LSAT practice and random thoughts

So a Long conversation late last night got me thinking..... what is the value in understanding faculty rank? Sure it would be nice to know that your faculty are the best in their field, but what practical advantage does this give you? So they guy teaching your torts class has published more books on comparative damages than the guy teaching my torts class. What does this mean? Not much it seems. I would take a professor that is not well published but that has strong ties in the legal community I want to work in (read: an ex partner or somebody who was well respected when they were in private practice). Just my two cents on that.

I took a practice LSAT today and had odd results. I ended up with a 169 on test 28 (June 1999). The odd thing was, I missed 13 questions on the two logical reasoning sections. I normally KILL these sections. Meanwhile, I only missed one question each on games and reading comprehension. Odd. Very very odd.

Per the same conversation that made me think about faculty strength, I am now kicking around another question: At what point does money become a factor in choosing schools? Through this whole process I have been basing my thoughts on the idea that I would not consider money when I selected a school unless I was really torn. I mean, if Wash U were to offer one of their crazy scholarships (read: I know I cannot get into Wash U, I am just throwing out a hypo) I would probebally go there over Minnesota (read: Minnesota is a reach) though I like Minnesota better. What about the Chicago area schools. With money Loyola, Kent or DePaul could quickly become considerations. Just more things to think about. I urge everybody, think for yourself, don't let US News think for you. The rankings are a good starting point but you need to go see the schools as well.