Best time to apply?

[laur87]

Hello!

As the title says, I'm wondering when to apply for the top ~20 schools. I took the LSAT in June but was disappointed with my 162 and will be retaking in September and October. (Long story short, I had a very stressful and distracting test day experience and didn't finish my sections due to test anxiety, which is now something I'm seriously working on.)

I'm hitting around 167 on my practice tests now and am willing to put in some serious work to hopefully raise my score to a 170. My dream schools are Penn, Georgetown, and Duke.

Several schools advise applying as early as possible, but would my chances be better if I apply in September with a 162 and a 3.83, or if I wait until I have a (hopefully) 165+ when scores come back in October or November? I assume waiting is probably best, since my LSAT isn't as good as I'd like it to be right now... but I want to make sure I don't miss out on any of the potential advantages of applying early. What would you advise?

[James Finch]

Hi Laur,

It's best to apply when you have your optimal application. All other things being equal, you'll probably have your best chances at admission to schools with rolling admissions before the Christmas holidays begin, but you should have your application, including your scores, in the range that those schools are looking for first. If your LSAT isn't high enough for entrance, regardless of how your application looks otherwise or how much the the deans may like you personally, the school will likely tell you to reapply when you have a better score, or at best put you on the waitlist; I've had multiple students tell me this has happened to them. This doesn't necessarily reflect badly upon your chances of admission during the next cycle, but does cost the application fees and time spent preparing.

So the best advice I can give is to wait until you have your target LSAT score and then apply during the September to mid-January window. As February approaches the class begin to fill up and if your application is borderline it might be better to wait until the next cycle.

Hope this helps!