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Ideal Month to Apply? September vs. October

Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 3:06 pm
by angryinvestor123
Is there a discernible advantage to applying in September over October, all else equal?

A blog post from PowerScore states that "T14 applicants on the whole see about a 34% increased chance of admission for each earlier month they apply (September application vs. October application, for example)." (http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/does-su ... ur-chances). Of course, the increase could be affected by factors like the fact that better qualified applicants tend to apply early, but 34% seems significant. According to the same post, there is a 129% increased chance in getting into UChicago for each earlier month applied.

Thoughts?

Re: Ideal Month to Apply? September vs. October

Posted: Mon May 22, 2017 5:55 pm
by Pozzo
I'm not too familiar with this study, but October and September are both incredibly early in the cycle. It certainly doesn't provide enough advantage to make up for anything lacking in the application. A well polished app on 10/31 has a much better chance than a haphazard app from 9/1. If you have the score you're looking for and a good app ready to go, then by all means, apply in September. Otherwise, you're not hurting yourself by waiting. Conventional wisdom is anything before Halloween is "early," anything by Christmas is "normal." You might start to see some decline in chances after the first of the year. But even then, plenty of people have great outcomes who applied in Jan.