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Why maximizing your LSAT score saves thousands in law school debt

The Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog posted an interesting study of how the US News rankings impact law school behavior.  The short answer is: a lot.  Readers will be interested in browsing the whole thing, but what stood out to me is the contention that law schools, in order to raise their rankings, are offering more merit-based aid to attract students with outstanding LSAT scores.

This goes to a point that I sometimes have trouble communicating to students.  Even if you know what law school you’d like to attend, and even if you have a score good enough to give you a high chance of admission, you should still work very hard to maximize your LSAT score.  Getting in is only Step 1.  Step 2 is to bargain for the best possible deal you can get.

Especially as the legal hiring market falters, it’s incredibly important to minimize your debt load going into law school.  Merit-based aid can go a long way.

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