Self-paced
If you are at the LSAT median for your goal schools, should you retake? Is the goal to be above the 50% median? I've heard these two being conflated, so not sure if there was general guidance for it.
1
If you are at the LSAT median for your goal schools, should you retake? Is the goal to be above the 50% median? I've heard these two being conflated, so not sure if there was general guidance for it.
2 comments
Being at the school's target median essentially gets them one person closer to hitting it. Being above the school's target median also gets them one person closer to hitting it. But it also gives them a chance to potentially push their target median one score higher. So, probably it's diminishing returns, with "at the median" being by far the most important, one point above the median being slightly more beneficial, and then each point after that being far less important. That being said, a higher LSAT score correlates with a greater chance of success in law school, so admissions officers will still care about higher scores on the individual level, not just shaping their class on a statistical level. I'm no admissions expert, though, so I'd be interested to hear what someone who has been inside has to say.
There's really no set rule! The medians are a great benchmark, but there are a lot of different aspects to an application. Being at (or even above) the median is not a guarantee just as being below it is not a death sentence. If you have the bandwidth and want to shoot for higher, go for it! A higher score will always be a good thing. But if you've got other things going on, being above median is certainly not mandatory.