A When To Take the Lsat Thread=I Suck at Search Function Forum

[seanPtheB]

Ok I apologize in advance for the following, because I know this topic has got to be on the site somewhere, but when I try using the search function all I can find is the FAQ which simply states June is the best time to take the lsat. So if what I'm asking is in other threads, I would greatly appreciate a link, or, even better, how exactly you found what I'm looking for. If not, here goes..

What exactly are the advantages to applying to schools as early as possible in the cycle when you are someone who is applying basically on gpa and lsat alone (softs aren't horrible, but average)? The only information I've seen on this is from a book written by a former dean of Admissions at Chicago Law School, in which they say early in the cycle admissions officers do at least more admitting based on things other than numbers, while later in the cycle they are admitting people to try and maintain their school's median gpa and lsat. Is this statement generally true?

[rinkrat19]

Most scholarship money is given out to earlier admits. Check the IU-Bloomy thread, for an extreme example: early admits over a certain LSAT score were virtually ALL offered huge scholarship money, but after a certain date, the money dried up.

June is the best time to take the LSAT because if you screw up and need to retake, you can still take the October test and get all your applications submitted by early November. If your first LSAT is in October and you get a crappy score, you have to retake in December, making your applications late (by TLS standards). There's also more time to study between June-Oct than there is Oct-Dec.

I don't know about what the guy from Chicago wrote, but it sounds reasonable to me. When a school has filled up 80% of their incoming class with an interestingly diverse (not just minority-wise, but background, age, softs, work experience, etc) group, I can see them being pretty choosy about picking admits who are going to help their medians for that last 20%.

[tomwatts]

What exactly are the advantages to applying to schools as early as possible in the cycle when you are someone who is applying basically on gpa and lsat alone (softs aren't horrible, but average)? The only information I've seen on this is from a book written by a former dean of Admissions at Chicago Law School, in which they say early in the cycle admissions officers do at least more admitting based on things other than numbers, while later in the cycle they are admitting people to try and maintain their school's median gpa and lsat. Is this statement generally true?

Bear in mind that people who apply early can be admitted early or late. People who apply late can only be admitted late. So if you apply early, they might give your application a couple of different looks to see if you're what they want at that particular moment. If you apply late, you only get one look.

Having the LSAT score in the bank frees you up to research schools, write the PS, secure recs, etc.

[seanPtheB]

Ah ok, thanks a lot for the excellent points that I definitely overlooked. So I guess my original plan would be a good one, which is to continue studying for the lsat as if I have to take it in June, and then when May 13th rolls around (the last day to move it to October without law schools being notified), decide whether I have gotten to the point where I don't see myself improving much, if at all, so go ahead and take it in June, or if I see myself upping my score significantly higher by October waiting until then..?

[Jeffort]

Ah ok, thanks a lot for the excellent points that I definitely overlooked. So I guess my original plan would be a good one, which is to continue studying for the lsat as if I have to take it in June, and then when May 13th rolls around (the last day to move it to October without law schools being notified), decide whether I have gotten to the point where I don't see myself improving much, if at all, so go ahead and take it in June, or if I see myself upping my score significantly higher by October waiting until then..?

That sounds about right. Aim and prep to be in peak form to hopefully hit your max potential score in June, but if you aren't there leading up to it and think you can improve more with more time you can postpone.

[aspire2more]

Ah ok, thanks a lot for the excellent points that I definitely overlooked. So I guess my original plan would be a good one, which is to continue studying for the lsat as if I have to take it in June, and then when May 13th rolls around (the last day to move it to October without law schools being notified), decide whether I have gotten to the point where I don't see myself improving much, if at all, so go ahead and take it in June, or if I see myself upping my score significantly higher by October waiting until then..?

+1

[seanPtheB]

Ah ok, thanks a lot for the excellent points that I definitely overlooked. So I guess my original plan would be a good one, which is to continue studying for the lsat as if I have to take it in June, and then when May 13th rolls around (the last day to move it to October without law schools being notified), decide whether I have gotten to the point where I don't see myself improving much, if at all, so go ahead and take it in June, or if I see myself upping my score significantly higher by October waiting until then..?

That sounds about right. Aim and prep to be in peak form to hopefully hit your max potential score in June, but if you aren't there leading up to it and think you can improve more with more time you can postpone.

Cool, that'll be the plan then.