Hi Everyone! I’m looking for some advice as a first gen law student.
I just got my September LSAT results back. This was the first exam that I took, and I raised my Score 15 points from my diagnostic after studying for 2 months. I am really wanting to get in for this cycle with scholarship offers. I was planning on registering for the November exam today but I’m worried that applying early December would hurt my chances. My September score is four points above the media LSAT of the school I’m looking at and my gpa is right at their median. I’ve been advised by some attorneys to always take the LSAT a second time but I just want a little more advice!
Any help would be appreciated!
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Congratulations! As someone who has done it, taking the LSAT a second time without knowing for sure that you are going to increase your score is a waste of money. It also sounds like the score you have is good enough for the school you want to go to. I think you should use the time and money in other ways.
Use the money that you would spend to do one of three things:
1. to pay for your application fees
2. to pay your seat deposit when you get into your dream school (with your strong LSAT score and GPA)
3. Simply treat yourself since you have conquered the LSAT
Use that extra time you would spend studying to make sure your essays and letters are in great shape. Nobody gets into law school with numbers alone. Best of luck!! Way to go first gen
So, two things can be true here:
1) If you retook the LSAT, your score would probably go up. That may open up a few more doors for admission and/or merit scholarship.
2) But we're not talking about "a few more doors," we're talking about "the school I'm looking at" and you're already four points above their medians and are at their most recent GPA median.
If that school is your target, pushing your LSAT even further above their medians isn't going to help you out here. I'd encourage you to get working on your apps!
Thank you so much for this advice!!
I am working on my applications now and definitely am intrigued to see what other schools are possible if I take the exam again since I was not expecting to score as well as I did on my first attempt.
Do you think delaying my applications until December would hurt my chances? I have heard mixed reviews that applying in November versus December is not a big factor, but I’m intrigued to see what you think since the cycle is so competitive.
You need to break this into two categories:
For schools where you're already at/above median, yes, it would hurt you to delay your apps until December. This is particularly true for schools in the T30. This is my professional opinion based on what happened last year with a number of schools in the T30 and I'm projection is that things are likely to be more competitive this year.
For schools where you're not already at/above median, it would be better to take another crack at the LSAT in November and apply right afterwards.
The thing you're going to have to ponder is how much your desire to take a shot at the second group outweighs your interest in maxing things with the first group. It's a very subjective matter so you'll have to figure that out for yourself!