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I'm starting to feel like I should have sat out this cycle, retaken in June, and applied early in September 2012.

Barring a miracle from my target school, I will be retaking and applying next cycle; how much will this hurt me at the schools I will have applied to twice?

180asBreath wrote:I'm starting to feel like I should have sat out this cycle, retaken in June, and applied early in September 2012.

Barring a miracle from my target school, I will be retaking and applying next cycle; how much will this hurt me at the schools I will have applied to twice?

The general consensus is that if you're admitted to a school this cycle and decline to attend, the school may hold it against you the next cycle.

If you are rejected, you can reapply with new credentials and suffer no ill-will or bias.

mrtoren wrote:

180asBreath wrote:I'm starting to feel like I should have sat out this cycle, retaken in June, and applied early in September 2012.

Barring a miracle from my target school, I will be retaking and applying next cycle; how much will this hurt me at the schools I will have applied to twice?

The general consensus is that if you're admitted to a school this cycle and decline to attend, the school may hold it against you the next cycle.

If you are rejected, you can reapply with new credentials and suffer no ill-will or bias.

Let's say you got a great opportunity for 1 year and decided to put off law school. Would an addendum or something similar be helpful for that? Or would the school have expected you to defer?

180asBreath wrote:I'm starting to feel like I should have sat out this cycle, retaken in June, and applied early in September 2012.

Barring a miracle from my target school, I will be retaking and applying next cycle; how much will this hurt me at the schools I will have applied to twice?

I don't think it'll hurt. I sat out a year and reapplied to many schools to which I applied to last year and have gotten admitted to most of them.

mrtoren wrote: The general consensus is that if you're admitted to a school this cycle and decline to attend, the school may hold it against you the next cycle.

If you are rejected, you can reapply with new credentials and suffer no ill-will or bias.

Top schools don't usually hold it against you. Lower ranked schools may. Reapplying helps in most cases.

nshapkar wrote:

180asBreath wrote:I'm starting to feel like I should have sat out this cycle, retaken in June, and applied early in September 2012.

Barring a miracle from my target school, I will be retaking and applying next cycle; how much will this hurt me at the schools I will have applied to twice?

I don't think it'll hurt. I sat out a year and reapplied to many schools to which I applied to last year and have gotten admitted to most of them.

Thanks for this; it's very re-assuring.

I'm in such a tough position (I don't quite have the numbers for my HYS target school) and I know I can get there if I wait till next year; I'm just getting on in years and I didn't want to wait. If time weren't a factor, I would have sat out this cycle - without a doubt.

I guess I'll just hope to get lucky, and be prepared if my luck runs out.

180asBreath wrote: Thanks for this; it's very re-assuring.

I'm in such a tough position (I don't quite have the numbers for my HYS target school) and I know I can get there if I wait till next year; I'm just getting on in years and I didn't want to wait. If time weren't a factor, I would have sat out this cycle - without a doubt.

I guess I'll just hope to get lucky, and be prepared if my luck runs out.

If you are older and have WE, you don't really need HYS to achieve most, if not all of your career goals. So don't get too caught up in the top ranking chasing. If you want to see how reapplying worked out, check my LSN.

nshapkar wrote:

180asBreath wrote:I'm starting to feel like I should have sat out this cycle, retaken in June, and applied early in September 2012.

Barring a miracle from my target school, I will be retaking and applying next cycle; how much will this hurt me at the schools I will have applied to twice?

I don't think it'll hurt. I sat out a year and reapplied to many schools to which I applied to last year and have gotten admitted to most of them.

+1

I sat out two years.

My anecdote:

MVP generally have similar admissions criteria (they tend to take lower GPAs than schools like Duke/Boalt). I have a sub3 GPA and applied in 09-10 with a sub170 LSAT and in 10-11 with an above170 LSAT.

09-10 Cycle: Penn Rejected, UVA Didn't Apply, UMich Didn't Apply
10-11 Cycle: Penn WL'ed, UVA Rejected, UMich Rejected

Maybe Penn liked that I applied again, maybe not. It's just an anecdote so take from it what you will.

I think it will depend on the school. I'm a reapplicant from the 09-10 cycle, which was the biggest cycle ever. I didn't crack the T-14 with a 167 (was waitlisted most places with an outright ding at Berkeley and Columbia). I was accepted at UT though. This cycle, with a 173, I've gotten in everywhere from Chicago on down, except for UT. Obviously, I could stil get in but I do suspect they might have soured on me.