Is the January LSAT too late for Fall 2023?

nadian00r

Hi all! Basically asking the question in the title. I'm up for November but for some reason I can't shake the fear that I won't be ready for it (as in, not the best I could do for the schools I want to get into). I've spoken to a few of the schools I wanted to apply to and they've all said they take the January LSAT, but I worry that even if I get a higher score in Jan than November, it will be too late to apply.

HailMaryLSAT

Hiya, I am taking January LSAT for Feb apps too. I do not think it is too late, but it is hard to ignore that seats will be taken up. I would say scholarship $$ will also be taken up.

For what it is worth, my approach has been boosting my safety schools + I am also using 7Sage's Admissions Consulting program to boost my soft scores.

Best of luck!

ezavila92

You won't be disqualified for sure, I've read about lots of students who got accepted in Feb, but it will be more difficult and potentially less scholarship money. It's also highly dependent on what schools you're targeting. If you're looking to go to a T14, your experience will be tougher than someone looking to go to a smaller regional school. Penn State Dickenson and WUSTL started handing out acceptances and scholarships in early October, but some of the regional schools near me haven't admitted anyone yet.

ProfLayton

It's not too late in the sense that you can still get accepted into some schools, but if you're shooting for T14 (let alone T50) you're at a big disadvantage. There's less spots available, and opportunities for scholarships are a lot lower.

I know it's not the answer people want to hear, but unless you're applying to a local school, waiting it out for 2024 may be smarter. It'd let you save up money by working and not need to take the LSAT in January. You'd be able to take it later and maximize your chances of doing well. By then, you'd hopefully submit applications really early next year and have an advantage

JShepherd

You should consider applying to your choices for law school prior to taking your lsat test.

By submitting your application, references and statement letter to the school before you take your lsat test you can in essence “get in line early” with the schools admission office. The actual admissions review decision won’t take place until your lsat score is received by the school.

Also, you’re showing the admissions team that you’re carefully planning ahead, and contrary to the appearance of applying “late” you’re actually considerate, strategic and well organized as evidenced by your strategic early application to the school, even though your lsat score is not yet available.

okkkkkkkkkkk

@jamesmatthewshepherd said:

Also, you’re showing the admissions team that you’re carefully planning ahead, and contrary to the appearance of applying “late” you’re actually considerate, strategic and well organized as evidenced by your strategic early application to the school, even though your lsat score is not yet available.

While applying with your LSAT score already on file is advantageous, "appearing well organized as evidenced by your strategic early application the school" is not a legitimate consideration that law schools take into account. Not sure where you heard this, but this doesn't factor into admission considerations. The January LSAT is accepted by all (most?) schools, they don't go further to then determine whether you taking the January LSAT is a consequence of your disorganization. Conversely, they don't assess applicants who already have an LSAT score on file as 'more organized' than any other. Any negatives associated with taking the January LSAT is already reflected through the consequences of being evaluated late within a rolling basis admissions process, which is that places are distributed overtime and not all at once. This is the extent to which taking the Jan LSAT can be problematic, nothing more. People have various reasons for taking the January LSAT, just as some may have been able to take it in October vs. November or any other month. When a school agrees to accept the January LSAT, they're not saying you're going to be considered in an inferior light to your "more organized" competition. You're going to be considered as any other applicant; according to the standards and requirements set out by the school, with the caveat that some seats have already been filled. Any further determination as to how "organized" an applicant is based on when he took the LSAT, or how that factors into his application as a whole is seriously unjustified. Even more grossly so, when you imply that this has an effect on how he is assessed as an applicant, i.e. how likely he is to succeed in law school once that application in its entirety has already arrived in the laps of the school's addcom.

Law school admission process is, in short, just them assessing how likely you are to succeed in their law school (and beyond that, how good of a fit you are), often accomplished through considering EC's, grades, LSAT scores, Personal Statement, and other considerations that that vary from school to school, but are usually explicitly mentioned in the guides that schools provide for students looking to apply (none of which mention an inherent disdain for Jan LSAT test takers). They don't bother making arbitrary and wildly speculative assessments about your application, such as he applied for the January LSAT therefore he's relatively disorganized compared to everyone who did not, for the obvious reason that its a ridiculous conclusion to arrive at.

The obvious reasons anyone takes the January LSAT, is they believe they can score better than if they were to take it any earlier, or that there were some circumstances that prevented them from taking an earlier LSAT date. In the former, you are better of taking the LSAT in January if it is going to lend to a significantly stronger application, and therefore further evidence you're likelihood of being able to succeed in their law school (which is any law schools primary concern). Encouraging someone to preclude themselves from the opportunity to strengthen their application because of some speculation that you will somehow appear disorganized is very strange.

If you can guarantee a significant boost in your LSAT score by taking the January test, then its worth taking, generally speaking. If you have an already strong score on file, then that becomes debatable. It just depends on your likelihood of being admitted given your current score, and your preferred schools requirements. Are you a competitive applicant with your current LSAT/GPA, if so, then doing the LSAT again is not ideal.

You should not be giving out wrong advice, and by extension of the nature of the advice you're giving, encouraging applicants to worry about factors that are grossly speculative that in-turn can have a negative effect on those factors that admission committee's do in fact legitimately consider.

You're not showing the admissions team anything of that sort ,as the above poster described, by applying with an LSAT score already on file vs an LSAT score taken in January. Admission committees are not involved in playing any guessing game, they look at the resulting score of your LSAT (amongst other factors such as GPA). A 155 in November does not beat a 160 in January (assuming the difference is pertinent given the school you're looking to apply to).

cat_person

@okkkkkkkkkkk do you know if can you submit your app with your November score, and then follow up with whatever January score you receive (if higher)?