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Hi all!

I was PTing @165 and got a 152 and feel the need to apply now. I have good softs, I was the student body president, work for a U.S. Senator and am Native American. I am just so upset, and have been crying all day. Can someone give me a good course of action?

During the test my proctors were yapping, and I was extremely anxious. I feel like February is too late to apply, no?

Please advise. I would love to go to Fordham in NYC.

Also, had a 4.0 in undergrad.

sit out. retake. don't be stupid.

Yeah retake. There really isn't anything to think about here

Take February exam, and you can apply if you want. If you decide to wait you'll have Feb score to use next year.

People usually test lower than their practice tests, so keep studying and keep trying to get those PTs up.

With your softs/URM/GPA, with a score in the 160s you can do way better than Fordham. Don't settle.

lawschoolhopefulllll wrote:Hi all!

I was PTing @165 and got a 152 and feel the need to apply now. I have good softs, I was the student body president, work for a U.S. Senator and am Native American. I am just so upset, and have been crying all day. Can someone give me a good course of action?

During the test my proctors were yapping, and I was extremely anxious. I feel like February is too late to apply, no?

Please advise. I would love to go to Fordham in NYC.

Also, had a 4.0 in undergrad.

[A few cycles ago] I had a client apply to HLS in June and get accepted in July. Feb is not too late -- schools will almost always make room for a strong applicant. So much bad advice out there, the "Feb being too late" being one of them. All schools but about 2 are admitting all summer long. Ho get a score you are capable of. Make sure to take practice tests in loud coffee shops. Give yourself 3 less minutes per section. The real test will seem like a breeze. Don't give up!

MikeSpivey wrote:Make sure to take practice tests in loud coffee shops. Give yourself 3 less minutes per section. The real test will seem like a breeze. Don't give up!

This is great advice. I got some of my most useful prep done while dogsitting my neighbor's poorly-behaved dog, or while my roommates ate dinner and played video games in the same room, or in a noisy office cubicle. At the time, these were necessary concessions to my schedule. My actual LSAT sitting ended up feeling uncannily peaceful in comparison.

Re take re take re take say it with me now

Retake.

I was PTing mid-160 going into Sept. Got a 155. Worked my way through the disappointment for a couple days and got back to work. I scored 171 on the Dec LSAT.

Always retake. It’s foolish not to. It’s both the most important and most directly improvable part of your application. You had a bad day, it happens. Do it again.

Everyone gets that feeling like they have to go to law school right this second. Law school isn't going anywhere. Retake.

Rarely are good decisions made under artificial unnecessary constraints.

mcmand wrote:Everyone gets that feeling like they have to go to law school right this second. Law school isn't going anywhere. Retake.

Rarely are good decisions made under artificial unnecessary constraints.

Well, from my experience at least it's more like "I have to get admitted to law school right now." Law schools admit people all summer long. I get email after email "is Feb LSAT too late?" Schools will make room for a good applicant. Hell, I'm just going to do a blog on this -- never mind the rant

MikeSpivey wrote:

mcmand wrote:Everyone gets that feeling like they have to go to law school right this second. Law school isn't going anywhere. Retake.

Rarely are good decisions made under artificial unnecessary constraints.

Well, from my experience at least it's more like "I have to get admitted to law school right now." Law schools admit people all summer long. I get email after email "is Feb LSAT too late?" Schools will make room for a good applicant. Hell, I'm just going to do a blog on this -- never mind the rant

Definitely looking forward to that blog post! I've always been told/thought February was too late to apply for any given cycle. At best, I was told it was a good way to get off a waitlist/increase scholarship money.

Also, go follow Mike on Twitter! Great articles/advice on there as well.

You’re the archetype of someone who needs to retake. You scored way below your average and have a great GPA/softs. There’s unlimited retakes. You’re looking at the difference between squeaking into top 30 vs getting big scholarships at T14 with a shot a HYS. You’d be an idiot to go given all that.

I know it sucks but there’s no rush. Retake until you’re sure that you’ve hit your potential. Literally hundreds of thousands of dollars are on the line.

icechicken wrote:

MikeSpivey wrote:Make sure to take practice tests in loud coffee shops. Give yourself 3 less minutes per section. The real test will seem like a breeze. Don't give up!

This is great advice. I got some of my most useful prep done while dogsitting my neighbor's poorly-behaved dog, or while my roommates ate dinner and played video games in the same room, or in a noisy office cubicle. At the time, these were necessary concessions to my schedule. My actual LSAT sitting ended up feeling uncannily peaceful in comparison.

The 3 less minutes/section advice is credited as well. I took the LSAT long before I discovered TLS, so my prep was suboptimal- to say the least- but by happy chance I only skimmed through the instructions in my prep book and thought each section was 30 minutes. I learned that you actually had 35 the night before the test and I think that having learned how to get through the sections with less time ended up really helping.

Here you go!

http://blog.spiveyconsulting.com/late/