January 2021 and applying this cycle?

booksandcoffee

Who here is taking the January 2021 LSAT and applying this cycle? Are you taking it as a retest or your test? Do you recommend waiting to take January as opposed to November for a higher score or take it as a retake?

jz68

I'm wondering the same thing. I'm registered for November and has taken the test before. I try to improve my score to 170+ by November but am also looking at the January option. I do want to apply this cycle.

sarahc14

I am in the same situation! I am thinking of taking both November and January, although I know my November score may not be as high as I would like. I really don't want to wait until the next cycle to apply. With covid I don't know how big of a difference testing dates will make in the admissions cycle?

lsatjourney

Same situation, waiting for some feedback from past applicants.

bluree09

Hi there. This is exactly what I did last cycle and just wanted to share my experience.

I took my first exam in January, 2020 and ended up sending my applications on March 1st. I knew that my chances weren't great. But I felt like I didn't have anything to lose. I still believe so. I applied to 6 schools. Heard back from all of them fairly quickly, got rejected at 2 and got waitlisted at 4. I stayed on the waitlists until the start of this academic year. It was dreadful haha

Anyway, I think post-January applicants have a good chance. It really depends on the quality of the application. Luck and perseverance can come later.

I would advise to have everything ready to go before your score release. Your admission chances will likely be better today than tomorrow, especially when COVID has reduced class sizes all around. You might be waitlisted, which is a completely different story. You WILL need very different strategies to get through that process.

hopefulling

I think it also depends on the schools that you're looking at. Some of the "regional" schools have their early decision deadlines extended out into February! So if you have everything ready-to-go when the score comes in, no problem for those schools. But for schools that receive a lot of applications, every month delayed does create a lower percentage chance of acceptance. So, a later application is a risk, but still not an impossible goal (like applying to a T6 just before their overall deadline). Plus, who knows, if one's score is AWESOME enough, they might want to take the extra year to wait until the next cycle to apply in the fall when applications open up for 2022 - to consider a binding ED for better scholarship possibilities ??