missing registration date

[lsatopocalypse]

Hello, I was waiting last week for funds to register for the December 6th lsat. However, i didn't get the funds in time for fridays deadline (Nov 14th) and couldn't register. Is it possible to call LSAC directly and ask them to show mercy and allow me to register for the december 6th lsat? has anyone had any luck registering after the late dealing? i know this was a massive mistake and doesn't look good, but i simply couldnt afford to register on time. Sorry for posting this in two locations but i am really tripping out, so any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[Ron Gore]

Hi!

Unfortunately, it's my understanding that LSAC will not extend your ability to register past the November 14th deadline. LSAC is notoriously strict with its deadlines, and they've even emphasized this point by italicized text on their website regarding this specific deadline:

"We strongly advise you to register early. If you do choose to register on a deadline day, please do so during our business hours. If you have technical problems with your registration after business hours, we will not be able to extend deadlines."

Certainly, if you are dead set on taking the December test, I would call LSAC and beg the best you can. However, I'm sorry to say that it's highly unlikely you'll get them to budge. If you do succeed, please let us know how you did it!

Thanks,

Ron

[lsatopocalypse]

They shut me down, lsac is disappointedly strict. Well, i really don't want to/cannot take a year off before going to law school, so how are the chances of getting accepted into schools with a february score? I'm looking at Notre Dame, Fordham, Boston U. My GPA and lsat practice scores and right around whats typically accepted by these schools.

Also, say I did get accepted to any these schools with a February score, but they offer little to no scholarships (apparently most schools would have already given most, or all, of their money to earlier applicants), would it be a bad thing to decline their offers and reapply next cycle in hopes that I would receive better offers?

[Ron Gore]

They shut me down, lsac is disappointedly strict.

I'm very sorry to hear that! It was worth a shot, so you don't have to wonder what they would have said.

Also, say I did get accepted to any these schools with a February score, but they offer little to no scholarships (apparently most schools would have already given most, or all, of their money to earlier applicants), would it be a bad thing to decline their offers and reapply next cycle in hopes that I would receive better offers?

Well, if I read this paragraph together with your prior paragraph, I get that although you don't want to wait a year to attend law school, you could wait under the right circumstances.

It is true that most schools will have given out most if not all of their scholarship money to catch attractive candidates earlier in the process, and you would need to call each of your target schools to see what their respective positions are. I will say that I took the February LSAT in 2003 and was admitted that same year to George Mason, which is a decent school but was well below my qualifications (I happened to live 5 miles from the campus and it was the only school to which I applied).

So, bottom line is to call the schools in which you're interested to see if they accept the February LSAT and if they would potentially have any scholarships available. If they accept applications but won't have scholarship money available -- and if you would have been a candidate for scholarship money if you had applied earlier in the cycle -- then you should sit down and make a business decision regarding the value of that lost money compared to the costs of delaying admission by a year. It's a decision that really only you can make, and one that requires a great deal of data to make well.

Best of luck to you,

Ron

[lsatopocalypse]

Ron

Thanks for your input. I guess it never hurts to simply ask the school's admissions office about where they stand in regards to scholarships and admissions at the time I would finally be able to apply. I really don't want to sit out a year because I already have. I'll definitely be kicking myself for awhile over this.

[lsatopocalypse]

One last question. Would it be admission suicide if i submitted my applications without my LSAT score, then submit my score on march 3rd when LSAC release the February scores?

[Steve Stein]

Hi Lsat,

Applying to schools while you wait for your Feb score would not necessarily rule you out. If you let them know that your score is on the way, and they like the rest of your application, schools may be more than willing to reserve their judgement pending score release.

Again, you can't go wrong by contacting the schools that you are considering to see how they would view such an approach.

I hope that's helpful! Let me know--thanks!

Steve

[lsatopocalypse]

Steve,

Thanks for your response. I have contacted several admission offices and I seem to get a politician's response- They basically avoid my question by restating the school's application deadline and telling me that all applications will be evaluated accordingly. So, I didn't really get a lot out of asking them and thats why I posted here, to see if anyone has had success with submitting application and LSAT score separately.

[Dave Killoran]

Hey LSAT,

Yeah, they don't want to really say anything solid since that commits them to a position Submitting apps first and then LSAT scores later is pretty common, so that part of process won't be an issue at all. The bigger issue is the one you note: your LSAT score won't appear until early March, and thus your application won't be considered until then (they won't look at your stuff until it's all there). I wrote a blog about application timing just last year that might help: http://blog.powerscore.com/lsat/bid/284 ... y-is-early.

The only caveat is that that data is for all law schools, and not just the Top 50 (or whatever group you might be looking at). The counterbalance to that is that in recent years, many top law schools have been moving back the application deadlines and granting more leeway with later apps.

Here's the thing: it won't hurt to take a shot, and if you don't like the outcome, you can reapply next year (and use that year to make your app even better). If you do like the outcome, then you just saved a year

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!