Words from a wallflower

There’s a scene in The Perks of Being a Wallflower (the movie that inspired my column title) where a character named Patrick holds up a graded rubric with a mediocre grade on it while letting out a deafening howl. He shouts, “C minus, ladies and gentlemen! I am below average!” His stepsister Sam repeats “Below average,” while his friend Charlie claps and pumps his arms in the air. This is a true celebration of reaching the bare minimum if I’ve ever seen one.

This was not my initial reaction when I got my LSAT score, but I should consider adopting Patrick’s attitude. I’m just going to say it. I got a 150. With the LSAT scale being from 110 to 180, I’m exactly average, ladies and gentlemen. I need the trio from The Perks of Being a Wallflower to give me a better outlook. This score is certainly not bad, but it’s not stellar. Like I said, it’s just average. Nothing more, nothing less.

In all honesty, I wasn’t expecting to score higher than 150. I consistently got this score on practice tests, and it was my target score to not take the LSAT again, but, secretly, I was hoping that I would shock myself with a 152 or a 154, just slightly above average, after I studied for three months.

Regardless of my empty feelings towards my score, I’m pressing on with my applications. I could lie to myself and say I would study harder for the next month to take the November test to still get my applications in on time, but I know myself; I will get too preoccupied with my classes and my personal life that I will treat studying the same way as I did before.

So, with this score and my plan not to retake the test, I need to work on owning that 150 and putting effort towards maintaining my GPA and producing compelling personal statements. I say these things like they’re simple. By the end of December, I will have submitted my applications to six law schools and will wait to see if I am so lucky to be accepted by any one of them.

At that point, I might be tempted to scream about trying my hardest like Patrick.