Waiting until the next cycle?

[adelrosario]

Hi all -

I'm posting here and hoping for some friendly feedback! As an applicant I'm a 154 LSAT/3.01 UGPA, and my softs include 3.55 master's GPA, 12 years employment in domestic violence advocacy at local, state, and national levels, substantial community service, and diversity as a 37 year old biracial person. I've been accepted at University of Baltimore (with small scholarship), wait listed at American University, and awaiting responses from Howard and New York Law School.

I have a secure job that I like and retaking the LSAT doesn't terrify me, and I do believe I could do better than 154, if only by a few points. The small scholarship from UB is slightly discouraging, and retaking could help me get more funding, in addition to giving me more time to pay off my cc debt before taking on more student loan debt (but hopefully less in loans if I can get a better LSAT score!). 

The results from this cycle have me wondering if I should retake the LSAT in June and/or July and apply early in the next cycle? Sure Georgetown or GW would be great, but I could also be just as happy at American, Baltimore, and others with greater funding. I would welcome any advice around making these decisions, especially in light of the current national health emergency (and recession on the horizon?) and deadlines for seat deposits coming up. The goal of law school has been a long time coming for me and I'm eager to move forward, and I didn't expect to be thinking about all this at this point in the process, but I'm staying positive and making the best of it! Thanks in advance for your advice!

[KelseyWoods]

Hi adelrosario!

First, congratulations on your acceptance to Baltimore! It may not be your #1 choice or have given you a more sizable scholarship but still an achievement to be proud of

As for your question, it's hard for me to give strong advice one way or the other without knowing a couple of other things first:

1.) What did you do to prepare for your LSAT? What do you think you can do differently this time around to increase your score? If you feel like you didn't put that much effort into studying the first time around (or you felt like you were doing a lot, but not necessarily studying in an effective way) or that you could have just used more time to really master the concepts and take more practice tests, then it might be worth taking the LSAT again and getting that score up. A higher score is always helpful when you're trying to get into law school and a few points in that 150s range can mean a big percentile jump (if you can get it up even 4 pts you'll leap over approximately 15% of test takers!). But you need to have a clear plan for getting that score increase. More time doesn't always equal a higher score if you don't know how to use that time wisely.

2.) When did you apply during this current cycle? It's always best to apply as early as possible, especially when you're hoping for scholarships. So if you applied later this cycle, that might explain why you didn't do better in terms of scholarships. If you can apply early for the next cycle, that will increase your chances of both acceptance and scholarships.

This decision is totally up to you (and I know it's tough!) but it does seem like, if you decide to, you are at least in a good place to delay law school for a year and see how the next cycle goes. It just depends on how badly you want to start law school right away and if you think your chances of getting scholarships/getting into more schools could significantly improve by retaking the LSAT and applying earlier in the cycle.

Hope this helps! And good luck whatever you decide!

Best,
Kelsey