Fall admission 2016

ttranc83

Do all law schools differ as to which LSAT is accepted for fall admission? Is it primarily the December LSAT that is accepted for all fall applicants/applications?
If I do not receive the best score possible or the score I was looking forward to receiving after taking the December LSAT, I was thinking of re-taking it in February of next year hoping to apply for fall of the same year. Is that too presumptuous of me? LOL. Most likely it is.

emli1000

A lot of schools accept the Feb. LSAT for the upcoming fall semester. Since many schools have a March/April deadline.

ttranc83

Thank you @emli1000! I appreciate your comment!

emli1000

Anytime!

sprflycat

I don't think there is a December LSAT. Do you mean October?

emli1000

@sprflycat There is a Feb., June, Sept./Oct., Dec. LSAT given throughout the year

sprflycat

#mindblown

mes08

If you feel ready, I'd recommend taking the October LSAT, since many schools do rolling admissions and you want to submit your application as early as possible. Also, by taking the Dec LSAT you miss some early decision deadlines and scholarship opportunities

jimenezja.jj

hey, @ttranc83 I would advise you to reach out to each school individually. I'm sure they will take the february LSAT but the school may not have sufficient funds to grant you a scholarship. Good Luck!!

Pacifico

Don't bother applying ED unless it's NU or another school that grants a significant scholarship for ED admits. Binding ED takes away almost all your negotiating leverage and provides only a little boost (if any) in most cases.

There is still plenty of money available to people who take the LSAT in December. You need a higher score, not an earlier application. If you do not have a high GPA/LSAT combo you likely will not even get your application reviewed until January or later anyways. Early admits are for raising/bolstering medians, it's not really rolling admissions like in undergrad or high school.

February, on the other hand, is stretching it and should only be used as a last resort or to pull yourself off of a wait list if you're there already (though you can use June for this as well).

Also, as to your original question, since LSAT scores are good for five years you can literally take one this October for fall 2020 admission. However, February of the application cycle is usually the last that most schools accept for regular admission (June during the end of a cycle only helps with wait lists or negotiations).

LSATman1

Some schools even accept the June LSAT for admission for fall of the same year, i.e. if you took the June 2015 LSAT, some will accept that score for Fall 2015 enrollment

goalis180

Not to hijack this thread, but Law schools only accept applicants for a fall cycle? I am taking my LSAT in december, and I want to attend law school in 2016, but I also want to be able to retake if I don't get a good score. When would I have to apply for the 2016 cycle?

Pacifico

You can retake in February for most schools and still be fine. I can't think of any law schools off the top of my head where you can start in January. You should take the LSAT and then fill out your apps and submit them, or if you want to do them beforehand you can do that to take a little break from prep and then they'll be ready to go.

If you can get yourself on a wait list then you could always take the June test to try to get off of the wait list.

As for the post above yours, I can't think of any schools this is true for off the top of my head, but if be interested to see a list. My uneducated guess would say that it is more likely for schools that are unranked and less worth attending overall since these schools need to wait for some applicants to higher ranked schools to trickle down.

ttranc83

Thank you for your input @mes08! Thanks @jimenezja.jj! Thank you @Pacifico for the info! Thank you @LSATman1! And no worries @goalis180 we are here to learn from one another!

goalis180

@Pacifico I have been told several times that applying close to feb to your reach school lowers chances as well as reduces scholarship amounts. Is such propaganda true?

goalis180

@ttranc83 thank you, I truly appreciate that.

Pacifico

February is definitely late in the cycle, but that is long after the December LSAT and December is not late in the cycle.

nicole.hopkins

@Pacifico said:
I can't think of any law schools off the top of my head where you can start in January.

Baylor starts three classes each year and has three application deadlines. They're a rarity but the good news is that you can in theory graduate in just over 2 calendar years (likely sacrificing a lot with the summers, but for some folks, that doesn't matter).

ttranc83

Thank you @nicole.hopkins !

Pacifico

She forgot to mention it's in Waco...

ttranc83

Lol @Pacifico . Moving to Waco, TX...not my first choice nor is leaving CA in my plans, but it is a good choice for some.

Pacifico

Yeah I hear the old Branch Davidian compound is lovely this time of year :P

gs556

I am from Dallas and have drove through Waco a few times. There is nothing in Waco.

Pacifico

I would agree with you but methinks Baylor would beg to differ hahah

Student76

I applied in Feb but after receiving my score asked that my app not be considered until I retook in June. I did, results in July and was accepted 2 weeks later (and heavily pursued by other schools whose application deadlines had far passed). I think most schools will accept scores from anytime if the score is right.

ttranc83

Thanks @Student76 !