I'm above both 75th's at BU and tried unsuccessfully to solicit back in August (I took the LSAT in June but didn't turn on CRS until August). Still haven't gotten a fee waiver.

I received a Cornell fee waiver on September 14.

As I studied, I compiled all of the logic games that gave me trouble and, in following JY's advice, printed out a bunch of copies and drilled them. I would usually do 2-3 of those before PT's and also did so the morning of my actual test (I took it in June so it wasn't until the afternoon).

Owning a few LGs that had once baffled me was a great confidence booster before the test.

It definitely takes some adjustment. Your blind review score seems to indicate that you knew what was going on with a number of the questions you got wrong and could figure it out when you had additional time. That's a reason for optimism. Did you get to every question on the test or were you pressed for time and forced to blindly guess on some? Did you have trouble pacing on a particular section or sections?

Are you less likely to receive a fee waiver if you've already started filling out a school's application? Now that applications are starting to open up, I'm wondering if it makes sense to wait/email admissions before diving in.