LSAT in December and Applying for 2014 Question Forum

[vicpin5190]

Hey all,

I was planning on taking the LSAT in October but decided it is in my best interest to postpone until December to go for a higher score. With that in mind, I know I'll be in a definite crunch to get applications in ASAP when I get my score. My question is, what should my plan of action be. Is it advisable to have all my applications in prior to or shortly after I take the LSAT, and then the LSAT would just be sent when it is available to complete the application, or should I just wait until i get my score to apply? Also, how should I time my recommendation requests in either case?

Thanks!

[TheMostDangerousLG]

Get all of your credentials together with LSAC in advance: your transcripts, letters of recommendation, etc. Fill out the applications, have everything ready to go. If you have any hesitation about whether or not you will apply this cycle given your LSAT, wait until you get your score, and then immediately submit everything. If not, go ahead and submit your applications in advance. It's not going to make a huge difference either way, since LSAC will still need to send out new reports once your LSAT comes in, but submitting your applications in advance will at least mean your file is in and processed by the school, and they'll be able to look at your application as soon as the LSAT comes in.

[francesfarmer]

You should get all credentials/letters of rec in to LSAC as soon as possible since those take a while to process (do it now because you probably won't have the time to do it as test day approaches) and then work on your PS for like, 2 weeks after you take the LSAT. Submit that before Christmas. Fill out and submit your applications after that.

Luckily for you applications are way down and applying late doesn't seem to hurt as much as it used to.

Since you'll be applying so soon after your score is released, you probably aren't getting many unsolicited fee waivers. You should probably mass-email the admissions office of every school you want to apply to and ask for a waiver anyway. Do this now, before admissions offices get totally swamped. Tell them your GPA, school (especially if it's impressive), a couple of things about yourself if you have any interesting/impressive tidbits, and how much you would LOVE to go to X law school but applications are expensive and would they pretty please grant you a fee waiver? I did this with 11 schools and got 5 waivers out of it (though I had an LSAT score).