing 1 before the area code, or enriching skim milk with vitamin D.

5. If (god forbid!) you decide not to go to law school, even if it’s because you got a sweet job teaching the LSAT, most people who find out about your score will either think you’re a liar or an idiot (truthfully, I’m probably a little of both).

6. In our society of mediocrity, perfection is nerdy (and not the somewhat cool Lord of the Rings nerdy but the more menacing Star Trek nerdy). Even my boss (the LSAT sensei himself) thinks a 180 on the LSAT is a bit lame.

Well there you have it. But I have a feeling that you still aren’t convinced, that you still don’t believe in the curse of the 180 (only 1 in every 10,000 does). If so, tune in next time, where I’ll present my fail-proof tips for rocking the LSAT, so you too can experience the curse.