I really love UMich but I really want my application in there early. I'm wondering if it's worth it to submit with the score I had in Jan, and maybe by the time they get to my application my next score will be released? (sept 30) I attended one of their workshops where they said theyll start review without waiting for your new score, but they will take it into consideration if it's there by then.
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My sincere professional opinion is to take Michigan's policy seriously. While it's unlikely that they would review your app some time between September 1 and September 30 when your new score comes in ... they're telling you that your app is fair game for review. My advice would be to just have your app queued up and ready to click "submit" once you get your score report back at the end of September. There is not substantive benefit to applying earlier in this case because "earlier" just means "September 1 vs September 30" which isn't that big of a deal.
@JacobBaska Thank you so much for the advice, especially about the benefit not being that great. Right after I posted this thread, a 7sage podcast ep came out discussing this same topic on submitting early with a pending LSAT and apparently schools see it as you treating them like a safety? I'm very glad I decided against it.
@zunair Eeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhh, I'd quibble with that a smidge (and far be it from me if this was one of the podcasts where I'm the one who said those exact words :-) ). Here's my reason - I wouldn't even be reading the app until after the future LSAT came in. My school's policy was that we'd hold the app until the future LSAT arrived. So in this scenario, I'm reading your app sometime in November (because we didn't start reading until we were done with law fairs in Sept/Oct), I'd see that you submitted the app on September 1, but then had the Sept LSAT score arrive at the end of the month. I wouldn't assume anything from that other than "I guess they had their app ready to submit on Sept 1." That's it!
@JacobBaska Your reply made me check and it was Ethan, Pauline, Colleen and I cannot pin a name to the last person oops. But thank you for the more in-detail answer. Ultimately I think I'm still going to hold off (one of the people doing my LOR said she'd be late) but that's a very thorough clarification, so I appreciate it. Hope anyone googling the same thing can find it.
@zunair PHEW!!! Glad I’m not contradicting myself!
And maybe to clarify what they said but I’m just spit balling:
If you apply with a future LSAT pending, but
You politely ask a school to review your app NOW before that future LSAT arrives, then
You are signaling that you feel confident that you’re competitive for admission at their school without a higher LSAT.
I'm not an AO, so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I doubt that there's a crazy difference between submitting your application now or submitting it by the end of september. I think you'd be better off waiting until you have your new score and spending the extra time going over your materials.
@TRenato That makes sense and I've decided against it. really small plus point anyways to submit that early.
Applying in September/October with a 180 is better than August with a 169
@CamKCoffee i doubt my ability to get a 180 but thank you for the idea of it haha. yeah i decided against it