The LSAT score

I hadn't thought about law school until my wife mentioned it while we were giving our kids a bath way back in February. The company I work for is getting bought by a bigger company. I was in negotiations with a much smaller firm when the sale was announced. I figured I would take that other job and be free of the worry and stress that comes with working for a company during a big merger. After a few weeks of waiting, the other job didn't really pan out. Too little money for a big commute, along with a few other annoying facts that made making the jump from Big Pharma to little pharma too big for me to stomach right now. What could I do with a research degree while living in an area that has limited options for a person with my skill set? Why, become an attorney!

There just happens to be a decent law school up the road (with two more even better ones an hour or so away). My undergraduate grades were mediocre, but 1) I graduated 10 years ago and 2) I have a PhD so how important would they be anyway? A big LSAT score would made the grades even less of a problem. I took a look at some free LSAT's online. After doing a few questions I realized that I could potentially do really well on this test. I like a good mental challenge and it would keep me busy and focused on something else other than the implications of the merger (no job, a job moved somewhere else, big changes to the company culture). After talking to my wife about whether or not she was serious about the law school thing (she was), I started studying in earnest.

I basically had 2 goals when I started studying. I wanted to beat my brother's score (he's currently in law school) and I wanted a score that would lock me into my local school. I set my sights a little higher after I started to get scores on practice tests that were well above what I needed for the local school. The better the law school, the better the job opportunities. Why limit myself? I raised my sites to a score that would make me competitive at these other schools. I was tantalizingly close to the magical 170 barrier in the weeks leading up to the exam. I beat it on one practice test and was a point or two away on a couple more. We're talking one or two questions here.

I was optimistic when I was waiting to take the test, but I didn't feel so great when it was over. I made a silly blunder on one question (I misread my own hand-writing) that cost me some time and a significant amount of mental energy. I was really upset at myself about it. Here I had put all of this effort into preparing for this test, and I go in there and blow it. I pretty much forgot about law as a new career path. (Law is one of the few areas that I could think of where I could use my science background while not being engaged in scientific work. That's a big attraction for me.) Well, I got my score today. I did about as well as I had been doing in my preparation. I scored a 168. According to my brother, with that score and my PhD, I'm pretty much a lock for the most prestigous school in the area. This is a Top 10 program. Would it be worth the money and aggravation to pursue this avenue?