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Hi all--long-time lurker, first-time poster! Wondering if anyone can give me advice or share his or her experience. I'm debating whether I should postpone my December LSAT and take it in June.

Background: I'm an international student studying in North America. Currently a senior student with a good GPA--above the 75% percentile for YHS--at an academically rigorous university. Solid recommendations (or so I hope), unique work experiences for an undergrad who has not graduated yet, good extracurricular involvements, etc. Funding wise, I will not rely on my parents after graduation, so my hope is to get a substantial financial aid and apply for external scholarships. Also thinking of working for a year or two before going to law school--should I get accepted to my target school this cycle, I will likely defer my admission for a year.

That said, I'm currently debating if it's actually smarter to postpone it till next year because of LSAT. My current score fluctuates a lot: scored anywhere between 172-178 from PT.40 to PT.60, but starting from PT.60 onwards, my scores are either over 174 or lower than 170 (damn you PT.70+!). At this rate, I'm not too sure if 174+ is obtainable.

So... Should I just get the test over with, pray a Hail Mary for a decent score, and apply in Jan? Would it really negatively affect my chances for acceptance and amount of aids to apply so late in the cycle, or would it not matter that much?

I gather from other posters on here that applying late in the cycle can lead to less money.

Taking a year (or more) off before law school is a good idea 100% of the time. Using the time to prep for a higher LSAT score and apply early in the cycle only makes the decision that much easier.

If you're planning to take a year+ off anyway (excellent idea), just take December and hope for the best. If not, take time to study more for February/June and apply next cycle.

Sounds like you're pretty consistently hitting your target with only an outlier or two. I'd just take it. GL.

cbbinnyc wrote:I gather from other posters on here that applying late in the cycle can lead to less money.

Just want to note that this won't matter at HYS because aid is need-based, if you're HYS or bust OP.
Also, work on your apps and get them ready to go as soon as you get your score back. If you do in fact end up being 174+, 3.9x/4.0+, I'd just send them in. You'll be an awesome applicant and early January isn't late.

Thanks for the replies! Yeah, the thought of going straight to law school upon graduation scares me. Need a year for Netflix and chill.

Also, Not YHS or bust type of applicant It's just that, if my application is competitive for those schools, it should also be competitive for other schools. What I'm scared of is those test-day nerves that will bring down my score by a few points. I see a downward trend in terms of score from PT.70 onwards--and apparently it's pretty common, judging from the posts in this forum? Assuming the worst scenario, do schools look kindly on retakes?

miya_hori wrote:do schools look kindly on retakes?

Nearly all schools only care about your highest score. There's speculation that YSB take into account retakes as part of their holistic/black box schtick, but who knows.