Top Law Schools

Trying to decide whether I can/should defer a year at this point. Applied ED to Penn, was accepted with 3.9/169, but was pretty confident that my LSAT could have been 3-5 points higher. Due to work and family circumstances, I never re-took.

Now, I'm thinking that I'll always regret not giving it one more shot, deferring, and seeing what happens. Question(s) is/are: can I defer this late, can I apply elsewhere if I defer, how does my ED acceptance complicate that?

I'm already two years out of college, and so this is a bit of a gamble assuming the answer to my above questions is no.

Deferrals are binding for the upcoming cycle just like ED is for the current cycle. You wouldn't be able to apply anywhere else if you deferred.

As to applying ED, the only thing I know well is how it affects acceptance odds at different schools, but I have heard from a mod on this site that the language in some ED contracts is not specific to a single cycle and that it can be read as a contract binding on you for some number of future years. Some have also said that a number of schools will grant you a deferral automatically if you try to decline an ED acceptance.

The only way you could possibly go to another school next year or the year after would be to withdraw from Penn and reapply later on. However, you will definitely want to review the Penn ED contract's language as well as investigate what typically happens when Penn admits decline their ED acceptances.

Ti Malice wrote:However, you will definitely want to review the Penn ED contract's language as well as investigate what typically happens when Penn admits decline their ED acceptances.

This is step 1.