Apply this cycle or wait until next? Forum

LazyPaladin · Post by **LazyPaladin** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 4:58 pm

I'll try to keep it concise, but I'm just conflicted right now in the waiting period.

Took my first LSAT in Dec '14, got a 155. After feeling defeated, picked myself up, studied and took it this month. I'm expecting somewhere in the range of 165-170, but most likely on the lower end of that spectrum. I'll be two years out of undergrad this year, and my uGPA is 3.99 from a known liberal arts school in the Northeast. I've been toying around with mylsn and LS predictor, and it seems like I'll be able to get in to basically any school from Vandy down, and perhaps even Cornell/NW (I guess from splitter friendliness). My conundrum comes from having a meeting with my advisers from college last week basically saying I have to go to law school now and that even when I got a 155 it was a good enough score to go to school. After giving the awkward smile and trying not to scoff at them for such antiquated advice - I just nodded and started gathering my application materials for this cycle. Transcripts have been requested, LOR's are being written, resume is updated and I'm working on the PS - I'll be ready to apply when I get my score at the end of the month. But should I?

Although the reasoning my advisers gave for my having to go to school was fallacious, I do have that itch to get out of my dead end job and go to school finally. Working as a manager of a sub franchise isn't exactly the ideal soft, and the longer I stay, the harder it gets to keep applying myself to going back to school. I've been fortunate to have discovered TLS and reddit for my second round of studying and have been encouraged to pursue the highest score I can get, not wasting my GPA. I know a lot of the consensus will be that if I'm not going to HYS, it's a waste anyway; but when is it REALLY a waste? Obviously going to a TT, but is any T1 school wasting my GPA if I swing a decent LSAT score this month? I told myself that if it's lower than a 165 (my PT average was a 167, high of 173/low of 164), I'm definitely going to retake in Feb and I'll wait it out because that's not at my potential and THAT would be a disservice to myself and those who've helped me along the way; but does applying with a 165+/3.99 do it justice either? (Perhaps that's a personal question that I'm hoping others in similar situations will answer).

Other potentially important information: Non-URM, rather debt-averse, $50k in UG federal loans to pay off still, not really committed to a specific area to go to school, have worked for a law firm and PEG and have a decent network to draw on.

fredfred · Post by **fredfred** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:25 pm

Don't waste that gpa. Please. I would have killed for that gpa. Retake in December or Feb if you don't want to sit out another year. Go download every lsat and start practicing until you can sleep through a test in the mid 170s (which, if your statement is true) should not be far off. Otherwise, don't waste that gpa. But you are certainly not precluded from waiting till next year.

Generally · Post by **Generally** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:35 pm

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Generally · Post by **Generally** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 5:40 pm

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LazyPaladin · Post by **LazyPaladin** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 8:32 pm

fredfred wrote:Retake in December or Feb if you don't want to sit out another year. Go download every lsat and start practicing until you can sleep through a test in the mid 170s (which, if your statement is true) should not be far off. Otherwise, don't waste that gpa. But you are certainly not precluded from waiting till next year.

I originally planned on retaking in Feb (I think Dec is too short honestly to do any justice for a potentially higher score). I'm worried that this will be way too late regardless, especially if I'm trying to get into schools that would require a 17X+. Also, I've basically been through every modern test (52 - 75 with a few exceptions), since June. While I'm certain enough time has elapsed for me to forget most of the answers, will they really be indicative of an increase?

Generally wrote:Those advisers should be fired. They are literally telling you to make one of the biggest mistakes you could possibly make in life. Your GPA is unreal, if you are in the 170 range, then don't settle with mid 160s. Get a 170 and if you have to wait a year o well. A full ride to a t14 is worth that wait. Seriously, never talk to those advisers again.

I get the sentiment towards my advisers. It's scary how often I've actually seen that advice given - but it comes mostly from older attorneys/legal professionals who had the choice to go, literally wherever, and obtain a good job. Even the attorneys I spoke with when working at the firm said that, so long as I applied myself, I could go to X regional school and still get a job. Granted, most of these advisers realize that the jobs you can obtain are very local and not the typical 6-figure BigLaw jobs, but I think in their minds a job is a job and they don't want to view their potentially failed choices in schooling as such and heave that upon naive undergrads. That may be a bit harsh, but I can see where they come from at least.

A lot of this sentiment comes from the waiting anxiety; I could have scored a 170 depending on the curve (hoping for -11/12+ but it's unlikely). It was just the reading comp and me making a silly mistake on the third LG that may have had the point shift from being a 170-172 score. I'm hoping, and it might be possible that I went -4 RC, -2LG, -5LR for a 169-170, but more likely it will probably be -5/6, -2, -7 for a 167-168. Obviously these are just out of my ass, but I kept track of ones I circled on the test to tally at the end.

The other driving factor is that I'm working a dead end service job. I make a pittance compared to my debt, and while it's easy, close by, and I'm living at home it's not a huge deal but I can slowly feel it eating away at me. While I understand that +4 points can mean admission/full rides to some of the T14; is it that awful to use my GPA as a counterbalance for a potentially 168 LSAT (re the other thread about how GPA/LSAT affect each other) especially at a school like Cornell (on my list)? I get that my GPA is great. I worked my ass off for it...and that one B+...anyway. But I feel like sometimes the sentiment is basically if you're not 3.8/170 or 75ths in the T14, law school isn't worth it.

Generally · Post by **Generally** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 8:36 pm

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LazyPaladin · Post by **LazyPaladin** » Thu Oct 15, 2015 8:43 pm

Generally wrote:The thing that comes in though is what could have been... If you take $ at Cornell you have to just be at peace with the fact you could have had a possible full ride at Columbia or a YHS acceptance but you choose not to pursue that.

Yeah, the struggle...