Dec. LSAT too late? Forum

[Iverson23]

Hey y'all, currently prepping for the Sept. LSAT after starting last week, was wondering if December would be considered "late", cuz I ain't sure if I'm gonna be ready by Sept. 27th.

[180kickflip]

Tons of people send in apps in Jan, so I don't know why that would be "late", but it does go against the ad ice of sending in early. Still, if you're not going to be ready (scoring 4-5 points above your target score on PTs), then it's probably still smart to wait.

[ck3]

Hey Iverson, I'd like to weigh in on this but I could give you better advice if I knew your GPA range. If you have a really good GPA like 3.75 and above and you do take the test in September, then I would say go ahead and apply to most of the schools on your list with the September score. If the score is 163 and above, then you can go ahead and apply to the T14 with the September score and try to raise it in December. In any case, you can just make the schools aware if you obtain a higher score in December. If your GPA is competitive for the T14 schools, I would definitely recommend applying early but I would also stress that your application materials, (personal statement, diversity statement, references, resume) need to be as good as possible because the people you are competing against for admission will have a high GPA and a high LSAT score also. So apply early. But make sure you take enough time to have your application very tight. Also, my advice would be to do a personal statement specific to each T14 school that talks specifically about your interest in that school. (area of interest, reputation, location, programs, professors). Just my 2 cents.

Based on my cycle, I would say that applying after January 15 did not really hurt me for most schools but for the T14 it got me on a lot of wait lists and by April on only had 1 T14 acceptance.