Am I being an idiot? Forum

[BoyJord]

I know the popular wisdom on TLS is retake, when in doubt retake. My current stats are (available on my profile as well) 164/3.9x

The question is simply, am I wasting a GPA by not retaking? I am 2 years removed from UG and feel like I am wasting time not getting into school this cycle. However, after reading many many posts I cannot shake this feeling that I may be "rushing" into a situation that could be improved if I can just convince myself to sit out another cycle. Class of 2021 does not sound terrible.

Background, I prepped for the December LSAT by taking approx. 35 PTs between September and the end of November. True, 164 was lower than my PT band which was 167-170 (My average was -12) but I do not want to convince myself that simply because I was scoring X on PTs that I will certainly get that on Test Day. I know I could buckle down and study intensely for another test but I am just not sure what the best decision is here. My concern is that if I get into "retake" mode I might convince myself that whatever new score I get wont be high enough and I'll be in an endless cycle of needing to retake to get X number points higher.

Tl;dr - another TLS person needs to be convinced to retake.

[jrf12886]

Not much advice to offer you until you have admission and scholarship decisions. It's possible to have good outcomes with your stats, but you could also have better options if you retake. Hard to make that call in a vacuum.

[Rigo]

If you have to ask

[dm1683]

I know the popular wisdom on TLS is retake, when in doubt retake. My current stats are (available on my profile as well) 164/3.9x

The question is simply, am I wasting a GPA by not retaking? I am 2 years removed from UG and feel like I am wasting time not getting into school this cycle. However, after reading many many posts I cannot shake this feeling that I may be "rushing" into a situation that could be improved if I can just convince myself to sit out another cycle. Class of 2021 does not sound terrible.

Background, I prepped for the December LSAT by taking approx. 35 PTs between September and the end of November. True, 164 was lower than my PT band which was 167-170 (My average was -12) but I do not want to convince myself that simply because I was scoring X on PTs that I will certainly get that on Test Day. I know I could buckle down and study intensely for another test but I am just not sure what the best decision is here. My concern is that if I get into "retake" mode I might convince myself that whatever new score I get wont be high enough and I'll be in an endless cycle of needing to retake to get X number points higher.

Tl;dr - another TLS person needs to be convinced to retake.

I guess it depends on what your goals are. If you want biglaw or prestigious PI or clerking than you'd be a certifiable lunatic not to retake. But if you just want small law or criminal law or low-level PI, then not retaking and taking $$$ from a strong regional in the area you know you want to work in is defensible, if not recommended. I would retake anyway though.

[RedPurpleBlue]

If you have to ask

That's not how this works at all. Next time, please offer OP more useful and constructive advice.

OP: If you're really okay with delaying for another year and devoting your time to studying a lot, then you definitely should. A 3.9X and a 170 would likely get you $150,000 ED at Northwestern, considering you'd also have 3yrs of WE. You could also snag some really big scholarships in the rest of the T-14. If you got an even higher score (173+), then you'd definitely be in line for some T6 named scholarships. Like I said, if you're okay with delaying for another year and studying a lot, then you should do it. However, note that next application cycle could be stronger than this one, so if you only marginally increase your score, you could end up at the same place or worse.

Another way to rationalize it would be what's the opportunity cost? If Biglaw is your goal and we assume you're just trying to throw money at your debt your first year, you could probably throw $60-$80k at it (depending on your market, family situation (i.e. kids/spouse), need to spend on housing, etc.) and have one year of BL experience under your belt (preparing you to lateral in-house, advance in pay at an earlier age, or give you more legal experience earlier). If you think the value of getting that year of experience one year earlier and the $60-$80k is going to be greater than your gains in scholarship, then going now might be a good idea. For instance, if you got $60k at a school but look at LSN and decide that you'll probably land in the $100k scholarship area next year with a retake, then it might be worthwhile to go now, if you're okay with the higher initial debt load of course. Now, if you think you'll walk away with $150k scholarship at a school that only gave you $30k, then that's a very big economic reason to sit out and retake.

[Rigo]

If you have to ask

That's not how this works at all. Next time, please offer OP more useful and constructive advice.

Hey you. Go kick rocks.

[pyramidenergy888]

Basically you have the potential to get into any school with a premium LSAT score. The price of waiting a whole year and spending more months studying is what you will pay to get that. Weigh that compared to your current options and make a decision based on that. Yeah waiting a year sucks but you have a lot to gain. The payoff is certainly high... ultimately up to you to decide.

[pyramidenergy888]

Basically you have the potential to get into any school with a premium LSAT score. The price of waiting a whole year and spending more months studying is what you will pay to get that. Weigh that compared to your current options and make a decision based on that. Yeah waiting a year sucks but you have a lot to gain. The payoff is certainly high... ultimately up to you to decide whether to go for it or not.

[BoyJord]

So question to anyone who has sat out a cycle... do you reuse LORs and rewrite everything else? what does it look like to withdraw all apps and reapply

[BoyJord]

If you have to ask

That's not how this works at all. Next time, please offer OP more useful and constructive advice.

Hey you. Go kick rocks.

Rigo... i laughed at your first comment. Constructive advice is appreciated but your first comment was worthwhile haha. I had to ask

[TLSModBot]

I took 6 years between UG and law school. Worked out fine for me and everyone else I know at a similar age in my class. One more year won't kill ya

Another year of not law is a blessing.

[poptart123]

If you have to ask

That's not how this works at all. Next time, please offer OP more useful and constructive advice.

Hey you. Go kick rocks.

Rigo... i laughed at your first comment. Constructive advice is appreciated but your first comment was worthwhile haha. I had to ask

Jumping on the Rigo bandwagon. If you have to ask, then yes. The reason you are asking is because you know you can do better. OP, if your practice band was higher then you have nothing to lose by retaking in June. If you score higher, great! Go reapply or negotiate more money. If you score lower you only have time studying to lose, but I'm betting you will do at least just as well. You have a fantastic GPA, you can do better, you owe yourself at least one more attempt at the test.

[UVA2B]

So question to anyone who has sat out a cycle... do you reuse LORs and rewrite everything else? what does it look like to withdraw all apps and reapply

Yup. LORs can be the same (arguably another one is helpful if you took on a new job, new boss, etc.), but you should write a new PS just to be safe, especially if you're applying in back to back years. You may be able to get away with the same PS (let's be honest, they're reading thousands of these, yours might not be unique enough to remind them absent looking at your previous app), but it's safer to just rewrite it, make it solid, and let the new numbers speak for you.

[somedeadman]

Have you thought about putting a deposit down and studying for the June test?