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raymondrfang270

Joined: Apr 2025
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General · Should I retake?

raymondrfang270

Tuesday, Mar 05 2019

@

Thanks for your advice, that makes a lot of sense! I will need to spend time over the summer writing a clear and compelling narrative for how I see the two degrees fitting together; it's all in my head, I just need to get it on paper!

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General · Should I retake?

raymondrfang270

Monday, Mar 04 2019

With that score and GPA you should get merit based application fee waivers at pretty much every school below HYS which don't give them out. There is still an LSAC fee each time, but it is $30 or $35. The school fee is the bulk of it.

@

I didn't know about merit based application fee waivers - thanks for the tip! In that case, I think I will apply to the T14 (minus Cornell and Georgetown), since that will add up to around $700 if I can get school fee waivers everywhere outside HYS. And that's a good point about possibly being able to use Chicago for negotiations, I didn't consider that!

I'll spend this summer working on my law school personal statement and essays, and checking in with recommenders - I luckily already have 1-2 academic and 1 professional recommender lined up (they have offered to write letters for me when I've mention I'm going to apply to law schools this fall).

If everything goes well over the summer I should be able to submit all my applications in October.

If I can ask you one more question, kind internet stranger, on the note of applying for a concurrent JD at law schools at other institutions while enrolled in a PhD. I'm probably going to take a leave of absence from the PhD to do the JD. Do I need to explain/justify in the law school application's personal statement or in an addendum why I am applying for a JD while enrolled in a PhD (i.e. how I see the two degrees fitting together)? I'm worried applying while enrolled in a PhD program might raise some eyebrows among admissions committees if I don't explicitly explain how I see the two degrees working together.

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General · Should I retake?

raymondrfang270

Saturday, Mar 02 2019

Thank you @!

The September 2018 exam was disclosed, so a big part of my study strategy for retaking was knowing what I missed the first time around. It turned out to my surprise that Logical Reasoning was by far my worst section, so I spent most of my retake study time working on that.

I will say another huge benefit to retaking, for me, was being prepared for all the little details of test day. I took both tests at the same location, which was a hotel ballroom. I self-studied aside from 7sage, so I had no idea what to expect on exam day the first time, including things like:

Arriving at 8am, and not starting the exam until almost 10:30am because so many people needed to be checked-in and seated

Needing to use the restroom during the exam (and having to run out to the bathroom during one of the sections)

Being hungry because the exam didn't end until almost 3pm

Having to use my analog watch to keep time on sections, and the "official" clock was far away (I used my phone timer while practicing)

Noises in and around the testing room (hotel staff outside were cleaning and chatting and such)

Endurance - going 8am-3pm is exhausting!!!

Little things like monitoring my water and liquid intake the morning of the exam (drink as little as possible so I wouldn't need to use the bathroom), eating a huge breakfast and bringing a ton of snacks to eat during the break so I wouldn't be hungry, practice test-taking using my analog watch, and doing practice tests in noisy-ish environments all helped!

And thanks for the tip on the 7sage personal statement help - I may pay up for the $10 course and go from there!

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General · Should I retake?

raymondrfang270

Saturday, Mar 02 2019

@

Thanks! I will be waiting until October 2019 to apply, so I can have the summer to write out my personal statement. I'm hoping for HYS, but I would be beyond thrilled to get in to NYU or Berkeley with good scholarships.

Any advice on the number of schools I should apply to with my stats? I don't want to spend too much money on application fees, but I was thinking to blanket the top 9 minus Chicago (I don't want to go back there....), plus UCLA and UC Irvine, for 10 schools total -- which is still $~800 in application fees. :neutral:

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Tuesday, Jan 01 2019

raymondrfang270

Should I retake?

Hi 7sage,

I scored a 167 on the September LSAT and I have a 3.89 GPA from a top-3 US university. I'm currently an anthropology PhD student and am considering a joint JD-PhD with the goal of practicing law. I'd like to go into public interest law to fight evictions and rent increases - or something in that vein. The PhD would be less for career purposes and more to inform legal practice. My list of schools I'd like to apply to in the 2019-2020 cycle, based on the school's strengths, rankings, and my odds of getting in based on 7sage's calculator, are:

NYU - target

Berkeley - target

Georgetown - target

Michigan - target

UCLA - target

USC - target/"safety"

Chicago - reach

Yale - reach

Harvard - reach

UC Irvine - "safety"

Is this realistic? I'm currently signed up for the January 26 LSAT but am exhausted by grad school already and am unsure if it's worth starting studying to retake in a few weeks.

Thanks!

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General · Should I retake?

raymondrfang270

Friday, Mar 01 2019

Thanks @! I retook in January and scored a 174, and I'm over the moon! I think I have a real shot at T14 schools, and a fair shot at T6 too! Maybe even a realistic shot at HYS?

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