applying in nov vs. sep

Comments

• Leah M B Alum Member ⭐

  September 2018 8392 karma

  I think there is a slight disadvantage to applying in November vs. Sept. However, it would still be much better than applying in late December or January. And infinitely better than applying in February. It's all sort of a sliding scale. I think late December to early January is around the time that is sort of last call for being on time-ish. You can apply before the LSAT score is in, also. If you have a good LSAT score on record already, it might be worth it to apply before receiving the next one. But if you are worried that the score you already have isn't going to get you accepted, then might be worth it to hold off. If you're willing to share numbers, it'd be helpful to hear what your current score on record is, what's your average PT score right now is, and what you are hoping to get. It'd help to be able to gauge how much of an impact all this would make. But, understandable if you'd rather keep that private.
• Mustbe8Characters Member

  September 2018 316 karma

  @"Leah M B" said:
  I think there is a slight disadvantage to applying in November vs. Sept. However, it would still be much better than applying in late December or January. And infinitely better than applying in February. It's all sort of a sliding scale. I think late December to early January is around the time that is sort of last call for being on time-ish. You can apply before the LSAT score is in, also. If you have a good LSAT score on record already, it might be worth it to apply before receiving the next one. But if you are worried that the score you already have isn't going to get you accepted, then might be worth it to hold off. If you're willing to share numbers, it'd be helpful to hear what your current score on record is, what's your average PT score right now is, and what you are hoping to get. It'd help to be able to gauge how much of an impact all this would make. But, understandable if you'd rather keep that private.

  Thanks for answering so quickly! No problem. I am hoping to get a 170+ on my exam. My current PT average is about a 172, but my last test PT 84 was a 169 (and I have had several other below 170 scores on my practice). In other words, I feel like I have about a 50-50 chance of scoring above a 170. I have a 168 on file (I have taken the LSAT 4 times - I know it's a lot haha)
• Leah M B Alum Member ⭐

  September 2018 8392 karma

  Ah, that helps so much. Thanks!

  My honest take: you are ready to re-take, you just got freaked out by 1 slightly lower (but still very good) PT score. I don't really see a firm reason for pushing back to November.

  However, if you do push back, I think you should go ahead and apply in October. I believe the majority of schools will hold your application as incomplete if you have a pending LSAT. However, most of them will also go ahead and mark them as complete and review them with your current score if you e-mail them and request them to do that. (That's what I did last year; I signed up for the Feb LSAT in hopes of using it for scholarship negotiations. I sent apps, asked them to review with my current score, and all but 1 school told me they would.)

  I think if I were you and decided to push back to November, this is what my plan would be: apply everywhere in October. For any schools that are a reach and you think may not admit you with the 168, I'd ask them to hold it for your score that is upcoming. For any school that you think you won't be at risk of rejection, I'd ask them to mark it as complete and review with your current score. But at least if you get your app in early, they may go ahead and begin reviewing your essays which would give a faster turn around once your LSAT score is in. It also will mean that your app will be complete as soon as they get your score, which is nice. It'll be very fast that way.
• Tom_Tango Alum Member

  September 2018 902 karma

  @lsatkt179 said:
  given that there is only a november (and not a december) test this year, would it hurt me to take the november lsat instead and apply then rather than taking the september and applying very soon? I'm a reapplicant and I ended up applying after my lsat score came out last year and it hurt me a little bit

  no