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Hello, everyone!

I apologize if this is a redundant question; I am fairly new to the TLS world. After searching for an answer online and asking a few friends currently in law school, I've gotten conflicting answers. I'm hoping this answers my question once and for all.

I am lucky enough to have a 4.0 in two degrees from the University of Florida, and I also have a graduate certificate (4.0 as well) from NYU. I know that this GPA affords me many opportunities in the T14 and that the LSAT is pretty much the only thing standing in my way of admittance to some great schools.

The issue lies in the fact that I'm not scoring what I hoped to be getting this close to the October test. I started at a 150 on the diagnostic and now average in the mid to high 160s on my PTs, but I am hoping to go over the 170 mark. Due to some unfortunate personal circumstances that arose these past months, I have not been able to focus on my study regimen as I had hoped.

My question is this: if I need to retake the test in December due to test anxiety or a low score, will my applications be submitted early enough to give me a good chance of admittance even though it will be in late December? I had hoped to submit everything right after the October exam, but I have a feeling I won't be testing at my highest performance. I of course will retake in December if my October score is too low so as not to waste my GPA.

Added information: white female with some good letters of rec. Currently work for the law news publication Law360 and was a junior literary agent working in book and TV/film contracts.

Thank you for any and all advice!

I'm in a similar position and I'm definitely going to take October. Unless you're worried about maxing out your takes or know for sure that you won't achieve your goal score, you don't have much to lose by taking October.

Thanks, RZ5646. Good luck to you!

My question is whether retaking in December will delay my applications so much that my admittance chances will be lowered. Any thoughts?

OP, yes, if you end up submitting after the December exam, you will be fine. It won't be an early application - I think people usually consider "early" to be before Thanksgiving - but it won't be late; it will be perfectly fine. Waiting to retake (if necessary) and submitting with a higher score will get better results than applying earlier with a lower score.

Thank you as well, NonyMouse.

A further question: should I get my applications in the system before December and have my LSAT scores catch up when submitted by LSAC, or should I just wait until I receive my December scores and submit everything at once?

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pizzagoblin wrote:Thanks, RZ5646. Good luck to you!

My question is whether retaking in December will delay my applications so much that my admittance chances will be lowered. Any thoughts?

I'm not sure... in fact, the main reason I posted here was so I'd remember to see what other people said about that

Here is the thing - many law schools do rolling admissions, so if you submit an app in December rather than October then, yeah, some people will have been admitted already and that means fewer seats are available. But law schools have extended their application cycles so much further in the past few years and most people are not applying in October/November so while, yes, there are technically fewer seats when you submit in December v. October, there are still many seats available.

Thank you all for your advice! One last question if anyone would be so kind to answer: does this significantly impact scholarship potential?

pizzagoblin wrote:Thank you all for your advice! One last question if anyone would be so kind to answer: does this significantly impact scholarship potential?

bumping this because I'm curious too

Got a 165, which is right where my PTs were before the test, so I can't be too upset about it. Seeing all the red at the top schools on mylsn is motivating me now to kick this test's behind. At least I know now I'll be accepted to some low t14/t20, but I really want some scholarships.

slizerd wrote:

pizzagoblin wrote:Thank you all for your advice! One last question if anyone would be so kind to answer: does this significantly impact scholarship potential?

bumping this because I'm curious too

To answer this question: Certain named scholarships are decided/applied to before the December scores are released. But as far as general merit/need scholarship, those offers go out a bit later since fafsa and need access won't be filled out until later.