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I apologize for asking a similar question to so many people in this forum. I applied last cycle with an LSAT score of 170 and a cumulative GPA of 4.1. I was still in my last year of school and I'm Canadian (half-asian, so non-urm?). I got waitlisted at H, S, NYU, Columbia, Chicago, Berkeley, and accepted at Penn. I wasn't planning on reapplying, as I had decided to attend a Canadian school. Last minute, I decided to try again for the American schools so I wrote the September LSAT and got a 172. The week prior to writing I was scoring between 173 and 175, so I think that 172 is reasonable given that I was really nervous on test day and thought that I did terribly. That being said, I know I'm capable of a higher score. I've graduated now and my GPA is still 4.1. I've improved my personal statement and added to my resume. What are your thoughts on taking the December LSAT? Harvard and Stanford are my top choices, but I still have a solid option here in Canada if it doesn't work out in the US. Thanks so much for your thoughts.

I think there must have been a massive, glaring flaw in your application for you to get WL'd at some of those schools with your numbers. Did you submit late in the cycle or have a letter of rec from a parent? I mention this because if it wasn't a timing issue, that problem is still going to be present, and you need to fix it before you send things out this time around.

That said, why are you Harvard/Stanford-or-bust?

Thanks for the reply. I had solid recommendation letters from my professors and I submitted as soon as I received my LSAT score. I don't think there was any massive flaw in my application, as I got accepted to all the Canadian schools I applied to (including the top school) with fairly large scholarships from those that offer them using the same application. Also, I thought the fact that I got waitlisted at Stanford and Harvard with a 170 said something good about my application. My best guess is that I didn't successfully convince the schools that I would leave Canada to study in the US if accepted. I wonder if it had anything to do with me being an international student. To be honest I was surprised as well that I got waitlisted at NYU, but I suspected I was waitlisted at Berkeley perhaps because a lot of people want to live on the West Coast and there aren't as many schools there. I'm really not sure what happened, but I can't see there being any specific glaring flaw.

I'm focused on Harvard/Stanford because I would want to live and practice in both of those cities more than the others and having the chance of going to one of the top 3 schools would make me feel calmer about making the permanent move to the US from Canada. I understand that this may not be entirely logical and I'm not at all saying I would not consider attending one of the American other schools to which I'm applying.

I would let someone look over your app. Congrats on the stats though

sushigo411 wrote:My best guess is that I didn't successfully convince the schools that I would leave Canada to study in the US if accepted.

I really, really doubt that's it. As suggested above, I'd really suggest having someone look over your app, unless "as soon as you received your LSAT score" was some time in March, which would explain the weird performance.

Thanks so much for your replies. I will have someone look over my application. Do you mean a professional? If so, do you have any suggestions as to who? I've already had a mentor and a professor review my application.

Is the advice at this point to just look at my application and not retake the LSAT in Dec?