Retake a 175? Forum

[Doorkeeper]

No

[t-14orbust]

.

[Ti Malice]

Damn I'm somewhat in the same boat, 174(on 2nd take in feb, following 170 in OCT)/4.01 LSDAS GPA. I really want Yale but I don't really know what else I can do to get it besides retaking and risking getting a lower score.

Your situations are actually pretty different. OP has a below-median GPA and an above-median LSAT. You have an above-75th GPA and an above-median LSAT. A 177 would make a significant difference for OP. While a 177 would boost your chances, the boost would be far smaller. If you think there's a non-negigible chance that you could score lower, possibly making your 174 look like the outlier (something that one of your faculty reviewers might care about), then it's not worth retaking.

[Balthy]

Random necro, but thanks for feedback, all!

I think my softs are about as strong as I could reasonably make them in my circumstances (I mean not an Olympian, but you know) and my GPA is locked in so the LSAT is really all I had to tinker with.

For the record, future readers, I decided not to rewrite. I wasn't sure 2 more points on a third retake would necessarily carry the amount of "oomph" necessary or constitute a particularly rational use of my time. Presumably future lurkers can check out my LSN to see how that panned out and whether I should have rewritten for YLS or not. (Also made a typo on HLS statement, so I'm not taking my chances there for granted at this point either).

Best of luck, future lurkers!

Congrats on that Columbia scholly!

[amc987]

I'm glad that OP decided not to retake. I don't see the point of retaking a 175 unless you have a GPA that's significantly below the 25th for HYS and that's where you're absolutely set on attending. For everyone else, it's a waste of time. Odds are you'll probably get a similar score and you could very well do worse. If you can't get HY with a 3.89/175, your numbers aren't what kept you out. Plenty of people get in with that and lower.

Retaking the LSAT can only solve so many problems at those schools.

[stephenholder]

Edit: silly question.

[smaug_]

Is there any sense in retaking a 177?

There is no reason to retake a 177 other than pride.

[jbagelboy]

No

clearly no, don't retake. if you PT at 174-177, your best lsat on test day is 174, and you hit 175. if you PT at 180 every time, then maybe you could have a 50% chance of scoring higher than 175 and a retake would be warranted, but with your PT range I'd say you have a greater chance of scoring lower than higher on test day. huge risk very very little reward.

[jbagelboy]

Is there any sense in retaking a 177?

There is no reason to retake a 177 other than pride.

or if you are an LSAT instructor or run an LSAT blog.

[TopLawHopeful]

At 175, it's a bad idea for most people to retake. Your GPA is high--nothing to make up for.

Work on softs instead, perhaps?

[Ti Malice]

I'm glad that OP decided not to retake. I don't see the point of retaking a 175 unless you have a GPA that's significantly below the 25th for HYS and that's where you're absolutely set on attending. For everyone else, it's a waste of time. Odds are you'll probably get a similar score and you could very well do worse. If you can't get HY with a 3.89/175, your numbers aren't what kept you out. Plenty of people get in with that and lower.

Retaking the LSAT can only solve so many problems at those schools.

This post isn't exactly right. It's true that for the vast majority of people retaking a 175 would be a waste of time. People at that level should only consider retaking if they're almost unfailingly hitting 179/180 on PTs. But it's not true that a higher score wouldn't make any real difference, especially in Yale's case. With a below median GPA, getting a score above Yale's LSAT 75th would significantly increase an applicant's odds of acceptance.