Top Law Schools

I have taken the LSAT once before and did "decent" on it.

I have been studying quite a bit the last few months for the October LSAT, but I don't think I am all there yet. Today I missed -6 on a LR that I went back and looked at and I made stupid mistakes...and finished with an extra three minutes to spare. Also still get stuck on some games. I am reallly considering moving it to December and hopefully feeling more comfortable.

The schools that I am looking at have a February 15 and March 15 application deadline. If I wait and take the LSAT in December, am I applying too late since scores won't be back until after Christmas I imagine? I guess I can always apply with the score I have and let them know I am taking it again in December. Some advice would be appreciated.

Today is the day I have to decide and keep my $$.

Decently.

If you wait until December then yes, your apps will be in fairly late in the process. But if you really think you can bump up your score with another couple months studying, wait. A 170 in December is much better than a 166 in October. And adcomms have suggested, at least in their interviews, that they look a lot harder at two retakes than just one.

Of course, if you have already taken it once and have been studying hard for a second shot at it, how much more can you really do? I'd probably just go at it hard for the next three weeks and see what happens.

Saying you already achieved a 'decent' score is pretty vague, especially since what is considered to be decent is relative.

A couple of important basic facts that I hope you have or will take into consideration while making your decisions:

1) You cannot apply for early admission/early decision with a December score since the deadlines for an EA/ED application to be complete are before December scores are reported.

2) If your numbers (LSAT & GPA) are in the healthy range for the law schools you are going to apply to, your admission chances are better if you apply early in the cycle.

2.1) A large proportion of the scholarship $$ schools have available to offer in order to attract/entice quality applicants and/or to award to disadvantaged but also academically accomplished/motivated students that they want to admit is awarded early in the admission cycle. In short, the scholarship money is depleted early in the application cycle.

3) Applying early in the cycle DOES NOT compensate for sub-par numbers to increase your admission chances. If you apply with one reported LSAT score that is below the 25th percentile of admitted applicants for the school(s), applying early will likely get you a quick rejection letter. If the one score is around or a bit above the 25th percentile for the school, you make sure to tell them you are retaking the LSAT and the rest of your application is strong, at best your application might be placed into some sort of a holding pattern for later review (that is of course if they don't just auto-reject you instead).

3.1) Applying later in the cycle (Lets say first week of January once December scores have been reported) with a second LSAT score that is at least 3 points higher than the first one outweighs the disadvantages of not having your application go complete to be ready for review in the previous three months. Other than EA/ED applications and cherry-picking high GPA+LSAT early submissions to read, most quality law schools do not start thoroughly reading and reviewing the thousands of applications they receive until January when the holidays are over.

4) If you have been studying and reviewing well and are making progress with your LSAT performance, you have up to midnight the night before test day to withdraw your registration if you don't feel like you are ready for the October test. Nothing shows up on your CAS report that law schools receive and it doesn't count against the limited to taking it only three times in two years restriction, you just lose the registration fee you paid and have to pay again to register for another administration. It's basically like the chicken exit at the front of the line to ride a roller coaster.

I hope this helps.

Good Luck.