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I created this alternate just for this post, mods you can feel free to delete it afterwards. I have a friend who just took the LSAT and will be applying this Fall. I tried to give some advice, but for the most part person X disagreed with what I was saying. So, if everyone could chime in on their advice, I plan on linking this to person X so they can see what TLS says. I'm 100% sure everyone here will agree with me, but I won't disclose my advice for the sake of keeping this impartial.

LSAT score(1st time)- 160
GPA- 3.9xx
Non URM
Financing- Loans
Career goals- Does not know

Go.

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Presuming your friend doesn't want to retake, he/she is being absolutely foolish. Retaking could change his/her life.

Your friend should retake the LSAT. There is absolutely no other rational option.

Why the fuck would anyone waste a 3.9 GPA on a 160 LSAT score? Your friend could easily go to HYS if she got a mid-170s score. A T13 would be likely around 170.

Of course, your friend is going to see this and think, well, if I'm so great with my 3.9, then why should I let one measly test determine my life! I'll just go to a lower ranked school, be top of my class, and have the same career opportunities as someone from a higher-ranked law school. I'm just not a great test-taker, blah blah blah.

I'm a practicing lawyer and can tell you: it just doesn't work like that. Law is extremely prestige-conscious. Where you go to school will determine your career prospects, in an inane way. Law school does not work like undergrad, and sitting in the library for 26 hours a day is not going to guarantee you the grades you'd need to get the same prospects as if you graduated median at a T6 school.

Your friend needs to think of it this way- what if someone offered her $150,000 to study for the LSAT for a few months. Because that is on the low end of what she could be turning down with a 5 point bump- never mind a 10 point bump which would probably lead to hundreds of thousands in increased earnings over time.

timbs4339 wrote:Your friend needs to think of it this way- what if someone offered her $150,000 to study for the LSAT for a few months. Because that is on the low end of what she could be turning down with a 5 point bump- never mind a 10 point bump which would probably lead to hundreds of thousands in increased earnings over time.

This is an extremely compelling way to put it. Given the GPA, these numbers aren't hyperbole at all.

Not retaking would be a monumentally idiotic decision. See above.

Obviously retake but if not, go to the best school you can get close to or full tuition in the market you want to work, excluding NY, DC, LA, Chicago.