169 vs. 170(+) impact on scholarships?

[DGriff]

October 2015 was my first official attempt at the LSAT, and I am pretty pleased to have received a 169 (97th percentile). I am a "splitter" with a pretty low undergrad GPA of 3.23 from The College of William & Mary (10 years ago, so no chance of redemption there!). I'm not overly ambitious and am thinking about applying to Top 50 and Top 100 schools, since I would need a REALLY good financial aid package to afford to quit my job and go to school full-time (oh yeah, I'm also a divorced/self-supporting single mom...). I was PTing in the range of 168-172 in the weeks before the test, and I have plenty of time to study and retest if I decide to, since I'm not planning to start applying to any schools for at least a year or two. If I retake, it would probably be February or June 2016. I have no doubt I could raise my score to the 170-172 range by next summer, but I am less confident a retake would yield a 173+ (although I certainly think it's a possibility).

I'm wondering, in terms of scholarships for the types of schools I'd apply to, would there be a big payoff for raising my score from a 169 to a 170, 171, or 172? I see they're all in the same "Score Band," so I'm not sure how much of a difference that makes to law schools?

For context, I'll also throw out there that I was a first generation college student (very poor/tragic early parental loss story/yadda yadda yadda), am approaching 10 years of full-time work experience (mostly in immigration law), am active in professional organizations, and have a Master's degree with 3.98 GPA (although I know that GPA doesn't count). I'll be a "nontraditional" applicant and will certainly attempt to play the diversity card, but I don't know how far it will get me (female/Caucasian). For logistical/practical reasons, Michigan State is my goal school right now, but I definitely plan on applying to a range of schools to receive as many financial aid offers as I can, for negotiation purposes.

If you were me, what would you do?

[Dave Killoran]

Hi D,

This is an interesting question, and one that I'm not certain can be answered definitively, but I'll try. A 169 and a 170 are pretty much the same score, although there is a psychological difference on the reader due to the change in score quantile. If you knew your results beforehand, I'd say that for you it's not worth going through the whole LSAT study process for a 170. A 171 is borderline, and then at a 172 and above I'd say it's worth it. Obviously, we can't know your score beforehand, but if you can post a 171 or higher, it probably would be worth your time and effort.

One good thing here is that with a 169 already on your record, there is no pressure on you to do well on your next LSAT. If things didn't go well you could cancel, and if you score about the same there's no harm done. So, it's one of those really nice times where you only have an upside, and knowing that often allows test takers to perform even better than usual. Given what you've said about your preparation experience, you probably have a reasonable chance at getting that 171+.

Since you aren't applying to law school for a while, I'd recommend taking a nice long break from the LSAT right now. It will help your score, and allow you a bit more time to consider which path is best for you.

Please let me know if that helps, and please let me know what you ultimately decide to do. Fortunately you are in a great spot, so there's no pressure. Thanks!