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Thank you for your response! For a number of reasons retaking the LSAT in September isn't really possible for me (or rather, it is, but I won't be able to study much in advance), and I'm really not sure whether my score will go up. So I'm thinking of just applying with what I have.

Any thoughts from anyone else? What about other T6 schools: I know admission might be likely, but is my LSAT too low for merit aid consideration at CCN?

graceyphus wrote:Thank you for your response! For a number of reasons retaking the LSAT in September isn't really possible for me (or rather, it is, but I won't be able to study much in advance), and I'm really not sure whether my score will go up. So I'm thinking of just applying with what I have.

Any thoughts from anyone else? What about other T6 schools: I know admission might be likely, but is my LSAT too low for merit aid consideration at CCN?

Almost everyone on this forum will tell you to retake until you get a 180, because that's the mindset here.

What was the average of the last 5 practice tests you took? How many did you take in total? The answers to those questions will reveal a lot.

RamTitan wrote:

graceyphus wrote: Almost everyone on this forum will tell you to retake until you get a 180, because that's the mindset here.

What was the average of the last 5 practice tests you took? How many did you take in total? The answers to those questions will reveal a lot.

I took twenty practice tests and had been PTing somewhat consistently around 173 on the last ones, though I noticed a drop, especially with my LR sections, on the more recent tests. My scores on the actual test confirm this: I missed a couple in the RC and LG, but the LRs were my bigger weakness.

As I mentioned, I'm not planning on retaking in September: I'm not certain that my score will go up, especially since due to personal things I won't really be able to study at all beforehand. My thought was to apply very early this cycle with my numbers (though I know at YLS that doesn't matter) and see how things fall. I was hoping that the TLS community might be able to give me a sense of my chances beyond what's available on MyLSN (ie insight on the harder-to-predict YSL and SL, as well as on scholarships at CCN, in light of my softs and reverse splitter positioning).

RamTitan wrote:

graceyphus wrote:Thank you for your response! For a number of reasons retaking the LSAT in September isn't really possible for me (or rather, it is, but I won't be able to study much in advance), and I'm really not sure whether my score will go up. So I'm thinking of just applying with what I have.

Any thoughts from anyone else? What about other T6 schools: I know admission might be likely, but is my LSAT too low for merit aid consideration at CCN?

Almost everyone on this forum will tell you to retake until you get a 180, because that's the mindset here.

What was the average of the last 5 practice tests you took? How many did you take in total? The answers to those questions will reveal a lot.

I think you are misunderstanding the retake mindset here. It's not just a simple retake to 180 mindset.

Edit: OP I think you will be a strong candidate in the T14 and will likely get some excellent scholarship offers. Out of CCN, I think Chicago will show you the most love from a $$ perspective but think NYU could as well.

Unfortunately I don't think we will be able to help you too much with YLS and SLS predictions precisely because they are hard to predict. My gut instinct would be: no for Yale, maybe a coin flips chance at STanford. Stanford prioritizes gpa over LSAT so that helps you. Your softs are probably too average to make Yale likely. Money is likewise difficult to guess. I'm thinking maybe no named scholly from Columbia, since they seem to like really high lsats. Chicago and NYU I have no idea.

Please take everything I've said with a grain of salt. All my comments are based solely on my observations from last cycle, and I had visibility to only a very small sample size.

pittsburghpirates wrote:

RamTitan wrote:

graceyphus wrote:
I think you are misunderstanding the retake mindset here. It's not just a simple retake to 180 mindset.

Edit: OP I think you will be a strong candidate in the T14 and will likely get some excellent scholarship offers. Out of CCN, I think Chicago will show you the most love from a $$ perspective but think NYU could as well.

Thanks for your insight! (and I understand what you're saying about the retake mindset; I know I wouldn't be retaking to get a 180, but given what the next few months are looking like, I feel like my chances of a score increase are marginal for September) The fingers that aren't crossed for YLS will be for NYU.

Hildegard15 wrote:Unfortunately I don't think we will be able to help you too much with YLS and SLS predictions precisely because they are hard to predict. My gut instinct would be: no for Yale, maybe a coin flips chance at STanford. Stanford prioritizes gpa over LSAT so that helps you. Your softs are probably too average to make Yale likely. Money is likewise difficult to guess. I'm thinking maybe no named scholly from Columbia, since they seem to like really high lsats. Chicago and NYU I have no idea.

Please take everything I've said with a grain of salt. All my comments are based solely on my observations from last cycle, and I had visibility to only a very small sample size.

Thank you for this! I know that YLS and SLS are difficult: that's why the experiences on here are so helpful to me. That's disappointing to hear your take on YLS, though I suppose not surprising. Hopefully my application will at least get to the professor review process.

pittsburghpirates wrote:

RamTitan wrote:

graceyphus wrote:Thank you for your response! For a number of reasons retaking the LSAT in September isn't really possible for me (or rather, it is, but I won't be able to study much in advance), and I'm really not sure whether my score will go up. So I'm thinking of just applying with what I have.

Any thoughts from anyone else? What about other T6 schools: I know admission might be likely, but is my LSAT too low for merit aid consideration at CCN?

Almost everyone on this forum will tell you to retake until you get a 180, because that's the mindset here.

What was the average of the last 5 practice tests you took? How many did you take in total? The answers to those questions will reveal a lot.

