How late am I if I apply by the 20th? Forum

[throwaway2016gjdm]

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[cavalier1138]

You're late, but not hopelessly late.

What schools are you targeting, and what are your career goals?

[throwaway2016gjdm]

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[KMart]

Do career goals somehow affect me sending my apps in late?

No.

[throwaway2016gjdm]

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[bearedman8]

Do career goals somehow affect me sending my apps in late?

No.

Then why did the previous poster ask about them?

So that everyone can tell you to retake the LSAT.

[cavalier1138]

You're late, but not hopelessly late.

What schools are you targeting, and what are your career goals?

Targeting T20 and some local non-T20 schools. Hoping to do criminal prosecution. Also open to public interest work. Do career goals somehow affect me sending my apps in late?

Career goals affect where you want to go and consequently how late you can realistically apply and still get decent scholarship offers.

If your goals are local prosecution/public interest, then going to your state flagship school on a full scholarship is probably your best bet, and that is probably still a possibility, depending on the state. No need to go to a T14 (or even T20) school unless you want to work at higher-level PI or federal prosecution.

[throwaway2016gjdm]

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[throwaway2016gjdm]

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[KMart]

Oh boy, you must like Las Vegas with your level of risk tolerance.

[throwaway2016gjdm]

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[KMart]

Oh boy, you must like Las Vegas with your level of risk tolerance.

How is it risky? especially this cycle

Depending on the schools your looking at, law school might be expensive. Depending on how you do, despite your confidence, you might not get a good job to pay off the debt. On the other hand, it might work. A lot of the people on this forum, including myself, wouldn't take that risk. We'd retake the LSAT, take the higher scholarship offer, and try to profit. It's your life, OP, but that's why it's risky.

[throwaway2016gjdm]

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[cavalier1138]

I'm confident I'll rank near the top of my class to the law schools I'm likely to be accepted to. Transfer is always a possibility.

You're making a huge mistake.

Retake. Or don't retake. But do not put yourself in debt to go to a school on the assumption that you'll rank near the top of your class. You probably won't, and you cannot, under any circumstances, plan on transferring. Only matriculate to a school you would be happy graduating from, and do not plan on placing in the top of the class. If you are not happy with the employment results for a median-level student at the schools you're targeting, then you should not be going there, period.

[somedeadman]

Oh boy, you must like Las Vegas with your level of risk tolerance.

How is it risky? especially this cycle

Depending on the schools your looking at, law school might be expensive. Depending on how you do, despite your confidence, you might not get a good job to pay off the debt. On the other hand, it might work. A lot of the people on this forum, including myself, wouldn't take that risk. We'd retake the LSAT, take the higher scholarship offer, and try to profit. It's your life, OP, but that's why it's risky.

Your response is appreciated. It's definitely useful to hear differing perspectives, especially one such as yours (you seem like you've been an active member of the TLS community for a while). But additional potential scholly money would not offset another year of me delaying law school.

Even if I do decide to delay by another year, there's no guarantee I'll score higher than I have my previous two takes. I went into Dec scoring comfortably in the low 170s with a few 175+ scores. I ended up scoring a good 10 points below my average (a mere 4 points above my diagnostic of 159) after months of full-time studying.

I'm confident I'll rank near the top of my class to the law schools I'm likely to be accepted to. Transfer is always a possibility.

Why do you think you experienced such a severe score drop from your practice tests? Were you doing 5 section timed tests? I'm not necessarily advocating for you to retake, but I'm super curious as to how one could see such a huge gap between their real and practice scores.

[Incrementalist]

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You aren't super late but it is generally better to have applications in before the New Year.

[throwaway2016gjdm]

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[somedeadman]

Sounds like you should definitely retake. Get a part time job, master games (repetition is key), and go in and slay the test. Worst case scenario is you still have your 164, but apply first day apps open and get better results than you would get this cycle. Best case, you get the score you deserve.

Disclaimer - 0L

[cdotson2]

It seems like you are making a rash decision based on getting back bad news on the LSAT. If you have a 3.9 from an ivy and you regularly score in the 170's on practices test's there is no reason to settle for a 164. You know you can do better; even just getting a 170 will take you from being on the edge at a school in 15-20 range to close to a full scholarship at a lower t-14 and a possible chance at acceptances in the top 6.

[KMart]

It seems like you are making a rash decision based on getting back bad news on the LSAT. If you have a 3.9 from an ivy and you regularly score in the 170's on practices test's there is no reason to settle for a 164. You know you can do better; even just getting a 170 will take you from being on the edge at a school in 15-20 range to close to a full scholarship at a lower t-14 and a possible chance at acceptances in the top 6.

This. You've identified your problems and they are essentially all fixable. LG is the most learnable portion of the test and there's no reason for getting anything less than -2 on that part.