Earlier application vs higher LSAT score - same advice for T14/T6?

[josephwf]

Hello Powerscore staff (+fearless leaders Jon and Dave),

I have a variant of the oft-asked question about whether it's better to put in your application early or delay to retake the LSAT again and potentially get a higher score. My understanding is that your advice is pretty consistent on that question: in almost every situation, a stronger application is a better strategy than an earlier application.

My question is if that calculus changes at all for an applicant with an LSAT in the upper 170s applying to T14/T6 schools. Does the realistic possibility of squeezing out another LSAT point from, say, 177 to 178 justify waiting another month to apply? How does that answer change (assuming it does) across the time span of the admissions cycle?

Thanks in advance--love all your LSAT prep materials and I've benefitted greatly from them.
Joseph

[Dave Killoran]

Hey Joseph,

Thanks for the question and for the kind words! The advice does in fact change at that scoring level.

Using your example, there are two pieces of advice that apply:

1. Do NOT wait to apply. If you are at or above the 75th median at a school, there is no reason to wait to apply--go ahead and apply asap.

2. If you do have a 177, you don't need to take the LSAT again Once you hit the 75th median--and any predicted increase to a school's 75th--you do not need to worry about going higher. This is a lost truth about admissions: once you are above the 75th, it does not matter to the school whether you are a point higher or 6 points higher (and so on).

Using Duke as an example, their 75th in 2022 was 171. So let's say you have a 174. You are well above their median and there's no chance they increase their median by 3 points next year, so if you apply now you will be above their 75th LSAT median. Re-taking the LSAT won't help you at Duke, even if you score a 180. The 180 is nice, but mathematically to Duke it makes zero difference since medians are what matter, not averages.

Cool question--thanks!

[josephwf]

Interesting!

I understand a school's logic in not caring if you're above their 75th percentile: it doesn't make a change in what they report as their 75th percentile (probably), so they don't care.

I guess I'm just kind of surprised by that. I really assumed they'd look at a score a few points higher and say, "Wow, this candidate is probably a little bit smarter/better suited to thrive in a 1L environment." It sounds like that's not the case, and I'm reeling a little. Maybe it's Stockholm Syndrome and I actually WANT to take the LSAT again...

If I'm reading school stats right and applying what you're saying correctly it seems like even a high scorer (yes, even a 177-scorer) might benefit from taking it again, though. I'm seeing US News as reporting that Yale's 75th percentile is 178, Stanford's is 176, and Chicago's is 175. Sounds like a 177-scorer would potentially benefit from another shot at the LSAT if they were applying to Yale? (And same for a 175-scorer applying to Stanford and a 174-scorer applying to Chicago?)

Sorry if I'm overthinking this, and thanks in advance! Really interesting to hear you address edge cases like this and see the reasoning behind your advice.

[Jonathan Evans]

Hi, Joseph!

First of all, congratulations on your exceptional LSAT score. Very well done.

I will defer to Dave Killoran's expertise here and offer the major caveat that I am not an admissions consultant, but I would be cautious with retaking the LSAT when you are already in the high 170s.

A select few T1 schools may have 75th percentiles that are at or above a 177, but my cursory search indicates that if this is the case, it is only Yale.

With this in mind, the difference between a 177 and a 178 on the LSAT is a 99.8th percentile score vs a 99.9th percentile score.

If you were to retake the LSAT, you would be committing yourself to a plan that might amount to a marginal improvement on your application at one law school and would be of negligible significance to every other T1 law school.

One downside to this plan is what happens if you score another 177 or perhaps a 175? Even if you were to get a 180, was taking the LSAT again the best use of your time and effort in making yourself the best possible candidate for the law schools you're applying to?

Please do not consider this advice dispositive or authoritative, but I hope this discussion helps guide your thought process.

Wishing you great success in law school and beyond!