Retake and Reapply? Forum

[needadvice22]

Applied 20-21 cycle and accepted at Georgetown, Vanderbilt, and Cornell with $35-$38k offers--$150k debt, 3.5 gpa, URM, 167 LSAT high w/3 attempts. PT high: 175. Should I retake and reapply in the next cycle? Appreciate any and all advice, please and thanks

ps i'd be entering at 26/27 next cycle.

[decimalsanddollars]

A few things to sort out first:

1) What do you want to do? What are you doing now? What would you do instead of law school this year if you had to retake and reapply?
2) What is your $150k debt number referring to? That seems high for undergrad loans, but it seems low for a 3-year COA estimate with your current offers.
3) So your PT high is 175, and your real-thing high is 167. What do your other scores look like? What I'm getting at is this: if you're consistently in the mid-160s on the real thing and only have one PT over 170, it may not make sense to expect improvement with a fourth take. That said, any points you get above 167 will increase your admissions chances.
4) You mentioned your age: how is that a factor in your decision, and how much weight are you assigning to that factor?

[needadvice22]

Thanks for your reply.

My aim is int'l law and ip law or big law and then int'l/big law afterwards. The $150k is the debt estimate based on current gift aid offers. I've hit above 170 and was scoring over 170 for the last 5 or so PTs leading up to my last sitting of the LSAT. Currently interning at a Caribbean Appeal Court overseas. I suppose age isn't a huge factor but I was thinking that undertaking that debt level approaching closer to 30 gives less financial leeway. Given that places would resume hiring soon, I would apply for a job either in the Caribbean or the US, work and study until my chosen sitting, and reapply.

[antelope]

If you don't feel happy with your results, or you really feel like you can reach a higher score, you can retake and reapply. Your age shouldn't matter, really, you're still in your twenties. If you feel that your goals align with outcomes from any of these schools, and you feel confident about your results, you can attend this year, none of these are bad choices really, it just depends on what are your goals and where you want to be.