LSATs 4 times in 2 years? Possible? Forum

[Nancy_Botwin]

How realistic is it to have the LSAC approve 4 LSATs in 2 years? I took the test in Feb. 2010, Feb. 2011, (probably) Oct. 2011, (hopefully) Dec. 2011.

Has anyone gotten permission from the LSAC to bend their rules?

[Bildungsroman]

You're hoping to take it a fourth time when you've only taken it twice? Seems like poor planning, bro.

And since LSAC just changed the rules to put itself in charge of approving extra retakes, nobody is going to have firsthand experience to contribute here.

Edit: and looking at your other thread, I can almost guarantee that LSAC will not approve a 4th time in two years before you've even taken it the third time, so don't plan around LSAC giving you an answer that makes your decision for you.

[Nancy_Botwin]

I'm just trying to cover all bases. I can't afford to take another year off from school. I want a contingency plan in place if the October test kicks my a**.

[Nancy_Botwin]

You're hoping to take it a fourth time when you've only taken it twice? Seems like poor planning, bro.

And since LSAC just changed the rules to put itself in charge of approving extra retakes, nobody is going to have firsthand experience to contribute here.

Edit: and looking at your other thread, I can almost guarantee that LSAC will not approve a 4th time in two years before you've even taken it the third time, so don't plan around LSAC giving you an answer that makes your decision for you.

Good advice. I created this thread in a moment of panic but I talked to a contact in DU admissions and made me feel better about just taking the December test. The world won't end if I postpone (nor will it end if I don't get into the school of my choice). If all else fails, there's always next year, kiddos! I may be 28 in a few months but I can pass for 22 My plan of graduating before the big 3-0 is out the window, so what's another year?

Another aside: Let's say a majority of applicants take the October test. Applications with good to great scores will come pouring in at the end of October/early November. I'm definitely not going to be any school's show pony, so if I applied then even with a 165, I may just fall through the cracks. However, testing in December and getting a 165 (with a few new softs), I may stick out a bit more. That's my theory. Please don't try to debunk it and burst my bubble

[SeanNeedsAdvice]

I got a school near me (USC) to send a letter to LSAC about me taking a 4th time about 3 weeks before the policy changed, and they actually didn't send me an email approving it until the day of the policy change (I even called several times and they couldn't do anything to speed up the process). It scared the crap out of me, but that's how I'm taking it a 4th time. I don't think you can do that anymore though, so I think I got extremely lucky.

Side note: I had given up on USC sending a letter for me because the person who was supposed to deal with the letter didn't respond to any of my emails or calls for a while - I think he was out of town - so I asked Loyola to write me a letter and they said yes. In the end I don't know if LSAC got both letters or what (or if that helped me or hurt me), as the only letter that was confirmed to be sent by the school was USC.

[SA1928]

Check out this blog post: http://lsatblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/ls ... hange.html

[Nancy_Botwin]

Check out this blog post: http://lsatblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/ls ... hange.html

Gah! They're so sneaky. It's like the LSAC does everything within their power to make the entire process more difficult and stressful. They may be prepping us for a career in law by forcing us to deal with this bs, but come on!

[KevinP]

It used to be really easy to get a retake waiver from a school before the rule change but now I think that has changed. I adopted a wait-and-see attitude towards LSAC and it seems like they are stringy with giving out retake waivers since every single person I know both in real life and on TLS has been rejected. Granted that is only a handful of people, but the rejections support my point that getting retake waivers isn't as easy as before.

Your best bet would probably be to either be fully ready in October or postpone until December.

[Nancy_Botwin]

It used to be really easy to get a retake waiver from a school before the rule change but now I think that has changed. I adopted a wait-and-see attitude towards LSAC and it seems like they are stringy with giving out retake waivers since every single person I know both in real life and on TLS has been rejected. Granted that is only a handful of people, but the rejections support my point that getting retake waivers isn't as easy as before.

Your best bet would probably be to either be fully ready in October or postpone until December.

Oh, the good old days! Oh well. I guess it is what it is. I'm going to study my butt off from now until October and hopefully I'll be ready. Ideally, I want to make a decision by the "date change date" (9/11 I believe?) since I have one absence on my transcript already. I know they don't really look at them, but I feel like 2 in a 12 month span wouldn't look so hot.

Thanks everyone for your advice! I've pretty much gotten the same response across the board: Take it when you're ready (just not in February lol)

[kalvano]

You watch Suits, don't you?

[Nancy_Botwin]

You watch Suits, don't you?

OMG every time they talk about the LSATs on Suits I can't help but simultaneously crack up and cringe. At least there's good eye candy on the show. All details re: law school and law firms is a total joke

[bp shinners]

Check out this blog post: http://lsatblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/ls ... hange.html

Gah! They're so sneaky. It's like the LSAC does everything within their power to make the entire process more difficult and stressful. They may be prepping us for a career in law by forcing us to deal with this bs, but come on!

By consolidating all of the applications in one place and allowing you to send electronic copies to multiple universities after submitting a single hard copy, it seems to me that the LSAC tries to make the whole process as easy as possible. All the better to get you to apply to just one more school, since most of the app is already filled out. It's going to be stressful; I just think it could be much worse if there wasn't a central hub to process everything.

[Nancy_Botwin]

Check out this blog post: http://lsatblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/ls ... hange.html

Gah! They're so sneaky. It's like the LSAC does everything within their power to make the entire process more difficult and stressful. They may be prepping us for a career in law by forcing us to deal with this bs, but come on!

By consolidating all of the applications in one place and allowing you to send electronic copies to multiple universities after submitting a single hard copy, it seems to me that the LSAC tries to make the whole process as easy as possible. All the better to get you to apply to just one more school, since most of the app is already filled out. It's going to be stressful; I just think it could be much worse if there wasn't a central hub to process everything.

I was referring to the test-taking process, not the LSAC's CAS.