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With law school applications being completed this summer and sent out, many applicants would practically sell their soul for a perfect score on the LSAT.
Jesse Townsend, a UT history senior, didn't have to sell anything to score a perfect 180 on the Law School Admissions Test.
Less than a tenth of the people who take the test every year get a perfect score, with only 98 people in the country achieving this feat in the past three years, according to Kaplan Inc.
Townsend said he was hoping for a good score but never thought he would actually obtain perfection on his first attempt.
Friends, classmates and family have been joyous and supportive - perhaps even a little jealous, he said.
"[My classmates] threatened to kill me," Townsend said. "She wasn't all that surprised," he said when referring to his mother's reaction in particular.
According to Townsend, the LSAT is a skill-based test that doesn't necessarily require memorization. He said that the best preparation was taking full-length tests with the same time restrictions as the real test.
"If there was no time limit on the test, then everyone would make a perfect [score] on it," he said.
Townsend said his top choices for law school are Columbia and Yale, with Stanford, Berkeley and UT as other possibilities.
In his spare time, Townsend works with at-risk high school students and is the president of the Texas Devils Advocates, a pre-law organization at the University.
Joining the organization was one of the best decisions Townsend said he made in college. The Devils Advocates provided real-world knowledge and experience through lectures from practicing lawyers and mock trials; it also gave a place to meet many friends who could sympathize with the stresses of getting into law school, such as taking the LSAT, he said.
Growing up in Friendswood, Texas, Townsend wanted to be a doctor until his senior year at Clear Brook High School, when he realized his natural affinity for writing, reading and the social sciences, which would lead him to pursue law school.
"'Law & Order' also played a part," Townsend said.
Townsend, who is currently holding internships at Austin law firm Scanlan, Buckle & Young and Arnold & Associates, said experience helps to see what lawyers actually do.
In giving advice to aspiring law students, Townsend said, "Do whatever [major] you can get a high GPA in."
