does cancelling a score "look bad"?

Comments

• salonpapas Member

  January 2019 138 karma

  You should reach out to the admission offices of your target schools and ask them.

  In my experience when I've called admission offices, they don't care about cancellations!
• mjmonte17 Alum Member

  January 2019 757 karma

  As other have said, you should call the admission offices of your target schools to ask. From my research and from hearing the opinion of others, including admissions consultants, canceling a score isn't a big deal as long as you don't do it too many times (otherwise it looks suspicious). I'm sure there will be a high percentage of cancellations for the July test, I'm sure schools know this and will not think much of it.
• jbeeber Alum Member

  January 2019 2 karma

  You're able to cancel your score after you see it? I thought you could only cancel it the same day you take it or the same week or something.
• Positively LSAT Street Member

  January 2019 413 karma

  @jbeeber this is from LSAC's website
  " To ease the transition, LSAC is offering July test takers the opportunity to see their score before they decide whether they wish to cancel it. Those who decide to cancel can choose to retake the test one more time through April 2020 free of charge."
• Patz4life Alum Member

  January 2019 214 karma

  Well I wouldn't say it looks bad but it certainly doesn't look good
• Better every day Member

  January 2019 246 karma

  Admissions offices now don’t really have any incentive to punish you for lower or cancelled scores because they only are required to report your highest. I don’t think it’s a huge deal but I would also assume that if we could choose between something like a 165 on one take only or a 165 with a cancel everyone would prefer the score without the cancel.
• Leah M B Alum Member ⭐

  January 2019 8392 karma

  No, schools really don't care if you have 1 cancel on your record. They know stuff happens... test center distractions, being sick the day of the test, etc. It only looks bad if you have multiple cancellations - then they would want a short addendum to address why. But I would think especially with the July test being the way it is, they will be expecting a lot of folks to cancel that one. Don't worry about it.
• Amrina96k Alum Member

  February 2019 144 karma

  @"Leah M B" said:
  No, schools really don't care if you have 1 cancel on your record. They know stuff happens... test center distractions, being sick the day of the test, etc. It only looks bad if you have multiple cancellations - then they would want a short addendum to address why. But I would think especially with the July test being the way it is, they will be expecting a lot of folks to cancel that one. Don't worry about it.

  Would it be better to cancel a score or have a lower score on your file?
  For instance, i have taken the lsat twice already, and did my third attempt this past weekend. I am almost 100% sure that i did worse on my third attempt than the first two, so is it advisable for me to just cancel it or keep it even if it ends up beig the loswest?
  (I will be writing another lsat in July)
• 1 Like

  Leah M B Alum Member ⭐

  February 2019 8392 karma

  @Amrina96k Really, either is fine. Schools really do only consider your highest score, with the slight caveat that the top 3 schools can be a little pickier. So if your main goal is HYS, then cancel. Otherwise, you are truly fine no matter what.
• Better every day Member

  February 2019 246 karma

  @Amrina96k said:

  @"Leah M B" said:
  No, schools really don't care if you have 1 cancel on your record. They know stuff happens... test center distractions, being sick the day of the test, etc. It only looks bad if you have multiple cancellations - then they would want a short addendum to address why. But I would think especially with the July test being the way it is, they will be expecting a lot of folks to cancel that one. Don't worry about it.

  Would it be better to cancel a score or have a lower score on your file?
  For instance, i have taken the lsat twice already, and did my third attempt this past weekend. I am almost 100% sure that i did worse on my third attempt than the first two, so is it advisable for me to just cancel it or keep it even if it ends up beig the loswest?
  (I will be writing another lsat in July)

  You should also check the school’s policies. I know that in Penn’s Admissions FAQs they literally state “a single cancelled score has no impact on the evaluation of an application.” However they also say that all LSAT scores are noted and taken into consideration. So if I was shooting for Penn then yeah maybe I would consider cancelling more. However, as Leah pointed out above the majority of schools only really care about top scores and it’s also very very hard to know for sure how you actually did on the LSAT unless you had a massive mistake you are aware of. So that also would lead me to not cancel on most tests.