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I received my LSAT score today and was bummed by the results. I'm wondering whether it's worth a retake. My PT average for the last tests I took prior to the real thing were about a 174, with results as disparate as a 172 and a 180. I am debt-averse and I was hoping to attend law school at some T15ish or higher place without paying tuition. Do I have any hope of receiving full-tuition scholarships at UT Austin, Michigan, Virginia, Vanderbilt, or the like with the stats above? If I were to up my score by a few points would schools average the scores or just take the higher one when deciding how to dole out scholarship money?

PS: I know many of you might be tempted to tell me to go to Law School Numbers. I've looked at that site quite a bit, and while the results aren't encouraging, the sample size is so small in every year that it's hard for me to know how accurate of a reflection of my chances that site can give me. I'm hoping that people with similar numbers/friends with similar numbers/etc. might be able to give me a fuller understanding of how screwed (or not) I presently am.

Thanks for your advice!

i told this to someone today in a situation similar to yours:

i took it in october, got a 170, averaged around 169, high at 178, got into one of my dream schools, and i STILL wish i retook because of one thing....


scholarships.

lol i didnt answer any of your questions and i dont plan to. too lazy. i would retake. dont be scared.

4.0/169 got Harvard.. put together a killer app and pray

You really should heed LSN data. Though sporadic and limited, it really does show meaningful trends. Sometimes we like to think we are going to be that special snowflake that you see on LSN that outperforms the numbers, but I am a bitter pessimist, and I usually chanced myself on the lower end of what happened to people with my numbers.

With that said, it is definitely worth a retake. None of those schools really seem care about retakes anymore (thanks ABA) and in most cases it'll be obvious that you were trying to aim for a better score. If you can get your PT average to 176, all the more reason to retake the exam. It really is a low risk, high reward situation for you. And in the case T15 tuition free doesn't happen, add some safeties which you can weigh against the substantial scholarships you will receive just going by your current score.

I don't think 171/4.0 will get you a full ride to any t10. You can get some good offers, 2/3 tuition or so depending on the school and other factors, but I wouldn't count on any full rides from t10.

I don't know as much about the lower t14.