With only 3 weeks between notification of October LSAT scores and the December 1 LSAT date, I’ve been having conversations with a lot of law school applicants about whether they should retake the LSAT in December, wait until February, and/or take an additional year and apply to start law school in Fall 2014 instead of Fall 2013.
Here are 4 factors to consider:
- If you are still in school and would benefit from another year of improved (great!) grades on your transcript, and you would be well served by getting some better letters of recommendation, AND you aren’t likely to raise your score considerably before December 1, then taking a year off and applying to law school next year might make a lot of sense for you.
- February is too late to take the LSAT for admission in the fall. Yes, law schools might tell you they accept February LSAT scores, but it’s so late in the cycle that they are really only taking people at the top of their LSAT range – February (March by the time you get your score) is no time to get into a reach school.
- It really doesn’t matter what you do during your gap year – yes, it’s good to do something intellectually interesting, to broaden your horizons, gain exposure to something law-related, etc. But even if you are tending bar on the weekends and volunteering part time, it’s perfectly acceptable as far as law schools are concerned.
- If you would get your best LSAT score by preparing at a time when you are not also enrolled in school, then waiting and taking the LSAT next fall might be a great plan for you.
