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Hello. After searching on the forums for an answer, I thought it was best to just start a new topic. I took the LSAT in December and got a 161, which considering my 3.68 GPA, is good enough to get me accepted to the schools I'd like to attend.

While I wanted to retake the LSAT in February anyway for personal pride reasons as I know I can do better than that, I was also wondering if retaking it will increase my chances for financial assistance to schools I've already applied to and schools in which I haven't applied, but the deadline is March 1.

For schools I've already applied to, if accepted before the February scores come in, will LSAC send an updated report to them? And If so, is it too forward to email them afterwards and state my new score while asking about merit scholarships?

For schools in which I haven't applied to yet, but have deadlines of March 1, is it a good idea to wait until close to the deadline to apply so that they will also receive the last LSAT score or is that a bad idea and I should go ahead and apply? I'm not worried about getting in, I'm just worried about the money situation.

Any info is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Apply now and update scores later. If any of your prospective schools would offer you money now, they would likely offer you more now than in March, in the event that your score doesn't increase significantly. If your score does increase significantly, you will be able to ask directly for an increase in (or offer of) scholarship money.

Be sure to apply to some reach schools beyond your targets -- schools where you will likely be waitlisted or denied. You can use a higher LSAT to get off WLs, which would give you more leverage in negotiations with your target schools.

Now for some unsolicited advice: With the state of the legal market, any school you are able to attend with those numbers is not worth going to unless you can get a substantial scholarship (two-thirds at minimum -- and preferably full tuition -- with no GPA stipulations). The odds are overwhelmingly against your being able to service the debt of sticker price at these schools. Far better would be for you to take the cycle off and study until you can comfortably land a 170. You would have several options in the T14, some probably with decent money. Additionally, you would probably be able to earn a full scholarship at a lower-ranked school that places well in the region in which you plan to practice. Postponing a cycle and retaking could be worth $60-250K in debt savings from tuition and hundreds of thousands of dollars in lifetime earning potential, depending upon where you attend.