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Hey guys! I'm pretty sure the advice is going to be retake but I'm confused as to whether I should retake in February or in June. And I've got a few other questions:

1) I'm hoping to get into HYS, especially Yale, or UVA with big money. I'm sure the latter is a lock but what are my chances at former? Near as I can tell on LSN/reading a ton of threads, H is pretty sure and Y/S are tossups.

2) How are my softs? I have four years of work experience as a minister in an extremely low-income/crime-ridden area, and 2 years as a college professor of religion. My LORs will be personal and very positive, both from undergrad professors. I have an M.A., but my GPA is only 3.4 there. I wrote an addendum about that; my grad school commute was 400 miles round trip and I spend Sun-Wed sleeping on floors/couches to study and spent Wed-Sun working in the community.

3) I also remember reading on Yale's admission blog that being politically/religiously conservative might be an advantage because law schools tend to be left-leaning. Is this true? If so, by how much? I don't want to play it up for an advantage, but I imagine that it'll come through subtly in my P.S./resume. Just to be clear: I AM both of those; I'm not just looking for something to pad my app.

4) For the Feb/Jun retake question--I was PTing consistently at 177/178. I didn't sleep the night before the test due to excitement and I was somewhat burned out on PTs. I also ran out of time on LG and had to guess on 2. If HYS are my target schools, would a June retake even help there? I'm thinking I'd have to do Feb because waiting to June would mean I'd have most rejected (not WL). Is this true?

Thanks for your help guys! I really appreciate it.

obviously if you can guarantee a 175+ score, then i would recommend a retake. other than that, you seem to be in decent shape for both schools. the problem with a retake is that Harvard and Yale tend to take a "holistic" view of your LSAT results, so if you bomb it on a retake, it could potentially hurt you.

as for the whole religious/political right leaning business, don't involve yourself in it unless you actually are one of the two.

Typhoon24 wrote:obviously if you can guarantee a 175+ score, then i would recommend a retake. other than that, you seem to be in decent shape for both schools. the problem with a retake is that Harvard and Yale tend to take a "holistic" view of your LSAT results, so if you bomb it on a retake, it could potentially hurt you.

as for the whole religious/political right leaning business, don't involve yourself in it unless you actually are one of the two.

Thanks for the insight! That makes a lot of sense.

As for religious/political; I actually am both. Like I said; I'm not going to play it up. I just think, given the nature of my WE and my PS, it'll come out anyway. Was just wondering if it's actually a boost or not. Edited the OP to be more clear.

right now with your numbers you probably get H, and UVA with $. If you really want Y, and were PTing at 177ish, then yeah a retake would be beneficial, although if you wait until June you are going to have to wait a cycle. That being said, your not totally out of Y as you stand, though I wouldn't say its at all likely. Y tends to like interesting softs/stories like you have, so they might just bite on you as you are, but if you bumped up that LSAT to a 177 I think your probably in (although its very difficult to predict Y). I think TLS might disagree with me on this one lets see though...

In sum: Right now, in at H and $ UVA. Outside shot at Y, and if you are dead set on it a retake is a good idea, considering what you were PTing at

Already done that. The sample size is very low. Which is why I have nuanced questions in my post and not just "what are my chances?"

Do you have ideas for those?

rad lulz wrote:http://top-law-schools.com/forums/viewt ... 9&t=170051

i dont think the February LSAT is going to help you anywhere, its too late. either apply immediately or take until june to study, retake and wait a cycle. harvard and stanford explicitly state they do not look at february results except for extenuating circumstances. yale says they look at it but who are we kidding, but the time those scores come out (March?) they have a pretty firm idea of what their class is goign to be. we are alerady late in the cycle as it is, if i were you i would wait a cycle if you can afford to

harvard - "Results of the February LSAT normally will not be considered in the current application cycle (e.g., results of the February 2013 LSAT will normally not be considered for applicants to the class entering in 2013)."

stanford - "Stanford applicants for Fall 2013 admission must take the test no later than the December 2012 administration."

az21833 wrote:harvard - "Results of the February LSAT normally will not be considered in the current application cycle (e.g., results of the February 2013 LSAT will normally not be considered for applicants to the class entering in 2013)."

stanford - "Stanford applicants for Fall 2013 admission must take the test no later than the December 2012 administration."

This is excellent advice and exactly what I was looking for! Thank you!