What do law schools think....

AlexanderL0

I was just wondering, what does it look like to a Law school when you re-take the LSAT, but get a lower score the second time? I know all the law schools i'm going to apply to do NOT average your scores, but instead consider the highest score.

ddakjiking

I'm sure if it's within 2-3 points, it wouldn't raise too much of an issue.

emli1000

Can they see al of your scores? Or does the LSAC just send them your highest score?

AlexanderL0

"We can see all of your LSAT scores, as well as an average, however we only consider the highest score."

emli1000

Is that for all schools?

AlexanderL0

That was for UC- Hastings, USF, and Golden Gate University. All of which are in the Bay Area, California. I'm sure some will differ.

AlexanderL0

@emli1000 I know most top 10 schools average your scores.

emli1000

Oh ok. Thanks. I had read about this but I read that some just take your highest score. So I was wondering.

AlexanderL0

@emli1000 Sorry I just analyzed your question. From what LSAC.org says, they send them all your scores, as well as when you took them, and then send them an average of your scores. It's at the schools discretion on what to consider.

jdawg113

@AlexanderL0 Only Yale and maybe one other school (excluding Canada) average your scores. LSAC sends everything over so they can see all scores but they generally base decisions off of your highest score.

nicole.hopkins

@emli1000 it varies school to school and often they will address this question in the Admission FAQs.

NYC12345

NYU supposedly averages scores as well, FWIW.

nicole.hopkins

@alexandergreene93 is correct:

If I take the LSAT more than once, does the Committee see the higher score?
Yes, but they evaluate based on the average score in most cases. The Committee may take special circumstances into account. If a candidate can point out specific reasons why the Committee should consider an LSAT score aberrant, they should detail those reasons in an addendum to the personal statement.

http://www.law.nyu.edu/jdadmissions/applicants/jdapplicationfaq#7

nicole.hopkins

Here's my beloved UT's:

If I take the LSAT more than once, which score does UT use?
Candidates with multiple LSAT scores will be evaluated using all reported scores. However, the Law School will no longer solely consider an applicant’s average score in the admissions review process. The ABA recently revised its survey reporting requirements; all law schools are being asked to report an applicant’s highest LSAT score.

http://www.utexas.edu/law/admissions/jd/faqs.php

AlexanderL0

@jdawg113 That seems misleading. Not to call you out, but there are far more than 2 schools nation wide that average your scores...

nicole.hopkins

@AlexanderL0 I'm certain @jdawg113 was merely using hyperbole to make a point. Ultimately, everyone needs to do their own research into all of the schools to which they intend to apply. For something as vitally important as this, one would of course never go off of word of mouth or third parties alone. As I demonstrated, it's usually as simple as going to a law school's website and consulting admissions FAQ's. Hope this helps!

jdawg113

Well I wasn't really using it as a hyperbole or anything lol, granted there may be some other schools out there that do avg, for the most part (despite websites and that stating otherwise) schools use your highest score in decisions. Especially with the decline in applicants there is more and more incentive to not average. Plenty of schools claim they average and that but thats not the case in a lot of situations (just like how adcoms and LS reps say a bunch of stuff that isn't true to make them either sound more prestigious or get you to deposit)
Yeah they may look at all the scores but unless it looks sketchy or something I don't think it will affect much having multiple scores. I mean if you go down, well you were clearly capable of a better score, maybe something happened which caused you to go down. If you increased... well you decided to retake and worked hard to improve and did improve.

NYC12345

@nicole.hopkins @jdawg113 @AlexanderL0 @emli1000
Many schools claim that they take all scores into consideration, which means that they simply evaluate all scores; however, if someone scores a 173 and took the test again hoping to get a 178+ and go to Yale, but scored a 157 (suppose he/she suddenly got a stomach virus during the test and missed an entire section), I highly doubt NYU, Columbia, UT, or any school for that matter would turn down a 173. I'm confident that all of you would agree me on that situation. It is simply not in a school's best interest to average multiple scores because they are under absolutely no obligation to report any score other than the highest to the ABA.

ddakjiking

I would just like to indicate that this whole averaging case might have been the case 5+ years ago when the number of applications were at its peak. Since then, the number of applicants and especially high scores have plummeted.

Some schools like Yale, Stanford, and Berkeley are a few that have a reputation of having true "holistic" admissions.