graduating in 5 years instead of 4 Forum

[psm11]

i was wondering if anyone could shed some light on whether a law school would look negatively on a candidate who took 5 years to graduate instead of 4. in my situation i was set on attending law school this fall but wasn't happy with the prospects of my lsat score. i decided to take this year off, study for the lsat and work, then apply again this fall (hopefully with a better lsat score). i am 2 classes away from graduating, which i planned on taking over the course of this summer, but figured if i had a year off why try and cram them over the summer. my plan with the 2 remanning classes is to now take them this spring and devote the rest of the summer and entire fall to lsat study.

[BruceDenton]

i know someone who did pretty much the same thing to use 5th year eligibility for a sport, they're at a t14 now, so i'm sure you'll be fine.

[kapital98]

It won't have any impact. Don't worry about it. It's all about your GPA/LSAT. Double majoring, honors grad, 5 years, etc... are all softs that make essentially no impact.

Getting some work experience in during your year off would actually (to a VERY marginal extent) help you in admissions. Taking another year to finish would also make it easier for you to apply to schools as soon as the admissions period begins.