157/172, 3.82, Chances for T-14? Forum

[blandusername]

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster. So my story is that I took the Oct. LSAT last year, got 157. Retook this month, got 172. GPA is 3.82, non-URM, and awful softs, but I'll spin them well in my PS. Stanford, Chicago, and Columbia are my reaches, but Berkeley, UCLA, Cornell, and Georgetown were where I was aiming for before I got back my score. From everything I've read on here about multiple scores, I should be good for UCB/UCLA/Cornell/Georgetown, correct? What are my chances for t-6?

And also to throw in another question, based on what I've read I wasn't planning on writing an addendum to explain my score, but I did better than expected (was shooting for 167-170), so with a 15 point discrepancy, ought I to address the difference at all? I don't really have any extenuating circumstances to explain the difference, other than I had less time to prep last year and wasn't all that ready, which just sounds like an excuse, but I'm also afraid someone will hold that 157 against me.

[jbagelboy]

You're most likely in at Columbia and Chicago so don't sweat those. You'll have big $$ from schools like Northwestern, Duke, and UVA.

Chances aren't great at Stanford, but you have a shot.

I think score-based addenda are largely on their way out unless there's a specific cause for the lower score.