I think you are misunderstanding the retake mindset here. It's not just a simple retake to 180 mindset.

Edit: OP I think you will be a strong candidate in the T14 and will likely get some excellent scholarship offers. Out of CCN, I think Chicago will show you the most love from a $$ perspective but think NYU could as well.

To be fair, I wasn't directly referring to the advice I was given in my thread. With that said, a significant population of TLS users share this mindset.

I'll just echo what others have said. Y and S are too hard to predict, but better chance at S. I'd say 50%+ For Y, maybe 10%?

RamTitan wrote: To be fair, I wasn't directly referring to the advice I was given in my thread. With that said, a significant population of TLS users share this mindset.

There is not a single thread where anyone has seriously advocated retaking until you get a 180.

It's rare to even find people saying you should retake a 170+ unless the OP indicates that they had PT'd at a higher level or indicated that they wanted guaranteed HYS admission.

cavalier1138 wrote:

RamTitan wrote: To be fair, I wasn't directly referring to the advice I was given in my thread. With that said, a significant population of TLS users share this mindset.

There is not a single thread where anyone has seriously advocated retaking until you get a 180.

It's rare to even find people saying you should retake a 170+ unless the OP indicates that they had PT'd at a higher level or indicated that they wanted guaranteed HYS admission.

Awesome sweeping statement that is beyond difficult to prove man, but I'm not about to engage in this and derail OP's thread.

Edit - besides, the "retake to 180" was facetious and not meant to be taken literally.

And I gurantee there are TLS users out there who would recommend retaking for a higher LSAT if OP's absolute goal was YLS or bust.

Barack O'Drama wrote:I'll just echo what others have said. Y and S are too hard to predict, but better chance at S. I'd say 50%+ For Y, maybe 10%?

Thank you for your response! That's an exciting perspective on Stanford. And I'm maintaining some very small hope about Yale, given that it is hard to predict and that (in my obviously biased opinion) I'll present a fairly solid application minus the LSAT score.

Sisyphus9 wrote:

Barack O'Drama wrote:I'll just echo what others have said. Y and S are too hard to predict, but better chance at S. I'd say 50%+ For Y, maybe 10%?

Thank you for your response! That's an exciting perspective on Stanford. And I'm maintaining some very small hope about Yale, given that it is hard to predict and that (in my obviously biased opinion) I'll present a fairly solid application minus the LSAT score.

No problem man! Don't stress, you're going to have a great cycle with those amazing stats!

Hildegard15 wrote:Unfortunately I don't think we will be able to help you too much with YLS and SLS predictions precisely because they are hard to predict. My gut instinct would be: no for Yale, maybe a coin flips chance at STanford. Stanford prioritizes gpa over LSAT so that helps you. Your softs are probably too average to make Yale likely. Money is likewise difficult to guess. I'm thinking maybe no named scholly from Columbia, since they seem to like really high lsats. Chicago and NYU I have no idea.

Please take everything I've said with a grain of salt. All my comments are based solely on my observations from last cycle, and I had visibility to only a very small sample size.

Having spent many hours studying LSN and culling anecdotal reports from posters in these fora, I second everything that Hilde said. To the extent that anyone can predict these things (because nobody can), Hilde's comments strike me as pretty spot-on. At least for the last couple of cycles.

Sisyphus9 wrote:I have a 4.0 undergrad and got a 170 on my LSAT (non-URM). My softs are decent/average: MA in the humanities with a 4.0; a number of academic awards from both my undergrad degree and my MA; editorial, tutoring, and research assistant jobs, as well as research experience; LORs that I would guess are glowing (including one from a law professor I had a class with); various study/living abroad experiences. I know that I'm in a good place for a number of schools I'm interested in, but Yale is top of the list, particularly because I want to be an academic. As I've heard, Yale is a bit hard to predict, but do any of you have a sense of whether it's a total lost cause?

OP, if you're interested in legal academia, you might want to look into the Furman Academic Scholars Program at NYU. They have a pretty good placement record, and your numbers, combined with your research experience and graduate degree will probably make you a pretty attractive candidate.

http://www.law.nyu.edu/furmanprogram/fu ... arsprogram

It's at least something worth thinking about if Yale doesn't work out.

EnderWiggin wrote:
Having spent many hours studying LSN and culling anecdotal reports from posters in these fora, I second everything that Hilde said. To the extent that anyone can predict these things (because nobody can), Hilde's comments strike me as pretty spot-on. At least for the last couple of cycles.

Thanks for your perspective! With these more difficult to predict schools, anecdotal evidence is really all I'm expecting, since statistics are harder to parse. This is probably impossible to answer, but do you have a sense of whether my GPA and softs would get me to the professor review process at YLS (ie not rejected immediately in the cycle)? That's what I'm hoping for.

October25 wrote:
OP, if you're interested in legal academia, you might want to look into the Furman Academic Scholars Program at NYU. They have a pretty good placement record, and your numbers, combined with your research experience and graduate degree will probably make you a pretty attractive candidate.

http://www.law.nyu.edu/furmanprogram/fu ... arsprogram

It's at least something worth thinking about if Yale doesn't work out.

Thanks for the recommendation! NYU with a Furman is top of the list alongside Yale and is definitely something I'm planning on applying for. Good to know about the placement record, though.