LSAT 170 GPA 3.67 - retake in December? Forum

[jujubun]

Like many people here, I got my first score back this week and I'm contemplating retaking in December, or applying early with my score. I would have loved to get a 172/173, which was my PT average.

I'm an undergrad at Princeton, and Columbia is my dream law school. I guess I'm trying to decide between taking advantage of rolling admissions, or aiming for a score increase. Any opinions would be much appreciated!!!

[Voyager]

It is difficult to improve at the high end of the curve, for obvious mathematical reasons

Additionally, you scored right in your expected range. Why? Because most people score worse than their perceived practice test average for a variety of reasons:

-Nerves
-Confirmation bias on estimating your current practice scores (people tend to "forget" bad practice tests and remember the good ones resulting in an inflated sense of practice average)
-Distractions at the test center
-The impact of reusing old practice exams you have already seen (inflates the score on your 2nd go around with the practice test)
-Etc.

So if you are going to do this, recognize that you need to work SUPER hard between now and December. It's not much time and you are currently NOT a 172 LSAT taker. Your score on test day is a 170.

That said, if you can get a 170, I bet you can get above a 172 with a ton of hard work over the next 6 weeks.

Start tonight.

Good luck.

[Clemenceau]

I had roughly your numbers and retook in December, improved my score, got into columbia with some money. Obviously that's just an anecdote and doesn't mean much, but if you really want cls then go for it. You likely won't get in with your current numbers. I think even a slight lsat improvement outweighs the october vs. december application factor.

[Rigo]

Go for it!

[guynourmin]

retaking is a good idea, but trying to score your pt average isn't - you need to improve! very common to score a couple points below your average. sounds like you performed about as well as you were going to (that is not to say you can't improve - you definitely can! you also don't have to apply this year. If taking next June makes more sense, do that instead, right?).