What's the difference? Forum

[blk418]

Ok so I realize the difference in applying in Oct vs. Dec in relation to when people take the LSAT, but what I do not understand is why people make such a bug deal about skipping October and waiting till December. I guess what I am asking is; since the majority of schools take your highest lsat nowadays, and most admissions committees don't review apps till around january, why not do as best as you can on the Oct lsat and re-take in Dec if you are unhappy? Either way if you get dont get the score you want you have an opportunity to study more and increase your score, while still having that score before most decisions are made.

Thanks for the clarifications!

[KevinP]

and most admissions committees don't review apps till around january

This is false. Most schools, at least in terms of higher ranked schools, use rolling admissions to make decisions. You should definitely wait until December if doing so will yield a better score but October will give you an advantage.

For example, here's a decision graph for Cornell:

Here's for Penn:


The graphs by themselves are definitely not necessarily representative but if you browse TLS for most other schools, you'll find similar trends.

ETA:

since the majority of schools take your highest lsat nowadays
...
why not do as best as you can on the Oct lsat and re-take in Dec if you are unhappy?

Of course you should retake in December if you are unhappy, and can score higher. However, going into October with the expectation that you can always retake in December will put you in the wrong mindset. Also, even though most schools take the highest, some schools still average and this distinction is especially critical for HYS.