February retake after submitting applications? Forum

[lagavulinjoe]

Ideally I would like to go to a t-14 or at least t-20 school.

GPA : 3.55 (top 10 public)
LSAT: 168 (December '16), and cancelled after taking in September '16 (bombed logic games and didn't feel confident about the rest of the test)

I was aiming for 170+, but it didn't happen. In Dec I got -6 LG, -3 LR, -4 RC.
For my preptests I average about -4.5 for LG, -2 for LR, and -1 for RC (my average score for recent tests was 173.6). I was surprised that I missed 4 on reading, as I didn't think the section was that difficult, especially after Eileen Gray in September.

I'm tempted to retake in February, but I am quite certain I want to apply this cycle. Is it possible or advisable to submit apps now and sit for the February exam in hopes a better score might help with waitlists/scholarships? Would this even work? Or would law schools automatically hold my file until they get the February scores? I don't want to delay consideration of my applications but I'm tempted to take another crack at the LSAT if it won't impede things.

I've found a few other threads on similar topics but nothing that's resulted in any comprehensive discussion or consensus. Thanks for any insight!

[34iplaw]

Depends your goals. You may want to hold onto that last take rather than rushing into a third take IMO in the event the cycle doesn't go how you want and you have another year to kill it.

[armc808]

Depends your goals. You may want to hold onto that last take rather than rushing into a third take IMO in the event the cycle doesn't go how you want and you have another year to kill it.

+1. I also think 3 attempts one after the other may raise eyebrows to adcoms (assuming they take the Feb test this cycle). My understanding is 3 takes is considered the hard limit, so I would hold off on taking it again until you hear back this cycle.

[34iplaw]

Depends your goals. You may want to hold onto that last take rather than rushing into a third take IMO in the event the cycle doesn't go how you want and you have another year to kill it.

+1. I also think 3 attempts one after the other may raise eyebrows to adcoms (assuming they take the Feb test this cycle). My understanding is 3 takes is considered the hard limit, so I would hold off on taking it again until you hear back this cycle.

Yep - I'm also unsure as how my numbers compare to the original poster regarding admissions chances, but, after some consideration, I realized that the only real difference is my odds get marginally better with each point (to a point, then YP) at everything out of the T6 and CLS becomes quite realizable at ~172-3. Given my numbers which are similar to yours, I still have a pretty good shot at a good cycle; so, I rather keep that one in the bank and use it if I have a cycle that I am entirely dissatisfied with to crack that 172/173 wall for CLS. I'd recommend comparing odds at your programs of interest between what you have and what you can reasonably expect to score... it may not be as different as you think.

Submit apps. Hope for the best. Retake in June or Sept if need be.

[floatie]

It depends. First, a 3.55/168 is fine for t-15-20 and depending on the rest of your app you might be able to squeak into the lower t-14 off the waitlist. One thing to ask yourself - how committed are you to going to law school in Fall '17? If you absolutely don't want to wait another year, personally I would go for it, even though there's a risk you still won't crack 170. If you're fine with waiting, I would commit the next 6 months to studying and retake in June, if the cycle doesn't go the way you want it to. An aside - With your numbers, you could probably crack the t-14 with an ED, if you're okay with paying sticker.

[somedeadman]

Sounds like you already know what you're doing, but it seems like you could fairly easily raise your score since half of your missed points were from games.