Poof. Forum

[leilanik]

Saw this come up during a Google search, was creeped.

[dudders]

I would request accommodations. I'm sure you know better than I, but I would assume that if your time was extended it wouldn't be by much, whether or not it's for you to bubble your answers or to relay your answers to a scribe. If you're already planning on disclosing your disability, I wouldn't worry about the LSAC disclosure part. Schools, generally, are very supportive of students with disabilities, and I believe it might make you more desirable even. (Unsure if it gets you URM-like status in law school admissions, but NALP statistics for law schools do list "disabled" as a minority.)

Besides, if a school responds negatively, would you even want to go there?

[eaglemuncher]

Sure the schools will see that you received accommodations. Which could possibly hurt, but not as bad as if you don't ask for accommodations and your disability severely hurts your score.

[beidoun]

I doubt a law school is going to care the accommodations used to get a certain score as long as it helps their medians.

[amputatedbrain]

I think it's important in the application as a whole to make a narrative that the reader can follow and relate to. I think if you're already discussing this disability in your PS, then the LSAT accommodation will simply be a part of that narrative, which I don't think will hurt you at all. There is no URM-style boost for having a disability, but it does fall into that cryptic realm of "diversity," and you'd be hard pressed to find a law school that didn't want to accept an otherwise motivated and qualified candidate who needed extra time to fill in their LSAT bubbles.

[leilanik]

Thanks all!

The admissions game can be a bit scary, especially for a somewhat nontraditional student. All of your input has definitely quelled some fears

[bk1]

I'd take the accommodations if possible. You have a legitimate reason why you would be unable to function on an equal level on a timed test.

The only reason the LSAT is timed is because they want to see how people function on a level playing field. You can think as fast as anybody else, your body just pains you when you try and fill in bubbles as fast as other people. I am sure that, if granted, LSAC will give you an amount of time it deems fair. It's not like they're going to give you 3 hours per section.

[suspicious android]

I doubt a law school is going to care the accommodations used to get a certain score as long as it helps their medians.

LSAT scores with accomodations are not used when calculating a law school's medians, so they neither help nor hurt a law school. In fact, the scores are apparently given without a percentile ranking, since there is no way to compare them to other test takers. I think this is a pretty good compromise.

[justbubbles]

I doubt a law school is going to care the accommodations used to get a certain score as long as it helps their medians.

Not really.

"Accommodated scores" are not included in the class profile stats, and more importantly, they are also not reported to the ABA with the rest of the incoming class' profile.

Schools have tremendous leverage and discretion when assessing such types of "special" applicants.

That said, I'm sure ad coms wouldn't take lightly if it's some BS 'disability', where as someone genuinely deserving of accommodations takes advantage of it (ie. clinically blind, severe physical disability, etc)

[ptblazer]

I don't think the law schools will look negatively at your scores at all. The point of offering accommodations is to level the playing field. As long as you address your disability in your application, they won't ding you for more time and if they do, it is extremely cynical.

If you feel like your disablitiy hampers your ability to perform, I would definitly ask for more time.